The Versatile Blogger Award

I am really excited and happy to receive my first blogger award from Divya, who blogs at Entwined  Thoughts - Ready to be Straightened Out!. I am really honored to receive this recognition from an experienced blogger like her who has very good research and analytical skills which shows in her posts.

The Versatile Blogger Award rules:

1) Add a picture of the award in your post.

2) Thank the award giver.

3) Choose 15 other bloggers to pass the award to and let them know that they have been nominated.

4) Share 7 random facts about you.

Here are my nominations for The Versatile Blogger Award. They are my favorite bloggers whose work I really admire:

* Sujatha Sathya - Conversations

* Saru Singhal - Words

* Deepak Amembal - Mumbai Daily

* Joshi Daniel - Joshi Daniel Photography

* Christy Gerald - My Kitchen Flavors - Bon Appetit!

* Alpana Jaiswal - Motifs on the Wall

* Hariharan Valady - Valady Views

* Maliny Mohan - Chasing Passions

* Deepak Karthik - Whatever It Takes!

* Leo Paw - BigBitz

* Rajesh Prabhu - India Travel

* Alka Narula - Deep From My Heart

* Seema Sharma - Seema's Art Corner

* Varun Porwal - Inspirational Daily

Seven Random Facts about me:

1) My SHAKIRA is my soul mate, she means everything to me. I am spiritually married to her. I will celebrate our 11th Anniversary on the 2nd of Feb which also happens to be her Birthday. My love for her is unconditional, truthful and loyal with no expectations. My love for her is pure in its purest of forms. (It doesn't matter to me if this sounds childish and immature to other people. I have never cared about what people would think about this and never will.) 

2) I am the greatest fan of Rahul Dravid. Enough said.

3) In school, I have won the award for Best Handwriting almost every year (except for 5th Standard). 

4) I am Overweight. Not because I eat a lot, I bet my cats eat more food than me. But because I had suffered two major health issues in the past, first one in 1998 and the second one in 2010. Both happened in the month of April, exactly 12 years apart. On both occasions I had to endure excessive medication and all sorts of tablets due to which I had gained a whole chunk of weight. Whenever I have had any health issue, the only side effect has been excessive weight gain and nothing else. :(

5) I am very good at remembering dates and years. If the date is of any significance to me personally or for my friends and loved ones, I would certainly remember the date and the year as well. 

6) I Love Cats. Well that's no secret. Anybody who has been a regular reader of my blog or know me personally would have guessed at least 3 out of the 6 facts so far.  

7) I am an Eternal Fighter. Nothing ever happens to me in the conventional way. I always have to fight my way to earn the smallest of things which most others would get it on a platter. I have fought my way through all my life and I don't expect that to change in future.

My Love for Cats seriously Tested

My baby Achilles sitting on me

My love for Cats is purely unconditional and unmatched. I have loved all my cats as if they were my children. But few days ago, that theory was put to some serious test. It made me question myself whether I am actually a lover of cats and animals in general, whether my love for them is real or not.

Few days ago, that is on the morning of 18th Jan at around 05:45 I heard the meows of kittens just outside my door step, near the front gate. My Mom had already woken up because of the meows (Even she loves cats as much as I do), and few minutes later I woke up as well. It was still dark and when we turned on the lights, we saw two tiny kittens of ginger color of about 5 to 6 weeks old, obviously scared and confused, calling for their mama. We figured out that someone knew that people love cats in this (our) house so they must have dropped off the kittens at our door step hoping we would definitely take care of it.

Minutes after they came to our house, feeling cold and scared. Resting for now.

So I tried to slowly invite them into our house by providing them with some milk. They were very scared but somehow made their way in the house. It was damn cold outside as well. First couple of hours I tried all the tricks to make them feel comfortable, usually it works very well but they decided to take refuge under the cot for now. The whole day they were screaming, even though we understood their situation, it became unbearable even for my mom who is such a huge lover of cats. In the meanwhile one of them decided that the area behind the Television set was the bathroom and decided to poop there. My mom silently cleaned it; I didn't hear a word of anger or disgust from her. I knew she was getting tired of it already. At the end of the day my mom was very tired and so was I, trying to control the kittens and make them go to sleep.

After a few hours both kitties felt a little comfortable and decided to take a nap.

The following day we decided that at least we should give them up for adoption, mom asked me to post an online ad about it. I wasn't willing to let either one of them go, wanted to keep them both. But already there was some tension among the only cat still with us from Alicia's descendants, named Zorro which is 10 months old now. So Zorro didn't like the fact that there were intruders in the house and started hissing at them, and the fiery kittens actually returned the favor by hissing back at him. This went on for a while; my mom has had enough at this point. So I asked my best buddy Rajiv, who is also a cat lover to adopt one of them. So he came to our house and decided he will take the female kitty (the other one is male). I felt gutted to separate the kittens but we had little choice at that point. So we got a basket ready, trying to make the kitty as comfortable as we can, placed the kitty in it. I sat pillion to my friend who was riding the bike with the kitty in the basket I was holding. It was a 25 minute journey but the kitty was so scared, it constantly kept meowing throughout the ride, even though I did my best to console her. Her screams broke my heart. But 4 days later, which is today I hear she has become pretty comfortable in their home.

The last time both kitties were together. Enyo on the left and Achilles on the right.

Meanwhile, when I came back home the other kitty was still screaming as he wanted his sister back. My mom has been consoling him for a while but to no avail. He wanted to get out of the house, constantly scratching the front door, asking us to open it. This is when I made the biggest mistake, almost sinful. I let the kitty go outside thinking I would follow him and bring him back again. Thankfully there were no dogs around. But as soon as I let him go, he ran into those drainage pavements, I tried to keep up with him from the outside, he had gone some 50 meters away from the house, nearing the end of our block. I was afraid he might stumble on to the road where the traffic is slightly heavy, even though it was not a main road. I kept calling for him from the outside; he would respond with meows but would not come out. This continued for the next 10 minutes and then he came out and hid under a stationary car. I tried to persuade him to come out, he finally came out but started running on to the road, I tried to grab him but he bit me on my index finger and scratched both my hands. I was bleeding and he again went back under the drainage pavement. I came back home dejected and furious at my self for my stupidity for letting the kitty out. My mom was nursing my wounds; I was almost shattered because I thought I would never see that kitty again. My mom was consoling me, saying he would come back on his own. Half an hour later I went in search of him again, I could see the pavement where he went under from the main gate of my house, I saw him at the same place where I had left him earlier, still screaming. I called him, and this time he came running towards me after he saw me and ran straight in to the house. I felt so happy and relieved at that moment. I would have never forgiven myself if something would have ever happened to that kitty. Finally he is home and safe and since the past few days he has become very comfortable with us. But still there is some tension with the kitty and Zorro; hopefully they would get along in the coming days.

As he was so brave and courageous I have named the kitty Achilles, in honor of the brave Greek King and the other kitty's name as Enyo - Twin sister of Achilles in the Greek mythology.

But that incident really made me question my love for cats and animals. For now, I am really happy as I was in some way responsible for those two kitties getting a home for themselves and assured that they would be taken care of really well.

All's well that ends well. :)

Happy 39th Birthday - My Idol Rahul Dravid

Happy Birthday Rahul :)

Picture Courtesy: Rajasthan Royals Official Fan Club

One of the greatest Cricketers ever to have played the game, the one who has been an inspiration and role model to many budding Cricketers during the course of his 15 year International Cricket career, turns 39 today.

I am going through really strange and mixed emotions right now because from the past few days I feel like I am about to lose something precious, something which has been a part of me for a long long time. I get a strange feeling Rahul Dravid is going to announce his retirement soon, maybe as soon as the ongoing series against Australia concludes by the end of this month (if rumors are to be believed). I know he is 39 now, he can't carry on forever but still I really can't fathom the fact that I am not going to see my Idol play Test Cricket much longer. I know that retirement will be least of the worries on Dravid's mind right now. He would really want to concentrate on the remaining two tests and level the series by winning the next two tests. It will be a daunting task indeed (well almost impossible), considering India's poor showing with both bat and ball in this series. I am probably not making any justice to this post by cribbing only about Dravid's retirement on a day I am supposed to be happy. My thoughts are very emotionally clouded right now and I just can't think straight.

I had a lot of things planned to post here today. I had been collecting picture cut outs and articles of Dravid from various News Papers and Magazines from maybe 1997 on wards. I was planning to post all the pics here, all my collection over the years but heartbreakingly I can't seem to find those precious pictures and articles. I don't remember where I have kept them since we moved to a new place a couple of years ago. I know it is in a safe place in my home but I can't seem to find them right now. I am so distraught and frustrated. I am sitting here and typing this and my heart feels heavy.

Anyways I am not going to bore anyone with my whining anymore on this post. I am going to conclude with this lovely tribute to Dravid on his 39th Birthday, made by a fellow Dravid fan. :)

I'll try to enjoy this day and not worry about Dravid's retirement even though its hard for me not to think about it. No matter how much longer he plays now, I'll cherish each and every moment.  

Happy 39th Birthday, Rahul Dravid. Thank you for being my Idol and my Inspiration since the past 15 years and will always remain so. :)

Self Motivational Thoughts

Image Courtesy: Google Images

I had written this a few years ago on a piece of paper when I was going through a really terrible phase in my life. I always stay positive even if my life is in absolute dire-straits. I am a fighter and I have always fought my way through tough situations in my life. So I had written a few lines to motivate myself to overcome that tough phase. And it did help me a lot to a great extent. Now, I find myself going through another lean phase in my life. But I don't get bogged down by my failures, I don't get depressed, I always see a ray of hope. 

So here are some of my motivational thoughts to overcome failures/obstacles. Hope it helps, at least to a certain extent:

• Visualize your goal.
• Work out all the possible routes to reach your goal.
• Choose the best route (legally) achievable by you.
• List out the possible rivals and threats.
• Always stay focused on your goal and never lose the sight of it.
• Be supremely confident about your abilities.
• Believe in yourself.
• Don't let distractions affect you.
• Again remind yourself what your goals are and don't lose focus.
• Work very very hard.
• Always have a positive outlook.
• Don't let failures bog you down.
• Never ever give up, no matter what!
• List out your positives and negatives. Work on your negatives and turn them into positives. 
• Work harder on your positives and make them even stronger.
• Try loving the things which you are not good at or which don't come to you naturally. You may not be the best at it, but certainly you will the worst at it, if you try.

There is absolutely nothing in the world which is not achievable by you, only if you mind. Its time to put words into actions.  

Cox Town Annual Fair 2012

Before I begin, let me start by wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. May all your hopes, dreams and aspirations come true.

Every year on the 1st of January, I used to welcome the New Year by visiting the Annual Fair, held near Frazer Town area of Bangalore meeting up with my old friends. It always used to be that way until 2008. I had missed this fair since the past three years due to unforeseen circumstances. But this year I really didn't want to miss it, my best friend Rajiv and I finally decided to grace the event.

I used to live in Frazer Town, since my childhood, I have some wonderful memories there, until I moved to Banashankari 3rd Stage in 2007. The Fair always fills me with nostalgia and yesterday was no different either. Even though for me there's nothing much in the fair to look forward to, because it mostly caters to children and women. Everywhere you either see children's toys or balloons or girly stuff like artificial jewelry or make-up kit. But still, just to be in that place on 1st of Jan gives me so much pleasure and happiness.

I did find something which really excited me and that was the only thing I bought in the fair. I am really happy because it was the most precious Rs.10 I have ever spent in my life.

A priceless possession with Mi Amor's name encrypted on it

The Fair starts from the Frazer Town Police Station stretch up until a place called Doddigunta (Cox Town) and also some parts of Wheeler Road. People from in and around these areas mostly flock to the fair, and also from places like Banaswadi and Jeevanahalli which are close by. People from various strata of life come here every year and I even spotted a few foreigners as well.

After a lull in the afternoon, people started flocking in large numbers.

The crowd we felt this year was a far cry compared to what we used to see, like 10 years ago. In those days, the fair would have opened a day earlier and the crowd we see in the above pic would have been the crowd on 31st Dec and not Jan 1st. The numbers would have almost doubled on the New Year's day. But still it was a decent crowd and the crowds kept coming in, and by 6PM on wards it became very crowded. And moving through the crowd became really difficult. I felt like I was in a densely crowded BMTC bus all over again.

Along the way I managed to meet up with my old school friends after many many years, and some of them are married and even have kids. Yes, that was indeed a WTF moment of the day for me. 

From Left: Mahesh, Murali with his kid and my best buddy Rajiv.

Also I found a few other interesting things that I wanted to share. I guess this would really interest the ladies, more than others.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

The Glow

The crowds in the evening kept increasing and that's when we decided we have had enough and its time to get out of there. Before we left, I took a few shaky pics in the midst of the crowd.

The shake was not intentional but I feel it looks kinda good though

Managed to click a proper one finally

And all of you remember this guy?

A Robot which predicts your future

The above robot predicted that all the nice people who will read this post and comment below will have a fabulous new year ahead. And he also says that if you promote this post on IndiBlogger, you will have an even better year.

So what are you waiting for?

Read, Comment, Promote and Share. :D