Dubai Grand Parade

It was a fun weekend. The open spaces at Meydan, the parade, display and drifting of luxury cars, food stalls, games, pleasant weather and catching up with a good friend. What is not to like?

Valentine's Weekend Getaway

  

Valentine's day was surprisingly surprising :) You might wonder what that means. I shall explain. Sometimes I 'know' that there is some 'surprise' in store for me. I just don't know what the surprise is. So I just sit back, relax and wait to be surprised. What the heck? I was lying. I get totally kicked about the impending surprise, and keep wondering what exactly the surprise would be. But this Valentine's Day was surprisingly surprising.

My husband is big on the 'days' - Birthdays, Wedding anniversaries, Christmas, Newyears and the likes. Me on the other hand, has been brought up with enough 'wisdom' and  a steady diet of 'cynicism' to think that it is all one big marketing strategy. Buhahaha!! We rarely celebrated such days in my family. Except, maybe birthdays. Birthdays were slightly more elaborate affair. But all other special days mostly involved door delivery and watching Television.  My dad didn't believe in such days. Hence the lack of huge celebrations. My mom believed in all those. Hence the door delivery. And I grew up as a confused child, at the worst; and a flexible child at the best. I was okay with treating all these days as just another day. I didn't get depressed (may be a tad bit disappointed) if I was alone on any of these days. I could easily convince myself that it is not a big deal. But I would secretly wish for a celebration. So yea, flexible that way.

But once I met V, things changed dramatically. Every special day has been made special and memorable hence. But we never celebrated a Valentine's day. Mostly because we were never together for any of the  Valentine's Days. We were away for our first V-day after wedding, and he sent me a cake and a bouquet of flowers. But somehow, I expected this V-day to be a dull one, because we were around 20 months into our marriage - 4 birthdays  (mine 2, his 2) 1 Valentine's day and 1 wedding anniversary down. So I didn't make any grand plans and just bought a card for him.

V called me from work on Thursday noon and told me to pack my bags AND get dressed AND that we were going on a small holiday AND he was going to get me in a couple of hours AND that he will be home for lunch. I should have been excited and jumping with joy. But I hated it. To begin with, I was feeling under the weather and was planning to take the day a little easy, not cook anything for lunch and just eat some leftover. But if V comes home for lunch, I would want to make some proper lunch. That problem was sorted when he offered to get some food delivered at the door. But that doesn't solve everything. A girl needs to pair the right kind of clothes, match it carefully (but should appear carelessly) with her shoes, bags and  accessories. She needs to make sure she doesn't forget her sunscreens. moisturisers and lip balms. And above all, she needs to FIND all those things in her cluttered wardrobe, without that resulting in a clotheslide.(something that can be equated with a landslide). But thankfully, she did  manage successfully. I managed successfully. So off we went to Golden Tulips, Ghantout, Abu Dhabi. We had a very beautiful stay and had a beautiful Valentine's weekend.

                                             The aesthetically-designed interiors

                                                       
                                                                 The surprise V gifts :)

                                             The beauuuutiful pool in which I we spent hours on  end                                      

                                                 My favourite pic clicked on the day

                                                        It is awesome to be surrounded by water

                                            This really makes me want to live in a water-villa :)
 

                                    
                                                    The lovely-looking restaurant

                                             The Valentine's Day dinner - The juiciest Rib eye
                        

                                               Rich & creamy Penne Carbonara

                                          Complete with desserts -Yummy Yummy  Strawberry Cheese Cake

 

                                          And just so-so Caramel Pudding

I had a splendid Valentine's Day - Spectacular locale, cozy room, surprise gifts, lip-smacking food and couple-time. Sorry honey, for throwing a fit and almost calling off the getaway, just because I didn't quite feel like it. :(

       

Hope all you guys had a wonderful Valentine's weekend!

Cochin...

Look what I have done to this blog? I started it with a lot of love and a lot of enthusiasm, but ignored it for TWO WHOLE months. Well.. not totally ignored though. I would check it from time to time, hoping to find some comments in the "comments section". To my disappointment, I found none. But I have plenty of stuff happening in my drafts. They never see the light of the day cuz 1) I feel the need to supplement my posts with photographs, to catch interest and all. And I have still not figured how to transfer photos from V's camera. I am sooper scared to even hold it, so I let him do all the transferring. I remind him from time to time, to copy all the photographs. But I don't want to nag.  2) I find the motivation and time to start writing, but I find neither, while I am half way through the post. I think marriage has kinda domesticated me. So I spend more time 'thinking' about the household chores ( as opposed to actually doing it), rather than thinking up some smart lines for my posts. Duh!

On a brighter note, I am in my home town 'Cochin'. My parents had visited us in Dubai during the festive season, and we had a great time celebrating christmas and Newyears together. (But more about that later). So this time I was not overtly excited to get back home. And when I left Dubai (cuz V was travelling for work), I felt something tugging at my heartstrings. That is when I realized that I would be missing him. One of those moments that remind me why I married him :)

I landed at Cochin at 3.30 am, after a sleepless flight. Unfortunately, I got the middle seat, which I loathe. I felt very 'sandwiched'. But I entertained myself by watching "Ganchakkar". Since Vidya Balan is a  favourite, I enjoyed the otherwise-senseless-movie. But what I didn'ty enjoy at all was the fact that the guy who sat next to me didn't bother to switch his screen on, but was looking at my screen the whole while. I mean, he was just watching a movie. But why can't he just watch movies on HIS screen? And guess wot, after a while, the girl sitting next to me stopped watching whatever was playing on her screen and started watching the movie that I was playing on my screen, Weird, huh?

Anyways, after reaching Cochin, I just couldn't handle the heat. Its winter in Doobai now. So I went from less than 20 degrees to 35 degrees in quick 4 hours. This change in temperature is taking a toll on me. I am so tired all the time. But catching up with my friend at Cocoa Tree totally cheered me up for two reasons. 1) Cocoa Tree is one of my fav hangouts. 2)This friend has an ability to have me in splits all the time. We can yap endlessly and still have a lot to talk about. She is definitely a stress-buster and a laugh riot. She is the kind of girl who can cheer you up anyday with her sunshine persona. Definitely the kind of friend everyone needs. And add to it the fact that it was more like a mini celebrity outing for me ;).There was actress Kukku Parameshwar with a friend and also a  contestant from the reality show 'Midukki'. But what made my day is that the young actress 'Parvathy Menon' also stepped in. I loved her right from her 'Notebook' days. She came across as a very strong and independent woman in all her interviews. But what really conquered my heart was her exemplary performance in the Tamil movie 'Maryan'. She was simply outstanding. I walked up to her and struck up a conversation. She came across as a very sweet person. She said, 'I am so sorry I look like this. I just woke up'. She looked very petite and cute - quite a contradiction from her on-screen look. After that I took a walk till the new 'Crossword'. I am assuming it is the first 'Crossword' in Cochin. As I told you, I love being in the midst of books, so had a great time browsing. A lot of books caught my interest, but I was determined not to buy anything, unless I finish all the books I already have. But I couldn't resist Judy Balan's 'Sophie Says'. Judy is one of my favoutrite bloggers, and her blog brings a smile to my face. I have been looking for this book for a while, but couldn't find it. So I just grabbed it.


Yes, Cochin has something about it... I think the beauty of Cochin lies in its moderation. It is a hip city if you want it to be..(atleast as hip as Kerala allows it to be).. You have the the hangouts, party places, multiplexes, shopping malls, luxury cars, chic crowd etc.. But you can also enjoy a very simple life, without getting affected by any of these. :) To me, Cochin is comforting, Cochin is where my parents live, Cochin is where most of my relatives live, Cochin is where I can speak my mother tongue, Cochin is where I  bump into friends or acquaintances, Cochin is where I can hail a rick and reach where ever I want in no time, Cochin is home...

Reliving some beautiful days in Cochin through some of my favourite  pics...

Clicked @ Hotel Abad Plaza on one of my birthdays while lunching with family...

                                                  (click image for larger view)

                        Clicked on the day V came home for the first time.. The happiness is evident :)                               

                                                             (click image for larger view)


The most memorable, yet the scariest day of my life - my wedding day... I was so tired with all the standing,  I thought I might want to surgically remove my legs.. Argghhhhh! Yet, I managed to smile through it :)

                                                           (click image for larger view)



On a mad day when my sis and aunt decided to indulge me by clicking my pics non stop. How sweet of them. :).. This hairstyle of mine gave me the nickname "pekinese" for obvious reasons !!!

                       
                                                          (click image for larger view)

One of my all-time favourite pics. I think V's favourite pic of mine too:)

                                                                  (click image for larger view)

Sharjah International Book Festival

I am a lover of books... I love walking into a crossword (or any bookshop, for that matter), finding a cozy nook and flipping through books... I love the feeling of holding a book in my hands, smelling its pages and reading its blurb... I get totally excited by seeing  a new book... Sometimes, even talking about a new book gives me an adrenaline rush... Now that doesn't mean that I am a voracious reader... Strange, isn't it? I know... How much ever I love being taken into a different world through books, I always find something more lovable to do... I need a very quiet, lonesome place to start reading a book.. Most often,  my laptop, TV, mobile phone or magazines take up my free time.. But once I do get hooked on to a book, I find it really hard to keep it down...   I love sitting alone at a  coffee shop and enjoying a book, sometimes enjoying the coffee more than the book (esply if its cold coffee with whipped cream)...But I love immersing in a book the best, when I am travelling.. That is when I have very few things to distract me..except, ofcourse the fellow travellers who want to distract.. But then books are the best excuse to keep them at bay....

There is no wonder then that the Sharjah Book Fair excited me.. I get to walk into a hall full of books!!. That thrilled me to the core...So, me and V did go to the fair and I had a good time being amidst the books. Well, I didn't buy any books though.. Ofcorz, we are Indians who do the conversion math after all!.. So I carefully noted some book titles to be bought during my next visit to India...

When I asked V to click a pic of mine, he obliged readily, but not before making me pose with this book titled "Why men marry bitches".. He tells me he could have easily co-authored the book :D

                           (click the image for a larger view)

This is the Live Cooking Corner.. Many internationally acclaimed chefs whip up their recipes in front of us.. Sanjeev Kapoor and Vicky Ratnani were also among them... But unfornately, I had to give it a miss.. I was really starving, and went as close as I could get to the cooking corner, hoping that I would get to sample something.. But tough luck :P

Another click from the Fair...