Top 5 things to look Forward to on Women's Day

Girls, Ladies and Beautiful Women,

Here's another Womens' Day!

Now how do we know its here? The 2 dozen greetings on whatsapp wishing you a Hppy Womens' Day should give you a cue. Or the incessant jabbering of the RJ on radio, perhaps. What is one supposed to do about the messages? One knows that one is part of a group mail, group broadcast. The prudent thing is to just ignore. Well before ignoring one can actually read a few and realise how awesome and special one is - right?

Now heres the biggest cue for the day. Even your grumpy son wakes up to wish you a "Happy Women's Day". Now you know you really have to dress up a bit for the women's day theme at work. No pulling on whatever one can lay one's hands on. Sarees and costume jewellery to match - ticked. You know you are going to be late - again, since you haven't started to get ready taking into account the saree wearing ceremony! Sarees and accessories matched (you wonder how people do it everyday) ... you rush to work, knowing you are late. Now here comes the icing. Its Womens Day... Unlikely u will be pulled up for tardiness :) so make the most of it.

As the Day progresses you realise that  Happy Women's Day has replaced the ubiquitous Good Morning and Good Afternoon greetings. Oh well... u take what you get.

Then comes the messages of Spa discounts. As you decide which parlour to go to and whether to get a hair trimming or facial or go the whole hog and straighten and highlight your hair at the ridiculous discount of 50%, your eyes pop up at more deals.

Free shots! Free at the dance floor, freebies at the mall...

God forbid you start watching TV! You get all stats on women related crimes, employment, education...

Whoa! Give us a break. Just treat us like... you know... normal. With respect.

Well waiting for the next Women's Day for my freebies.

Heres a pic with some of my dear students on Women's Day. Girls.. enjoy the day. But see that you make yourself special everyday.

An ode for Self and my 40s Friends (nee Teens!)

(With due apologies to the real poets out there!)

When hormones and BPs make a call

Does friendship go for a stroll? 

Kitty parties, kids and kitchen

Maids, puppies, homework and men

Tie it up with anniversaries and weddings

Bdays, golf parties, work parties and promotions

Parents, arthritis, doctors checkups

Boss, deadlines, budget and the alumni curse

Aunts uncles getting old
As we struggle to make time for them

Those childhood memories get slowly lost

GTs, selfies, whatsapp, games though manage to rule the frame

We still manage to survive the day

With a smile, attitude and reserve at play

Where Everyday is a new day and and Every pic has a new Wrinkle

Those are not worry lines but smile lines 

No anti wrinkle cream is erasing the experience

No doc making us live forever

When finally the mood swings stop and Life settles

Remember we will be too old to play

So let's enjoy the egos and squabbles

And let those thyroid, BP and hormones have their day

Let them just add one more crinkled line of strength

to the bond called friendship; here’s to the day

Let's live it up!

A Shopping Trip to Mid Valley Mega Mall

There’s a trite phrase for it. Retail therapy. It is not just a therapy, it is a lifeline – it is addictive, drains the wallet, submerges the wardrobe and gives me pleasant dreams for weeks. As the long summer holidays drew to a close - I badly needed the distractions of a mall to get away from CN and Nick at home. Mid Valley Megamall called out to me for an extended trip!



I was almost out of a few toiletery items and there was a good sale on at Guardian – that was the trigger for the trip.



As I crossed the optical store at Mid Valley, I realized there was a huge sale in frames and lenses. Now, for the past 1.5 years I have been thinking of having my eye checked and getting new frames. Somehow sitting at home – hasn’t made this as imminent as it would have been otherwise. I dropped in and soon found my eyes getting thoroughly checked by a London trained Optician. Of course to no surprise, there was a small power change with an increase in astigmatism. I don’t know how, but I soon found myself choosing a nice new titanium frame and making a small deposit on it. I had over over exceeded my budget before I had even really entered the mall!


I got my stuff at the Guardian with what I considered great savings. Those nice new knee braces which I was waiting to get at a sale came at a 40% discount for just Rm 14 – when I purchased items worth Rm 100. Pleased with myself, I got some grocery and other items, drooled over the MNG and Zara stuff and returned home.


The next day I had to go again to pick up my new glasses. I remembered about an upcoming Birthday and also got a toy at Toys R Us at a nice discount. That was when I saw the British India Sale. British India is one brand that I love. A bit pricey, so I have been eyeing their annual sale for some time. I had missed it last year – and I found I was at the fag end of their clearance this time too. How could I miss it?



I soon found myself trying out their stuff. I hit upon one – that seemed to have been left just for me. A nice lovely purple skirt at a hefty discount. It was just one size bigger – but almost neatly fitted me. I took it – I hardly ever lose weight and the skirt (at its price) was too good to be true. It looked a dream. As I picked it up – the saleswoman asked whether I wouldn’t like a top with it? So I looked and found a nice one at – again – 70% discount! The tunic was just a size short though. Well, all my efforts to slim down will soon bear fruits, I thought, as I bought it just before I was about to get out....


So went my retail therapy... (and what if it included a top one size short for a skirt one size big)

(Originally published at Xomba.com at http://www.xomba.com/shopping-trip-mid-valley. Mid Valley Megamall is one of the biggest shopping malls at Kuala Lumpur - and in my opinion the most diverse)

The Secret Diary of a Wimpy Housewife

Well, I am the first to admit that the title is neither original nor applies to me. I am not a wimpy housewife, no way. Inspired by my son's devouring of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and treating it as a bible - I had to pick up the "Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife" - when I came across it at the local library.

There was an immediate affinity with diary and diarist - just reading the first page. Many a times I have vowed to spend "quality, life-affirming things to reclaim my spirit" and "staring vacantly into space" wondering about the "the selfless decision to leave the workplace." Or trying to feel noble about being a stay at home mother.
As for being wimpy - I don't always give in to the others whims. If I do - I have strong reasons like:

I do let my kids watch Cartoon Network 14 hours a day - but that's because I believe a moving, lively, colorful medium will do more for their brain than the staid colorless words in print. They will also pick up a better diction and vocabulary from the variety on TV than a monotonous storytelling session from Mom.
As for giving in and giving them Maggie for breakfast, lunch and dinner - shouldn't they learn to adjust with ready-to-cook easy meals? Where will they always get hot home cooked food?

Mothers and MILs always seem to have done the right thing when we were kids. They gave us food on time, ensured we never had a cold or ate with dirty fingers and got our homework done bang on time. What more – they were always engaged in “productive soul enhancing activities” like looking after kids and home! No retail therapy for them, buying unnecessary clothes or accessories. No “me time” too – apparently. So they say.

As my husband comments on the amount of vegetable in the Chicken Biriyani (what are carrots and peas doing in a Chicken Biriyani for God’s Sake?) – I push back all thoughts of power lunches and adult conversation at the workplace. Of a time when one ate lunch not actually cooked by oneself. Better concentrate on how very frightful the last boss was or the howling of the kid when Mom had to sneak away to work.

I have by now gone through two pages of “Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife” in between “life-affirming” and doubtful quality time spent playing Farmville. I have had no inspiration on “productive soul enhancing activities” unless screaming at the kids to finish their homework before school reopens, preparing veggie chicken Biriyani or shopping for groceries count.


If you want to read what the “Secret Diary of a Demented Housewife” by Niamh Greene says (and you will love it!), you can get it online somewhere I am sure (couldn't find it at Amazon). It has been published by Penguin Ireland.

Here is a Amazon link to the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".

PS – My family still doesn’t know there was cabbage too in the Chicken Biryani – it blended right in with the spices! So much for being a wimpy housewife! Tee hee.

Valentine's Day Poem - With A Difference!

There was a time when I got the Best Valentine cards,
Guys wanted to be close to me like mad.
I got the best of best friends too
Who vied to pay attention to me and woo.
I am 40 now and not getting young,
Crying for all the love and attention and a bit of song
My husband forgets the V'day
My son so young and gay
does only stuff that his girlfriends say!
20 years older and 40 pounds heavier
Oh how weary and dull life seems now
If I was a bit thin or a lot cool
I could still conquer the world
For don’t I know it all!
All of you out there, the young uns
So full of love and life and laughter
Please resist those chocolates
As you might be me twenty years on!

Marriage Anniversary Gifts

Wedding anniversary gifts started with the idea of putting a value on each year of marriage completed. So if it is a challenge for you to come up with a wedding anniversary gift every year, the work is already cut out for you by tradition! What's really interesting is that there is a specific gift associated with each marriage anniversary.

While each of us know the traditional anniversaries, silver, golden, diamond, etc, each of these commodity is actually the gift that the man bestows on his wife. A silver garland for 25 years, a gold ornament for 50 years is the idea. At the lower end of the wedding spectrum, one year of marriage deserves a gift of paper and five years qualifies for wood. Its older the better, like wine!

Traditional wedding anniversaries gifting started in Central Europe anound mid 19th century. There was a specific gift associated upto fifth anniversary and then every five years. The American National Retail Jeweller Association in all its smartness issued a list in 1937 in what can be termed as contemporary wedding anniversary gift list. This list includes a spefic gift upto 15th year and then every fifth year. Trust them to have added ten more years of compulsory gifting!



Learn more about wedding gifts, anniversaries, history of wedding anniversary gifts both modern and contemporary here.


http://marriage.about.com/od/anniversariescelebrations/a/annivhistory.htm

http://www.anniversaryideas.co.uk/traditional_history.asp