100 TRUTHS

Have been having a hard time posting something up. Have found on previous occassions that 'tags' are my answer to this blog-block: HERE GOES 100 TRUTHS (a tag I flicked off Renu Aunty's blog)

1. Last drink: Water

2. Last phone call: Snehal Patel (fiance)

3. Last text message: Shreedutta Vasudeva (Chids)

4. Last song you listened to: 'Before the Dawn' by Evanescence

5. Last time you cried: 22 February 2010

HAVE YOU EVER...
6. Dated someone twice: Still dating Snehal Patel...over a million times :P

7. Been cheated upon? Nope

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Nope

9. Lost someone special? Yes

10. Been depressed? PLENTY of time

11. Been drunk and threw up? Drunk (unintentionally), yes. Threw up, NO.

LIST THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS:
12. Lavender
13. White
14. Beige

FIRSTS :
15. Made new friends: Asian College of Journalism, Chennai

16. Fallen out of love: Too deep in it to fall out of it :)

17. Laughed until you cried: Almost always :)

18. Met someone who changed you: Yes. My Fiance.

19. Found out who your true friends were: Yes.

20. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes. :)

HAVE/YOU:
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list: No.

22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life: Plenty

23. How many kids do you want to have: Two.

24. Do you have any pets: No

25. Do you want to change your name: No.

26. What did you do for your last birthday: Had a party at a rooftop hotel, just for family.

27. What time did you wake up today: 7 am for a damn 'photo shoot' (otherwise I'm up by 8:30)

28. What were you doing at midnight last night: Reading something on KERS

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: Starting a new life with my better half.

30. Last time you saw your father: January 27 when I went home for the Republic day holidays.

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: NOTHING. Whatever needed to be changed, has already been.

32. Most visited web page: ACJNEWSLINE :P (To keep checking if our links work properly)

Whats your:
33. Name: Smriti

34. Nicknames: DD, Deeds, Deedee, Sammi, Sam, Smutty, Smartie, Smarts, Simmi

35. Zodiac sign: Taurus

36. Male or female or transgender: ?????

37. Elementary: ???????

38. School: Taraporewalla Montessori House of Children and Harvard P.S, Hyderabad

39. Colleges: OU, Asian College of Journalism

40. Hair color: Coloured Dark Chocolate :P

41. Long or short: Medium

42. Height: 5'2"

43. Do you have a crush on someone? Kimi Raikkonen

44. Ever been in love? Yes. Still am.

45. Piercings? Ears.

46. Tattoos? Nope.

47. Righty or lefty: All Righty Right.

48. First surgery: None

49. First piercing: Ears

50. First best friend: Prashant

51. First sport you loved: Cricket

52. First pet: None yet

53. First vacation: Can't remember honestly.

54. First concert: Might have been the Lata Mangeshkar concert at Hyderabad

55. First crush: Prashant.

RIGHT NOW:
56. Eating: Shreedutta's head.

57. Drinking: Water.

58. I'm about to: Sleep.

59. Listening to: Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot

60. Waiting for: a free day in the life of ACJians.

YOUR/FUTURE
61. Want kids? Of Course.

62. Want to get married? Yes. AND not running away from the mandap :P

63. Careers in mind? Journalism, Teaching too.

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
64. Lips or eyes: Eyes.

65. Hugs or kisses: Both. :P

66. Shorter or taller: Medium.

67. Older or Younger: Anything.

68. Romantic or spontaneous: Rom Rom Antic. :p

69. Nice stomach or nice arms: Ehh? Nice BRAIN.

70. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive

71. Hook-up or relationship: Relationship

72. Trouble maker or hesitant: Both.

HAVE YOU EVER :
73. Kissed a stranger: Nope.

74. Lost glasses / contacts: Nope.

75. Broken someone's heart: Quite a few.

76. Had your own heart broken: Quite a few times.

77. Been arrested: No.

78. Turned someone down: Yes.

79. Cried when someone died: Yes.

80. Liked a friend that is a girl? Hell yeah.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
81. Yourself: Yeah.

82. Miracles: Yes.

83. God: Sachin, apparently. Otherwise, no.

84. Love at first sight: Totally!!

85. Heaven: Ehhh??

86. Santa Claus: No.

87. Kiss on the first date? Maybe.

88. Angels: Yes. The Human ones. Not the fairy tale ones.

89. Devils: Yes. The Human ones again.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
90. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes. :(

91. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? No.

92. Wanted to kill someone ever? YES.

93. Among your blog mates, whom would you like to kiss? PJ :P

94. Committed a blunder and regretted later? Many times.

95. Wanted to steal your friend's boyfriend / girlfriend? Why would I? I've got the best. :P

96. White: T-shirt

97. Black: Jeans.

98. Red: Shoes.

99. Pink: Bedsheet.

100. Posting this as 100 Truths? Boring. :| :P :P

Open to anyone who wants to take it up :P

Lives of Others

It has been exactly one week since our trip to Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) and I still can't seem to get those images outside my head.

As is the routine with every tourist spot in India, Mahabs (as they call it here) has a huge influx of tourists - local and foreigners. Agreed that the architecture is spectacular and beaches are beautiful. Normally, it would have been an ideal weekend getaway on short budget. Amid the huge tourist influx, I wonder how many wait to notice the poor ladies selling beaded ornaments.

We reached there around 11 in the morning and were immediately hounded by a woman selling bead necklace. She was carrying a baby, carefully put up in a cloth bag hung across her chest. She was pregnant with another child. What was striking about this woman was, the baby was positioned right on her breast, while she continued to have her hands full with these beaded necklaces.

A little while later, as my friends negotiated on the price of hats being sold near the Shore Temple, I saw plenty other women like the earlier one. Most of them were carrying children, just like she was. The rest were pregnant. I was quite overwhelmed when I noticed that every one of these women either had a baby or was pregnant. And they seemed like they were in their early to mid-twenties.

I saw the first woman again. This time the baby had woken up and was crying. She kept yelling out, trying to sell the necklaces to anyone who was interested. At the same time, she tried hard to breast feed her baby and stop its crying.

Although it was a good trip with friends, I am still haunted with questions about those women.

I wonder what their life is like everyday. Children are a huge responsibility and to see them juggling motherhood with livelihood, just humbles me. I cannot imagine such a loss of privacy, but these women seem to have none.

One can't help but imagine...the lives of others.

My Hero!

These days I often find myself lapsing into this different kind of emotion, something that brings tears to my eyes. It has finally dawned upon me that I will be getting married in less than a year and I won't be around each day making that special morning tea that Papa loves.

As a child, I always knew that I'll leave home one day to go and live with my soulmate, my life partner. It always bothered me that I didn't have a brother who'd be there everyday with mummy and papa, after even my sister got married. I'm sure my parents never had that kind of a fear and they've brought up me and my sister with all the comforts that they could provide.

I've been thinking about the times I got mad at Papa for various things. Trivial issues. I wonder why I ever lost my temper at dad from small things. No one's perfect and I expected him to be. It is only now I realize that he is perfect in his own special way. He's my perfect hero.

Papa has always given me whatever I wanted. Always. He cared to listen to me, wanted to hear me out even though I was always chatty with mummy. I always felt that I can talk only the 'serious things' with papa and maintain a sort of 'professionalism' with him, while being pally with mummy. That is how our equation has been working so far.

I was scared as hell when I spoke to him about Snehal but his reaction to it just made me want to hug him. I realize now that I don't actually remember hugging him ever. He was cool about everything, putting my happiness first. He always has as I think of it now.

I remember telling my Dadi that I will marry someone from Hyderabad so that I don't have to go away from home. Now that I'll go away over 1200kms away, I don't know what it must be like for Papa .

This diwali when I went home, I could sense that papa realised it was my last diwali at home. I guess all of us wanted to make is special this time. And we did. For the first time in all these years, my diwali was memorable and I felt truly connected and happy. I'm sure papa did as well.

Each night I dread thinking about the day I go away, I dread seeing tears in my hero's eyes, I dread showing him my tears. But I guess it is bound to happen. Yes, he'll cry and so will I. I can already see that it is a moment of pride for a father when he gets his daughter married and papa

is excited. But those tears are inevitable.

Just wanted to say that Papa I love you very much for everything that you have ever done for me and all the happiness that you have given me in life. You not only gave me a life, but most importantly you gave me the freedom to live it on my terms. Love you papa.