My review of Tight pub @Vashi

http://know.burrp.com/arts-entertainment/get-tight-tight-vashi/33583

We enjoyed thoroughly!!

When Love Finds You...

It will be a three month long wait for me to see and hold my love in my arms. These three months are going to be harder than I thought. Many a people said that love starts to dwindle away after tying the knot. Two years into marital bliss and every time I see him, I fall in love all over again.

Image Source: http://tumismoreflejo.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/hablemos-de-amor/

It all started with a simple crush and now we are together in this beautiful journey. I never even realized when I fell in love with him. When true love finds you, you will know it! You feel happy, sad, excited, nervous, all at the same time. That's the closest I can explain how it feels.

I used to expect something different in the form of love. I had my own set of bullet points. However, life taught me a great lesson: 'What you are asking for is not the same thing as what you want.'  

I thought I wanted someone who could dance. But life gave me what I truly wanted.
When I'm on the dance floor swaying away to the beats, I can always feel his love; the lovable admiring glances amidst his conversation with friends slowly sipping into his drink. And when he goes that extra mile to try and sway with me for some special occasions; those awfully sweet attempts are the best dances of my life.

I thought I wanted someone who could sing. But life gave me what I truly wanted.
Every time I sing for him, he listens to me with utmost attention, as if I was the best singer in the world. Lying on my lap, requesting another song while I run my fingers through his hair. And those little attempts he makes to sing a few lines for me...

The unexpected things he does for me, are truly unexpected! A surprise is a surprise when you hardly expect it. And with him, I can never guess when it will happen. Something is more special when it's rare, at least for me :)

Image Source: http://www.redbookmag.com/health-wellness/advice/change-your-life-positively
Photo: Valentin Casarsa/iStock

When this beautiful love found me, I had my doubts, but I embraced it. And I'm so glad today that I did!
Whenever I hold his hands, he wraps his around mine and makes me feel loved, protected, wanted. The very hands that touch my cheeks, the very hands that wipes my tears. the very hands that tickle me, the very hands that pat my back, the very hands of the man I love.

I can't thank God enough for giving me a man so imperfectly perfect for me, someone so differently similar, someone I really wanted! Come back soon, my sweetheart. I can't wait to fall in love again...

And now a beautiful song that I dedicate to the one who means everything to me, my lover, my best friend, my confidante, my life - my husband.
...and to everyone in love or waiting to be in love: 'When love finds you', by Vince Gill

Thanks to the person who listed my post for it. :) Click the image above to see the entire list.

Blog Title Change

When I created this blog, the url and title (Confessions of a confused freak) seemed appropriate. But now as I have grown (matured :P), I want to change it. Also my husband, Arjun insists I'm neither confused nor a freak ;)

Unfortunately changing the blog link is not as easy as it seems to be. All previous links will become dead links, the page rank will be reset and what not...

So I opted for the easiest solution; let the url be as it is and change the title header ;)

Starting today it's called La Dolce Vita.. the sweet life! :)

The Dove Sponsored Indiblogger Meet

So, it's been 5 months since I last updated my blog. By now I've made up enough excuses of the lack of time, but am not going to list them here ;) So moving on, let me start talking about the meet!

A women's only meet! This was the first ever Indiblogger meet I attended. I don't have to tell you why this drew my attention. It was all about getting pampered and it was free! \:D/

The venue was Four Seasons hotel in Worli. That's crazy miles away from my cozy home for a lazy person like me. Nevertheless, I decided to embark this journey. Also I was the one who asked my friend Hazel to sign up for the event and she may have killed me if I didn't turn up; just a possibility :P

Luckily I had 4 amazing ladies for company: the twitter queen Vibha, the young & vivacious Deeppzz, a hospitality professor (yep!) Laxmi and a fellow entrepreneur Preeti.

Together all 5 of us headed to the venue and reached there at 11:00 am sharp. Right on time! We registered ourselves and in a span of 30 minutes were called to get our foot massages done. It was lovely. That was the first foot massage I ever got done in my life. Those who know me won't be surprised! :D

By the time our massages were done, we had more and more ladies come in and soon enough the introductions started. We had a great variety and I've decided to dedicate this post to all the ladies I interacted with. (I hope I don't forget any one here)

Now for those who are here to read about the details of the meet, I'm going to refer you to Aasheianaa's blog, a fashion blogger and a charmer. She has covered it well for all of us :)

Adding to the list of the amazing ladies I present to you,
IdeaSmith, the one who can easily captivate an audience.
Nisha, an amazing woman and a global traveler.
Priyanka, the pretty girl next door.
Neha, an incredible liar, I mean lawyer ;), the one with the best opening statement at the introduction round.
Aparna & Shirin , the lovely sister duo.
Tara, the one in the search for 'Khushi' :)
Anuradha, the one who can maintain 18+ blogs! Woah!
Amreen, the football fanatic!
Vasudha & her lovely kid, Harini who could come with the most amazing slogan for her team!
Nikolai, the tiny, amazing traveler.
Anu, the very creative and talented art and crafts blogger.
Charu, the one who had the most cheerful face. I did not interact with her, but she has a face that one can't forget :)

This is just the list I can recall. I'm sure I've missed some names and will make sure I get them in the next meet! :D

And how could one forget this little blogger! :)

Universal Chennai Indiblogger

I really have to thank Dove and Inidblogger for this great meet. Looking forward to more such meets!
And thanks to Dharmi who gave me a relaxing hairwash.

Us!

The t-shirt

The Dove Hamper

My product review shall follow after I experiment with it :)
Now, I better get back to work, before my friend and partner, Deepti finds out what I'm actually doing instead of working ;)

Never say No?

Never say "No" Isn't that something we've heard too often? But I think it comes with a small asterisk (*) that says rarely say "Yes"...

I'm one of those who failed to see the asterisk mark! I seldom said "No" in my life... This may come across as a very positive point, but it is actually the exact opposite!

Why did I never say "No"; - fear of hurting people, fear of not getting something right if someone else does it, fear of not being acknowledged, to please the other person, to help the other person, to clear disputes, to get it over with, blah blah... the reasons are so many, but it all comes to the fact that I never mastered the art of saying "No"..

Yes it is an art! A very important one... If you don't learn to say No, you will be taken for granted and expected to do whatever it is that you did, and more; sadly with negligible appreciation.

I remember my friend Jayashree telling me about this movie called "27 dresses". She said she saw me in the lead character's role instead of the actress. She asked me to watch the movie, so that I can understand what I do from a third person's perspective just to make sure I can learn to say "no"...

It never really occurred to me that it was such a big deal before... and when I did realize it, it dawned upon me that I've lost a great deal of myself while doing things for others. But its hard to give up the habit overnight... It been a year or more I've ventured into the path of saying "No" and I still have a long way to go...

For those similar to me, start it already.. better late than never :)
It's not about what you can do, it's about what you want to do!

P.S: I had a similar post in my older abandoned blog... Just felt like writing a better version here.

Onwards to Korea - Part 2 (Concluding Part)

For Part 1, click here. 


"Refreshed" after the boiled corn and French fries, I began my hunt for the Free Internet Service Station. And why didn't I use my laptop instead?
Well, as luck wold have it, the day I left for Korea, was some mega power block in Navi Mumbai area. No power frm 8-6! Wow!! So ya laptop was dead...

Moving on, I finally did find a place. It read I could use it for 15 min, but hey till someone stands behind me and asks me to get up, I ain't going anywhere. Finally spoke to family and friends. Ah Internet is such a life saver I tell you. After chatting for some time, I could see some desperate souls like me waiting for their turn and I offered them my seat. (I'm nice at times :D)

There was still about 4 hours to go... Nintendo DS to the rescue! Played for quite sometime and suddenly heard a rumble. It was my stomach. How long can boiled corn and fries sustain; also I've a good appetite. :P
I was wondering what to eat! Of course... the safest food I could have without fear was Chocolates! Went around and bought a big pack of Toblerone Minis. Yay!

Munching on the chocolates, one after the other, I happily headed to the gate and opened my book to read. Books are like time machines (Amitabh Bacchan says that in the Reid & Taylor ad).... Need I say more?

It was time to board!

Cathay Pacific Airlines. First impressions? It was just like any other airlines... I only worried about food. I had requested for Indian Veg Meal, but then I didn't expect much esp after the food I had in Jet. Also it was China! But..life is full of surprises...Cathay pacific served the best Indian veg meal I had! Pulav, naan, & paneer mutter! Yummy!!!

After that content meal, soothing music is what I wanted. Turned on the flight's channels and to my surprise they had Bollywood music too... I loved Cathay Pacific already :D
The hours flew by in my sleep and the captain announced that it was near time to land.
That was the time, the harsh reality struck me. I wasn't going home! All this while it just felt like those days with a hectic travel schedule.. but the ending was always home...

But, it wasn't this time!

Landed. It was an unknown place, unknown people, unknown territory. I wasn't scared but I wanted to run back home. The thought that I wasn't returning home was tormenting me... Went through the exit, lost in thoughts.

My ex-boss was  waiting for me. I couldn't recognize him, but he could (ain't hard to spot an Indian here.) He called out my name, took over my luggage trolley, talked about old times and tried to make me feel comfortable. He gave his phone so that I could inform everyone back home about my safe journey. I couldn't speak much.. Various emotions were gushing. Held on to them and went on...

After 1.5 hrs of drive, we finally reached the apartment arranged for me. My boss, his family and my friend Praveen were there to welcome me. A sweet little place and the people were so warm and friendly.  After light introductions and greetings, everyone left. My friend however stayed back for sometime, we chit-chatted about old days and then he left too.

It was past midnight and I still couldn't get any sleep. "It sucks to be away from home"... I remember murmuring that for a long time only to wake up to the sun. It was months since anyone saw the sun in Korea. Maybe, he just followed me all the way here, to make sure I'm fine :)


This concludes the "Onwards to Korea"post. Will list my living experience here as it goes... :)

Onwards to Korea - Part 1

One fine morning, my ex-boss called me and offered me a job in Korea. I wasn't too sure how it was going to work out. Firstly it was going to be non-gaming. But then, I thought about it. I was considering taking a break from gaming to revive those creative brain cells. They were on the verge of death, me thinks ;)

My friend Praveen was already working for the same firm in Korea. I discussed with (read troubled) him and came to the conclusion to give it a try . And luckily for me, they offered a relevant role to my husband Arjun too! Yay!!  I was so happy about the fact that I won't have to stay alone! More than the staying, it was the travelling that scared me for some reason. I've never been scared to travel alone; maybe it was the unknown place, unknown language. When communication becomes a problem, it kind of scares me.

As luck would have it, the company wanted me to join early, and Arjun couldn't leave that early. So I had to start off alone...the very thing I was scared of... Sigh.

On the d-day, my entire family and a friend tagged along to drop me off at the Mumbai International Airport. The only time I have ever been away from my family was the 7 months I had spent in Bangalore. But this time it was different. It wasn't within India anymore. So sending me off did call for a good amount of tears. We are an emotional family as it is :)

My flight was Jet Airways which was taking me to HongKong and a change of flight from there. The lady at the counter informed me that they have no more tie-ups with the connecting flights and that I will have to collect my check-in luggage at HongKong and check it back in with my connecting airlines. I had checked with Jet Airways before my journey itself. So it didn't come as a surprise. In any case, she told me that she had tagged my check-in luggage destination to Seoul. (Umm..Alright :S)

My folks waited at the visitor's lounge till I proceeded to immigration. I'm not a big fan of being away from my comfort zone. With international roaming activated on my phone and slightly relieved to have cross checked with the airlines on my meal preference (Indian Veg Meal), I proceeded. It didn't feel any different than boarding a domestic flight. 

I was way early and had to kill about 3 hours! And I was hungry. So I went and grabbed a veg sandwich; which wasn't up to my liking. After throwing away the rest of it into the bin, I waited at the designated gate and read my book.  Reading a book is a great thing to do to kill time. It was time to board already. 

I was glad to see some good movies and shows listed as part of the flight entertainment. Right when I was dozing off, they served meal. I wasn't particularly happy about the food. It was a very similar sandwich.. Sigh.  Thankfully fruits were there.  After that I resumed the movie I was watching, only to wake up to breakfast service! 

And the breakfast was equally terrible. Mini Idlis soaked in tasteless sambhar and some weird Uthappa. Again, fruits saved the day. And in another hour's time, I had reached Hongkong! It was raining there then.

I spotted a help desk and approached them and asked them regarding my connecting flight and baggage. Fortunately the airport staff speaks understandable English. I did have to repeat, but the message got through :)

I headed to the Cathay Pacific counter and they gave me my boarding pass and told me they will pick up my luggage. !!! I checked with him again as Jet Airways had told me otherwise. He assured me. Instead of feeling relieved, I was tensed about whether they will pick up my luggage or not. He said I could check it at the gate, 1 hr prior to flight's takeoff. My connecting flight wasn't for another 5 hours! I finished my security check and sat at some random gate as my flight wasn't even listed then. Hongkong airport is huge. And travelators everywhere. I wanted to check about my check-in baggage and on inquiry found that the Cathay Pacific desk was on the other end. I started proceeding that way. Saw a lot of free internet stations on the way. All were occupied. I reached the other end; checked with the staff; he too assured me that my luggage will be picked up. I headed back trying to find a free internet station. I almost reached the other end without any luck only to feel hungry. Then it dawned that I saw Mc.Donalds near the airline desk.. Sigh..

The other side also had restaurants, but I wasn't sure if I will get anything veg. So, after another long walk, I headed to Mc Ds and asked for something veg. I got it too: Fries, Boiled Corn and Coke.. So disappointed. It's hard for the vegetarians. 

I grumbled to myself, thought about the delicious food back home and ate the meager meal that lay in front of me...

...to be contd....

Long time no see...

Things have changed considerably in my life. That sure calls for another long time no see post, doesn't it?
And sure has been long! To summarize the whole thing, I quit my job, worked as a freelancer, now in Korea as a consultant.

Few months and way too many changes. May be this is what I needed? Who knows! I feel like I'm in that unknown world of freshly passed out graduates having no clue what to do... It is a great feeling actually. Helps me see myself and what I want to do in a whole new perspective, which btw is still unclear...;)


Guess it's time to explore... Wish me luck! :)