From my Pink Diary......

Staying beautiful and looking pretty is a costly proposition as I have realized that here in Dubai. The ambience inside the cosmetic stores is very alluring and they have ‘something in offer’ to fix any flaw, imaginable or not-imaginable! …..but the price tags that these beauty products carry , are scary enough to drive away the faint-hearted from the display counters in those cosmetics superstores in the malls.

Back home in India, life was a roller-coaster ride almost all the time! Managing two little kids, a regular 9 to 5 job, a husband who spent more time in airport lounges than at home and a battery of part-time maids who will turn up for work on their whims and fancies, was not an easy task by any means. I did have only 10 minutes time every day to stand in front of the mirror to dab some variety of cream, tie my long hair into a plait before rushing to the rickshaw to the workplace. Counting fine lines on the face and crow’s feet around the eyes were last in my priorities! To make things worse, the husband only has a heart to love me but not eyes to tell me that I was aging (or may be, he loves me so much that he did not want to break my heart).

Things suddenly changed once we moved in to Dubai. As I wanted since long to take a break from work and study again, the dream finally found its way to reality and I became a student for 2 years in a University here. The most relieving factor was that I found a full time domestic help and suddenly there was plenty of time in between university runs, school runs and mall hopping. With those extra hours in hand and a longer time in front of the mirror, I was heart-broken to discover those dreaded fine lines and crow’s feet in plenty! Secretly, I started my search for ‘something’ to cover those flaws – the perfect day cream that would give a ‘natural glow’ and the super-perfect night cream that would rejuvenate the skin all night and I would look like a fresh daisy in the morning!!

For a novice, to find out something suitable for my “skin tone and type” (how on earth to find that out?), was extra difficult looking at the sheer range and variety of products that are available! The beauty page of weekly Friday Magazine turned out to be my favorite read very soon as I tried to gain knowledge on the subject from whatever the Beauty Editor wrote! I ventured out one day to “Areej” all by myself with bagful of knowledge on “foundation, eye shadow, concealer, blusher” and secretly hoped that I would surprise my husband with my ‘subtly made up’ look when he would come back from tour after few days!

Even though, I was well prepared with knowledge on those cosmetics, I was least prepared for the ‘financial shock’ that my poor husband would have to endure in case I chose to buy something from those ‘high end’ cosmetics brand.. Fresh from India, I was still reeling under the shock of “rupee-dirham” mismatch and was yet to adapt to the “dirham” mindset while buying anything anywhere here in Dubai. I walked inside the cosmetics shop almost few kilometers, stood in front of each display counter of each brand and in my mind, multiplied the dirhams by 12 , countless number of times! Exhausted with the walk and shocking revelation, bought myself a cup of coffee and a “Garnier” face wash only to justify the taxi fare that I had to shell out.

…..but the change of mindset was inevitable and I grew out of the conversion misnomer pretty soon as my husband was on a mission to educate me on this economic phenomenon. Finally I learnt to buy things without comparing how much it would have cost me in India and my wardrobe got few fashionable clothes and there were accumulation of beauty products of decent variety on the dressing table.

But there still was another side to this story of “looking beautiful”! I was not clear whether the foundation should be applied under the moisturiser or over, the blush-on should be a ‘dab’ or ‘dash’ or the bronzing powder should be applied parallel to the jaw line or on the apple of cheek! The confusions were plenty and I did not know who to ask such technical questions!! Shedding all inhibitions, I opened my heart to my only savior, my dear husband! An indulgent husband that he is, he took me out the other day to Marina Mall, called one of those ‘ever smiling and pretty’  sales girl and asked her to give me a makeover! After those precious 10 minutes under her care, I could not recognize myself in the mirror – actually glowing like a fresh daisy!!!

 The husband picked up everything that the girl recommended and warned me not to come in front of the “cashier’s counter”. After 13 years of staying together, he knew pretty well that if the price tags catch my eye, I will pull him out of the shop immediately! He was the happiest man on that day – after all, husbands also want their wives to stay beautiful and look pretty!

And now when I was thinking of finding an opportunity to show my ‘flawlessly made up’ look to my lovely friends, the doctor dropped the bomb while the chemo session was on….

“Minakshi, you will feel dryness of skin too much while the treatment is on but stay away from the chemicals as much as you can”

I was almost in tears! So do I have to use coconut oil, the only natural moisturiser that I know of and smell like a coconut all the time? And I cannot use the Dior Glow Compact Powder, the Clarins BB Cream, and L’Oreal’s Red Velvet lipstick on the Naboborsho celebration of our FFS club? My big man looked at me indulgingly and said “you can use it occasionally while the treatment is on but you can buy L’Occitane products as many as you want, they are plant-based and free of chemicals”. By the way, I discovered the treasure of L’Occitane product long ago but only use the face cream and body cream. Again, the prices pull me back from buying anything else from them even after lot of pursuation from my husband.   

Now that it is time for overhaul and I am being persistently nagged to give him a chance to pamper me, I also feel it is time to spruce up my cosmetics cabinet with all things ‘natural’ and I should give him a free run!

It is a costly proposition but overhauling of a machine with such well ‘wear and tear’ ought to be a costly proposition, right friends?

Stay beautiful and happy, always, my lovely friends…..

From my Pink Diary......

My family does not exactly live by the principle of “healthy eating”, especially when it comes to the daily dose of fruit intake. The husband and son, on occasions, stray too much on the other side of the fence as they are “self-proclaimed” keeper of the tradition of “Mughlai Cuisine and had there been ways, they would have been living on biryani, bihari kebabs and chicken boti roll! The father-son duo is a veritable “yellow page directory” in case anyone wants some suggestions on authentic “biryani joint”. Just to balance the spice for the family, the daughter can eat “chocolate” as starter, main course and dessert, day in and day out! Considering that we are a family of four, I am the lone crusader in the household who always cribs about unhealthy eating habits of the children and husband.

Having said that, I do not have the heart to claim that I start my day with munching on an apple! As a matter of fact, even though, I like my daily diet to be less spicy and simple, fruits have never been on my list of “priorities” to be included in my daily dose of nutrients. Not exactly knowing our preferences for fruit or food, the Relocation Agent of ours purchased a lovely fruit basket for us when we moved in to Dubai and we have been using that basket for keeping our phone chargers, i-pad chargers, laptop chargers, subway coupons etc. for the last three years!!

……and suddenly the wind changed direction! After the first session of chemo-therapy, I have practically been living on a diet of fruits and lemon water as the taste buds have undergone an overhaul, I suppose!! The fruit basket has been emptied off and being used for the right purpose for the last one week and to my surprise, the daughter snacked on a sweet orange last evening and the son packed an apple for himself for small break in school today!!

I am in hurry to pack off as much as possible for the kids till the ‘good time’ lasts and am sure, if the status quo continues, my dream of getting an ‘enviably fit and trim body’ will be fulfilled any time soon!!!

……let me make the most of it when the wind has changed direction……

……but then, Chemo-therapy is not only about fruity flavor all along! As the doctor advised that I am allowed to eat anything which gives me comfort and strength, he exactly did not give us an exhaustive list but it was rather an inclusive list. Hence, occasional ‘home delivery’ of NKD pizza, McDonald’s burgers and blueberry muffins are my ‘fundamental right’ now. As children and husband take the liberty of eating out too much, we agreed on an agreement of not to eat junk food except rarely and we so far maintained that line of control even though not without lots of grumble and mumble from all three of them.

…..now the wind has suddenly changed direction and I was craving for some ‘healthy pizza with lots of veggies’ from NKD last evening! The kids got immediately active, the menu card was fished out from the drawer and we chose our respective ‘healthy’ pizza’. They could not possibly believe their ears that their “no junk food” Ma wanted to eat pizza. While we were at it, as if to make the most of the ‘junk food days’, the son suggested that I might like McD also (the spicy one with some fries!) and to my horror, I have been searching for the delivery menu of McD’s this morning!!!

…..the children are in hurry to make the most of it, when the wind has changed direction!

Have a happy and healthy day, friends ……

From my Pink Diary.......

It is a gloomy day outside but I have plenty of sunshine inside my house!

The kids insisted that I must give them packed lunch from home as they love food cooked by their Ma. Even though physically I am not in the ‘fit state’ currently and the “side effects of chemo therapy” try hard to pull me into the vortex, the kids always get the best out of their mom. I had no option but to pull myself out of my lethargy and we sat down to decide on the menu!!

Settling down to a common menu is the most crucial part of the whole thing as the taste buds of my kids are inclined to different directions – the son swears by anything ‘spicy’  and the daughter practically lives on ‘sweet’. After much deliberation and with due consideration to my health status, we froze the menu to “sandwich with baked sliced potato and juice for break, chicken fried rice with crumbled fried egg for lunch and banana for dessert”. We went off to sleep with a firm instruction from both of them that they would assist me in the kitchen in the morning and the alarm was set at 5.45 am in the morning.

As the alarm went off, I could see them springing up on their feet, out of bed (what a surprise!!) and I was shaken gently,” Ma, it’s time to get up.” With two deputies by my side, who seldom see eye to eye to each other, the kitchen turned into a battle ground within minutes – we forgot to decide what vegetables and spices should go into the chicken fried rice, the previous night!!

We chopped garlic and discarded (it smells garlicky when she opens the lunchbox), we chopped onion and discarded (he does not particularly like to chew on onion in between chicken pieces), we chopped capsicum and discarded (both do not like the slight bitterness in them) and finally could put some chopped carrots in the hot oil in the wok!

……and moment I mentioned to add some sauces , the sonny pushed me aside and pulled down 5 of the sauce bottles from the cupboard in a blink and churned out a deadly looking concoction as if he has been training in a culinary school for ages while me and the daughter ,watched him in bewilderment. Just to drive out my fear, he put a spoonful in his mouth and immediately spit it out almost on his sister. Her expert comment was not far from her lips,” Ma, dare not add it to the fried rice. The sauce looks like weird kind of blood but even the vampires would refuse to drink it” and hid behind me to save herself from her brother’s ire. We lost precious 15 minutes by that time from our schedule and I had to finally pull out the ultimate from my armory….

“Babies, why don’t you watch TV for 10 minutes and let me concentrate on your lunch pack. Otherwise, you have to eat from the cafeteria”. Before I could even finish my sentence, the title song of “Hey Jessie” was on full blast on the TV screen!! This trick never failed so far!! I finally got the kitchen under my control!!!!

By the time, they were ready with brush, bath and uniform, smelling nice and looking fresh, I somehow managed to hand them over their lunch pack and give them a peck on their cheeks as barely there was time for an elaborate “have a good day, babies”. They left home happy and satisfied but not before reminding me my day’s tasks:

“Momsickle (my daughter calls me lovingly), don’t forget to take your medicines on time and eat and drink as much as you can. “

“Don’t forget to carry the card for the doc when you go to the hospital today (they prepared a card for my doc as a token of their gratitude that he has taken care of their mum)”

“Dada and Didi (their grandparents), please make sure that you take her out for a walk in the morning as doc said”

“Please do not forget to inform Popsickle once you are back from the hospital”

…….and finally, “Love you Ma” and the lift door opened.

I was thoroughly exhausted with this one hour ordeal as it was time for the “chemo medicines” to get the worst out of me but I am ready for the day till the time they come back home, hug me and turn the house upside down again before kissing me good night!

I must make the most out of my “pink days” as I am now allowed to eat anything without looking into how much calories I am packing, I am allowed to use my time in any which way I wish to and I can dump myself onto the sofa whenever I feel like as I know the rest will be taken care of by my Ma in the kitchen!!

Have a lovely and healthy day, friends……..

 

Breast Cancer - it took some but gave me much more!

So many times I mentioned jokingly to my husband that I would like to die of some “high profile” disease and to my utter surprise, the wish was partially granted recently! I say partially because in these days with so much of advancement in medical science, hardly any one dies out of a high profile disease like “breast cancer”!!

Having said that, since there is still not enough proof that medical science has been able to invent a cure for the disease “cancer” of any form; phone calls, smses,  bbm messages etc. started pouring in from all places. The most difficult part was to disclose the news to parents and Ma-in-law (Do parents really follow logic, statistics or rationale when their child falls sick?)

……and a period of trial and tribulation started.

I agree that it would not be counted as a blessing to have been diagnosed with breast cancer but it was certainly an occasion to revalidate the strength of so many relationships that I share with so many people around me .....

Even though there was no doubt that the small world of my husband and my children revolve around me, it is quite evident from their acts and gestures, that their world has been hit by massive turbulence, whether they show it on their faces or not.

The two angels and the “big man” have suddenly grown up to give me constant reassurance and feeling of relief that they will be able to take care of themselves when I will not be “too well to take care of them”.

The parents and Ma-in-law are probably bleeding from inside but they are trying real hard to put up a brave front so I do not fall short of courage and strength.

My girls’ gang from (my very own) Greater Noida is extremely worried and concerned for the well- being of their group’s most humorous member! They have always stood by me whenever I needed any support from any one of them - when I used to struggle with two small kids, a job and an always-on-tour husband. This time around, they are doing their best in terms of sending their best wishes and prayers and are continuously in touch with me as if to compensate for the fact that they could not be here to be with me during this slightly difficult time!

During these three years of stay in Dubai, we have been fortunate enough to know few wonderful souls, our guardian angels– my Fatafati friends. Each one of them extended their support in whatever way we required and notwithstanding their daily routine of “wear and tear”, they have almost built a safety ring around me and all are on a “phone call away” for anything at any time!

Even though at the start slightly unwillingly and by default, one fine evening I happened to meet few “malt men and their lovely wives” and after three get-togethers, I completely fell in love with each one of them. My bunch of adorable malt men and the lovely ladies are praying for me with their fingers crossed and as expected, are on “high alert “ , just in case we need them …….

My JBR bestie is reliving the agonizing days when she had to lose her dad to cancer few years ago, ever since I mentioned this to her and she will be agonizingly waiting for me to come home strong and healthy from the hospital.

A nephew in faraway America sends his best wishes and asserts that everything will be fine and friends from Sydney, Kolkata and Mumbai have already done their bit of research just to convince me that it is not life-threatening!

So what if we have met only few times, but Benu did not forget to call and wish me luck and speedy recovery before proceeding to Kolkata for a few days!

Although I was a brand new employee of an organization here, Tracy (HR Head) and Salman (Finance Director) found time from their “busy as crazy” schedule to check with me every alternate day as to how I have been coping with this “menace” and extended support which I did not expect and hope for.

Could there be anything as assuring and overwhelming when the two of them unanimously declared that the door of that office would always remain open for me!!

Prayers have the strength to move mountains and when so many of these wonderful souls have been praying for me , I am more than convinced that I am well protected by these God’s angels . I only do not understand how and when I acquired so many precious gems in my life’s journey.

If I survive (I know for sure, I will), it will be my second-life as had it been detected at a later stage, I would have been counting my days, by now and I owe my second life to each one of you !

Not for once, did I complain and ask my favorite goddess, “why me?”. Do I have enough ground to complain when I am actually blessed to have these people around me? Aren’t these the real wealth, we hope to accumulate in our respective lives?

I consider myself truly blessed and fortunate and will bear this little pain as a side effect of being so wealthy.

As if, all these were not enough, God has been kind enough to identify a handsome surgeon too!! After a trip to the parlor this afternoon, I am ready for the D-day with shining skin, a pedicure and manicure! Seldom do we get a second chance to impress, right?

Hence, I promise to all my FFS friends that I will be back soon and will continue to remain the Finance Controller for many more Durga pujas, Lakshmi pujas, Diwali and Saraswati pujas ….

I promise, on behalf of FFS, to Benu that he will be the permanent “purohit” for all FFS pujas and we will celebrate to formalize the agreement once he comes back from Kolkata…..

I promise to Ma-baba and the other Ma, that no matter how far we are from each other, I will be by your side when you need me…. 

I promise to my gang of girls in Greater Noida that I will come to see you all in July/August and will re-live the laughter filled days…..

I promise to Bumba, Indrani and Surabhi that I will be alright soon and will plan to meet when destiny permits….

I promise to Sanjukta that we will again meet for our coffee mornings and will pour our heart out to each other…..

I promise to my malt men and the ladies that I will be back for the next get-together, all decked- up and Tabarak must make pegs of Margarita for me (I am addicted to that, I must confess) and I intend to be the bargirl for the next Malt sessions.

I promise to Dubari that I must come to her city for few days and will go back to our working-women hostel day…..

I promise to Tracy and Salman that once I am back on my feet, I will join in any project that you wish me to contribute, notwithstanding my qualification and experience. ……and Sahrish, I will be back soon to share those loud laughs and plenty of gossip in that special cabin of AR…..

…..and I finally promise to my husband and children that I will control your lives till my last breath, whether you like it or not (escape from that seems difficult!)

Amidst all chaos around our lives now, I became aunt of a gorgeous boy called Krishnaditya Bose-Nandy and I am little sad that I have to wait for some days before I could hold him and kiss him!

Thank you each one of you for making me battle-ready and I already see a winner in me. Probirda, the Iron-lady is ready!!!

 

Boys will be boys!

"Ah, when is he going to grow up?", exclaim almost all mothers in desperation who have a son ! The exasperation is much more frequent and arbitrary if the mother happens to have an elder daughter who is widely known to the neighbors, relatives, teachers and acquaintances as responsible, caring, composed and sensible.....

An article on Parenting in Gulf News changed my perception as to how to react or not to react at all when my 9-year old little monster practices his spider man-roll on the sofa while his elder sister sulks sitting on other corner of the sofa! The writer of the article in Gulf News is absolutely right in saying that teen age boys are generally under-rated than girls of comparable age ; they are, most of the times, dismissed as and presumed to be a bunch of noisy, aggressive and reckless 'creatures' by neighbors, 'adolescent girls' of comparable age and passer-by, when the fact is that they are innocent, unthreatning,boisterous and fun to be with.


Even though, I have four more years to go when my son will step into teen-hood..... ......

.......I always end up reacting hyper-actively when my 9-year old son just goes around knocking things down or experimenting with the TV-remote or singing his favorite song loudly or may be honing his football skill in the living room. In short, he is famous or infamous for his passion for mischief-making !

.......saying all that, how often do I praise him for his witty comments on petty things or when he hugs me tight in public just to say that he loves me or when he shares his psp with his little cousin or his ability to strike friendship with complete strangers ! His goodness somehow, gets overshadowed by his abundant naughty acts and I often forget that those demonic acts are not his invention but those are actually boy-thing which come naturally to them!

The other day when we went to attend a friend's birthday party, a mother of little boy there, showered him with praises for taking care of her little son so lovingly. Even though this was not the first incident of this sort, because he is continuously compared with his elder sister, he is labeled as a mischief-maker. I too forget while comparing them on "naughtiness parameter" that there are plenty of "goodness factor" in him as well where his sister falls off the mark !!

When I think of his acts and deeds (good and bad), in isolation from the daughter's, I must confess that he is a gem and such joy to be around. Unlike his sister, he can digest praise and criticism with equal ease; he can lead and be led with equal grace. He has given me countless moments to laugh out loud and ease my stress during critical situations with his innocent but practical view on many of life's happenings. He can be friend with a 6 year old or a 60 year old without much effort !


......Aren't those qualities enough to forgive him if he has broken few mirrors with his football kick or if he burped loudly and forgot to say sorry or if he is just a little bit unorganized and forgetful? I completely understand now when he labels his elder sister as 'little boring' while playing with her !


Boys will remain as boys - innocent, child-like, fun-loving; they are oblivious that their stinky socks can drive people away from the room, or that they need to be reminded continuously the benefits of taking shower everyday or that they don't mind laughing out loudly while sharing a joke with friends or that they will always be misunderstood for not being able to express their feelings with right words at the right time.....


.....BUT they will never talk ill about their enemies to others or they will never hurt people around them with 'deliberately chosen unkind words' or they will never think of 'schemes' to take revenge - if they need to settle a score, they will fight like wild bulls but will dust themselves off at the end of it and be friends again!!!!

So boys, don't bother if people frown upon you when you scare them with your naughty antics; don't stop living life and grow up at your own pace even when everyone expects you to grow up faster! Always remember, you are equally adorable, charming, priceless and a mother's pride !!!!! ....And mothers, please be patient and allow them to be boys for as long as time permits. They would certainly, make their mothers proud when it is their turn to do so!

Art Attack!

Last week, my daughter got home from school with her Home Learning tasks for the week end.  She was supposed to create a mythical character out of her imagination with a description and picture!  As a routine, I check their communication book right after they come back from school so that we all are mentally prepared well in advance for the ensuing 'tsunami' called 'homework ' in the evening !  The moment I encountered   words like "create”, "imagination" and "picture" in her task, I lost all ability to comprehend what actually was required to be done and I got confused between "mythical" and "mythological".  During such confused moment, I suggested that she should choose Hanuman from Ramayana!  Bewilderment writ large on her face and she exclaimed," Ma, but Hanuman is a mythological character and he existed several thousand years ago. I need to create something which does not exist in reality".
 
Ah, now the brain was coming out of that momentary state of haziness and I regained my ability to comprehend.  So, after few long breaths and an extensive search in Google, we both zeroed in on some "unreal" creature but she wanted to create something very new and unforeseen, to make life more difficult for me, to say the least!    We put our thinking caps on and kept on thinking the whole evening in between my kitchen run and her cartoon shows....
 
Art has always remained an alien subject for me for few reasons:  firstly, I did not get any "artistic” streak by inheritance; secondly, in the school curriculum during my school years, there was no specific period for "art" and thirdly, I never had an artist friend until recently.   

Ever since, these home assignments have compelled me to come up with something artistic at regular intervals, I have started buying books like "How to sketch animals", "Drawing made easy" and the likes.   When I could not think of something as "very very new and unforeseen" mythical character even after thinking through the hour long episode of my favorite reality show, I resigned and went off to sleep.  

Almost in a flash, before falling off to sleep, I remembered the poems and stories by  Sukumar  Roy which was part of growing up of almost all Bengali children (Sukumar Roy was father of the legendary Bengali film-maker Satyajit Ray).  His poems and stories for children only had characters which mostly did not exist in reality but all of us were hooked to each one of them.   As if to show my ‘creative’ genius, I took clue from one of his poems and suggested my daughter to combine a leopard with a dinosaur!

Even though, she was not very convinced, another genius in my household (my son) persuaded her to ‘at least try and take chance’. …….and now the most difficult part of the assignment was how to draw a ‘half-leopard half-dinosaur’ looking creature!  When it comes to drawing, my daughter cannot imagine anything beyond landscape, my son cannot imagine any object beyond cars but they are pretty good in their effort in drawing cars or scenery…….Sadly enough, I cannot imagine anything whatsoever if I am asked to draw something!

With such limitations, we skeptically took out all  those self-help books on how to draw!

 In my life, so far, fortunately or unfortunately, I never found the right thing at the right time (a right groom at the right age to marry; a right job at the right time; a right dress at the right time for example).   Not to break that tradition, none of those sketch books contained a page showing step-by-step, how to draw a leopard and / or a dinosaur!  After almost 3 hours of drawing, erasing and redrawing, we could somehow manage to come up with a very clumsy sketch of the combined creature and were feeling very happy about the effort.   While we were preparing to write a fitting description of the creature (that was not very difficult as my daughter writes well), the son jumped to have a look!

He is quite straight-forward and blunt while criticizing anything and said without any hint of reservation,” Well, the leopard does not resemble a leopard remotely and neither does the dinosaur; the aggression of the leopard is missing and the dinosaur, at the most looks like a giant lizard”.   We, mother-daughter felt quite enraged with such bluntness and defended ourselves,” It does not matter. It’s all imaginary, so……”

“If that is the case, then why do you need to bother so much?  Even if it looks like an ant with a fat tail, you can go ahead with that.  After all, it’s your imagination and an ant can grow a tail while you imagine. Give it an interesting name and that’s it!”, and he went back to his den leaving two of us fuming and distraught at the same time (here we must confess that he was absolutely right while criticizing our drawing).

After initial few minutes of incoherence, I saw a point in what he said and turned to the genius for a catchy and interesting name.

“Call it Leopardozard, a combination of leopard and giant lizard which carries killer venom hidden beneath the scales on its tail”, was his suggestion.   He also suggested few features to add to the drawing as well  to the description and we obeyed him without any doubt in mind!

Now with those small additions in the drawing, our Leopardozard was staring at us out of the page aggressively, ferociously and venomously!

……after the storm had stopped and the dust had settled, I was wondering whether I should enroll myself for an elementary course on drawing , so as not to feel so helpless during project time.   Even if it is not for the kids, but for the grandchildrens’ sake!  

Will it not be great fun if I can draw a Mickey Mouse or a Donald Duck for them without worrying about where to find a drawing of the same?

I will certainly do it before I become a granny!

Malts, Margaritas and little emotion.......

I must confess that the Malt Society, few of their 'spirited' members and their equally 'spirited' (if not a bit more) wives have been able to create a vortex around me and it is difficult for me to resist that 'pull'. Not that I want to resist too. So when my husband mentioned about an invitation to a get-together at one of the malt-lover's house, I immediately ran to check if I had matching accessories with the saree and my husband booked himself on a return flight from overseas just to be there over the weekend !

Now that this was my third attendance in such family get together' of Malt Society members, few faces have become familiar and I have now become familiar with the pulse of such gatherings. When few people interact without being dictated by their ego, social standing, and corporate background, for few hours, we all get a chance to be ourselves!
....and some 'sipping and nosing' of single malt literally transforms everyone a 'free spirited living being' without any inhibition.

The wonderful host and hostess, with their heartfull of warmth , the adorable menfolk (I mean it, seriously, whether in towel/s or fully clothed !), beautiful ladies with their stock of informative gossip(?), is too lethal a combination not to nurture a hang-over post party. ......and here Tabarak deserves a special mention for his tongue-tingling Margaritas!

In our perceived sense of emotional security, friends are a vital link. As we still consider ourselves 'fresh arrivals' in this city, apprehensions as to acceptance was reasonably high. Since we have been accepted with warmth and affection and without doubt , both of us (myself and my husband) will always remain grateful to all of you, ladies and gentlemen.....

.....and on a lighter note, it's a bonus for me, nevertheless, that I can indulge myself for some harmless dose of flirting with few of the MSA heroes and I allow my husband to such privilege as well in case he feels the need ! After all, after few sips of single malt and Tabarak's mind-blowingly sinful Margaritas, will we blame ourselves if the mind stops following logic for some hours?

So all of you wonderfully 'spirited' malt lovers, never stop spreading your goodness among people, your love for the spirit  and never loose the spirit of living life on your own terms.  To me, each one of you are 'the rarest of rare brew' !!!