Happy Thanksgiving!

It's the American Thanksgiving today. And even though there is no formal celebration and (being the staunch grass-eater that I am) definitely no turkey. But there is no reason why there should be no sentiments and mushy speeches. Warning: lots of mush and tears ahead. Proceed at your own risk. :P

To God: For giving me this life, with all these people in it and for keeping the extra share of love from each one of them for me. I know I crib a lot. But I'm sure you know how much I appreciate this life, the comforts, the loving family, the doting friends and all the academic success. :) Thank you very much!

To my parents: For everything. For pampering me and for disciplining me. For making me understand the value of relations and also also making me aware of my individuality. For waking me up in the mornings. For keeping the biggest piece of chocolate for me. For making sure that I get everything I wish for and for making sure that I don't take any of that for granted. I love you two. Even when I'm super pissed off with you and even when you exasperate me no end, I love you very much. And no one should EVER mention this again but I used to cry myself to bed practically every alternate day when I was in England because I used to miss you both so very much. Thank you for being you.

To Sun and Moon: For being my pillars. For the long nights spent talking about boys and about things best not mentioned here. :P For being my sound-boards. For making the extra effort to wrap my gifts. For making chocolates together for the first time. For pinning up my dresses while dressing up for events. For going bra-shopping with me. (Trust me, it's a BIG ordeal!) For sharing the best time of my life with me, making it all the more special. For knowing me better than myself. For writing the long emails and letters when I was away. For talking me out of my blues. For reminding me of my "balls of steel". :P For looking to me for strength. For believing in me. For making me believe in me. For growing up with me. I love you two more than anything else in the world! Thank you for being my soul mates.

To S: For being the reason England was beautiful. For being my ever-ready travel mate. For being my baking-buddy. For being my shopping advice. For introducing me to couchsurfing and for my first real Thanksgiving meal ever. For indulging my passions for almost everything from silly Bollywood films to bitching about "Indian men". (Disclaimer: For all the men who read this, it is not meant to insult you unless you come in one of these categories.) For putting up with me every time I crawled into your bed and cried "Mummeeee!!" (Yes, I really did that to her!) For taking care of me when I was shit-faced pissed. For being the sound of my conscience and also for reminding me that I'm an adult and can make my own decisions. ;) I love you very much! Thank you for being my proverbial better half. :D

To Kyra, JD and Sara: For being my fun quotient in England. For all the drunken games of never have I ever. For the passionate, sometimes intellectual, most of the times silly discussions on Bollywood and popular culture. For being the ones who understand what being an Indian in England means. And for understanding what being an immigrant back in India means. For the rajma, the alu chaat, the gulab-jamun, the daal makhni, the mojitos, the risotto, the cocktails, the wine, the cake and so much more! Oooh, and for being my first joint! :P For the Emotional Attyachar and Munni dances. For the future ventures. For all the marriage proposals. :P I love you all! Thank you for being the best kind of mates anyone can hope for!

To Atom: For being the reason England became all the more beautiful, even in autumn! ;) For the long chats, often resulting in us sleeping at 3 am! For being interested in things you are interested in. And for looking up things I'm interested in so that we can talk about them. For sharing my love for films. For believing in me and my book. For saying the loving things that make me feel special. For treating me like I'm precious. For the friendship. And for the love and warmth. For being so kind and understanding. Thank you for being so special!

To Xavier's and the School of English, Leeds: For shaping me. For giving me the confidence I have today. For making me a person ready to go ahead and face the world with all it's challenges. For sheltering me enough that I feel I have someone to lean on and for letting me go enough that I learn not to take that support to lean onto. For quenching my thirst for knowledge and also for fanning my quest for more. You are the best alma maters anyone can ever hope for. Thank you for the great learning experiences!

To Chhaya Mam: For giving me a role model. For being absolutely the best teacher I've ever had in my entire life. For taking that extra effort and being our friend more than our teacher. For always being interested in anything and everything that affects us. For giving us excellent guidance and superb opportunities. For being so understanding, kind and gentle. For being the inspiration in my life. I love you, mam! Thank you for being the reason English Literature was my best decision ever.

To June, HG, Kannan, survivingbrain, pj, smalltowngirl and all the others who are kind enough to read my rants, pleas, opinions that nobody else really cares about, for commenting and consoling me, for giving me brilliant advice and for being the awesome bloggers that they are! :D

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! :)

Lots of Love,
Star.

Bas, Yunhi (Just like that!) ;)

I realised, I've been writing too many "justifications" lately and decided to relax a bit...So, here goes: Random things about me which you probably didn't need to know but now will since you're reading this...bas yunhi!

1. I've recently updated my food blog and now, it looks all cool and professional chef-types blog! Yay, I rock! :P
2. I have also, FINALLY, mastered the art of eating with chopsticks!! :D I POLISHED off my Thai fried rice yesterday, down to the LAST grain of rice, with my chopsticks! Yay again!! 
3. I started following a few new blogs and realised we have awesome bloggers in the world! Especially, June and Vampire Doc here. Hehe, very funny! Go, read! 
4. My house ALWAYS smells of catpoo and fish! :/ I don't think our landlady eats anything other than fish. And even though I'm friends with the cats, it's impossible to go into the kitchen without scrunching up your nose because of the fish and catpoo smell! Hmph. Oh well, hardly 3 more months more to stay in this house before I go back home, baby!! :D
5. I've been using the expression "Home, baby!!" way too many times for it to be considered normal! BUT, in my defence, I'd be going back home and back to my beloved Mumbai after 13 VERY long months! So, I'm allowed some over-excitement. :P
6. For sometime now, I've been thinking of changing my blog name to something funkier. Any suggestions?
7. I HEART BOLLYWOOD!!! :D I've never seen anything more brilliant than Om Shanti Om in my life!! (Take that bewildered and aghast look off your face and stop judging me. ::pause:: Now.) I have a special relationship with Bollywood, where I love to hate it and hate to love it! (S, my lovely Yankee friend, tells me that if you purely love Bollywood, then there is something seriously wrong with you. The only way you can love Bollywood is by hating it. And I think she has pretty much nailed my relationship with Bollywood. Does that make any sense to you? Because I think it's perfect!) Oh, and this should come as #1. I don't know how I didn't put it before frivolous things like catpoo and fish smells! 
8. I'm just doing this list because I read somewhere that lists have come back in fashion in Blogworld. Hmm, which makes me wonder because I'm generally not the sort of person who follows fashion. Comfort is more my style.
9. I don't like being kissed in the morning without having brushed my (and him, his) teeth. 
10. I would very much like to write fiction except that I'm VERY creatively challenged! :( But, because I have made this promise to the sacred God of chick lit and to myself, I WILL write THAT one book at least at some point of time in my life. 
11. A boy I have a little crush on said he likes the way I write!! :D :D :D Now, I write the way I think and talk. So, if he likes the way I write, it means he must like the way I talk! Which means, he'd want to talk to me more and thus, hang out with me more! Oooh, finally, some excitement in my life after MANY months of being single! ;)
12. I totally made the last one up but I wish it were true! *sigh* :P

Ok, since I wrote about non-worry like and very cool things, I feel awesome right now! :D Happy blogging, world! 

Uncertainty and internet

I just came across this particular blog while randomly browsing the net:

The blog-header of this blog was so interesting, I immediately fell in love with it! It looks like this:

"Even uncertainty, in retrospect, has more magnanimity than the plain processed tin can of merde." This statement means so much in my life right now, when I am desperately looking for a job and am consistently being rejected or ignored by any and every place I apply to. I have no idea how will I be able to sustain myself post my degree completion and all I know is that I want to stay on, work, work like a maniac even do 4 jobs if the need be, manage my own finances, become independent and learn important life lessons. (Of course, all this won't happen if I keep browsing the net for random blog posts instead of working up a sweat looking for jobs and applying for them but then again, I wouldn't find such fine inspiration without it either!! :P) So, now I can continue (job hunt, not internet browsing) with new optimism towards the uncertainty in my life! Thank Lord for internet and awesome bloggers! ;) :P :D