24 November 2016

Nikispeak – it is all in the strategy

We were down to the final round of Jenga. Whoever won would have won the night. As you can see from the picture, the game started very aggressively by removing not one but two of the blocks from the lower most layer. Nikita was a nervous wreck after that. As you can also see I took out an outer block from third and fourth layer. It was a very very unstable structure at that point.

Nikita put up a fight for over fifteen minutes extremely gingerly moving blocks and the hands were visibly shaking….

Eventually when it fell down, she came back with a prompt excuse – “I am good at games which require mental strategy and not this shaky-hand strategy” 🙂

And before I could cry foul or suggest this is grapes being sour, she immediately added “I get the mental intelligence from your side, dad!”

I weighed my options. I came to the inevitable conclusion that anything I said at that point of time would only work against me.

So, I quietly packed up the pieces back in the box. I did get beat in the final game!!!

img_5043

24 November 2016

Nikispeak – in full flow

Natasha is home from college for Thanksgiving. The mere sight of her elder sister around brings the fiesty side of Nikita out. The whole day has been filled with some hilarious comebacks and sarcasm laden comments. Moreover, when she gets in such a mood, she is an equal opportunity riposter. Anybody in the way is susceptible to getting zingers from her.

I overheard the tail end of one such conversations going on between the three ladies. I think Natasha was describing some college friend’s mom to Sharmila and talked about how funny she was. Touched to the quick, no doubt, Sharmila suggested “Hey! Your mom is funny too”.

Nikita, hitherto very quiet, piped up in a seemingly supporting fashion – “Mom, you can be funny”. And just when Sharmila was going to give Natasha that “See, I told you so” look, Nikita completed her sentence with a zinging “… but usually not on purpose” 🙂

20 November 2016

First cold run of the new season

When I started this morning, it was 26 degrees with windchill (that is -3 Celsius). Joined the Chalupa group midway and finished up a 10K run. Very pleasantly surprised to see so many of my fellow Bengalis braving the cold and coming out for a walk/run! That too without any muffler, monkey cap, sweater or a shawl!!
img_5002

Category: Running | LEAVE A COMMENT
18 November 2016

To all of you who did NOT wish me a happy anniversary from my last post….

Let me ask you something: If you were married on – oh! let’s say, April 1, 2000 (you noticed the irony too? 🙂 ) and somebody asked you “How long have you been married?”, would you say “sixteen years” or “sixteen years, seven months and eighteen days?”.

Yesterday, I posted a picture of my wife and myself sitting by the fire with the dog – who had his second birthday. I showed that picture to Sharmila – that would be my wife, if you were unsure – and suggested a cheesy caption.

Such captions would have been considered utterly romantic during our first few years of marriage. After twenty three years of marriage? Not so much. I got the thoroughly deserved laughter of scorn. And I duly reported that back to my blog/FB readers.

Since no good deed goes unpunished, I woke up this morning to a veritable deluge of Happy Anniversary wishes. Now that I have had a moment to catch a break from all those sincere “Thank you” notes, I am asking myself – and you – Where did I go wrong?

Should I have mentioned “after twenty three years three months and four days of marriage….”? (PLEASE STOP: that is not the exact count!! ). Would not that have meant that on twenty three years, three months and third day, she would have found that still to be romantic? But now that I am one day over, it is all scorn and derision?

Or do you think they thought there must be a very strong connection between our wedding date and our dog’s birthday (clearly separated by twenty one years)? You think they thought ours was a case of puppy love? 🙂

Let me also tell you what twenty three years, three months, yada yada has taught me – all those women who wished me happy anniversary – somehow they are going to comment on this post and prove that it was all my fault. Been there. Seen that.

Ah! well, at least, now I know that my wife is not the only one who gets our anniversary date wrong!!!

🙂

18 November 2016

As long as you know where you stand…

Picture this: It was way past my bedtime. Work wise, it has been a tough week so far. So, I lit the fire outside and sat with Sharmila for a glass of wine. Nikita, who came by later, took a few pictures of us (and the dog who is celebrating his second birthday today).

This picture, I thought, came out pretty nice. I asked her “What should I caption this?”. And then offered “Perhaps, Fire of Love”?

She laughed uncontrollably. On the border of hysterically.

“Ah! Twenty three years of marriage. That would do it”, I told myself!!

img_4965

17 November 2016

I still think it was very funny…

This is reposted from a blog entry exactly four years back to this day…

We were in Costa Rica. Early morning. We were all up and getting ready for the day’s adventure… And this is what happened….


First Spanish lesson: Imagine this: Sharmila has all soaped up her face in front the bathroom sink, already running late for our volcano trip, quickly opens an eye a wee bit, locates the tap marked “C” and opens it in full blast to get a cold wash. In a few seconds, she lets out a scream!! A few commotion-filled minutes later, the two Texas born daughters – Natasha and Nikita – explained to her that “C” stands for “caliente” (hot) not “cold”. That would be the one marked “F”. Later, over laughs, I asked her if she learnt her first Spanish lesson. She promptly replied “Si” !! 🙂

#repostRiposte

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT
17 November 2016

What a great evening…

It is not often that I get a reminder from a very successful ex-CEO in Corporate America that I had promised to have a drink with him whenever I was in his town. Our relationship goes back quite a few years to my previous job. He was a customer then. We have had career changes from there.

But, thanks to that reminder, I did get a chance to have dinner with Paul Uhrig. My life has been nothing if not spending a few quality hours with some of the best human beings in this world. Paul is right up there on that list.

Sitting in a very nice Old Town Alexandria restaurant by the Potomac river, we caught up on our families, our old friends, the just concluded elections, our respective industries and much more. The most engaging part of our evening probably was exchanging notes on our professional journeys. Our journeys have been very very different – and that is what made our stories so engaging to each other.

I hope to see more of this guy down the road…

img_4934

16 November 2016

Moderator of twelve Presidential debates – Jim Lehrer!!

Extremely nice gentleman. After deliberating on a lot of topics – including the just concluded elections, he got curious when he learnt that Natasha was pursuing journalism. Asked which college and all that. He even had a special message for her without knowing her – “Tell her we need good students like her in the field of journalism”.

img_4929