Attix .. fall down.

This is how the Scout reads Asterix. He points to Asterix and says "thiss Attix" and then he points to an unfortunate Roman legionary, that can be found in almost any page fallen down with a bump on his head, and says "uncle fall down", opens the next page and the same thing repeats "Attix".. "uncle fall down".. "Attix".. "uncle fall down" till he flips through the pages and closes the book.

Is there hope for this kid?!

Against gender stereotypes

Starry tagged me on this one. I hope I'm not repeating stuff that has already been said in the blogosphere considering that this tag has spread like wild fire, while I have been sitting around fanning myself. Anyway here are some stereotypes (none of which are ground-breaking) that I don't conform to:

1. "Good wives wake up earlier than their husbands, wash hair and do Tulasi pooja before starting the breakfast routine". -- I have never ever woken up earlier than the GI.
2. "Women do not talk about breast-feeding". -- I have educated a few men (including the father) about the benefits and difficulties of breast-feeding.
3. "Women should not talk loudly and should mind their own business" -- I have shouted at queue jumpers, litterers, rude auto-drivers while other people looked on.
4. "Girls are thrilled with branded gifts: dresses, bags, shoes, perfumes" -- I literally shouted at the GI for gifting me an LV bag for a milestone birthday and insisted on returning it. (I digress but he then spilled the beans and told me that knowing me he would never invest in a real LV. He had a friend buy a really good fake for me from Hong Kong. Reminds me of this saying in Kannada: "If I can slither under a carpet, he can slither under rangoli.")
5. "Women are high maintenance" -- I'm extremely tight-fisted about money spent on self.
6. "Women cannot promote themselves at work" -- I do not feel embarassed when talking about accomplishments at work when asked.
7. "Girls cannot handle a joke and might cry" -- I can handle raunchy, explicit jokes and slap you back with a rejoinder or two when in the right company.
8. "Girls lurrvee cute guys" -- No, thank you! I like my brooding, intense, smart-mouthed men in movies (and real life) than the goody, goody chocolate heroes.
9. And these.
10. And ahem last but not the least, "Girls don't like to to turn it on" -- ahem, if we were to take the analogy of a car, we not only know how to turn it on, we have been licensed to drive for years now and can drive on scenic routes and high-ways, in rain or shine, to heaven and back. ;-)

Some stereotypes that I conform to:

1. I strive to be a good cook, organizer and host and beam when I'm complimented on these.
2. I cannot eat until people with higher priority (children, older folks, preggies, guests of honor) at a party have eaten.
3. Have so far been extremely lax in investing my money.
4. Go all out to be a good daughter-in-law (or so I think).
5. If I'm angry with the GI, it's his problem to be sensitive and figure it out. I'm not going to help him by clueing him in on what's going on in my mind.

Would be good to get the mom, mil and grandma to do this tag. Shall try. Meanwhile any one who hasn't already done this wants to take it up?

Vacations, aunts, cities and such..

Went away for a week to the other side of the country. Got pampered endlessly by the aunts around there. Aunts are the best! No two ways about that. However I'm peeved that the Scout was like at priority-0 for them while I was at priority-1 or something like that and I cribbed to them about how intelligent women like them must not let themselves be charmed this way by a two-bit little thing. They said grandmas / grandaunts are supposed to be that way and shut me up. Asked me to instead go cool my heals and eat a mysore pak or carrot-halwa or one of the many other goodies they had cooked for us. They also turned out to be eager (and inexpensive!) babysitters for the Scout, so I shouldn't be complaining about anything really except may be the heat around there. God, the heat! Did it seem like we were in a pressure cooker or what? I have lived in the NY area for a few years and know how the summers can be around there but I seem to have become a complete bayarea convert now. I know! I know! Us, bayarea folks crib if the temperature happens to be anywhere but in the 70s. Anyway, the Scout had a blast with the family and on the outings. He had a great time running behind a biiiiigggg bubble maker in Central Park and dancing with this impromptu hiphop group there. That is what is so cool about Central Park. You can be sure that at anytime of the day or night there will be some thing or the other happening. That is what is so cool about the whole city anyway. And the eats, what can I say that has not already been said about the eateries around the city? And the parties? We went to this beach party by the Hudson, over-looking an impressive skyline. As the night settled in, the lights in the buildings turned on, shimmered in the reflection on the water, peppy music played and the tempo got going. Unbeatable! And the fashion sense around there? I was thankful I took a few of my skirts and strappy sandals (one in magenta and one in white if you are interested :P) and still couldn't look even half as chic as the people around there. Uhuh! You know, Frisco is nice and all, but I sure have a thing for NYC as well. Forget about beaches, mountains and other destinations, I love cities especially this one. Sigh.. double sigh!

Dear bloggers, I turn to you for therapy.

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Red marker blogathon: You are giving an exam, is it?

Following the posts at MFT's, Starry's, TPL's and Sue's blogs...

Red mark 1: Wrongly formed question tag.

"You are a good boy, isn't it?"

"You don't want to go, is it?"

Argghh! OK, now that I'm done with the screaming, here's my explanation on question tags.

Question tags are sentence structures where a statement is ended or tagged with a question. The verb used in the question tag should be the negation of the verb used in the statement.

So the correct usage of the above two would be:

"You are a good boy, aren't you?"

"You don't want to go, do you?"

Go here to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question

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Red mark 2: Do you give or take an exam?

"I'm giving my board exams in March"

No, you are not giving any exam. In fact you are taking the exam and if anything it is your professor giving you the exam! Duh.

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Bonus red mark 3: out-of-out

With all this exam talk, how can one forget the "I scored out-of-out" statement. Gah! Out-of-out seems to be a direct but totally nonsensical derivative of "100 out of 100". If you did get an *out-of-out* in English, please have your paper reevaluated.

Tag: Guilty or Innocent from the ajji's POV.

Minal tagged me sometime ago to do the "guilty or innocent" questionnaire. And like mim, I'm afraid me doing the tag wouldn't even be half as interesting as washing the dish rag. Again mim came to the rescue. I decided to ask my ajji to answer the questions like mim had done for a tag a few months ago. So here goes..

Rules Go Like These ——-
RULE 1- You can only say Guilty or Innocent.
RULE 2- You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks! (Sorry I have blatantly broken this rule!)
RULE 3- Copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers and tag to your friends to answer this.

[Note: The explanations / anecdotes next to the questions are in the grandma's voice and I have translated them from Kannada]

Asked someone to marry you? Innocent. But there were girls in my secondary school class who threw love notes across the wall to the boys school..
Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Innocent
Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent. bar-aa? I haven't even been to a coffee bar that you kids go to these days.
Ever told a lie? Guilty
Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Innocent
Kissed a picture? Guilty
Slept in until 5 PM? Innocent. Tuu kathe. (You donkey!) I'm lucky if I sleep until 5 AM
Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty. I think in 7th class in home science.
Held a snake? Guilty. When I went to Jog falls with my father when I was 10 years old. We even saw a tiger there.
Been suspended from school? Innocent
Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent. But I did help our neighbor out once in a while. They had an idli-chutney restaurant.
Stolen from a store? Innocent. What kind of question is this?!
Been fired from a job? Innocent
Done something you regret? Guilty
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Innocent. It only happens if you drink coca-cola.
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Innocent. But I made a snowman with my grandchildren in America and I saw snow when I went to Badrinath-Kedarnath.
Kissed in the rain? Innocent.
Sat on a roof top? Guilty. Every summer when I put sanDige (pappadums) to dry.
Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Innocent. Why so many kissing questions?
Sang in the shower? Guilty. I always say a shloka.
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Guilty. I have bathed in the Kavery, Tunga and Ganga.
Shaved your head? Innocent. But they made my mother do that when my father died.
Had a boxing membership? Innocent.
Made a girlfriend cry? Innocent.
Been in a band? Innocent. But I sang for my school's Carnatic music competitions.
Shot a gun? Innocent. Your grandfather used to have a rifle when he surveyed the forests for the government. I don't think he ever carried it with him though.
Donated Blood? Innocent
Eaten alligator meat? Innocent. They eat that?
Eaten cheesecake? Innocent. I don't like cheese.
Still love someone you shouldn’t? Innocent
Have/had a tattoo? Innocent.
Liked someone, but will never tell who? Innocent.
Been too honest? Innocent. I don't understand the question.
Ruined a surprise? Innocent.
Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterward? Guilty. In Raghavendra swamy matha.
Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty. I stopped speaking to one of our neighbours.
Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty. For school drama.
Joined a pageant? Innocent
Been told that you’re handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty
Had communication with your ex? Innocent
Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Innocent. But I got married three days before my metric exam.
Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty. After 2 days of marriage I dropped a dabba of flour in the kitchen and I was so mad at myself. I was afraid what my mil would say although she was very sweet.

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Anyone wants to take this tag?

Also, acknowledging these awards from the ever so generous Shruti and R's Mom. Sorry for taking a few months(!) to put this up, but thank you muchly, as always!

Random film industry nomenclature post

Since the blog world seems to be kinda slow all of a sudden I thought I'll stick this random post up. Not that I write profound, non-random posts when the blog world is not slow.. :P

So.. anyway.. tell me this if you will:

Why are the Southy film industry names so confusing?

So you would think the Tamil film industry is called Tollywood i.e 'T' for 'Tamil'? But nooo! It is called Kollywood for Kodambakam?
So now the Kannada film industry cannot be called Kollywood because the Tamil one is already called that. So the Kannada one becomes Sandalwood! Ah, how fragrantly fresh!
Only the Telugu guys have it easy. T for Telugu. T for Tollywood.
I recently realized that mixing the names up in a group situation can be very very dangerous unless you want to be berated about it the whole evening.
Hmph! Wonder what the Mallu industry is called.