Moonrise

MOON RISE

Have you seen the moon rise?
A-glittering in the sky.
I wonder who she's looking at,
I know I'd melt like chocolat..
I watch the translucent grey clouds sail,
But she hides behind their misty veil.
She hushes my heart in the blue of the night
She brings awe to every heart tonight.
Oh! Shine on me your wondrous peace
Your light doeth, my heart appease
The world below is fast asleep,
You alone our secrets keep
I dream away this blissful night.
Shine on me, Oh glorious light!

Atoms in an excited state emit energy

Yea, So being the last minute dimwit that I am, its no surprise when I end up packing my bag to go someplace approximately 20 minutes before I have to leave. You know... to keep my life exciting,thats all. ;) Who's gonna waste time in packing their bags 3 hours ahead. No. Not me. I need an EXCITING life. Yea, thats me. Miss Exciting. Sometimes I feel I need to kick those excited electrons in my butt to a distant place called Sanity. Where normal people live their non-exciting lives with their prim bags packed well before the idea of packing crawls into my head.

A round of applause please.. Thank you.Thank you.

So my train is at around 11. (I think) Miss exciting here, doesnt even know the time she's supposed to get there. Forget the place and how to get there.
So I decide to leave office by the 8.30 cab. It generally takes like an hour to get back home. Let me explain the situation here. Well the obvious thing is... I haven't packed yet. Duh.

So I'm waiting outside our building where the Cab list is put up. The cab list will tell you which cab you will be going in.

8.35 - No sign of the guy who puts up the cab list.

8.45 - Where is this guy??

8.55 - I have to catch a train. Where is this loser.?

9.05 - I have to pack!!!! \m/

Time to panic. I call up my roomie.

"Can you do me a favour? Can you take that green bag and put the stuff that i've put on top of that suitcase and put them inside the bag? "

*Detailed conversation follows*

The cab list dude finally shows up and we all jump into the cabs.!

So I get into the cab. And there are some other people in there with me. I'm thinking, I gotta get home fast and finish packing.

9.30 - Roomie calls.

*Ok, Lets play a game. It's called.. Guess what IT is.
IT's something all of us wear. Don't laugh. :|
It's something we all need to pack when we go someplace.
No, I'm not talking about a sweater! Or a Jacket. Or a Sock. Or a Shirt. Or a Skirt.
Yea.. THAT.

*

So She wants to know where THAT is. :|
I tell her. It's in my cupboard or outside only. And she's like where.

btw, I'm in the cab. So far i've been saying "it", "that" etc.
The mindless fool that I am, I blurt out the actual name. Yep.

My ----- ---- is there only!!!!
LOUD. I Mean LOUD.

Sheesh. The silence in the cab could pierce a million ear lobes.

I not only DONT have the guts to turn back,(Where these guys I'm sure are stuffing their mouths and laughing) but I also have this urge to laugh my brains out.

My God. I'm sure my electrons are dead and gone to heaven. Poor things might have died of embarassment.

So I spent that very exciting ride pondering why, just why I need to live an exciting life!


So Yea, that's the EXCITING life that I live.

\m/ Wooohoo \m/

I love that! So totally rocks.

Atchoooooo..

You know its been a long time since you've blogged when

* When the rest of the blogging world is using \m/

I mean, am I ancient or something? Now i know how old people feel when they look lost in this whole new hi-fi world.

Please don't kill me for trying :|

But i think \m/ is..

A)It's a mouth. With bunny teeth
B)Must be a hand.. You know that chilled out Rock symbol.. with your pinkie and index finger stretched out. Nah. Cant be that easy! :P

C)Top View of a man with a middle partition hair style going to hug someone.
D)Its a bowl of alphabet soup with only the letter m left.
E)I know.. It's a SNAIL! With someone going to beat its bum. Sheesh. What are you people!

F)Shit. Its a crown!! How did i miss out on that? Ah, I can see it. It's one of those plush purple royal looking ones with a gold rim.
G)You know, when i was young we used to call this symbol "palam". I think it used to mean that we're friends or something. Heh :| and there was this other symbol that we used to make with our fingers(Middle and index fingers crossed). It was called "Do". "I'm do with you" meaning, we 're not friends anymore.
How sad! *sigh*

I'm wondering whether all this is just some weird dream that i once had or whether it was actually something we silly kids did. It's funny actually! Us cute little things. Worrying about relationships way back then.!


I also think I need to apologize to the world. For being away. I haven't spoken to many people in ages and I'm sorry! Really really truely sorry! :(

So, if there was a time when i either didn't respond or i ignored you or forgot to do something for you or just forgot you, it just means that i'm egggausted.

I am exhausted. REALLY. I AM. Desperately needed a break. Even my Boss thought so. Heh.
So here goes.. "I'm just a girl standing in front of the world asking them to forgive her"

Sorry, ;) that line from Notting Hill kinda fit! Anyway, Be yourself and Be Nice. The world needs nice people.

Lots of love,

Annette

Chennai is HOT!!

You really have to be prepared when you come to chennai. Really. I mean it's reallly hot and sultry.
Despite my numerous trips to the water counter, i don't think my brain would have ever understood those insane thoughts that whizzed around my head.

"I just drank a few minutes ago!!"

I went for a youth conference in Chennai.
8 of us girls in one room. By the time, all of us have a shower at night, it would have been 3 a.m. I've not seen 3 a.m in a long time!

So much for a few hours of sleep to satisfy our closing eyes.

When you think of water, you think of Pee.

That was a speed breaker sign. (:D Well, NOT ANYMORE!! Muhahahahaha)

1.2.3 Dsshhum

On a hot sunny day,
In May
Three pretty girls,
Happy and gay

Wanted to have some fun
In the sun
Three pretty girls,
With a gun.

We're not here to kill
But chill
Three pretty girls,
Oh yes, we will.

Who said we can't aim?
We have to live up to our name!
Three pretty girls,
Rule at this game.

We shot those arrows,
What a graceful pose?
Three pretty girls,
The dust arose.

Bow and Arrow
Bullet and gun
To sum it all-
A day of fun.


P.S. That was not even a real gun and it was SO heavy!

In search of the Croissant

Breakfast at Coffee Blossom, Club Mahindra,Codagu Valley, Coorg

Today's special was croissant. Croissant is a very classy form of bread that is twisted and has flavours like Apple, Cheese,Chocolate etc.
There was also English muffin, toast, marmalade, jam, butter,coffee, porridge to complete that English Breakfast picture. Oh yes, and the sausage, omlette and salami for all the non-vegetarians.

Ah, heaven for a foodie like me!

Oh, we're not done here! How can we miss out on the good ol' Indian Yum-to-tum food?
Idli with coconut chutney, green chutney,tomato chutney and sambar. Masala Dosa made straight into your plate, (I didnt have it. Although it looked good on my sistah's plate)Vada, Something Karat or Karat Something (looked like bisibellabath-if you know what that is!), pav bhaji, lots of fruits, salad. Yea, I guess that's it!

Now, back to my Croissant story.. heh.. kinda got deviated by all that food in my head!

Despite the large variety of Croissant just placed there looking very pretty, and when we knew that there was a chocolate Croissant somewhere there, we knew we HAD TO GET THEM CHOCOLATE ONES!

Three rows of Croissant! Just looking at them was blissful! Ah, I love being a foodie. This totally rocks! Mum, Sis, Cuz and I looked equally clueless as to what was what!! They had conveniently just mentioned the names of the Croissant on a card next to the entire thing!!

I mean, THEY LOOK THE SAME!!
P.S. Just remembered there was sugar coated donuts too. Was just divine.

So, we decided to ask the waiters there. Which is the chocolate one? Hmmm

That dude(God Bless Him), mumbled something and i just kinda looked like I was hit by a My-Brain-Can't-Comprehend bomb. (God Bless me too). So we understood it was pointless. So, the bulb breaking IDEA that we came up with was, Just eat 'em all!! haha :D

So Sis Ate: the 1st row extreme left one, and some other one.
Amy ate: 3rd row middle, the english muffin
Mom ate the extreme right and something else I guess.
I ate the donut and something which i don't think had any distinct flavour. I convinced myself it was white chocolate and ate it blissfully! Don't get me wrong, it was good! Actually reallllllly good.

So much for our trial and error tactic. It failed miserably. In the middle of all of this, Mum spotted the chef! Good job Mum! Right on. So she asked him. He told us that the 3rd one,first row was the chocolate and pointed out to the others too!! I dont remember exactly.

So, FINALLY we had found which one was chocloate. So Amy marched to the intimidating Croissant table and took a croissant from the 3rd plate on the first row. I asked her to get one for me too! ;)

And then, wait for it... wait for it.. wait for it..
..............
.............
............
...........
..........
.........
........
.......
......
.....
....
...
..
.
IT WAS CHEESE!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Man, were we laughing!
So the 2nd plate on the first row HAD to be chocolate. So my sister finally decided to try them! (After a 5 minute gap of course for the rest of the food to digest! like duh..)
God bless us all 'cos this time it WAS CHOCOLATE!! Phew. I dont think i could have eaten anything more.
And all of us shared that one Croissant. Ah, bliss at last. A Chocolate Croissant to end the meal. I ended it with a south Indian Filter Coffee too. Lovely.
And that was the end of "In search of the Chocolate Croissant"!

A great breakfast to start our day!
My next post will include what we did the rest of the day!

What's in a name?

I always thought my name meant "Little girl". Since Ann represents a woman and hence the assumption that Annette meant little girl.

Cigar --> Cigarette
Ann --> Annette


But when i did some research on it, i found:

1) Annette is derived from Anne (Usage in French)
2) Anne is actually the french form of Hannah!
3) Anne was apparently the name of the mother of the Virgin Mary
4) Hannah (from the hebrew word Channah) meant "favour" or "grace" or "the gracious one" or "loving one".
5) Hannah was the name of the mother of the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament.
6) The latin version of the name is Anna.

Sarah:

1)Means Princess. And my sister has always gloated about her being a princess! :| .It's a pretty name though.

2) There are 58 versions of the name Sarah.
3) The Farsi version of the name is Soraya!
4) Amir's wife in the kite runner is named Soraya.
5) Soraya was the name of the first wife of the last shah of Iran.

Will update soon! Cya

I.B.I.A.

Yesterday, I realized that life is totally worth living and everyday is a better day and a more challenging day. I met some of the most amazing people last night and i certainly learnt a lot of things from them. So, we had good food, good people and a great day of fellowship. What more could i ask for. As an International conference was being held at my parent's workplace, people from all over the world were attending the conference and yesterday we hosted dinner at our place.

But really, they were among the most polite people I've ever met in my life! I actually heard so many "thank you"'s that actually could have exceeded the number of times i've ever heard from the people around me everyday! You know what it actually made me a better person. I want to be more affectionate (Oh no) and more loving (don't get your hopes high :P) and more generous (it's your lucky day!). What i want to say is that would it kill us if we were more polite? I could use the term "profusely polite" to describe them.

Oh yeah.
I- Indian
B- British
I- Iranian
A- American

Atleast now i know what an Iranian flag looks like! Shame on me! :(

I'd met Janet last year I think and she totally blew me away. She's from Britain and she's probably the most fun and classy lady I've met. She's not afraid to experiment with her clothes and certainly does not compromise on her luggage. The driver told my dad that they couldn't even lift her suitcase!!! Ray, an American joked whether they could see HER BEHIND HER SUITCASE! :D Americans and their sarcasm. PRICELESS. She was quite the talk of the conference with her shoes matching her suitcase! But a very smart lady nonetheless! I was really impressed. Her husband, Rodney made a nice wooden bowl with a lid for us. Made of Holly and Indian Timber and polished with beeswax. Awww.

Ralph, the American lady wore a beautiful Salwar Khammez and lovely shoes. (The shoes.You have to love the shoes!!) She gave me such a big hug, I was taken by surprise. She was going gaga over my Mom's Sari. Ah yes, the Sari. She popped me a question. "So.. What are your plans?"
I said "I have two more yrs of college. "

And then she asked," after that? "

And i dont know what came over me, but i said, "I want to travel the world!!"

Everyone was like "ooooooh.. thats nice! Where do you wanna go?" I said
(believe it or not) Paris!!
That was a fun conversation. I do want to travel the world one day.


Apparently my sister's dessert was a big hit! Lemon Pie. WOW. I can still taste it!!
Dinner was excellent! It always feels great to have some good food! Ah.. I'm in heaven! After everybody had left, the Iranian Woman arrived. Her flight had been late. I think she was the most fascinating of them all!

Elahi. What a beautiful name? My Mom told me her full name. (It was SO long, but fascinating nonetheless) Well, she's the first Iranian I've ever met! And she is really what you call a woman. Such dignity, such grace. She wore a cream coloured suit with stripes of a lighter shade and a beautiful cream coloured scarf that covered her head. She spoke with a very distinguishable Iranian accent which i found really fascinating. She said she felt closer to the Indians as she found lots of similar words that were used. For instance,

1)Chai
2)Paneer
3)Bhise (20 in Hindi)
Those were among the few we discovered were in common. My Mom asked her about Iran. She said, with sadness that was evident to all of us,that they didn't have the luxury of security which we enjoy in India(To an extent). She told us about how her mother was robbed while she was on her way to the Doctor. The robber grabbed her purse and ran away. She had important papers with her. And this happens ever so often and the police station is always full of people with their complaints. They told her they can do nothing about it and that she should apply for her papers, saying she had "lost" them. It would be faster. Elahi said that she wondered if the police were in league with the robbers!

She told us about the work conditions in Iran. How people who worked hard were just not paid because they were classified as another group and how people who didn't work at all, were paid a fat pay cheque. She said that based on the basic needs that the people rightfully deserved, it had failed miserably. Common people really don't care about oil or nuclear power. They want a peaceful and safe place to live. Where their family is secure and living conditions are good. She said that their actions did not tally with their promises. The Shah had promised (back in the late 70's or early nineties )that they would have so much money that they would come door to door with money to give. Well, I don't know what draws a person to their mother land. Despite the suffering and treachery, nothing can compare to the land you call your homeland. The place you call home. Some say that North Western Iran used to be
The garden of Eden . There has been a lot of theories about the actual location of the garden of Eden. I'm currently reading the book of Geneses and everytime I read it, I find a new angle to it.

A very accomplished lady. A very beautiful heart.

And i was very honoured to meet this amazing woman. She loved her family deeply and embraced life as it came before her. Life is tough.

But the key is to embrace it.

Embrace the cross

Embrace the cross, you Christian Soldier;
Hold on to what is pure and right.
Though the world may not embrace her,
Hold on soldier, hold on tight.

I pray that I can see, O Master;
I pray that Thou grantest me sight.
That I may walk through dark,hereafter;
Shine on me,Thy glorious Light.

Embrace the cross, you Christian Soldier;
Hold on to what is pure and right.
Though the world may not embrace her,
Embrace her with me day and night!

Embrace the cross, you Christian Soldier
The world today has gone astray.
Though none agree to embrace her with you,
Remember that Christ leadeth the way.

My heart leaps for joy, to serve Thee;
For goodness and strength I to Thee pray.
Embrace the cross, O Christian Soldier,
For He will lift your burden away.

Embrace the cross, O Christian Soldier;
Await the Lord in that precious hour.
For then the world will fear His presence,
Then the world will feel His power.

And everything that has breath will praise the Lord.
Every being,every leaf, every flower.
Embrace the cross, O Christian soldier;
For the Lord our God will reign forever!
-Annette

I LOVE this photograph!
One of my experiments with my camera.

Wasssup

I like that word or rather "non-word". Its kinda cute and snazzy. heh. Anyway, after a LOOOOOOOOONG gap of being devoid of the blogging frenzy, yes, I'M BACK!

And i've been tagged. By you know who. No prizes for guessing ;)
You'll probably be the only one reading this! haha. So yay! I'm excited.. Havent written in a while.. So here goes!


A-Available? Yes.


B-Best friend(s):Nethra


C-Cake or Pie: Ah, now you're making me hungry! ;) Cake till i get bored of it and pie till i get bored of it.

D-Drink of choice: Well, this sounds so boring but yea, essentially cold water. I hate aerated drinks. Love fruit juice


E-Essential thing used everyday: My hard drive, t.v ;) , my lappie


F-Favorite color: Purple, black , white , blue

G-Gummi bears or worms: Gummy bears. Yay


H-Hometown: Well i was born in Saudi, brought up in coimbatore but my hometown is in kerala.


I-Indulgence: FOOD. Anytime. Anywhere.


J-January or February: Who framed this question? You deserve Two free kicks :D


K-Kids and names: I love my cousin Ria. I love all names except maybe rosy,dincy,polite (YES),delite(YES) and a majority of other mallu names. I love you Mom and Dad!


L-Life is incomplete without: love


M-Marriage date: I don't know!!! I need a guy first! :D


N-Number of siblings: Two- Jim and Sarah


O-Oranges or apples: Both. (Straight from the refrigerator)


P-Phobias: Fear of making a fool out of myself. Well i do it all the time, but not in front of everyone! :P


Q-Quote: You know, you dont have to make me feel stupid!!


R-Reason to smile: My God, My Family, Chocolates, Anything made from potato, Grilled chicken sandwitch, the rain, love, a good book and a good movie topped with hot chocolate or hot coffee or cold coffee or cappaccino or decaf or frappe or katten capi (Black coffee). COFFEE. Drawing, writing, ooooh..travelling by train, walking, SINGING (how can i forget), watching something in silence, chatting for hours with my friends/family, when Dad cracks a joke (for which only he laughs! But it brings a smile anyway! :) shoes and Diamonds!)


S-Season: Monsoon. Ah I love it

T-Tag three people: Sarah, Deepika, Johnson (If you'll EVER read this ;))

U-Unknown fact about me: Well shush!! I do dumb stuff. Dont really want the whole world to know! :P


V-Vegetable(S) you do not like: Food <---> Me. We connect.


W-Worst habit: Prolonged relaxation ( Lazyness is a boring word. )


X-rays you have had: None, zero, zilch, poojyam, nil


Y-Your favourite food: Oh man. Food <---> Me. We connect.


Z-Zodiac: Cancer.

Food = life ?

Are Indians unhealthy?
Ever since my Mom came back from her trip to Chicago 3 years back, she's been facsinated by the concept of eating VEGETABLES for lunch!! In fancy terms, a salad :|
I understand that our ancesters did a lot of manual labour in the fields etc and hence the plate full of rice. They needed the carbohydrates after a long day of work. Considering, the lack of leg movement in my life, i'm not surprised how fast i can put on a few kilos by just staring into space! It is no wonder that after a long day of college, when i was dreaming of some Rice, meat and tossed vegetables, i came back home to see my plate of vegetables and TOSSED RICE! Minus the meat. How sumptious. I had to look twice to actually notice the rice on my plate. My appetite took a double take and almost fainted with sorrow.

But despite the lack of enthusiasm on my face, that was infact what i should be eating to remain healthy. The extra carbohydrate in my body, unless utilised would be converted to fat. No wonder my mom keeps asking me to exercise. Unfortunately, the world has become a global village and people have become almost too competitive. It's almost an unnecessary chore to exercise these days. But that's where we are wrong. For a healthy body and mind, we need to exercise. My mom once heard Vishvanathan Anand's interview. She asked me what i thought he said when he was asked the question of what he does to keep his mind sharp. And i meekly said, "su do ku?" :) haha. But infact, he said he takes the time to do some physical exercise! Hah. If your body is not healthy, how can your mind be? When you feel good about your body, that will most definitely make you feel like a better human being. It brings out a confidence in you that you never thought you had.So, my dear unhealthy Indians, take some time to shake those legs and shed some kilos! Eat right, think right.

Untitled

It was a holy night,that night at the roof. I looked at the most beautiful thing i had ever seen. The moon, she was painted yellow with the best brush from heaven. She shone her light for all to see. She beamed above in the starry skies, prepared for my Jesus. And was I?The stars from afar winked at me. They waited for my Lord in awe. And was I? I stood with my knees almost giving up. It felt like like the whole world had lost it's voice. And i could only hear my own deep breath. At that moment i knew what Christmas meant. We were all waiting for My Jesus that night.We were all numb for words. For none could explain the peace we had.

None could explain the love of Jesus.

Why?

Looking at the moon,was like looking straight at you..
Hard to look away.

Watching the light surround you,I Found it
Hard to look away.

Taking in the silence of the night,I knew it was
Hard to look away.

I wanted to look at the stars,the moon,the sky
So hard to look away.

But my mind,my heart,my soul saw you..
Why should i look away?