Caesar.. My Old Geyser

10th October 2012...

Caesar boy... you turned 10 today.... 10 on 10 as I say! *touchwood*

So since I did NOT get to wish you, I thought I would write a lovely little note for you... describing to all and sundry as to the marvellous spirit thats my Caesar!

You have surprised me with your sharpness & intelligence... inspite of being blind for the last 2 years, you know every inch of the house, where there are steps and turns, you actually bound down the stairs.... and you know the exact number of paw-steps that lead from the bedroom to the kitchen.. your 2 favourite rooms in the house... and you are our very own rat exterminator... how you manage to stalk them and finish them, I will never know.. but yes please, do NOT brandish them as trophies in your jaw later !!

You make me proud of your tenacity.. a human being would have probably given in to his diabetes, thyroid and poor sight, but you, my ferocious little mite, dont let us take you for granted. You bark and growl for your share when we are eating at the dinner table. You dont like being collared or leashed and you make sure we face your displeasure when we attempt to do so. And you bullied Fido, my doberman!!! (PS: i have this theory, fido thot he was as tiny as a daschund and Ceaar thought he was as big as Fido and thats why Caesar acted like the boss)

Plus you have trained us all so well, that one bark from you at our doorstep and we know Caesar has to peee... woooof....yes master :D

And you are the cuddliest and warmest fuzz ball ever... You have warmed Ambika and my feet so well during cold nights in Pune, that we shall be eternally thankful to you.. Ma was right, daschunds are the best heaters EVER!

So my loyal & faithful friend, this year I hope, you get to eat lots of kaju, a little bit of Mango (Caesar, its a LOT of sugar), have lots of mattresses & pillows to chew on and you amass a rock/stone collection of a million plus...so that one day you build that tiny little stone cottage that Ma always thought you were hoarding for... her loyal son, she said :P

hugs and kisses... See you sooooon :)

PS: and may you have many more such awesome birthdays...so that I can wish you in person....touchwood to a million times to infinity... mwahh

Happy Birthday, Ma....

Dear Mom,


I miss you.
I miss your 'Hello"... I miss your "Bye beta".. I miss you asking me "are you busy?" when you called me....
I miss you calling me to rant about dad or Anuj when they upset you. ( I wonder who you called when I upset you?)
I miss your hugs.
I miss your knitting. I miss seeing your fingers work that wool or matte so beautifully.
I miss seeing you, nani and masi have your embroidery competitions while Anku and I struggled to finish 2 lines.
I miss your cooking. I miss your special tips. I miss your disgusted looks when I would cook and dirty your kitchen.
I miss you telling me or dad or Anuj to lower our volumes when you were watching TV. And when we wouldnt, I miss how you would just huff out of the room and go grab a book.
I miss you putting on your glasses to read the menus at a restaurant.
I miss you setting me a deadline to get married and beginning my countdown.....

I miss you giving biscuits to the dogs. They miss you too.

I remember you. I remember your laugh. I remember your tears. I remember your voice.
I remember us gossiping at times, whenever we had some piece of tidbit to share with each other.
I remember your eyes, telling me if you were happy or sad with me.
I remember you standing in the kitchen with your apron on..
I remember how when once I surprised you and dad on a weekend, your 1st question was, "Did you leave your job?"
I remember how you used to shut yourself indoors at Holi and wouldn't even let Anuj and me in to pee.
I remember everything, ma.

I remember how even when you were in the hospital in January, you were only concerned that I didnt go to Goa... (maaaa....!!)


I love you.
I love how you cared for us. I love how you loved us.
I love how we never felt alone because you were always there.
I love how you made everything okay...always.
I love how you made me independent.
I love how you made me strong.
I love how you made me emotional too (I totally get my tears from you).....
I love how we both LOVED silver jewellery.

I love your love for dogs ( I get that from you too)

I love your love for ALL animals... the cows in street, the cats in the neighbourhood, the birds.. they all ALWAYS had food in our house..( I am still not that considerate)..
I love how you wouldnt let dad hit me or Anuj... because only you had that right, mom.. :)
I love you.


And I am truly sorry, if I ever hurt you. I am.
Would give anything to have you back. But sadly, thats not how things work here.


But I do have you... In everything I do, I see, I read.... Because you have taught me how to be and how to live.
There is so much more I wish I could have said to you.. then and now....
And On your 50th Birthday, I only wish that you are happy and at peace, wherever you are. you deserve it, ma.
I am sure others say this too, But I TRULY had the best mom ever. She was kind.. she was beautiful...she was honest.. and blunt... she was so hardworking... excellent at whatever she did or set her mind to. She did everything with a flair.


I will say more.. but later.....
I love you ma...

The Know-It-All

Nope, the title does not pertain to a descriptive analysis of me or anyone that I know of. Sadly, I don't know a lot of Know-it-alls (the good ones), except for the legend that is my father (more on that in some other post). However, what I am referring to is the book by A J Jacobs which is a must-read for all the book and facts lovers out there.

The Know-It-All is a literary summation of Jacobs' attempt to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z and in doing so, he takes the reader on a fun, entertaining, enriching, part-philosophical, part-idealistic ride along with him.

And to Jacobs credit, the book is tremendously humourous. As an author and as the central character, he has put himself in a self-deprecating light, wherein he is not a super hero but just someone who wants to be the Smartest person in the world, and always seeing the joke on himself. And well, lots of jokes on what he reads too. At the total cost of repeating myself, I had a  greatly entertaining time reading this novel. And am sure, all the readers I know will enjoy it too.

Refer following

Aaron
I move on to Aaron, the brother of Moses. Seems he was sort of the Frank Stallone of ancient Judaism. The loser brother, the one Mom didn't talk about too much. "Oh, Aaron? He's doing okay. Still finding his way. But back to Moses. Did you hear about the Red Sea?"

OR

Greenland.
A mystery solved. I've always wondered why Greenland -- which is basically a massive sheet of white ice -- is called Greenland. Turns out the country's name was coined by an Eric the Red, who had been banished from Iceland in 982 A.D. for manslaughter. He called his new home Greenland in order to entice more people to join him there. In other words, it was all a shady P.R. ploy by a felon. Shady, but smart. No doubt he got more takers than if he'd gone with something more accurate, like Bleakland or Depressingland or Youllstarveland.''

For detailed reader  reviews on the same, do visit the link below....


Reviews for The Know-It-All


There is just SO much knowledge out there and just like Jacobs, on reading the book, I wondered will I ever know it all? Am not under any delusions, so I know the answer is NO. But it gets you thinking, why have we stopped asking questions or why have we stopped learning? I know I know, some of us will have rebuttals for that too, but how many of us know about the great poets of the past, the reasons for atmospheric changes and colours, the wars fought over the ages, the history of the Spice trade, the boundless geographies, the brilliant philosophies....
How many of us want to know it all?

We all have lovely memories of our childhood wherein we had our favourite books and stories and we would love to revisit them often, soaking it all in and memorising every single detail. Knowledge of stars, planets, people, family, places was NEVER enough. How many of us still do that for ourselves? Get to the inside out of every opportunity, every trip... Like a child, display enthusiasm for that NEW in our lves, for that intelligence which we felt only learning could get us.

Ok, snapping out of dreamy mode right about now.
The point of this entry is not to be preachy (NO), nor is it to send out a message to all. it's more on the lines of a self-discourse to myself.
Learn something every day and by learning I am referring to knowledge; of things, the world, history et al. And keep things simple...
That rocks my boat... you can choose yours. Or for starters, Pick up the Jacobs book and atleast get a crash course in some interesting facts, which gives you lots of food for thought.

 :)