Dinner at Copper Chimney

Was away on vacation last week and got drowned in work when I returned tho' neither I nor my brain was aware tht we were bk. Ob. had to re-do most of the stuff tht I attempted early in the week :( And then out of the blue receive a call frm my Arien aunt who wants to catch up with everybody and soon everyone is happily planning a dinner.

Almost everyone had a reason to celebrate - Leo sis has got an admit into Moore School for Business, Capri Aunt is happy she is back in Bangalore again, Arien aunt wants to meet everyone as she is here on vacation, Libran uncle and Aquarian aunt are ready to break their 7:30 deadline after a looong tm, the rest of us are jes glad to catch up with the others which according to us was a reason to celebrate.

The Leo sis is in charge of finding an appropriate restuarant n booking a table for 10. The whole day goes by and we do not hear frm her - she is probably busy with her manager - its always difficult to state tht you are leaving and I am sure she was finding it tough. The Arien aunt starts panicking and asks me if the place is decided - I opt for Samarkhand as I have never been there. Its an option, I tell her. Arien aunt is kinda mollified tht we have a place to meet. Finally, my sis calls.

We talk for ages... We catch up pretty rarely and so any conversation lasts an hour or more and this also did - almost messing up my schedule for the day :D We finally arrived at the topic of discussion and she wanted to go to Copper Chimney - the place had rave reviews and she was totally in favour of it. I had not been there as well and so we decided tht tht was the venue. She made the booking, missed her bus hme, and I informed everybody of the venue.

We were all supposed to meet up at 8:30 pm. The Aquarian aunt and the Libran uncle are known for their punctuality and are usually the first ones to arrive at any get-together. The Arien aunt was the hostess for the evening - and she wanted to reach the venue earlier and by luck and a lil help frm the usually punctual folks - she managed tht. Knowing me, we started at 8:29. We decided to pick Senior Arien and Taurean on the way and in the process got pretty badly delayed. We reached the venue at 9:30 pm :D

The ambience was nice - food was good - the Dum Biriyani was particularly good. The regular Biriyani was bad. We are generally a very talkative group and there is a lot of ribbing, teasing, and jokes made at each other's expense - all of tht hpnd - however, all the older members seemed tired and did not talk much - wen they did- they discussed sm philsophy, a TV serial titled "Yengey Brahmanan", and some gen talk. The main conversation was lead largely by the kid - who was 17 - ya, not really a kid - the youngest Arien in the family. Usually, it is the Libran uncle who holds sway over the entire conversation. We have always been kids to them and this inspite of the fact tht the oldest of us, the Capri cousin in Chennai, has a daughter of 5.

When we started for the dinner it started raining, we cribbed 'bout the traffic, the distance - but the moment we met the rest of the family - all tht was happily forgotten - everyone was so happy we made it inspite of it all. We talked n talked n talked or rather yakked n yakked n yakked till we cud yak no more. My eyes started to close towards the end of the dinner - the sizzling Brownie with Ice-cream dessert woke me up :D

We saw tht they had these cute two-sm options for couples outside - on the balcony - it looked awesome - a worthwhile option for a romantic dinner I hinted to the Arien. He tried very hard to hold back the yawn as he agreed with me. And then we were off - we still had one more day before the weekend - everyone was saying their byes amidst gigantic yawns - it wud be a while before we all caught up with each other again. Had a Ni-YAWN-ce evening.

10 things tht make me SMILE

I have ranted, cribbed, poked fun at numerous things most of which have become funny posts but I have never written 'bout something as simple as wht wud make me smile - wen I am stuck in situations tht I have cribbed so much 'bout. Thinking 'bout such an apparently simple thing has taken an amazingly looong time. Well, here goes:

1. When my niece tells me the long version of the "Thirsty Crow" story over the phone and everyone arnd her is trying to get her off the phone.
2. Waking up in time to see the sunrise - a cuppa of hot, sweet chai in my hand - the whole day stretched out ahead of me. On a weekday, I am rushing to complete the cooking, cleaning and so I really cannot have a lazy morning and on a weekend, I am snoring my morning away :P
3. Listening to Yesudas's rendition of "Maha Ganapathim". Carnatic music has a major soothing effect on me.
4. When I wake up pretty late, am crabby, and I find tht the Arien has made breakfast and lunch for us. Beeg Close-UP smile comes up. Crabby, who me??
5. While struggling with multiple deadlines and worrying over my possible goof-ups, I recieve a loong appreciative mail from a senior reviewer and she has cc'd my manager on it.
6. I am in the middle of a "Its ur fault" fight with the Taurean or the Arien when I recieve a call frm an ole school/college/work friend. We spend the next 2 hours on the phone oblivious of anything else but the conversation. I return to the present with a smile n wud have actually forgotten the fight and may even accept tht I was at fault.
7. Recieving a Ganesha statue as a gift - I am always happy to recieve one irrespective of the number of Ganesha murthis I have with me at any given time.
8. When grandma, dad, and other oldies get nostalgic - you have heard the same story a zillion times n you actually know it by heart by now but U let them repeat it so they enjoy the experience once again.
9. It has been a boring day at work, I am bugged and want to go home when I happen to find tht smne has commented on my post and has included a link to my post frm their post. Full Khush - I now don't want to go home anymore.
10. Last but def not the least, when someone tells me I have lost weight even though I know I have not :D

Well, it has taken me almost 2 days to get this list right. Of course, there are a zillion other times I smile or feel happy but currently this list is the Top 10 in Town. Already, hazaar other items are trying to make their way into this list and so will append them or create a latest Top 10 list smtm later. Have a Happy Day!!