A shopoholic and subsequent Pack-o-mania

Hmm....itz been 5 weeks since I blogged. The last month was exciting, chaotic and hectic. Exciting because my bro and SIL were blessed with a baby girl on the 21st...exciting because I had another person to shop for....exciting because we were soon returning to India.
Why chaotic and hectic??? Here goes....
I was shopping, packing, cleaning, running last minute errands, finishing formalities etc the whole of March. I have always enjoyed shopping, the rest of the things were never a problem but packing was a nightmare, it will be a lil easy for you to imagine if you had an idea about how big a shopoholic I am. I kept buying things and packing them but failed to weigh. The last Saturday of our stay in Stuttgart, Shash and I woke up early and were all set to go out to do some (more) shopping. Just a few minutes before we had to leave, Shash insisted that we weigh the stuff we had. When we did so, it was a surprise that I or rather Shash :) didn't faint; the whole lot weighed 164 kilos (we had a 100 kg cargo limit). I just said that packing was a nightmare, but this is when I realized what a real nightmare is. I had already donated loads of stuff to Red Cross, now there was more....I had to unpack each and every bag and take out everything and decide what worldly stuff I really could do without ( Poor me - how I wished I hadn't shopped so much). Somehow, I managed to bring the weight down to 142 kilos, I sent 100 kilos by cargo, and squeezed some into our check-in and cabin bags ( which were also full) and left some behind for my good friend Priya to bring. I won't go into the details of the trouble we had at the airport because of excess baggage. But we managed to bring everything - now thatz what I would regard as a silver lining.
Now, sitting here and relaxing, a part of me feels that all the tension at the last minute was in a way fun.

Strangers

Like every morning today too, on my way to Volkhochschule I saw (met?) Mr. Topiwala - that´s what I have christened him fondly :). Mr.T is a 60 - 65 year old man of Asian origin. If you see a cute, tiny, very brisk man with a grey hat (hence the name) and with his hands in his pockets in Stuttgart - undoubtedly it´s him. Although Mr.T and I have seen each other everyday for the past 7 months, we never smile or greet each other (don´t ask me why?), but we do give each other the "I - know- you" look.

Like any other afternoon today too, I saw Manisha (again, I don´t know her real name). I call her so as she resembles Manisha Koirala. Manisha and I exchange what I would call half-smiles (because it is not from cheek to cheek) everyday. She´s in her late twenties, is most probably an European and she lives in one of the apartments on the street perpendicular to my street.

Mr.T and Manisha are just two out of a dozen strangers who I see on my daily commute. I have names for everyone. Many a times, I run into them in a shopping center or a supermarket. Seeing them elsewhere, than on the usual buses and trains, makes me happy. The reason might be that I´ve never considered them as strangers. There are cases when I have even made up stories. Though it boosts my creativity, I can´t help but wonder about their real names, their backgrounds, their families, their professions...

My First Tag

Alphabet Tag - tagged by Chitra

A - Available?
To chit chat - always

B – Best Friend:
Jeff

C – Cake or Pie?
Cake

D – Drink of Choice:
Fresh Pineapple Juice

E – Essential thing used every day:
My Cell phone - never step out without it!

F – Favourite Colour:
Pink & Violet

G – Gummi Bears or Worms:
Gummi Bears

H – Hometown:
Bangalore

I – Indulgence:
Cleaning and arranging - nothing can stop me until its done

J – January or February:
February – here´s why

K – Kids and Names:
Love kids.....haven´t really thought about any names

L – Life:
Life is Shash

M – Marriage Day:
Most memorable - loved being the centre of attraction

N – Number of siblings:
One

O – Oranges or Apples:
Definitely Apples

P – Phobia:
Injections

Q – Quote:
I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me - Fred Allen

R - Reason to Smile:
Puts me in high spirits

S – Season:
Rainy - romantic

T – Tag three people:
Sandeep, Ashwini, Smruthi

U – Unknown fact about me:
I always drink water after drinking hot chocolate.

V – Vegetable you do not like:
Aubergines & Zucchini

W – Worst Habit:
Always expect things to be returned to where they belong immediatly after use - I defnitely think it´s one of my best habits - but Shash thinks it´s the worst

X-rays you have had:
soooo many - was very naughty as a kid

Y – Your favourite food:
Jolada Rotti with Engai Palya

Z – Zodiac
Sagittarius

Surprises

I love surprises. Three of the most important people in my life (Dad, Mom and Shash) were born in February and this makes it my favorite month. As a child, I remember surprising my mom with little gifts. Last year when Dad turned 60, I wanted to surprise him with a big birthday bash and I was able to do it with the help of my bro, SIL and Shash.

This year I wanted to do something similar for Shash. I knew that he had never had a surprise birthday party before. I planned everything- the cake, the menu, the guest-list, the decoration and also cooked up something to tell Shash............

Now action : I invited the guests, told my gullible husband that I had reserved a table for two for dinner at a Mexican Restaurant at 8:00 p.m, baked, cooked, decorated, requested a couple of good friends to pick up a few things. I had asked everyone to be at our place by 7:00 p.m.

At 6:30 p.m the bell rang. To my shock, it was Shash, he was about 90 mins early today and usually whenever we have to go out, he comes home only with enough time to say "Ramya, we have to leave now." I was disappointed as I wanted to have all the guests inside the house before his arrival. It took about 10 mins after his arrival for him to realize that chairs were arranged in the living room and that there was something fishy. I had to then reveal that I was having a surprise party for him. The look on his face is something that I will cherish for my entire life. My disappointment vanished as I realised that I had suceeded in surprising him. He was full of questions - "when did you...how did you...who all have you.........." I told him he had to wait. Soon one after the other the guests started pouring in. The party was great and Shash was very happy.

Ayurveda

It´s astonishing to see how fast Ayurveda is catching up here in Germany. In almost all exhibitions held here in Stuttgart you will find a stall for Ayurvedic medicines and cosmetics. And on the other hand in India, we try all sorts of foreign medicines, cosmetics and treatment before turning to Ayurveda. When I was thinking on the same lines I remembered how in old Indian advertisements companies stressed on the fact that the products were Ayurvedic.

I found one such ad on youtube. Here it is:



But thesedays we are more concerned about how fast the product works. Accordingly advertisers stress on the time factor.

Jeff - mein Freund

In German class today, the theme for the day was "Freundschaft" (Friendship). We were asked to write a poem about a friend and were given about 10 mins. I wrote the following poem about my good friend Jeff. In the poem I have said that he lives in France (because it was the only country I could think of that rhymed with the last word in the previous line) when Jeff actually lives in the U.S.

Jeff - mein Freund

Du bist lustig,
Du bist kräftig,
Ich vermisse dich...
Du machst Spaß,
Du kennst keine Hass,
Ich vermisse dich...
Du magst Musik,
Du bist nicht gut in Mathematik,
Ich vermisse dich...
Du bist hilfreich,
Du lebst in Frankreich,
Ich vermisse dich.

-Viel Spaß

Happy New Year!

Yesterday we had a New Year party with potluck dinner at our place. We had a Treasure hunt, some games and of course dancing! It was a lovely evening followed by a delicious dinner (thanks to my wonderful friends who are great cooks). I baked Veg Puffs and Vanilla Cake. My Veg Puffs were a huge hit, here´s the recipe. I decided to put it here especially for Madhuri, Priya, Shamli and Shwetha.

Later at night, we went to watch fireworks at Scholssplatz. It was a feast to our eyes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!