pause

post a wonderful week with a fantastic friend, the blog goes on a break. indefinite, as of now.

hopefully, i shall get back here next month. provided we have our internet connection fixed at the new place by then.

oh yeah, i haven't mentioned it, have i?

we're moving. again.

to a suburb of boston. mid-may. i may not get the time to do a farewell post & all, but i sure will miss this place. weather n all.

somehow, the urge to blog isn't the way it used to be. so maybe, i'll close shop here. or maybe i will be back next month. i don't know as of now.

all of you who have me on mail/FB, do keep in touch.

p.s.: amey, do follow up with dewey on Hema. she has the first part. and she will get the others too. :)

break it!

due to inexplicable *as yet* and unavoidable circumstances, i'm off this space till march 8, 2010.

i may pop in once a while... but since i'm not going to even check mails, that can't be guaranteed.

will try and catch up with all the blogs i frequent, once i'm back. didn't want to leave without a notification... so here it is. for those of you who bother reading me/leave comments. love y'all. and i'll see you all soon. here, of course. *pavi & G - i will call you soon! :)*

till then... stay safe and stay happy.

BRB

this space is taking a break.
because the author *heyy... that's what blogger calls me!* needs to find a "real" life as opposed to the virtual.

also, lack of real life leads to nothing interesting to say virtually.

i wouldn't have normally done an "official" announcement of non-blogging... but i think i owe it. to this space. to all of you who think it's worth your time to read it and comment. even those of you who don't comment... thanks for reading.
does mean a lot to me that someone out there would want to read what i write...

i will get back here. for sure.
this space has given me too much to abandon it. this is just a sabbatical.

and yes... all is well with me. i just have nothing to blog about. and i don't want to do tags or fill up this space for the sake of it anymore. have done enough of that in the past two years.

those of you who have my id/are on my FB/orkut - mail me if you wish! or leave me comments. i sure do read them/reply.

prashanti - thanks for the award, darling! appreciate it. i've done that tag already... willl fish up the link and let u know :)

hope to see y'all here soon! and yes, i MAY change the template while on a sabbatical! :D

update time

:: MILs here... and we're having a good time terrorizing her hapless son. not that i needed help. but it's always nice to get along with the MIL! so yes, u can leave sympathetic comments for V here. i may convey them to him. depending on the extent of sympathy, of course!
:: we're gonna be camping with frenz from next week till we can shift into our apartment... i'm packing this week, so blogging is gonna be irregular... so is online time.
:: there're other things happening that can't be written abt publicly. good things. and if they do happen, i shall blog and let u guys know. but keep ur fingers crossed for me.

i may not be able to leave comments on all ur blogs... but i will read u on reader. so, don't disown me yet. i pwomise, regular programming shall resume shortly.

jazzin' up the big easy...

so, we're back! from the birthplace of jazz. the queen of the south. the hot-spot for mardi gras. the place with rich history, culture & absolutely superb food. the city of voodoo and vampires. and of course, the city which is now identified as the katrina-ravaged town. we lived in the heart of downtown... from where almost everything worth seeing was within walking distance. *except the swamps and plantations* and didn't really get down to seeing the destruction. but then, that i've seen on tv. so often, that i actually thought the whole town would look like that. i was SO surprised to see it that i absolutely fell in love with n'awlins...!

vin DID attend his conference... and that gave me some me-time. and the time to explore a bit on my own. so now, i've finally figured out a way to go on vacation alone, but with him.

plantations, rich in their history and tales... felt like taking a guided tour of scarlett o'hara's mansion.
the swamp was fascinating. the kind of place which makes one go absolutely silent. in awe. there are LOTS of swamps around the place! being in the middle of a live one felt like being in a movie. without the insects and anacondas! the alligators took me by surprise. totally. i've never been this close to alligators. and honestly, i didn't know that alligators, unlike crocodiles, are docile creatures who don't normally attack humans. yeah, before we went into the swamp... i was kind of expecting an alligator to chase the boat! :D no, that didn't happen! but we did get to see 'gators of all sizes and some gorgeous blue herons and egrets...
as is wont, we were a little lost on the way to the swamp. but by now, i've started enjoying the "journey" instead of focusing on the destination... so it was fun! to drive through quaint little towns... knowing that i'd never see them if we'd stuck to the route. to see how beautiful the houses were... how life was so much simpler there...

i'd heard that it's always mardi gras on bourbon street. and now i realize how true that is. if you're a non-drinker, bourbon street stinks. horribly. and it's LOUD. coz every bar has a live band performing. what u get to hear when u're out on the street is a mix... of pop jazz, creole, zydeco... and i don't know what other types of noises! but once u're drunk, it's all music. and it all sounds fab!
the streets of downtown are alive. they have a soul. and a story. the city's a beautiful mix of the old and new. the horse carriages look so stately on the backdrop of jackson square... it's like being transported back in time. i haven't felt this good since i left bbay. and i've never been to another place which has soul. or maybe, i never felt it. and yeah, if u ever go there.. .make sure u're at riverwalk around dusk... it's one of those sights which stays with u for a long long time... and i mean that positively. the town looks fantastic when the lights are just coming on...

and of course, the food. foodies that we are, we absolutely pigged out. there's food that originated here... so yeah, even the food has history! even thinking of all that yum food now is making me hungry. the crabmeat cheesecake we had was by far the bestest crab meat i've ever had! i finally got down to tasting an alligator to the list of animals i've tasted. that leaves me to try octopus. someday....

it's also the town for vampires, this one! it hosts the infamous halloween ball. which is attended by actual vampires. from all over the US. REAL vampires. people who ardently believe they are vampires. *and they call me cuckoo! yeah, right!* the tales of the supernatural that you get to hear here... they're unparallelled. they also have vampire & ghost sighting tours... i felt like i was in rural india when i heard those tales. the voodoo stores kind of psyched me out tho. i mean, the things they have there... it's amazing to know that people actually have faith in it. also, i'm too wary of it to challenge it by saying it doesn't exist. there's lots that i don't understand and/or have no explanations for... i shall add this to that list!

i don't know whether new orleans is actually that gorgeous... or was it just coz i had absolutely no expectations from the place that i loved it so. but yeah, love it i did! so much that i actually won't mind going back.

and oh yes... the ac's working. they got us a new one the day we left... so there! all's well here. how've u guys been...?

edited to add: pics are from the new orleans official site
dunno the photog.

an obituary. and a break.

there are those in life that we take for granted.
to an extent that we cannot even begin to imagine life without them. u've lived without them for over 25 years of your life... but now, suddenly... unknowingly... they become an integral part of your life. they make u feel comfortable... just knowing they're there takes the heat off most things in life... coming home to them feels GOOD!

but nothing's permanent, is it? one fine day.... which probably begins like any other day, they leave us. just like that. for no fault of yours. it takes us by surprise... there's shock... there's denial... and finally, there's acceptance. of the situation. of the fact that life goes on. with or without u.

our air conditioner died this evening.

and is sorely being missed.

in a joyful coincidence... we run off day after. to new orleans. any of u good folks there?? *serial killers, stalkers, psychos... pls excuse.* if yes, ping by my EoD tomorrow. ok? coz from day after till 24th, i shall not check mails, not be online and neither read nor write blogs. it's a vacation, u know?

see y'all folks! u take care.. be good and pray for my AC. may the compressor R.I.P. and may there be some relief in my life by the time we get back!

p.s.: the fox news weather guy just said it's a TAD cooler tonight. which means, it's 99! it's gonna be a long night. and not in a naughty/nice way. S.I.G.H.

see u all in a while.

couple of things that're keeping me preoccupied.
a. dad's not well. as in really not well. too long a story to get into why & what... besides, i don't want to recount anything. not even in my head. but i hope that he feels better soon. being a daddy's gurl, it's getting kinda difficult for me to focus on any one thing and/or write anything at this point of time. all of u who believe in that entity called god, pls do pray for him?
p.s.: am okay. have just spoken home, so feeling worse than i feel for the rest of the day.

b. suruchi's supposed to guest-write a piece for my 250th post. and she's not getting down to it. despite my attempts at bullying her. this is post # 247. reason why she's supposed to write is bcoz i am highly incapable of celebrating my own blog's 1st year, 100th post or anything else. i don't even really celebrate my own bday. so, as with everything else, i leave this upto her. now, all of u can nag her *she does read this blog!* to write in. okay?

so there's two things u need to do for me. u will be thanked *and maybe blessed* for point a only, though.

thanksgiving time-out!

we had fun... hope u did too...