The second sighting

The date was set. We were destined to meet that day. And when destiny commands man follows. I woke up with a funny feeling that morning. Though I could not put my finger on it, I knew it was not going to be a great day. It was like phantom pain...I could feel it but not place it. With a great sense of foreboding, I opened my eyes. A lovely morning was staring back at me. I started considering things that could go wrong for me on that day. I could slip and break a bone, my car could break down on the way to work, I could screw up at work, my best friend might decide to desert me or my husband could divorce me. I woke up my dear hubby and asked him if he was making plans to divorce me. He responded with a look that said "How do you manage to come up with questions like this?". I decided to face the day with my bravest face.

Being the hopeless foodie that I am, I decided to perk up my "could be a bad day" with a good lunch. I decided to cook something interesting. As soon as I stepped into the kitchen I realized what had been troubling me since that morning. My worst fear was back. It was "The return of the Lizard". My first reaction was to scream. I did a comic little jig on one foot and jumped onto the settee in a second. I gave myself a second to calm down. This time, the lizard was a baby. It was really small. Actually, I thought, it could be the child of the first lizard which was flushed down the drain by husband. It might have come back for revenge. I shuddered at the thought. Suddenly I had a great inspirational thought. Fears should be faced because dar ke aage jeet hai. I decided to get rid of my fear of lizards and turn that day into a milestone in my life. I could tell my grand children that this was the day when grandma stopped being afraid of lizards. Else it would have run in the family. I decided to get a broom and sweep the baby lizard away.

My broomstick was in the balcony which could be got to only through the kitchen. I put my best foot forward and gingerly crept across the kitchen. I was constantly on the look out for any movements that the  baby might make meaning to flee if it should decide to ATTACK ME. I picked up the broom and got back into the kitchen. Mustering all the courage I thought that I had, I raised my hand and reached out to the lizard using the broom. Lo and behold, the baby seemed to panic, it slipped and fell down onto the floor, inches away from my feet. The next few minutes are hazy to me. I believe I had a surge of adrenaline and rushed out of the kitchen in superhuman speed. I screamed my lungs out. My friendly neighborhood spiderman, my husband came rushing to me. I pointed to the kitchen and he understood. He went in and after a couple of thuds and moans came out. He looked at me, let out a sigh and walked away. I realized I was still standing on our settee. I got down and reflected on my actions. I finally decided that some fears are best lived with...not faced. 

I am Woman

I was watching one of my favoutite movies today, Sex and the city 2 and I was delighted when the leading ladies broke into a song which I love for its beautiful lyrics. It was "I am woman" by Ray Burton and Helen Reddy.


Women are exquisite creatures. God must have felt in need of excelling himself and prove his prowess when he decided to create women :). How else can we explain the existence of a species which keeps getting better and better with generations. Woman is such a perfect little mix of emotions that its joyous to see them perform their part in the play called Life. She is strong yet vulnerable, loving yet can hate with unmatched intensity, fearless yet shy, mature yet naive...the list is endless. Poets and writers have tirelessly come up with adjectives to describe women over ages. 


The mother who runs to hug her child as the little one returns from school rushing into her arms, the wife who puts her husband before herself in everything that she does, the daughter who acknowledges her parents' efforts in making her the person she is, they are in every sense the perfect epitomes of love, caring, affection, sacrifice and eternal internal beauty.


Women older by 3 or more generations were the real miracle workers. They would handle families which had a minimum of 10 members, cook for an army of people with a finesse that would put the best chef to shame. Women of the current generation are stronger. She cannot be bent or broken, she will put up the toughest fight before giving up and though she might not be as wise as their previous generations, she is more determined than ever.


And as the song goes

I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

I am proud to be a WOMAN....Cheers!

My dear Uncle

This article is a tribute to my uncle who has transformed my way of looking at life. His name is Nuthalapati Srinivas and we call him "Srinivas Uncle".

Uncle has been a part of our family since our childhood. My father works for Heavy Water Plant and shifted from Kota in Rajasthan to Manuguru in AP in 1986. I was 3 years old then.Srinivas Uncle used to work in the gas agency at that time. Sometime after we shifted to the colony we got a big bungalow which had an out house. Srinivas Uncle shifted into that room. Slowly he became close to us. He was epecially very close to me.

He used to drop me at school, pick me up after school, take me out and buy me chocolates and goodies and pamper me. My dad and mom say that srinivas uncle pampered me more than they did. Every morning I and my sister would go to uncle's room and wake him up. He was a very lazy person and would not wake up. We would then have breakfast together. We all loved the dosas my mom made. We all still marvell at the amazing speed at which she prepared dosas for us. Later Uncle moved out of our house when he got a job in the chemical lab in Heavy Water Plant and was alloted quarters in the colony. Uncle got married to Rekha Aunty. Our relationship with Uncle did not change even after he got married. I have always taken uncle for granted in the sense that I knw that Uncle will be there for me whenever I need him.

Recently i.e about two years back, something happened that affected all of us badly. Srinivas Uncle met with an accident. The incident is painful for me to recall but I want to recall it to admire the brave and courageous person that Srinivas Uncle is. Srinivas Uncle had taken a contract of laying roads somewhere near aswapuram. He was returning from the site sometime during midnight. He was driving to the left side of the road within speed limits. Suddenly a truck hit him from the front and the he took the blow in his face. The impact of the blow threw him a few feet away. His motorcycle went under the truck and was crushed to pulp. Uncle says his mouth was somewhere on his cheek after the blow. His jaw and nose had broken to pieces. He was not aware of the extent of damage that had happened to his face as he was under shock. He was lying on the side of the road and he felt that he was dying. He was unable to breathe as his nose was broken. Uncle says people were looking at him and saying that "this guy is going to die". No one even tried to help him it seems. He says he thought of his daughter and waited for death. However after two minutes he still felt conscious. He then thought that there still might be a chance for him to survive and decided that he would not give up without a fight. He got up and walked onto the road. People looked at him and got scared it seems. Uncle says no one tried to help him. He forcibly stopped a motorcycle and sat on it asking the driver to take him to our residential colony. Uncle says that the guy begged uncle to get off his bike. Uncle got off and then had no strength left to fight for his life. He laid down on the road motioning for vehicles to stop. After about 20 minutes an auto stopped and uncle got into it promising the driver whatever he wanted in return. When uncle got to our hospital the doctor retrieved a bottle of blood from his nose and mouth. Uncle's jaw was completely shattered and he lost his left eye. He was shifted to the Kamineni hospital in Hyderabad. I went to see him and was shocked to see him. He was unable to talk and was writing down what he wanted to convey to us. I went with my mom and sister. Uncle was lying on the bed and tears started streaming down his eyes when he saw us. I can never forget the fear that I felt that day. I was happy that uncle was safe and alive. However we were all afraid for Uncle and Aunty thinking of the struggle they would have to go through after the accident. The way Uncle bounced back is admirable. He recovered soon and got a lot of treatments done. He fought courageously and got back to work within 6 months. Whenever I see uncle now I think of the way he fought for his life that night. After my marriage when I was leaving for Vamsi's house I cried. My mom and dad were crying too. Almost as I was about to leave I looked at Uncle and saw that he was crying too. I thought of all that he had done for me and for himself and felt a surge of love for my dear uncle.

I have always been a great follower of "THE READER'S DIGEST". The magazine publishes articles talking about survivors of accidents and the way they bravely face life. I used to read those articles and think of those people as heroes. My uncle is no less than a hero to me. The way he has faced the odds is commendable and I love him and am proud of him for that.I wish to tell him through this article that I respect him and admire him as a person.

Blood Banks

I have always been interested in blood donation. I have been told that a person can donate blood if he/she weighs over 45 kgs, has haomoglobin level above 12.5 and hasnt donated blood in the last 4 months. I have donated for blood banks owned by institutions like red cross, Usha Mullapudi Cardiac Center, Apollo super speciality Hospitals and some other lesser known ones. I have also donated for Chiranjeevi's blood bank for the only reason that I have always admired him for setting up the blood bank. In a way he has inspired me and many others to donate blood. I have never faced any issue in the last 4 years due to blood donation. However an incident that happened to me recently has angered me.

Usually before collection blood from a volunteer the blood bank official makes sure that the volunteer has the required weight and haemoglobin level. I have always had a healthy level of haemoglobin. So I have always passed the preliminary tests. Recently I got a mail from my company's HR team saying that one of my colleague's relative required O -ve blood for a bypass. I called the concerned person to let him know that I was available for donation. He thanked me and asked me to come over to the hospital at 8.00 am the next day. I asked my husband to accompany me as I feel a little weak after donating blood. The hospital was located in Banjara Hills while I stay in AS Rao Nagar. We started early that day and reached the hospital by 8. I called my boss and informed him that I would be late to work. The hospital that I went to was the Star Hospitals in Banjara Hills. I was taken inside and was given a haemoglobin test. The result of the test was 16. I was surprised. I am healthy but 16 was too difficult to believe. And the official wrote it down as 15.5. I asked him as to why he was writing it down as 15.5 when it showed 16 but he refused to comment. They collected my blood and let me go after giving me some juice. I then called up my family doctor and asked him if 16 is normal. He said its okay to have 16 though its unusual. I got very worried. Fortunately or unfortunately I started running a temperature after 2 days and got laid down with seasonal flu. I however got worried that I could have contacted swine flu and decided to take a test. The result was ofcourse negative but my haemoglobin level was 11.7 which was perfect. Had I known this I would NOT have donated blood as you need to have a minimum level of 12.5 to be able to donate. I felt very bad that the blood bank authorities donot take pains to check the condition of their equipment. They conduct tests and collect blood without worrying about the test results. When people volunteer to donate blood they do so only to help others. I donate blood because my blood group is very rare and I know how difficult it is to find people with this blood group. So I think that the blood banks should make sure that they are credible and should have the sense of responsibility towards individuals. Volunteers should be given the respect that they deserve.

My first yoga session

This is a sequel to my attemp to lose weight. My attempt to lose weight finally made me find a nature cure center near my home. The doctor advised me to join the yoga sessions they offered as he found me to be 3 kgs overweight.

I agreed happily. Asale naku aarambhasooratva chala ekkuva. I coaxed my husband into joining me. We set the alarm to ring at 4.30 am as the earliest session started at 5.00 pm. We were among the first to arrive there. We spread our mats on the floor and so started the session. The teacher kept showing us various warmup exercises and we did as he did. After warming up the teacher asked us to lie down and he started demostrating the aasanas. My husband is a very lean man and is very proud of it. At the slightest available pretext he starts flaunting it. I dont know what got into him but he went absolutely crazy. He started doing all the aasanas. The teacher asked us to take it easy and do everything slowly as it was the first session and he just wanted us to get a feel of it. My husband(Vamsi) however wouldnt hear anything of it. He was twisting and turning his body and grinning at me proudly. The session continued for about an hour. The teacher would say lift your legs and my husband's legs would be up in the air even before the teacher finished the sentence. There was one aasana called dhanuraasana. The teacher demostrated that to us and I immediately decided not even to try to attempt it. I relaxed. My husband was the only one who attempted it. The teacher asked him to lie down on his stomach and lift legs and fold them at the knees. He then was to lift his head up and hold his toes in his hands like a bow. My husband did it and I could see that he regretted attempting it. The joke however was yet to come. The teacher then said "ippudu munduki venakki oogandi" meaning that he had to swing back and forth in that position. I almost burst out laughing but somehow controlled myself. My husband swung back and forth and then released his body. We relaxed and then the session ended. When we came out my husband declared that he was not in the position to drive. We somehow reached home and then he fell on the bed groaning and moaning. He has never again mentioned yoga and refuses to talk about that session.

My attempt to lose weight

I was a very thin child. Everyone from my school and college remembers me as a thin and very naughty child/teenager. After I started working the combination of the junk food and the lack of physical activity helped me put on weight. In the beginning I thought I looked cute and a little fuller. But I never realised where I was heading. I started gaining weight slowly and steadily. My jeans no longer fitted me and I attributed it to the fact that the jeans could have shrunk. I could only climb one flight of stairs without panting but that according to me was because the stairs were too high and I was very weak!! It took a lot of courage and strength for me to admit that I needed to shed weight and I needed to do it fast!!
I started reading about the ways of losing weight on google. Man were there ways! There were so many ways and for each way there were pros and cons. I decided to diet first. I stopped eating breakfast and lunch. I however would eat dinner and because I would not have had breakfast or lunch I would be so hungry by dinner time that I would stuff myself. After a week I had gained some more weight and was desperate. I then decided to exercise. I started walking and using the stairs instead of the lift. I made just one mistake. Instead of building up my rhythm slowly I rushed it. I started walking too much...more than my poor lega could take. This went on until my body refused to cooperate. I fell ill. The illness was backache :(. I could not sit straight due to the severe strain that I had out my body through. I had lost weight, in fact a lot of it. One week's leave from work and rest restored my strength and my WEIGHT. I was so depressed by then that I gave up. I started eating all the delicacies that I had been avoiding until then and stopped bothering about losing weight.
I guess my attempt to lose weight will have to wait.

A Lizard

I hate lizards. I am sure I am not the only one who does but the intensity with which I hate Lizards is tremendous. I cannot tolerate the sight of this creature. I know that its harmless but the moment I see a lizard I lose control of my emotions. I shriek, scream and jump onto the nearest available piece of furniture. When I moved into our new home after my marriage I conducted a careful scrutiny of the house to mark places which could be potential lizard homes. Surprisingly and rather gleefully I noted that my new home did not have even a single lizard. I immediately called my mom and informed her of this discovery of mine. She was very happy for me as the three leading ladies of my maternal home(my mom, my sister and I) are very scared of lizards. After a few days I got used to living without fear of lizards. Whenever I go to my sister's house I see lizards on the wall and thank god that I dont have any in my house.
I woke up at 6.30 am today. Brushed my teeth and then entered my kitchen. My kitchen is my favourite place in my home. I let my imagination run wild in my kitchen. Its the place which makes me feel in my elements. I have made sure that its very confortable for me as I spend most of my time there. I put on the heat and started making lunch for my husband. I heated up milk and then looked for a bowl to set curds in. I regretfully realised that I would have to check in the shelves. I opened the shelf and scream escaped out of my mouth. In a second I was out of the front door. Hubby dear who was blissfully asleep came out running. He looked for me but couldnt find me in the house. I called out to him and he came out. From the udnerstanding which comes out of experience, he understood that I had come face to face with my biggest fear this morning. I had seen a lizard in my kitchen. Vamsi went in to drive the unwanted intruder out of my place of work. I stood there thinking about the lizard. I had seen a tiny lizard in the shelf... Oh my god!! I thought...how did this get in there? When I opened the shelf it was there looking at me. It stared at me with unblinking eyes. It was creamy white in colour...ohh god!! thinking about it makes me shudder. I peeped into the house and saw that vamsi had opened the shelf and had made the lizard drop down using a broom. The thought of he touching it was unbearable. I started shouting again. Vamsi asked me to plainly shut up. He swept it out into the balcony and flushed it out of the drain pipe. He then came and took me in. I have to force myself to put my hands into the shelf. I did not want to touch the place it had crawled over. I then started asking vamsi. What is crawls up the drain pipe and enters the house again. Vamsi did not think that question fit enought to respond. He left me pondering over it.