I was paying for my purchases at Naidu Hall Naihaa. There was a guy standing next to me whose body spray had a familiar, somewhat chocolaty smell. Within a moment, I recognised the smell of Axe Chocolate. The guy seemed to have used up one-tenths of a bottle.

Another guy who came to my office had also used Axe Chocolate body spray, and more or less the same quantity of it. The men had fallen hard for the “Spray more, get more” line.

Are you wondering if I am familiar with the smell because I have a boyfriend who wears it, or friends who douse themselves with it? Naah.

I used it for sometime. YES. I DID.

Once in a while I have an uncontrollable craving for chocolate. When I was looking for a body spray in Health and Glow, and couldn’t find one I liked, I thought of trying Axe Chocolate Temptation. The saleslady was, of course, very surprised at my taste. But I can be quite unconventional every now and then.

I didn’t buy the fragrance after that. I liked it, but didn’t find it exceptional, and of course it was a bit strong.

One more unconventional habit of mine – I read FHM (For Him Magazine, for the uninitiated). The magazine is truly entertaining. My MD subscribes to it. My ex-colleague used to read this magazine, and her habit rubbed off on me. According to me it is not just For Him Magazine, but also For Her Magazine ;-). Girls, go get your copies to know what your men are reading.


I will henceforth keep you updated on the seemingly crazy things I do. Ciao.
I cut my hair in a short bob last May. Now it has grown to chin level. My mom’s fretting about my hair not growing fast (I am also losing a lot of hair these days). She is particularly worried if my hair will seem too short when ponnupathufying happens. So is an aunty who is close to my family. And the aunty has already told me about 20 times what kind of clip I can wear to make my hair look beautiful when it grows longer. My ears are sore.

My mom has an imagined reason for her worry – the fact is that she is worrying, so I will not react if she scolds me for having cut my hair short. (She didn’t like the bob, and yes, she still scolds me!) But is the length of hair a criterion for marriage? Of course it isn’t. But why do people hold it as a major criterion for attractiveness?

And while on the subject of Maplai/ponnu pathufying…

There is a photo of me in which I look like an aunty. I am wearing an oversized ethnic kurta with a pearl necklace. It was taken for sending to potential maplais. And of course my folks (and some others in their age group) believe that I look beautiful in that photo. Yeah? I also look 30 years old in it!

That’s enough cribbing on the subject for now I guess…

My 8.11.2008

Last Saturday I would’ve walked for more than an hour. I walked from home to Velachery station – 15 mins, and then from Indira Nagar station to Kasturba Nagar station – 7 mins. After that I walked in Theosophical Society with a friend for 35-40 mins. Then I saw him off at the Besant Nagar terminus, and walked to Eliot’s beach. From there I walked to the Besi Fruit Shop on Greams Road where I met a friend.

Along the way I had real fun… I got an eyeful of nature in Theosophical Society, and of an array of coloured bead necklaces at a gypsy jewellery stall in Besant Nagar. I enthusiastically captured the beads on camera, and showed the photo to the happy gypsy. I then made my umpteenth gypsy jewellery purchase as a token of thanks.

I also surrendered my senses to the Besi beach breeze. The wind made a mighty effort to make my hair stick out in all directions, and I didn’t fight. Thanks to my ever-present hairpins, the wind didn’t do a perfect job, but of course I had a great experience.

The walking made my feet scratchy and painful. My sandals had grooved insoles – I guess that was the reason. But despite that I had a great time, and got good exercise. Maybe I should make outings like this an essential part of my weekends.

Thirumbi paartha 2009!

Gosh, 2008 is going by real fast, almost like a gush of air.

It feels like hardly any time has passed since I wrote a blog entry on 31st December, 2007.

And now 2009 will come soon. I find myself counting the days. I am eagerly waiting for 2009. I hope that the New Year will bring in exciting and memorable moments, like many do. But why am I counting the days?
Umm, lemme think… What is gonna make 2009 different for me?

I may acquire more knowledge in the field of web copywriting, and writing in general (thanks to plenty of blogging).

I want to revive my hobby of sketching… I started working on that this November, and I want to devote plenty of time to it.

I want to develop more hobbies.

I want to acquire all skills related to running a household.
The above point brings me to other things….

I am gonna turn 25 in March!!! 25!!! I still can’t believe it!!! So, let me devote more time to beautifying myself, and try to look younger, and also do things that’ll make me feel younger (I know many of you will say, ‘Why worry about turning 25?’)

Maplai pathufying will probably happen very seriously. So the New year may be very different.

And what else may happen in 2009? I don’t know.

Will the year turn out to be ‘yet another year’?

Anyway I am mighty excited about 2009. I hope it is a magical year.
Unforgettable things about my family pets:

Julie

A caramel coloured shaggy-cute mongrel with eyes that spoke volumes. Among the very memorable things he did was insisting on sitting in a comfy cane chair that I still see as “Julie chair”. If he felt like sitting on the chair, he would prod its occupant with his paw until the person got off the chair.

Husky

My 2-day pet (after which we were forced to send him to Blue Cross). Husky was an abandoned labbie that strayed into my campus. He wanted to be let inside my house, and on the first night he had come, he was sitting right outside a grilled door covered with Netlon. Letting out a series of barks and whines while scratching the net with his paws, he managed to tear out a portion of the net.

Vicky

My cousin had this lovable Pomeranian. Once Vicky was staying in my house, and on that day I was crying for something. Vicky tried to comfort me by licking my face (I tried to stop her… I don’t like pets to lick my face). But of course the doggy gesture was very touching.
Scene 1: Auto is speeding down road

Scene 2: A puppy runs across the road

Scene 3: Auto driver manages to avoid hitting the puppy by a hair's width

Scene 4: Two adult members of the puppy’s family bark loudly and chase the auto

I watched the last scene with amusement. This is not a scene from any movie (not “Roadside Romeo”) or serial. This is a scene from life. I saw it as I was walking to office from the Mandaveli station. I know the dogs’ behaviour may not be uncommon, but still it is interesting to watch.

As I was moving down the road, I glimpsed an old abandoned car nearby, under which there were four irresistibly cute puppies. As I walked further down, I noticed the auto chasers walking in a line – a perfect ‘march past’ line, along with a third dog that was a bit smaller than them. It somehow symbolized the strong family bond the doggies had. To sum things up, for me the doggy incident was a nice experience that broke the monotony in my weekday mornings.