Hurray!!

Finally, done with the Ultimate Blog Challenge. It has been good since I have tried to bring variety in my posts which, though, hasn't got me much audience, it has helped me learn more about myself.

There was a surprise waiting for me when I visited SuKu's Sukupedia today. She had an award for me. :):) Love you SuKu!

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BowTie :) - Balloon !

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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BowTie :) - Confusions

More choices bring with them more confusions.

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part VII

Today, I have no place to talk about.  There are other places that we have visited in Oregon, but, they will again be a repetition of the landscapes we have seen. 

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part VI

As I was thinking of the post to write for today, I realized it is Saturday today and hence decided to write about Portland. Portland is the city we landed in when we reached the state of Oregon. I was misled initially that Portland is the capital city of Oregon due to its popularity, but, I now know that Salem is the capital city of Oregon.

Street of Saturday Market 

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part V

Today is my hubby's birthday (India Time), ie, 27th of July, and I am thinking what to post. I was busy baking a cake for him, so didn't have much time in the morning. Now, sitting and thinking what to write, I decided I should talk about the "Tulip Fest" that happens in Woodburn every year. 

Let me tell you upfront that I hate flowers. I absolutely hate flowers, the normal ones, even more than the weird ones. But, I like flowers that are misshapen or wild. So, when we decided to go to the Tulip Fest, I was all agitated. But, my photographyphilic husband wanted to go there and capture a few photos. So, we did go there and let me tell you the scene was beautiful with all Tulip flowers blooming in different colours. But, I did get bored after sometime and my husband enjoyed being there. So, today's post will have more photos from that trip. Not a trip actually, Woodburn is just 45 minutes from home. So, do enjoy the photos.

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part IV

If you ask me the definition of skiing, I definitely will tell you that it is a sport where you pay money to fall and hurt yourself on slippery snow. Well, atleast that is what happened with me. 

So, today I will talk about our skiing experience here in Oregon.

I am not a big fan of adventure sports. I cringe when someone even mentions it. But, my dear husband was born to be just opposite of what I am. He loves his adventure sports. So, we decide that we are going to Mt.Hood for skiing. Now, Mt.Hood is about one hour drive from Beaverton. The route is very scenic with many waterfalls that can be seen enroute. And thankfully, for us, it was sunny that day.

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part III

Oregon has a lot of hiking trails. We have been to quite a few places for hiking. One Saturday, as we were thinking of places where we could go hiking, we decided to check a few places closer home. And eureka, we had a hiking trail considerably close by - Tryon Creek State Park which is the only state park in Oregon within the metropolitan area, being only a few minutes from Portland downtown.

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Royalty Redefined - Chhotu Pooju :p

Yes, this is the royal "me" :)

When I was born, I had a demure look on my face that had "royalty" written all over. I had chubby cheeks and gorgeous silky hair that made me the perfect princess . I kept my tryst with "royalty" intact by never wailing beyond the recommended decibels. I never made any noise when I was being breastfed; there was always an absolute silence in the room. I maintained utmost decency during my bathing routine and also, most of the times, was dressed in royal elegance. I slept with absolutely no waking up in the middle of the night, keeping my dignity intact. Ok stop, now whom am I kidding? I am sure you must have realised by now that I did nothing as mentioned above. 

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part II

We usually wake up very late on Sundays. On one of the Sundays this June, as usual, we got up very late and as we finished our brunch, we sat down thinking what we ought to do for the rest of the day. We fiddled with our options and then settled on the option that we should, probably, go berry picking.

Beaverton has a lot of "U-pick" berry farms. I was excited as usual because picking berries with my own hands was something I hadn't done before. I got ready in minutes and by then, Abhay had settled on Hoffman Farm for our first time "Berry picking" adventure. We checked with them and confirmed that they were open for Raspberry and Strawberry picking. I was a little sad that they didn't have Cherry picking at the time. But, something was better than nothing. So, we decided to get to the place.

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The Perfect Road Trip: Our not-so-perfect yet perfect honeymoon!

Abhay and I got married on November 29^th, 2012. Before marriage, like all couples very much in love, we also discussed our honeymoon plans. But, nothing materialized because sweet-nothings would always cloud the so called serious “honeymoon” discussions. So, even on the day of our marriage, we hadn’t decided where we ought to head for our honeymoon.

Like in case of most marriages, our marriage was also followed by a series of functions that continued till December first week with a few breaks here and there. During this time, we had to visit both our natives to finish off every ritualistic commitment we had, which we finished quite successfully, barring the fact that we travelled back to Bangalore with me suffering from a bout of food poisoning.

Abhay had applied for leave till December 17^th and it was already December 11^th and we hadn’t planned our honeymoon yet. To top it, he was super skeptical about travelling to far off places because of the food poisoning his new wife, yours truly “me” had suffered earlier. So, we dropped our initial plans of going to either Maldives or Andaman or Kerala (these weren’t planned actually, we only mentioned these in bits and pieces whenever we found time from our sweet-nothings and decided to get some serious talking done about our honeymoon plan).

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Rediscovering Oregon - Part I

It was in March this year that my husband, Abhay and I moved to Beaverton from Bangalore. For all of you who haven’t heard about Beaverton, here is a quick dossier: Beaverton is a city in Washington County in Oregon, USA. Oregon is a beautiful state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon boasts of a diverse landscape. It has deserts, lakes, mountains, rivers, beaches, hot springs, forests, waterfalls, volcanoes and everything else you can think of.

A long weekend (25^th May-27^th May) is what we were waiting for – a long weekend so we could rediscover a few places in Oregon. So, everything was planned. We drove in our Toyota Camry with our friends Karthik and Suhas.

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Road less travelled...

The road less travelled is the one that is filled with beauty!

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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Food gyaan...

Food teaches us one thing - we can be sweet, salty, spicy, sour and bitter. But, only when these are in the right proportion, we appear more appealing.

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Stand tall !

Sometimes, you need to stand tall even if there is a mountain in front of you!

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Blinded...

Sometimes, it is there right in front of our eyes and we cannot see it. Can you see the sleeping elephant here?

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Distance...

You are closer to a few things than I am. But, I get to see much more than you can. 

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The sun and the black clouds...

The golden sun blends well with the black clouds to give a magnificent view. That is how life is - a mix of happiness and sorrow blended well to give us a worthy living.

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Now you see me and now you don't !

The mountain may appear green to you and the same might appear brown to me. What I see might not be the same as what you see, because, we might be viewing it from different angles, and sometimes that makes a hell lot of difference. In such cases, there is nothing right nor is there anything wrong. It is all about perception, my friend, it is all about perception.

P.S. They say "A picture is worth a thousand words". So, this week, I am going to speak the language of a few pictures clicked by me.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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ಉತ್ತರವಿಲ್ಲದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು(Unanswered questions)...

ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳು,
ಇವು ಉತ್ತರವಿಲ್ಲದ  ಬಿರುಸಿನ ಅಲೆಗಳು.

Translation:

A number of questions in mind,
Which are nothing but unanswered stormy tides.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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बेदर्द दुनिया(Unrelenting world)...

प्यार के एहसास में बह जाते हैं दो दिल,
कभी न कभी सपने में जाते हैं वो मिल,
इस बेदर्द दुनिया के कई रस्मे,
जिनसे कभी कभी वो तोड़ देते हैं अपनी सारी कस्मे।

Translation:

They get swept away in the essence of love,
Sometimes, they meet in their dreams,
The many norms of this unrelenting world,
Which lead them to break many promises.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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ಮನಸ್ಸು(Mind)....

ಮನದ ಮಾತನ್ನು ಬಾಯಿಂದ ಹೇಳಲಾರೆನು,

ಓ ನನ್ನ ಇನಿಯನೇ,

ನಿನ್ನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ನಾನು ಎಂದು ಇರಲಾರೆನು. 

Translation:

Whatever is in my mind can't be told,

Oh my dear,

I can't ever live without you.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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यादें(Memories)...

कभी खामोशी कुछ कह जाती हैं,

तो अलफ़ाज़ चुप रह जाते हैं,

उन् यादों को कैसे भुलाए,

जो आसूं की दरिया बहाते हैं। 

Translation:

Sometimes, silence enunciates,

And words remain quiet,

How do we forget those memories,

Which force a river of tears.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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ಸೈನಿಕ(Soldier)...

ಜೀವನದ ಬೆಲೆ ಇವರಿಗಿಂತ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಯಾರು ಬಲ್ಲರು,
ಜೀವನವನ್ನೇ ಮುಡಿಪಿಟ್ಟ ನಮ್ಮ ಗೆಳೆಯರು,
ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವವನ್ನು ನಮ್ಮಗಾಗಿ ಕೊಡುವರು,
ಈ ತ್ಯಾಗಕ್ಕೆ ನಾವು ಎಂದಿಗೂ ಇವರಿಗೆ ಕೃತಜ್ಞರು.

Translation:

Who can know the value of life better than them,
Our friends dedicate their whole lives,
They give their lives for us,
We are ever grateful to them for their sacrifice.

 *As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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एक फूल(A flower)...

दुनिया के नियमो को ठुकराके हम चल दिए,
उनका हाथ थामे हम उनमे ही ढल लिए,

परेशान न होना ए दोस्तों,

जिसकी चाहत थी उसीके साथ हम खिल लिये।

Translation:

Rejecting the rules of the world, I walked,

Holding his hands, I became one with him,

Don't worry my friends,

I blossomed, with the one I pursued.

P.S: This is an autobiographical write up of a flower. The essence is as follows:

The flower rejects the norm of the world and becomes one with him. She tells her friends not to be worried because she finally is with someone she always wanted to be with.

Also, the flower here has been used as a metaphor.

Who is the 'him' here? I will let you choose. :)

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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ಅಮ್ಮ(Ma)...

ನಿನ್ನ ಕೈಯನ್ನು ಹಿಡಿದು ನಡೆಯುವುದನ್ನು ಕಲಿತೆ,
ನಿನ್ನ ಸೆರಗಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಮೊರೆಯನ್ನು ಮರೆತೆ,
ನಿನ್ನ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಆಳವನ್ನು ನಾನರೆಯನು,
ಅಮ್ಮ, ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ನಾನು ಎಂದು ಮರೆಯನು. 

Translation:

Holding your hands, I learnt to walk,
In your saree, I lost my smirk,
The depth of your love is something I can't measure,
Ma, I will never forget you ever.

The above stanza is an ode to my mom who is in Bangalore and she is missing me terribly. I might not call you everyday ma, but I miss you every day. Love you ma...

P.S. UBC has been challenging. Last week, I wrote posts in random, but did you notice that my posts were short? To write in fewer sentences is a task by itself for me. It did get difficult to keep them that short and this week I thought I need to challenge myself even more and hence, I will be posting something in vernacular languages, Kannada and Hindi, the only two I know.

Since, not all of them can read both the languages, I will provide a translation for each post, but, mind you, it will not be a word to word translation. I will try to replicate the essence in the translated script, but I may fail. Please bear with me.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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Achooo...

I remember having written a post before where I said that I hate having cold. But, now that am jobless, it is fun when I catch cold. I can sit and spend time peeling off the dry skin from my nose. Nah, don't gross out; am sure you all have done it atleast once in your life. If you haven't, you should try it once, it is fun. :D

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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Dreams...

I don't know if I dream every day. But, I dream regularly. I remember some of them and some, I don't. Some dreams are funny, some are weird and some incomplete. I hate it when I get incomplete dreams. They make me cranky. I always feel the urge to go back to sleep and complete such dreams and I have tried doing it a lot many times but to no avail. Now, I realise that when we get an incomplete dream, it just means that we can go ahead and choose the ending we want, because, after all, we know better than anyone else as to what we want from our dreams.

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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Driving woes...

A quick post for today since I was busy visiting a lot of places in Oregon.

The husband was driving the car. Here, in US, we have an automatic. Back in India, we have a car with manual gear settings. My question to him was simple: "I understand we use our right leg for both accelerator(gas) and brake and the left leg for clutch in India.But, here, since we don't have a clutch, why can't we use right leg exclusively for accelerator(gas) and left leg exclusively for brake?" He didn't say a word. But, I now feel I will never get to drive again here. I wonder why. O_o

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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Feeling blue...

A part of me died today. Probably, for the fourth time. How many parts make me is a question I cannot answer. I think I expect a little too much from life or do I? I know myself much better than anyone else. I know that I was always cheerful. That person probably died a long time back. I dont know if anyone will ever understand me. I dont want to keep anyone unhappy. I, probably, dont mean the same thing they mean to me. I feel worthless. I feel alone. I feel like a nobody. I should have died all those times when I was so near death. It would have been much better then, than to face so many parts of me dying slowly before my ultimate death beckons me. Until then, I continue to kill a part of me every time.

Disclaimer: This is a very negative post. It doesn't, in anyway, concern me inspite of the suicidal weather we have here. This is just a part of some manuscript am working on. :)

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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I wander...

Time Traveller by Rahul Sharma

Leaving my mortal self alone,

I wander to places once unknown.

I look for faces familiar,

Among things that remain unclear.

I search and search,

For something, that makes me lurch.

I smile now,

For I know how.

Whatever I am searching for is here with me,

It is my soul that lets me be.

P.S. This post is written for That Tuesday Thingy, an *IndiBlogeshwaris* initiative. 

P.P.S. This is my 50th post and it, for sure, will remain special. :)

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Anonymous…

Imagine you read an awesome quote, or laugh at a hilarious joke or see a breathtakingly beautiful photograph and then you look at the bottom of the post to see who is the person behind it who came up with something this good and all you see is "Anonymous". How do you feel? Do you even spare a thought for him/her? Now, say the post is viral over the internet and everyone is sharing and resharing (by sharing, I mean Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V here) and liking and commenting on the post and it finally reaches that "Anonymous" person. Does he/she feel bad that he/she didn't take the credit for what he/she created initially and now even if he/she goes and tells people that he/she is the brain behind it, no body would believe him/her, because, it has changed hands, err, computer screens way too many times that there remains no credibility to his/her claim. 

I pity that "Anonymous" person. My prayers are with you!

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Grocery shopping!

Today, as I was making a list of groceries to be bought, I realized one thing - grocery shopping is a never ending process. I will tell you what actually happens.

Step 1 : We sit at home and make a list of all the groceries to be bought.

Step 2: We goto the store and buy everything on the list and also many things not on the list that look interesting to us at that point of time.

Step 3: We come back home and while arranging the items we bought, we realise that we forgot to buy that one most necessary item (sometimes more than one item) which, somehow, failed to make it either to the list or to our memory.

Step 4: We go back to the store or nag our husbands to go get that one item for us terming it to be a high priority item.

Happy Grocery Shopping !

*As a part of Ultimate Blog Challenge !

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