Unravelling the Enamoured Enigma

In the past nine months, I have been living in a small, partly quaint and quiet place in the northeastern part of USA. To end the suspense, I live in Nashua, New Hampshire. Many people, Americans themselves have never heard of this place and I am not surprised why. The reason is because it has no specific point of interest or attraction here and is a beautiful place to live in; just a stone’s throw away from a number of weekend gateways and attractions. Nashua is just a 50 minute drive from the bustling city of Boston and universities like Harvard and MIT. For a south Indian, the weather here is particularly harsh during the winters but very pleasant for the rest of the year. Most times, this place gives me a feeling of living in one of the hill-stations in India. The landscapes around this town can give a dreamy feel to anyone.

The state of New Hampshire is well known for its Fall colours and to be honest, the words or any number of pictures to describe this beautiful natural phenomena can never do any justice. The first time I saw the pictures, I was impressed but when I actually got the opportunity to see the Fall colours with my own two eyes, I simply overwhelmed. The blazing reds and bright yellows are adorable, to say the very least. People come from all around the world to see the various shades of Maple leaf and why not, its worth every penny. Upper New Hampshire or the area of New England as a whole has a lot to offer in the form of attractions and activities. Skiing in winter and the various festivals like the Hot air balloon festival near Quechee gorge or the Bike festival in summer are ways to keep people entertained. But added to all this, the pristine natural beauty of this place is very refreshing. In many ways Nashua and locales in New Hampshire remind me of my days spent in the Doon valley in Uttaranchal, India.

There is another aspect of New Hampshire that I have come to love, the official motto – Live Free or Die. The first time I saw this, it struck a chord with the inherent rebel that I am. The fact that one can live the way they want to and adhere to what one thinks is right is a supremely independent feeling. Each state in the US has its official motto that it inherently believes. Also, there is always one aspect about that state with which it identifies, like New Jersey is called the Garden State and its motto is Liberty and Prosperity and Florida is called the Orange County with its motto being In God We Trust. Many states are popular with the secondary identifying name that has been given to it, like New York is the Empire State, but in some the motto is more popular. Live Free or Die is amongst the most popular ones. It is immensely popular with me too.

So, for as long as I spend my time in this beautiful place, I intend to enjoy it to the hilt and live every moment. After all, the motto is Live Free or Die.

A guest coming home to stay is always an exciting part of being a child. The news of someone coming home for dinner or to stay for a few days, as a child these were the moments I used to look out for. These were the days that the life was something different from the routine. I used to tag around them for particularly the whole time of their stay and being the child of the house would get all the attention.

Arrival of favourite aunts and uncles was like festival. The elation felt by me could be termed euphoric. There were always gifts. In retrospect there were these lovely little things that don’t really cost too much money, but for a child they were so precious that I still remember some of them. Beautiful bangles for my little hands or a box of chocolates of different shapes are a couple to name. There were also these lovely tips in hairstyles and embroidery that I got in many of those visits that really have bonded me with that person. Some instances that I fondly remember are those when my grandparents came to stay with us and also when my cousins were trooping in. My little mind would make innumerable number of plans for their entertainment and requests were made to mom and dad to take them out to see such and such places. Well, I would also have my particular plans for my cousins too. Take them around some of my favourite play haunts (lichee gardens) or try out the new cycle and so on.

Even today I love having people around me and especially guests whom I particularly enjoy spending time with. It could be from my family or friends. But there is something totally new that I have been experiencing lately. I am now the hostess and the preparations that are to be made for the guests are now my responsibility. As a child or even when I was with my parents, there were a number of teeny-weeny things that had to be taken care of that never struck me. One never realizes what all does mom do behind the scenes that makes those cherished visits work like a dream. Never realized why ma used to be behind our lives to keep things neat and clean. I do realize it very well now. The lovely spreads were something I can never forget. Come to think of it, I wonder how ma used to make them all while having the time to take care of my major needs :). I now enjoy cooking and have a lovely husband to help me out, but yes I do understand that festivals and guests are a lot of fun, but are a labor intensive job for the hostess too. Being a picky person, it just adds to my work, but I don’t mind the effort.

Fond farewells always leave the home an empty place, but if the guest happened to be tiresome, then I think I have very less to say here. Each of you at sometime would have definitely had to deal with such characters. All in all, the job of maintaining a home to a T and enjoying with your loved ones is still great.

These days my husband and I do a lot of planning together and with some changes, the story continues.

PS: Now I suppose you can guess why I have been particularly lazy in posting all this month. Ah! I finally made it.

It was in my eight standard, in school that I came across this simple yet brilliant short story by Leo Tolstoy. Later, my grandma lent me Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and I loved it. While browsing the net earlier in the day, I read the word ‘hermit’ and one thing that immediately struck my mind was this story. I had forgotten the author and the exact story, but remembered it was about ‘Three questions’, so here it goes for you all to read….

Three Questions - by Leo Tolstoy

One day it occurred to a certain emperor that if he only knew the answers to three questions, he would never stray in any matter.

What is the best time to do each thing? Who are the most important people to work with? What is the most important thing to do at all times?

The emperor issued a decree throughout his kingdom announcing that whoever could answer the questions would receive a great reward. Many who read the decree made their way to the palace at once, each person with a different answer.

In reply to the first question, one person advised that the emperor make up a thorough time schedule, consecrating every hour, day, month, and year for certain tasks and then follow the schedule to the letter. Only then could he hope to do every task at the right time.

Another person replied that it was impossible to plan in advance and that the emperor should put all vain amusements aside and remain attentive to everything in order to know what to do at what time.

Someone else insisted that, by himself, the emperor could never hope to have all the foresight and competence necessary to decide when to do each and every task and what he really needed was to set up a Council of the Wise and then to act according to their advice.

Someone else said that certain matters required immediate decision and could not wait for consultation, but if he wanted to know in advance what was going to happen he should consult magicians and soothsayers.

The responses to the second question also lacked accord.

One person said that the emperor needed to place all his trust in administrators, another urged reliance on priests and monks, while others recommended physicians. Still others put their faith in warriors.

The third question drew a similar variety of answers. Some said science was the most important pursuit. Others insisted on religion. Yet others claimed the most important thing was military skill.

——————————-

The emperor was not pleased with any of the answers, and no reward was given.

After several nights of reflection, the emperor resolved to visit a hermit who lived up on the mountain and was said to be an enlightened man. The emperor wished to find the hermit to ask him the three questions, though he knew the hermit never left the mountains and was known to receive only the poor, refusing to have anything to do with persons of wealth or power. So the emperor disguised himself as a simple peasant and ordered his attendants to wait for him at the foot of the mountain while he climbed the slope alone to seek the hermit.

Reaching the holy man’s dwelling place, the emperor found the hermit digging a garden in front of his hut. When the hermit saw the stranger, he nodded his head in greeting and continued to dig. The labor was obviously hard on him. He was an old man, and each time he thrust his spade into the ground to turn the earth, he heaved heavily.

The emperor approached him and said, “I have come here to ask your help with three questions: When is the best time to do each thing? Who are the most important people to work with? What is the most important thing to do at all times?”

The hermit listened attentively but only patted the emperor on the shoulder and continued digging. The emperor said, “You must be tired. Here, let me give you a hand with that.” The hermit thanked him, handed the emperor the spade, and then sat down on the ground to rest.

After he had dug two rows, the emperor stopped and turned to the hermit and repeated his three questions. The hermit still did not answer, but instead stood up and pointed to the spade and said, “Why don’t you rest now? I can take over again.” But the emperor continued to dig. One hour passed, then two. Finally the sun began to set behind the mountain. The emperor put down the spade and said to the hermit, “I came here to ask if you could answer my three questions. But if you can’t give me any answer, please let me know so that I can get on may way home.”

The hermit lifted his head and asked the emperor, “Do you hear someone running over there?” The emperor turned his head. They both saw a man with a long white beard emerge from the woods. He ran wildly, pressing his hands against a bloody wound in his stomach. The man ran toward the emperor before falling unconscious to the ground, where he lay groaning. Opening the man’s clothing, the emperor and hermit saw that the man had received a deep gash. The emperor cleaned the wound thoroughly and then used his own shirt to bandage it, but the blood completely soaked it within minutes. He rinsed the shirt out and bandaged the wound a second time and continued to do so until the flow of blood had stopped.

At last the wounded man regained consciousness and asked for a drink of water. The emperor ran down to the stream and brought back a jug of fresh water. Meanwhile, the sun had disappeared and the night air had begun to turn cold. The hermit gave the emperor a hand in carrying the man into the hut where they laid him down on the hermit’s bed. The man closed his eyes and lay quietly. The emperor was worn out from the long day of climbing the mountain and digging the garden. Leaning against the doorway, he fell asleep. When he rose, the sun had already risen over the mountain. For a moment he forgot where he was and what he had come here for. He looked over to the bed and saw the wounded man also looking around him in confusion. When he saw the emperor, he stared at him intently and then said in a faint whisper, “Please forgive me.”

“But what have you done that I should forgive you?” the emperor asked.

“You do not know me, your majesty, but I know you. I was your sworn enemy, and I had vowed to take vengeance on you, for during the last war you killed my brother and seized my property. When I learned that you were coming alone to the mountain to meet the hermit, I resolved to surprise you on your way back to kill you. But after waiting a long time there was still no sign of you, and so I left my ambush in order to seek you out. But instead of finding you, I came across your attendants, who recognized me, giving me this wound. Luckily, I escaped and ran here. If I hadn’t met you I would surely be dead by now. I had intended to kill you, but instead you saved my life! I am ashamed and grateful beyond words. If I live, I vow to be your servant for the rest of my life, and I will bid my children and grandchildren to do the same. Please grant me your forgiveness.”

The emperor was overjoyed to see that he was so easily reconciled with a former enemy. He not only forgave the man but promised to return all the man’s property and to send his own physician and servants to wait on the man until he was completely healed. After ordering his attendants to take the man home, the emperor returned to see the hermit. Before returning to the palace the emperor wanted to repeat his three questions one last time. He found the hermit sowing seeds in the earth they had dug the day before.

The hermit stood up and looked at the emperor. “But your questions have already been answered.”

“How’s that?” the emperor asked, puzzled.

“Yesterday, if you had not taken pity on my age and given me a hand with digging these beds, you would have been attacked by that man on your way home. Then you would have deeply regretted not staying with me. Therefore the most important time was the time you were digging in the beds, the most important person was myself, and the most important pursuit was to help me. Later, when the wounded man ran up here, the most important time was the time you spent dressing his wound, for if you had not cared for him he would have died and you would have lost the chance to be reconciled with him. Likewise, he was the most important person, and the most important pursuit was taking care of his wound. Remember that there is only one important time and is Now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person with whom you are, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future. The most important pursuit is making that person, the one standing at you side, happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.”

Leo Tolstoy

It all just seems a little while ago when I got into my engineering and sometime then participating for the very first time in the IEEE SNIST Technical Paper Presentation contest as volunteer. I wanted to enroll as a member, but was told that the first years or freshmen are too green to join.

We had to wait a whole year or in our case next 8 months to be able to join as an IEEE student member. There was thing ‘enthu’ and excitement in life to do something big and to make the best of a technical forum like this seemed the best way. Well, wait, am I not sounding as though I am writing my SOP or some such thing? But let me confess, one of the very strong reasons to join the IEEE chapter in college was because I had a crush on my seniors. I assumed that he would be in that chapter too. Also, I fell for another senior of ours who happened to come to our class to motivate us to join the chapter. In retrospect, I think crushes do help, sometimes ;). Thus started my journey with the college IEEE chapter.

This story can never be complete without the mention of some of my friends during college life; Kiran, Chandu, Rajeev and Lee. The fact remains that without them, the chapter would never have been as enjoyable as it was. I know you are dying to know, but I did enjoy my time with the good looking senior..well I mostly spent time just looking at him. Never really had the guts to go up and tell him that I had a major crush on him ;). Such student bodies provide a great synergy among the students from different years that being an active member of such an organization makes those boring college days absolutely lovable to remember.

The third of engineering saw some major work done by us for the annual chapter paper presentations. We worked with our immediate seniors and juniors and made a whole lot of great friends. One of the key members of the then exec council was the primary pushing factor to have me present a paper that year and I won a first prize for it. I still remember the hot afternoon outside LH4 (one of the classrooms) where Chandu came to me with the results and told me that I got the first prize among all under one of the categories. Well, I didn’t believe her at all. But then it was one of the most memorable moments and am glad that Nirish, my senior pushed me and Chandu was the one who told me about the results. And yes, Kiran was the one who changed my slides and Chandu, Rajeev and Lee were there among the audience.

All through the three years with the chapter, we bunked classes and got attendance, coz obviously we were part of the IEEE chapter. No prof could say no ;). Made absolute use of this and escaped from some of the most boring lectures. Our interaction with our juniors around this time led to a wonderful final year of engineering. Adorable team of juniors: Kash, Preeti, Sowji, Sameera, Hari..and many others (pl pardon me for not mentioning all the names, but I mean to ) It was in our final year of engineering, 2002 – 2003 that we decided to give our annual paper presentation contest a name. There were a number of contenders but Kash suggested a Latin word – ADASTRA means ‘To the stars’. We all loved it. It was this year that our whimsical principal hon’ble Mr. Sri Narsimha Reddy Garu was not available and Prof P.S.R Murty, the head of our Electrical dept was in charge. He was a very encouraging person and pushed us to find a good name for the contest. He approved of ADASTRA and for the first time that year in Feb of 2003, we held the event. Rajeev was the President (or the COSTaaN of the IEEE Assoc ;)), Chandu was the vice-president, Kiran the treasurer and myself, Lee, Nischal and Karthik were part of the exec council or the active members.

Our modest beginning : The first site

Link to ADASTRA now

Some other related links:

http://snistscreamers.blogspot.com/2008/02/best-of-adastra-08-snist.html

Some pictures of ADASTRA 07 : http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/128304/overview#4584292

The event is something that I would remember forever. There was a sense of achievement that defined our college days. After many years I happen to visit the site that now belongs to SreeNidhi Students’ IEEE - ADASTRA. It brought back all the memories rushing to me. We were so proud to have a T-shirt with ADASTRA printed on it. To raise those funds was a herculean task and now when I see the event that took place recently, I see things like Robo soccer demonstrations and business plan competitions. Highly Nostalgic and makes me feel very proud of it all.

To the best years of my life in engineering

Rain on a hot summer day can result in thinking about myriad things. The effects of these ruminations on my usual prosaic self ended up forming the essence of this post, but now I seem to be at a loss for words. Frankly, this blog started about nothing in particular and just some rambling in general and just like a pleasant breeze took an interesting turn.

I usually think I am sane, well for that matter who doesn’t consider oneself sane… you should not ask such questions… but am sure one person who wants to oppose this fact with the greatest vehemence will be my sis. Actually, it so happens that siblings seem to be the worst effected lot and subjected to a certain degree of torture. This statement could actually worry you, but hey, the torture is primarily in the form of some of the choicest abuses that one bestows on your sibling.

So choice of a sibling is one such thing where we totally lack choice. God just destines and there you end up having so and so person for your bro/sis. My sis accuses me of asking for a baby sis when all the while she was going to be born a boy. She believes (please read those words with a certain pronounced emphasis) that back then I was a much better person (let’s just discount such assumptions..) and hence God granted my wish. This is just one small example to prove what kind of arguments and accusations are part of the sibling fight. As sisters, we fought and well at one time if I thought I was getting better at arguments and contemplated a career in law then I think I knew what/who was responsible for this. Well, there are advantages too.

As I don’t have a brother, I can’t throw much light on that, but have seen that brothers who have major physical fights with their sisters as children (at least most of them do) turn out to be fiercely protective brothers who don’t want their sisters to have anything to do with a guy (What double standards rt?!? :)). At least I see a number of my cousin brothers being fiercely protective of me and they mean more than cousins to me. In a way, didn’t miss not having a brother too much.

Having a younger sister myself, let me admit, we fought. Had major fun and drove ma mad at times. But then, there is something that no one else can possibly fill in for. The cover ups from parents, innumerable tales about school, college and work, the frustrations, the struggle and all the victories; a whole gamut of precious moments shared only with a sibling. My mother and father both have a lot of siblings and they are all very close, touchwood! There is a stark difference between their generation and ours. My friends dominate my immediate circle more than my cousins and the nuclear families that we are now into, only makes it more necessary to have friends, who mean a lot to you. My sister and my friends form this support for me that my mom gets from her siblings.

This post is about siblings and it would not be complete if I don’t write about my sister. She is five years my junior, but over time that gap has diminished. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that my baby sister has grown up, but I am glad that it happened. She is the harshest of critics that could have ever existed. I am a follower of the Sun sign theory and have seen it for the umpteenth time that a Sagittarian and a Capricorn can never have a harmonious relationship. With our current distance, me living far away from home, we seem to have mellowed down. I am sure that this will diminish at a radioactive rate when we start living nearby. I don’t mind that. She is one of the most sensible girls for her age and extremely intelligent and humorous with a razor sharp wit, that can hurt you if you are not careful. I can write a lot about her and one might think I am biased, but ask her if you don’t believe me, I am very stingy with appreciations especially about her.

So let me end this post right away, before I am forced to delete it. It is tough to accept that your worst enemy is your best friend. What do you have to say sis?

This post is for ya!

All the best Coo :*

Has this ever happened to you that you are friends, rather much more than that, for a long, long time and suddenly you realise that somewhere down the line, you have lost that spark?

There are some set of friends whom I value a lot. Being the person who finds it immensely difficult to express my feelings verbally, I may not always admit that these people matter. I have known these people for a really long time now. Some of them have even integrated with my family and yet, over the past couple of years there has been a distance. Something, that is not tangible but perceivable. Initially, this was very tough to accept, but then I do today.

People change with time, but I have maintained that the core should not. Self-perception has always intrigued me and I have remained forever concerned with it. I know from that that I have not changed at the core. But, then I see my once closest friends do not realise this and perceive me differently. Yes, they have changed, I can see that. Priorities change with time and things that once mattered most don’t seem to matter much. But then I am not very happy and convinced that this should cost me some of my most precious friendships.

There are some of my friends with whom I seem to maintain a continuum. Its like I speak to them after a month or sometimes half a year skips by and yet when we say that “hello”,the time lag seems to have shrunk. It doesn’t matter that we have not talked for a long time now, what matters is that in the now each know what the other means. There is a sense of relation and understanding. I have lost a friend due to what I might call quirks of life and not sure when can I ever talk to him again. I seem to have lost the other, but not physically. But the mental connection is not the same. The frequency or wavelength or the chemistry is starkly missing. Yup used a lot of scientific words. But the fact remains that it hurts to know this.

Can anyone possibly answer why?

PS: I realised this after I posted, its a leap year and today is 29th. What an irony, if I just want this blog to be forgotten and lost !

This beautiful composition from the Telugu movie Gharshana (198 is a song that I love and it is one of the best expression of love for her lover .

 Six months to this date I was married and this is for my darling.

Love ya!

Weather is one of the most common topics that two strangers or people who have very less in common sought to. Well, all said and done one can always comment upon it. When Dad asks one to contact a distant cousin or family or friend, it is the easiest and more or less unwritten and yet customary to pry on general topics, weather being the favourite.

I did mention in one of my previous posts about how one remains forever obsessed with knowing what is in store and how is weather going to over the weekend, the next one week and so on and so forth. Mind you this only happens when we are out of India or broadly speaking – the tropics. Having lived in the tropics for all these years of my breathing life, I found the transition to these harsh climes of North America pretty welcoming. I was pretty geared for the fall and the winter that followed. This was the first time I would ever see snow and the prospect of it can excite anyone. It is now the end of February, the temperatures have been around 20-30F during daytime. Another snow fall today, just sent me to my wits end. The lack of Sunshine for days together depresses me.

There were times when I prayed to the Sun God to show some respite. 40C temperatures and dry heat was taxing, but now even to see the sun it takes many days. There is some sense of gloom associated with drowsiness and lethargy. Googled to find out that these kind of things are common in this season. Winter blues or in some advanced case termed as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Winter Depression. There are some interesting things listed to fight them. Check out the sites below to know more about the scientific aspects of it and way to fight the blues.

SAD: http://www.ncpamd.com/seasonal.htm

Winter Blues : http://thyroid.about.com/od/relatedconditions1/a/winterblues.htm

The optimist in me nudges to look at the advantages to all this. Well, if one is married, winters can be interesting and cozy . I went for skiing and enjoyed it immensely. It sure is a great exercise; also, an undivided amount of time to read books and catch up watching fav movies. It is a time to cook some garam-garam samosas and many such.

The powdery snow has its own beauty and to make a snow-man with it is always nice. All in all, however depressing and constrained one may feel at times, the sublime purity of being engulfed in pure white is yet another God’s divine creations worth the experience.

It’s a white world out there, enjoy it.

This Valentines’ day is very special. It is the first of many (from personal point of view) and I can really go on talking about it. But I’m not here to share that. I think Valentines Day is a day to express our love, it can be to anybody so here I go…. 

There can be different kinds of love and as unique is each person, so is their love; it is special in their own way. I have a number of people among my family and friends, whom I value and love them a lot. Am sure I have expressed this in a number of my previous posts. There is one thing that I realized recently that I cannot survive without: reading. When I mean reading, it means the books from my favourite authors. 

Water, oxygen, my coterie and books are what I really need to survive. If for some reason I haven’t been able to pick up those books for a long period, there is a great sense of loss which can only be relieved by yes, reading a book. 

This Valentines’ Day, I would like to let you know about some of my favourite authors and some of the best books I read.

I have read this book over and over again a zillion times and have always felt the same thrill. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of her remarkable works. Centuries might fly past, but people at the core remain the same. The intricate web of family ties, the relations and the divide between the rich and the poor never change. I love this book for all its characters and for the most delicate way everything is handled.

One day, rummaging through my aunt’s book closet I found this author’s book; reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer. There was something about the book and the title that made me inquisitive enough to read it. If anyone has ever reproduced regency era and written the dialogues between the lead characters with more wit then I can relinquish my love for her. She is absolutely enchanting and just transports one to the land of the Regency period. A must read for all those who enjoy classics. Please try, even otherwise.

The simplicity of his writings and as-a-matter-of-fact descriptions of the most commonplace and equally complex characters makes William Somerset Maugham one of my favourites. He is splendid. His short stories are compelling and almost always have an excellent twist in the end. His books are always a delight and thought-provoking. There is one thing I have learnt from him, the toughest way to write is to keep it simple.

There are a number of other writers and authors whose books I have enjoyed immensely. I would highly recommend, No full stops in India by Mark Tully, Jeffrey Archers for a lovely breeze of a ride, Robert Ludlums for some fast pace dramas, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, Ayn Rand for the immortal Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and many more. But let me come to the one author who simply is immortal and is one of the reasons for me to start this blog.

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse is God for me. That is probably the simplest way of putting it. Whenever I feel I am down in the lowest and gloomiest of dumps, I just have to pick up a Wodehouse to successfully revive myself. The Jeeves and Blandings stories are simply superb. Can anyone portray such fine degree of wit and humour with such dexterity and simplicity? None! The closest I came across was Jerome K Jerome’s Three men in a boat (To say nothing of the dog). One has to simply read his short stories or his novels to experience the God himself. Unfortunately there aren’t many who read books these days and even less who read P.G. A sad plight is how my old flesh and blood and I would put it. Wodehouse died on February 14, 1975 but his books remain with people like us forever.

Wodehouse it is you that I dedicate this day!

PS: This post is inspired  and dedicated to one of the greatest of fans of Wodehouse, dear Uncle Emsworth.
Love,

Angela   

Everything these days is automated, electronic and somehow or the other twinged to reduce human effort/intervention. I have absolutely no complains about the new inventions. After all they make my life easy. But, do you notice something, every such electrical gadget has to come with a wire, usually black. TV needs power supply, a wire here, the cable for the thousands of channels that we never see, again has another big wire. The laptop has the option for wireless internet, but the router needs the power connection and hence the wire, and yes the laptop, that needs a wire too. Thankfully the TV remote does not. Yes, yes, we have made great progress from the days when electrical lines used to run over the walls, I still remember my old home in my childhood, where it was done in that fashion. There are a number of other things that have come up in the recent past that can operate using the wireless technology and I am not unaware of them.

But, for a person who is trying to keep her home neat and clean, these wires have now become a necessary evil. In a way they bring out the creativity out of an individual is what I feel. These wires give us an opportunity to utilise our brain to come up with contraptions that will help us conceal them or make them look less obvious. In our small apartment, my husband and I have tried hard to conceal a huge chunk of those necessary evils - wires. It all started many days back when I tried to clean my home. Somehow, I always felt that the hall looked really untidy and whatever I do, it never ever seemed to be looking prim. At the heart of the problem lay the chunk of black and white wires, running all along. It then kind of struck like a jolt of lightening. Ma’s words came running back to me. She used to remind us time and again to wrap up those wires when we were done. I can now strongly emphathize with her feelings.

Anyways, back to our small home, we did manage to conceal the bunch of wires. Used some coloured paper to put as screens and in the process induced colour into our rather white and boring looking apartment. (The rent restrictions make it too much of a botheration to paint the walls.) Let me confess, we still have some set of wires that are still to be seen out. I suppose we can’t hide everything. But, its now much better and tidy. Ah! so wires also lead to good teamwork and helps in relationship bonding. After all my husband and I were working collectively toward a certain cause that plagued the two of us :).  It takes me back to another aspect, my degree in Electrical engineering, how co-incidental. Now that I think of it, sometimes I used to be irked by the bunch of wires found in the labs too. I suppose my aversion to bunches of electrical wires is dated. Well, there is another thing that I strongly have come to conclude, never take the electrical connections lightly. When you decide to do your home, make sure you plan the connections and points ahead. If you don’t, trust me they would create a havoc later in your well-planned home.

However weird this may be, our lives are wired and connected in a number of ways with all these modern contraptions…so live an Electric life!