Holi Hai!!!

Ever heard of Holi played with snow??? That's what we did today:-)
It was heavily snowing since morning. We were not doing anything except stare at the falling snow. It was snowing like cats and dogs and before we knew it the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow. We felt like going out, but were afraid that we might fall sick. When we saw two friends playing in snow, we said, "What the hell..let's go out and enjoy". We called up a couple of friends and everyone was ready in no time, donned in jackets, caps, thermals, and gloves. Before we knew it, everyone was throwing snow balls at each other. As each new person joined the group, he was bombarded with snow balls from all directions. Everyone tried to run away from this, which was even worst coz they would slip and fall in the snow. Masti knows no bounds, some guys put snow in other's shirt. And then someone decided a target. The guy was lifted off the ground, rolled in snow, showered with snow, and then left to take revenge. Luckily, we girls were spared, but not before we faced some major snow balls. We took loads of snaps of everyone enjoying and playing in the snow.

This reminded us of Holi, were we pull out friends from their houses and throw colors and water balloons on them. I thoroughly enjoyed this Holi played with snow.

The evening ended with hot tea and bhajjis. All in all, it was a rollicking evening that will always remain in my heart. Let it snow! Let it snow!

Pizza party and UNO attack

Just got back from a pizza party that was planned to celebrate Valentine's. The reason for this early party was that all the beautiful ladies wanted to spend Valentine's eve with their sweethearts:P Amidst laughter, shouts, and noise we managed to order a large number of pizzas. It took us a whole 45 minutes to place the order.Grrrrrrr.

We gobbled the pizzas in total silence. Yes, we were too hungry to talk anything. This was followed by the hisaab-kitaab and planning of a special potluck for Holi. Holi is soon approaching and we all racked our brains to find a fun way to celebrate Holi in US.

Anyways, after all the planning we settled down to play UNO. Now, I have kinda become an expert in UNO. I play it almost every weekend since I have landed in the US. UNO is a wonderful game that can be played with a huge group. Players win the game by having minimum points. You can play a card of matching color or number. If you have a single card remaining, you have to shout, "UNO" at the top of your voice.
So, we began by training all the newbies with the rules and regulations.

Once we started playing the game, our voices reached higher decibels. Among shouts of "Mujhe draw 4 kyon diya", "Mujhe skip kyon kiya", "Mera turn to ata hi nahi!" and "UNO" we had total fun. The afternoon couldn't have got better with a sweet surprise of sweet kheer by our sweet friend S. Thanks! The kheer was yummy (I ofcoz took a second helping).

Here's wishing a very Happy Valentine's day to all my new friends (you know who you are). Just when I had thought that I won't be making many new friends after college and office life was over, God gifted me a whole bunch of friends:-))Thanks for your friendship!

Books.google.com

Recently came across this new google site, which is in its beta version. Go to http://www.books.google.com/ and enter the name of any book, phrase from the book, chapter name and so on. Google has scanned thousands of books and intends to make all the book contents searchable. Some of the books that have no copyrights associated are available for full viewing. This site is just like an online library. Go check it out.

The crow girl

Some days back, I was chatting with my cousin M on the messenger. When his friend enquired whom he was chatting with, my cousin told him my name. Upon which, this friend whom I have never met before, said, “Who? The crow girl!!!”

My cousin M had told this friend a very funny story starring two characters – me and the crow. It goes like this. I was en route to my college with my friend L. I had tied my hair in a different style that day, and put some pins to hold back strands. I and my friend were chatting non-stop – oblivious to our surroundings. In the midst of our walk, I stared up, only to notice a crow (I think it was a baby crow) aiming straight for my head. Now, let me tell you that I am completely, shamelessly, terrified of crows. Long back, a crow had banged his beak on my head suspecting me as a threat to his nest. I will never forget how much painful the experience was. From then on, the sight and sound of crows terrified me. It doesn’t help that the fish sellers choose the exact time to sell their wares when I step out of the house. It is so irritating to see hundreds of crows flying in all directions and flocking the fish basket on top of the seller’s head. I don’t have much option but to dodge crows, change lanes, and be as far away as possible.

Anyways, back to the story. I saw the crow approaching me and before he could bang my head, I ducked. This seemed to be a grave error in my calculation. For, I did nothing but confuse the crow. Its claws got stuck in my head. Because of the complex hairdo, he was not able to untangle himself from my hair. He wildly started flapping his wings. As for me, I shut my eyes and started screaming at the top of my lungs. This confused the crow even further and he joined me in screaming. Meanwhile, my friend tried to wave her hands in an attempt to shoo away the crow. She threw down my bag on the road. She couldn’t help laughing. I mean the whole scene was so hilarious. Imagine, a girl with a crow on top of her head! Some people from nearby shops came out to see the commotion. Luckily, after five minutes of screaming, flapping, shooing, and waving the crow finally untangled his claws and set off. I was relieved and thanked my friend.

I have my doubts on crows having eyes. They really seem to have no sense of direction. I think the only cure for my paranoid behavior would be to carry an umbrella all around the year.