Fairy Dust And Pots Of Gold

I never believed in fairy tales. I loved them but I never believed in them.

I never believed that Rapunzel’s hair could grow that long, that Snow White’s father never knew or suspected what was going on. I never believed that Hansel and Gretel found a whole house made of chocolate. I never once had a doubt as to whether the frog really turned into a Prince. In fact, I never did believe in Prince Charming.

I never believed that snow came down from the Heavens, that it rains when the Gods cry. I never believed that my painfully pulled out tooth would be replaced with a coin by the tooth fairy under my pillow. I never believed in the horse-shoe or the three-leaved clover and though I love the very thought of them, I always knew fairies, pixies and unicorns are make-believe. And mostly I knew Ram and Ravan never deserved all the diyas because they are the Ying and the Yang. I knew that the footprints in rice flour was not Lakshmi. I knew Ganpati never did dissolve properly and come back again the next year.

I knew the Witches of Oz couldn’t harm Dorothy, I knew that Tinker Bell was safe with Peter Pan. I never looked under my bed for goblins; if I was scared, it was always for the human psycho-killer. I always enjoyed The Hound of the Baskervilles a tad more than the regular twelve year old.

I knew God wasn’t Krishna or Jesus or Allah. I knew God was just Him, a chilled out dude who loved nagging us from deep within. A conscience, some would call it. I knew temples were calming but nothing more, the church was peaceful but that’s about it.

I worshipped Harry Potter, stayed up whole nights with the three of them and spent days wishing I’d get my Letter. But I always knew that Hogwarts was the place I’d escape to when things got tough in my reality. Galleons hold no value and Butterbeer would only slip down warmly to my stomach in my imagination. No wand would pick me, I wouldn’t have to wait to have my first sip of Firewhisky and I couldn’t give Fred and George bear hugs for bringing laughter into my board exams. Because I accepted the simple fact that Rowling has a phenomenal imagination.

Santa Claus was always fictitious; I knew it was Mum bought the presents under the Christmas tree. Even when I was three. I remember eating his cookies and thinking that it would be good if he went on a diet.

I was, am, a skeptic. I try hard not to be, try to love life and all it has to offer but deep inside skeptic is who I am. I know it’s all a façade man creates to find happiness, to escape into a place where things are not as tough as in his regular life.

But if they are all untrue, if they all are imaginings, if they are nothing more than extensions of wispy dreams, why are fairy lights irresistible, why is the Christmas tree magnificent, why are the carols so soothing, why do I put up with cold feet and nose just to put up my stockings? Why do I continue to delude myself?

Why is it all so magical even when I know magic doesn’t exist?

Merry Christmas, everyone :)

# 1 - Spiff's Sensible Sense

I have plugged her so many times that GPR crawlers are going to penalize me for it:D

Presenting to you,
Spaceman Spiff, the one who makes Senseless Sense? Sensible Nonsense? go round.
No need for any long drawn out intros, she's already guest-posted for me.
And you already know she's awesome (Note: No exclamation mark).

She's here because she wrote a whole goddamn poem for my blog:D
Just for the record, not even my boyfriend has done that for me in all the time we have been together;P
So to say I was flattered would be the understatement of the bleddy century.

I remember the first time I chanced upon her blog from God-knows-where at 1 a.m during my summer break. I also remember having stayed up till 6.30 a.m digging through her archives and laughing so loudly that I woke the neighbors. No kidding.

She's that kinda person who defies definition. In a good way.
She's spontaneous, straight-forward, subtly feminine in a very non-shrieky way.
She's The Grammar Nazi. So what else do you expect, other that perfectly worded and properly punctuated sentences, a rarity in itself over here. No frills, no fancy, yet never fails to hit the nail right on the head.

And she's oh-so-sarcastically funny.
She has this way of making up phrases and expressions that I can't stop chortling at.
Examples:  Her Maa Junior episode, her movie review and her food guide.

She doesn't stick to being ONLY funny either. Damn woman went and made me bawl like a baby with her tribute to her friend's motherhood. Her affection for her near and dear bring out the best in her and her beliefs are strong and sensible. She is also 'ye piroud mellu'.

And it's not like she sticks to one genre, the world is fodder for her posts. I really envy the novel ideas she come up with like the 'what's in your bag' kinda post, her own 'crappy' signature and nails. Yes, NAILS.

She has a wishlist as well, one that tops everything I have seen till date:P

And she's also one of that breed I mentioned yesterday, the one who actually reads your post and comments a mini-post in reply. AND comes back to check if you've replied. Model reader, she is.

Like I have been harping on and on about, go read her frikkin' archives. Yes, ALL of you, even those who have been following her for some time now. Gold mine for you, that. Don't worry, her page loads eons faster than mine does:P

Break Out The Champagne, Please.

EXTREMELY LONG POST with plugs, proceed at your own risk.

I have been itching to write this post for a looong time and now that I’m actually getting to write it, words fail me like never before. I never thought, when I got back to blogging in June, that I’d take it so seriously, that blogging would become so much a part of me, that it would be something that I’d come to be proud of, something I’d be willing to work hard for.

*insert appropriate bgm*

Ahem. Now that I’m done being all senti and mental about my blogging superpowers (or the lack of them), let’s get down to actually boring your head off because, for once, I’m going to harp my head away without feeling guilty about it:P

So finally here I am, at a milestone in my career (yes, I take writing THAT seriously), typing down my 100^th post and talking nonsense celebrating my patience for having stuck to it more than anything most else.

Not many people know that ‘Confessions Of The Chocolate Obsessed’ left behind ‘Hand In The Cookie Jar’ and ‘Incoherent Ramblings On Life’, both of which had 15 odd followers and absolutely no activity except that of my friends. Now I know that chocolate, as always, has been my savior of sorts.

216 followers, 40 networked blog followers, 1645 comments, 92 page likes, 20,700+ page views later, I realize that without these (not so impressive but very, very important personally) statistics, I’d just be another person talking to myself in the virtual world (thank you, Chandana, for that VERY appropriate expression).

Every single follower was (and still is) greeted with an impromptu duck dance that surprised the living shit out of people around and every new comment to moderate was greeted with a silly, gloppy grin which would have made Goofy proud.

I gave my blog a makeover when I got to 200 followers, a feature I’d only envied on other blogs till then. I took me a lot of effort to control myself from putting up a post about it then, for I was waiting for this. Great big hugs to Swathika (it's SUCH a pretty name, you bum) for being my 200^th, thank you also for being on my post judging panel.

While the old header was special for a lot of reasons, I realized that with a name and a header like that my blog should contain more of chocolate-based stuff, which it didn’t. This one is more comprehensive of who I am, things that define me, my interests, my loves in life – beaches, coffee, fashion, tattoos, family, love, friends, dreams, babies, teddy bears, animals, photography, clouds, sharpies… make me happy (among other things). Other changes included the addition of a ‘fiction’ tab, a ‘now reading’ (ty, Psych Babbler, for the idea), a 'guest post' (if you want to guest post for me or the other way around, do check) and hopefully, a page which loads faster (does it?).

I’ve had help, a lot of it, reaching here. Thank you..

..Farzana, you’re the best inspiration a person can get, blog look wise. And your hair makes me sigh every time.

..Chandana, for being so unique and being able to make mundane things most interesting.

..Red, for being an enigma and the most-straightforward chick ever.

..Maithili, for Darlings of Venus (BEST idea EVER) and your whodunits which have me hooked, every time.

..Pradeeta, for adding mysticism to my reading life, for the sheer attention to detail and the wonderful way you spin stories out of nothing.

..Divya, for being Spiff:D For being that older sister-like figure, being so goddamn funny, for making up expressions that I keep thinking about and laughing (and making people think that I’m a nutcase) and commenting IN DETAIL on almost all my posts.

..Soumya, for being you. Just that. And your dark, deep poems.

..Srinidhi, for being the first one ever to have loved my stories in the blog world, for telling me I write well, for giving me the confidence to go on.

..PsychBabbler, for making so much sense about so very many things, for Pebbles.

I’m not a girly girl much as you’d argue otherwise. I can give anyone a run for their money on NFS and Blur and be rational too:P I value the guys who are around as well.

..Atrocious Scribblings – for actually reading my posts fully and appreciating my work so much. Doesn’t hurt that you put up pictures of the most sexiest cars around.

..Sushmit – for MAILING me with your appreciation, you will NEVER know how much it meant to me, that mail.

..Phatichar, for that brilliant series of yours. For trusting me with the story.

..Bikram, for making me smile or think with every post of yours. For letting your true personality shine through the blog.

..Anshul, for being so goddamn abstract that it gives me a complex most of the time:D For making a different kind of sense.

..aJ and Ashwin, for liking my work and for having disappeared -_- (please get the sarcasm)

Also, how can I NOT mention,

..KN., dude, you rock. Pakistanis rock. You called me pretty and I spent the whole day flying around:P

..Pinx, for being my bichdi hui twin, for calling ME an inspiration.

..Viya, Deepthi, AnjLi, Akila, Serendipity, Confused Soul, Panipuri Lover, Risha and Vinati, for being part of ‘us, girls’.

..Chintan, for that brutal, blunt tongue of yours and refreshing honesty.

..Induchi, for being patient about my constant 'she's getting...' song and putting up with my obsessiveness.

..Amma, who doesn't for the life of her get why I'm so excited about blogging.

..Nandu, for being there. For letting me say what exactly I feel, when I feel it, letting me rail, jump around for all kinds of reasons, prodding me on and sharing my ecstasy and not giving in to the urge to divorce me:P
For 'getting' me. 

And muchas gracias to every single one of you who commented and liked the way I write.

In case any of you are still reading, thanks to you too, for not falling asleep:P

What's in it for you guys?


Two things:
1) Comment and tell me what you like best and what you detest about my blog/writing and the one I like most will win a whole post dedicated to you and your blog. And obviously a plug as well. (My judgement, enter only if you'll agree to that. Also, more than one winner might also be chosen).
AND if you'd like it, I'll make you a badge, either a winner-of-contestwala or a fancy one for your own blog. (I'm not making it beforehand for I want to customize it according to the winner's blog and personality.)
SO GET CREATIVE, PEEPULS.

2) Anything you want to know about blogging, technical AND otherwise, critiques for your own blogs that you want.. ask me and I'll try to answer/oblige as well as I can. Or I'll find out from somebody who does and let you know.

So with that, two milestones I cross, looking forward to crossing two more someday...

And this is me seizing the moment to say

HIT IT!!

(Do it with me, people.. Shake that thang!)

P.S: And anybody who can make it here, to my place, in the next three days will be given chocolates and homemade coffee&cake and anything else I happen to make on that day.

Doings, Happenings and Other-Ings

Caution: This post has no head, no tail and nothing in between that is related. 


We had Gokulashtami celebrations in college, and some.
It's a huge deal for us; we get to work on making our department procession floats the most awesome (obviously hoping we win). The best part for us, girls, is that we get to dress up (read: Obsessive Compulsive Planning Disorder for at least two weeks now).

So I noticed some stuff, stuff that I shouldn't probably write about. But I will still go ahead and do it, because I am a blundering fool who loves getting her butt handed out to her for not having been politically correct. I don't like something, I will blog about it:P (yes, I can't keep shut, nor do I want confrontations AND I have an opinion. Quite a piece of work, ain't I?:P)

So anyway, blehs happen and make me go

like..

1) People will do anything for power. And power here, in a college like mine, is getting to do what you want (even if it is the stupidest thing since Rakhi Sawant's implants) while trampling over the most sensible of ideas.

2) Saris can be EXTREMELY fun to wear. Quite a statement coming from me because till yesterday I despised saris (because they can and are worn in all the wrong ways while still being called a traditional dress that makes a girl look 'homely'. PAH!). But since yesterday, I have altered my statement slightly and say, yes, saris, if worn properly, can make you feel like a frikkin' princess:)

3) There are a whole horde of people who will do absolutely no work, contribute not so much as a sneeze in the direction of the celebrations, not emotionally, not physically, not monetarily and still find it in their heart to turn up, take part and turn their goddamn snooty noses up about how mediocre it was.

4) Guys (read: I speak about one particular breed:P) look SEXY in traditional attire. Much more than you believed possible :D

5) People will get drunk at all inconvenient times. And make you yearn for a couple of shots yourself just so you can handle the tension in the air. Too bad I don't drink, I wish I did.
6) Drunk people say wonderful things:D Enough said.

7) It is VERY easy to 'trim' one of your eyebrows off in the middle making it look like a half-mowed mini-lawn (yes, that was one of yours truly's feats and no I'm not going to put up a picture of it).

8) People love freaking out. We love making a scene about how things are going wrong and how we'd have done it differently and all the bull that goes with it.

We love telling people how THEY were wrong as well. To hell with productivity and co-operation. And people love rubbing our faces in how many tonnes of work they did, how they single-handedly lifted Mt. Govardhan.

9) It's trendy to be different. Who cares if you actually believe in the cause. You come up with the most retarded idea which has no connection to the project-in-question and that, my child, will earn you respect and adoration and adulation and whatnot that you crave from the very depths of your being.

10) I have the most uncooperative, divided class ever which doesn't give a shit what other people feel, do. I include myself in this.

Now that my bloodlust is satisfied (and I have avenged my bff on several counts:P Another story), I move onto happier things..

I'm fast approaching 100 posts:)
And somebody teach me how to install Disqus without losing previous comments.

It's been raining awards. Making me one truly happy and at-peace blogger.

First Risha did.
Then Spaceman gave it right back to me.
Then Gowthami decided that my blog is lovely.

And Madame Tay-Tay says she digs my blog.

Which I want to pass on to PsychBabbler. I was looking for the perfect award for her and now I have found it for I totally, entirely dig her blog.

Creme de la creme? BlogJunta's Junta of the Month (July - Veteran Blogger)

Well, what more can a blogger want, I say. I am truly very, very honored, it doesn't stop being true how many ever times I keep saying it. The attention-junkie in me is screaming out in ecstasy.

And it's a wonderful feeling when, what you consider your highly mediocre writing talents, are admired by people; enough that you come to mind in the same sentence as award. Means more than I can ever convey in writing (which is saying something, considering that is the only way I know to express things properly).

Thank you, peepuls. So berry much.
(I promise never to bore you with so much rant or emotion overload any more, ever again)

Now I go to sleep dreaming of the yummy pasta that I'm going to polish off without mercy tomorrow. Thank you in advance, Nandu.
And get ready for Spaceman Spiff's lablooey guest post.
She's brought it, and how:)

P.S: I did the linkbacks only this time, since I did the whole hullabaloo last time. Not like y'all want to know hundreds of random things about me, right?
P.P.S: I worked black magic on my comments box and a lot of the previous comments have changed order. I don't know how to fix it, so please don't be mad if my replies have come above your comments.
P.P.S.S: Did you know I have a blog badge? Just saying:P