After a long time..

..I am back to blogging. The last few weeks have been terribly hectic leaving me with little time to blog, which I shamelessly flick from the already insufficient hours spent in the office, and then end up spending it gleefully, catching up with all the blogs in the world, save mine. Over the last month, I have logged into the blogger only to go to the dashboard and check the reading list. Now, it is said we should listen twice as much as we talk, the classic 2 ears and 1 tongue adage.. does it apply for blogging as well? In that case, we have 10 fingers to type and just 2 eyes to read, should I be allowed to read a post only after writing 5 of those? Trust me to pick up the most insane, senseless arguments.. And ramble.. That was surely not the intent of this post!

Last night, we met some of the husband's batch mates from college. One of them, AS, happens to be our ex-colleague as well. I have always found this particular person very inspiring. He has done some very unconventional things which require much more courage than I can ever hope for, but that is yet another story. Over the dinner, we recalled this little incident from the days of yore which I would like to share here. This goes back to 2005 when I was committed but not married. We were in the same team, and sat around 50 feet apart. On the messenger-

Me: I am getting engaged.
AS: Congratulations! So many people getting married these days...
Me: Is it?
AS: Oh yes. A friend got engaged just last week.
Me: Do I know him?
AS: You might. He is employed here. Would you know AJ in the XYZ team?
Me: ??
AS: Wait, let me send you the engagement pic. They make a nice pair.
Me: *Scampering off to his place despite a minor heart attack*

I reach his desk in a split second, he has the picture already open by then. It has me and the then-fiance-now-husband sitting in Pizza Hut. He grins sheepishly, too embarrassed to even apologize.

Open ended questions-
1. The entire office knew about us, why was he so blissfully unaware?
2. Even if he couldn't recognize me in the picture(though there is really no reason for it), does he expect a North Indian girl to get engaged in a Pizza joint, dressed in jeans and an almost off-shoulder red top?
3. What qualified him to comment on the pair, calling it 'nice', when he did not even look at the girl properly?
4. Why did he offer to share a picture with me in which he had, in all probability, no genuine interest?

These men can be really weird.. stay warned!!

Edited to add: Oh I know the answer to the last one.. he was sharing the picture to help me recall who 'AJ' was!

Tagged again..

This time by lostonthestreet. It is again a nice tag about books but not so intuitive for me at the moment. I have hardly read anything significant in the last 3 years or so, and most of it in Hindi simply to stay in touch with my mother tongue. Even Pari has some little Hindi books, quite hard to find here, thanks to her mother's obsession with the language. Anyways, I'll do this tag mostly with English books except where it can't be helped.. like the first point itself :)

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Premchand, Bill Watterson(if you count CalvinnHobbes as books).
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Three men in a boat - three copies : my mom borrowed mine before I could finish which is why I bought another one, my husband also has one.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No.. I hardly noticed.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
This has to be Calvin! Rhett Butler comes second.. And yes.. Mr.Darcy remains the childhood fantasy :)
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
Totto Chan.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Love story :P Belonged to my parents, and I got hold of it somehow.. Officially, it is Jane Eyre.
7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
5 mistakes of my life.. I made my biggest bothering to read it..
8) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
First They Killed My Father
9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
To Sir, with love.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Can't comment.. Wonder why Premchand did not win it ever..
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Rebecca.. there is already a movie for it, but I haven't seen it yet.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
The fountainhead, they have already made a movie out of it, sigh!
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Mila 18 : I had horrible dreams while reading it
14) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Sidney Sheldon's - so many of them.
15) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
A Suitable Boy - simply because it was so huge! Technically there was this book, with Bathsheba as the central character, can someone help me with the name please?
Edited to add : Far from the maddening crowd. Thanks M-I-L!
16) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Milton.
17) Austen or Eliot?
Austen.
18) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Harry Potter.. my little cousins consider me illiterate because of this :(
19) What is your favorite novel?
The Fountainhead.. did I hear people cry 'ewww'? I still like it.
20) Play?
Arms and the man.. seriously, I don't remember many except off course those by Shakespeare, as part of the curriculum.
21) Short story?
Somerset Maugham - All
22) Work of non-fiction?
Totto Chan, again!
23) Who is your favorite writer?
Now now.. this has to be Premchand.

Okie.. now I tag Sundar, Banno,thirtysixandcounting to do this. Tell me your taste in books.