My visit to Bhutan

Just a quick glimpse of my trip to Bhutan which was great as usual.

Bhutan in monsoons is awesome. The interplay of the clouds & the sun transports one to a dreamland

Monsoons also mean an abundance of flowers in all hues. I was especially impressed with this unique bougainvillea flower growing in bunches.


And for the first time, I also did some shopping. Discovered a Maasi-Ma's shop selling lovely terracotta items & also got myself traditional Bhutanese brass lamps for Diwali.


More detailed updates to follow. :)

Nani

Ansh's haul yesterday consisted of- Leon kid toy, Foxes, Other candies, Tops, Stickers.
Anybody can guess that "Nani" has arrived.

So the guessing game has no winners!!

It's a curtain holder :) I really loved the concept . For those in Kolkata , you can pick it up from the Abhilasha exhibition in Ice-Skating Rink. It's on till tomorrow.

Guessing Game, anyone?

Can anyone guess what is the wooden thing in this picture?

Gulity?

I am on a pampering spree & it's myself that I have been pampering. My brother was here last week & I got my Tika & Rakhi money & then one of Abhi's buas gave me "Muh-Dikhaii" after 5 years of my marriage which will take a whole post to explain. So armed with all this "special" money I took my mom's advice & pampered myself. Usually all this lena-dena money gets mixed up & exhausted in the home.
So Saturday after office I went to this designer's boutique . Why, I chose this designer? Oh well, for those like my husband who know me well will tell you that I do not buy anything without a discount. So a 50% discount was running. I was not too impressed coz there were only 2 garments that I liked in the whole store & I liked them enough to buy both. I had not planned on that but did not want to let go of either. It felt great but also somewhere I was feeling extremely guilty. So I came home & hid the bounty in the cupboard. The whole Saturday evening I did not mention anything about this to hubby dear. On Sunday I could not resist & showed off my purchases. He liked one & did not like the other, but that's OK.
The whole point is that I feel guilty about spending on myself. It is so very silly coz I know I can afford these things.
I guess I try to trick myself into buying on discounts to reduce the guilt levels.

This & That

So it's Vrat (Fast) time again today & this is for Hoi Ashtami where mothers keep the fast for sons. I had a glass of Mosambi juice in the morning & some fruits. I am really missing my cup of Lemon Masala tea. IT is my comfort food in office & whenever I am too stressed out, bored, busy, I go to the pantry & prepare my favourite cuppa which has loads of black salt & nimbu & just a hint of did dip chai(tea). For me, eating has always been a big comfort.

So today morning I told my little one that I am fasting for him he said that he will also fast for me......Oh sure, he'll love to not be pestered to eat. Maybe one day when he grows up & makes this request again, I'll allow him & feel important. I detest the fact that only mothers of sons can keep this fast. How can a mother pray for the long life of a male child & not a female child. Some of these customs are absolutely senseless.

Oh, & yesterday my son demanded his own mobile phone. Tells me that no one puts him through when he wants to speak to me in office & he wants a model just like his dad's which has music & videos. The thought is cute but a phone at the age of 4. In fact I even detest school children is upper classes carrying mobiles. But then I do not know how it'll be when Ansh grows up . Maybe I myself will feel the need to be connected with him 24x7.

Yesterday evening a visited a beautiful exhibition called "Prana" in Taj Bengal. An amazing collection of all things bright & beautiful but oh , so unaffordable. I did not want to go back empty handed, so I picked up just one table mat for Rs350. I think it must surely be the cheapest item on sale there...lol. Last week I had visited another one called "Parampara" at the Park. Now there I did pick up something really nice, my first cocktail ring. It's a beautiful silver ring with white & red stones. I am all set for Diwali :)

Dinners Galore!!

Had a busy few days again. 27th to 30th was the q1 review in office. So had no time for anything except attending & minuting meetings.
Attended dinners on all those days. 27th ,we were invited to Abhi's cousin's ( Namrata Bhabhi & Rajeev Bhaiya) house for dinner. They had customised the cuisine to our taste. So there was just Italian & Chinese cuisine & we had a good time. 28th was Abhi's friend Amit's birthdaY. So straight form the meeting we went to his house for dinner. 29th was the review dinner at office. Good wine with prawns......yum yum. Prawns are my fav food!! 30th we were invited to Kailash uncle's house for dinner where we stayed up till well past midnight. If I had not insisted, we might have even stayed over night. He had a new Karoke console connected to his TV. An awesome software & we had fun trying out our singing capabilities. Of course I failed miserably.
Sunday, i.e yesterday we saw Rock on!! What a fab movie...........like a 2nd version of Dil Chahta Hai. A must watch for everyone.
Also, I did a little bit of shopping. Bought a silk shirt from Wills Lifestyle(last day of sale) & picked up my first suit from our shop Amaze. Also, ordered a small diamond pendant from the jewellers. Made me very happy indeed. Rounded off the day out with a sumptuous meal at Pizza Hut!Came back home & saw "Maan Gaye Mughle Azam " on DVD. Watch it if u have nothing better to do. But does make u laugh at times.
Looking forward to a quiet week now.

Sale fever!

has caught me again. I had resolved that this year I would not go beserk when the annual "sales" come on in the stores but I could not help myself yet AGAIN.
Besides the 2500 that I spent in Vaachi last week on a salwaar kameez & a top, I went ahead and bought a 700 Rs jeans just now at Shoppers Stop in my lunch hour & my my mind is already scheming about the next shopping trip in tomorrow's lunch hour to Wills Lifestyle.
No matter how I console myself that I am saving money, I am feeling terribly guilty again about my billowing almirahs.
There, it's off my chest now & I feel good. Phew!!

Ansh shopping

This is what Ansh bought for himself yesterday at Pantaloons. Thankfully, this is one of the few things that he is truly utilising. He played with it for a long time yesterday night & is again at it since today morning. Today is a "Bandh" day here by Mamta di but I managed to come to office by metro.Reached around 11 am.Did not even try sending Ansh to school.

Weekend

Time just flew by this weekend. Fri & Sat were review meeting days.Friday was also MD's dinner. Saturday, we got off at 5 & I went to Shopper's Stop Forum to do some shopping. Did not buy much. Just a scarf, a top & small junk jewellery items.
Sunday we did not go out anywhere. Just relaxed at home. Watched movies.We saw"Story of Us" at night over glasses of wine after Ansh was off to sleep.We watched another movie in the day. Cannot remember the name now. Went out in the evening for puchkas. Its very rare to spend Sunday this way.......just the 3 of us. Till the evening puchka round, we did not even step down to the third floor.
Ansh spent the first half of the day playing with his broken toys, sorting out the ones we wants to dispose off.I have attached the pictures.The second half we worked on the book that Swati had got for him. He has almost finished it now. Its a great book for kids.
Last Sunday, we had gone to city centre & placed an order for a diamond ring. It arrived yesterday. I love it. Abhi had a big contribution coz we gave "Jedhji ki baes", a few other trinkets and just Rs 2000 for this. Abhi has also gone ahead and ordered a matching pair of earrings . So I am excited!!I slept with the ring on my finger yesterday.

Mahima,Rupahli,packing

Mahima & Navin arrived last evening. Today is Mahima's birthday. They are having a havan in their house & we'll be meeting at night for dinner.
Today again I have to take Ansh for the doctor's appointment. Abhi would be sending him in the car & I'll take him alone to the doctor's today. From there I plan to go to Forum to buy a couple of sweaters for Ansh & then to Mahima's place.
Yesterday I bought some flowers, a belt and a clutch from Nik Nish. Then I went to Spyker in the evening to collect Abhi's jeans. From there I went to Rupahli since they are having their anniversary sale. I did not like anything there. I also felt that the people there were not very willing to show stuff. I was told that this is what happens in the evening, so probably I should come in the morning hours. They open at 7 in the morning.Anyways, I feel that since I did not like anything today, its unlikely I'll like anything in the morning. It seemed very expensive too. Pretty normal looking saris were coming in 4000.
I did some packing yesterday. Reminds me that I have to buy a black petticoat today. I could not locate it yesterday. I'll request Abhi to buy it for me. He is a sweetheart. Yesterday in fact he bought warmers for all three of us from Bagri Market.

Shopping

I've done loads of shopping these past few days.

Got 2 suits & a saree from Belong - annual sale
Got 1 suit from wedding mall,theatre road-annual sale
Got a T-Shirt & jacket from Reebok,Kankurgachi-annual sale
Got a shoe from city centre-black-annual sale.
Got a clutch & mobile cover from jhony's shop-no sale.lol!!
Got a denim jacket & 2 trousers for Ansh from Please mon-no sale
Papa got Ansh soem T-shirts from benetton-again sale!

So, u see, I've made most of the sale season!!

Shopping-Westside,Pantaloons

I had to take Ansh to Shreya's Birthday Party to Bombay Shivsagar & it was the first day of sale at Westside. So I dropped Ansh & spent a good 1 hour shopping in West side. Bought 2 tops & a skirt & lingerie. It felt so good. Shopping is Therapeutic. Yesterday I went to Pantaloons to look at the winter garment sale but did not like anything at all. I tried so much stuff.I was on the look out for a jacket, but did not get anything appropriate.So I wasted 1 hour & had a headache.

Laxmipat Admissions

On Saturday, The Laxmipat admission results were out & Ansh got thru!! I am so happy. A big burden off my head. Now lots of formalities need to be done by 2nd January. His new school starts on 3rd April.

I then went to Marks & Spencer from the school & bought myself a top @20% off.

We celebrated that evening by going to the movie "Welcome" at Paradise.. It was a hysterically funny movie.

Khoya Khoya Chand, Shopping

On Sunday we went in to see “Khoya Khoya Chand” with mummy & maasi. It was a horrible movie & the worse thing was that it was I who had insisted on going for this movie & everyone was of course cursing me.
I also did some shopping......picked up a dressing table holder, some things for Ansh from Please Mom, gave a suit for fitting in Fi, & did some shopping from C3. So it was a good day!! :)

UTI-Again, chairs

So , the UTI is continuing.I went to the doctor on Monday.........& i had to wait for an hour (in front of mulik kothi) & i got frustated & returned back. Abhi was not there(Deogarh), so Ansh, Suchitra & Ashu accompanied me. I was casual abt it yesterday (guess i thought i'll get better on my own). Today its the same thing , only its gotten worse.Along with the pain, I have itching & this urgency to go to the loo frequentky & i don't seem to have any control.
Today afternoon I went to Pantaloons with Caro & Agnes. Wanted to try a denim skirt, but as soon as I stepped in the trial room, I had this immediate urge to urinate & it was really bad. I just some how manage to put on my clothes & rush to the loo.
So I just now visited our office Dr - Dr Choudhury. He cannot believe the urine report coz it shows no growth in the "culture report" but in the routine report it shows-lots of pus cellls & RBC present. So got to do another test from Roy & Trivedi.
Meanwhile I bought 4 chairs from office today for Rs 400 for Abhi's office.
:)
Monika

Hamlyn Shoes

There is a sale on in Hamlyn & yes, I did get a shoe in a metallic colour today.Its really smart. :) Got it at 50% off-Rs 550

Tomorrow we'll be going for the audit dinner, probably to Sanjeev Kapoor's restaurant.

Papa is coming to Calcutta next Sunday & Abhi is planning to leave with his friends to Baijnath Dham on Saturday. He will return on Monday. Lets see if his program materialises, the doubt being Jalan's health. He is in hospital since yesterday getting his check-up done. He has been losing considerable weight. With his drinking habits, I hope he has not spoilt his liver. Poor boy!

Today I got a new phone from the Company-Nokia-3110.Looks good. Papa will take the phone & give me his one. He cannot operate his hi-fi phone.

Kalyan da talked to MD about the club subscription yesterday. He talked of Corporate Membership in CCFC. 10 Lacs for 10 years-3 people. MD did not say "yes'.

Pratik had another son yesterday. He was expecting a daughter.

Millenium Park

Saw "Partner" on Saturday. It was an "ok' movie.Nothing great. Took Ansh along. He was such a good boy throughout the movie. :)
On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. I wanted to take Ansh outdoors,but Abhi as usual was lazy.........he just wanted to watch TV. In the evening we had to go to Jalan's house. But then seeing my bad mood, he dropped Jalan's programme & instead we went out to Millennium park. Took a 1 hour cruise on the river & then took a couple of rides. Ansh was so happy.:)
This weekend I bought 2 bedsheets & 4 hand towels. High time I bought them since I had run out of good ones. There was a sale on in "Spaces".Got everything for 50% off!
My list of things I want to buy for myself:
-An eyelash curler -(Maybelline)
-Cuffs(bracelet with open end) (will look great with blue jeans+white shirt)