My Daughters

My Daughters
my cute daughters

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Happy Feast….

…to me! Yesterday I was exceptionally happy for various reasons but today I am extremely unhappy because of just one reason. In the morning I expressed my desire to go on ‘shopping’ and the moment I uttered these words, there was an outburst from him and there started a tirade of words. A long lecture ensued on how I should start thinking about ‘savings’ now. He felt I am just living for today and forgetting about tomorrow to which I lost my temper and said some things which, I am sure, I shouldn’t have but most of the things which I said, I am very sure, aren’t wrong at all.

I don’t know whether he remembers it or not, but all the so-called ‘savings’ which we have today, is only because of me. All the insurance policies, all the recurring accounts, the PPF accounts, are only because of me. I remember very well how he had burst out at me when I had opened our very first recurring account way back in 2003. He had said so many unpleasant things to me about it and when later on, he wanted a lump some amount to pursue his MBA, it was this recurring account of mine which had come to our rescue. Likewise, whenever there is any need of any lump some amount, it is our recurring accounts that have always come handy. I also remember getting a long lecture when I had opened our respective PPF accounts, when had I suggested about all the insurance policies and till date I have been chasing him for a retirement policy. So if someone sends me a plethora of sms’ saying that the primary objective of my life is shopping, then it hurts. It hurts real hard and tears roll down one’s eyes the way it is for me right now.

I am not a typical housewife who sits at home whole day and demands things from her husband. I work equally hard and some times harder than him but am not ready to give up my job because I know we need it and I also know it isn’t possible for him to run the show alone. So I try to be a help. I know my part-time salary isn’t much but it’s quite decent and it does matter every month. In the bargain if I buy few things for myself; in what way does it hurt anyone? Why should be my shopping be such a constant irritant for him? Neither am I blowing away a lot of hard cash nor am I spending on credit cards. I know my limitations and try to be well within it.

I wasn’t always like this. But of late for various reasons I like to keep myself happy through shopping. It keeps me psychologically high and my mind away from a lot of temptations. His trust on me is so much that I really dread doing anything behind his back and like to keep our relationship transparent. I like to keep him informed of whatever I do. I will not be able to hide anything from him. He also said that if I get a person who is willing to spend Rs. 10,000 on me every month on shopping, I will be too glad to go away with him. What a joke! Of late I had to wade through a lot of temptations but by a lot of ‘golmaal’ I was able to get away from it. If I had wanted, I could have gone ahead and brought forth a lot of harm on me as well as the family but I know I am not that kind of person. I don’t want to do anything which will take away the peace of the family and so, I don’t want to be anything other than what I am today. I have given up lot of things in my life for which I had shown a lot of desperateness. I have controlled a lot of my feelings and I am sure I will be able to curb the desire of shopping as well.

But what I like about today is that its Mother Mary’s birthday and I am sure she will help me to overcome everything. She knows why I am doing what I am doing and if she feels I am too much into shopping, I am sure she will see to it that I don’t shop beyond my means.

Today it’s also the birthday of one of my childhood friends from Bhilai whom I was able to locate through FB. So in the morning I called her up to wish and both of us were so very happy to hear each other’s voice after so many years. We were together in sixth standard. She couldn’t believe I had called up to wish her.

It is also my most favorite singer Asha Bhosle’s birthday so I am going to forget all my aches and pains for the day by listening to her songs through out the day today.

PS: I am feeling so very sad that I am trying to take refuge in coffee (after a long time)! My head as well as heart aches!!!

Happy Feast! May Mother Mary bless me on her birthday!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

My gem and jewel!

For various reasons, I am exceedingly happy today but the first and the most important reason is that, I complete five years in the jewellery industry. It was on 7th September, 2006, that I had joined JCK India, a b2b jewellery magazine by Reed Infomedia, after undergoing a lot of hassles in my previous company while leaving. Initially, I was planning to join from the first of the month but the company felt that I wasn’t giving them adequate notice and so they were trying to be uncooperative with me and I had to request Reed to allow me to join from 7th. So on the last day everything was sorted out amicably and I was able to join JCK peacefully without any sabbatical as such.

So today it’s been five years in this beautiful jewellery industry. I have always loved jewellery of every kind and so much is my craze for gold jewellery that when our second daughter was born, I was adamant that I will name her Jewel. Then for her pet name I suggested Goldie. After joining the industry, I came to know that there’s a jewellery company named ‘Jewel Goldie’. Jemimah’s shortened name is Jem as in ‘gem’ and so both my daughters are the gem and jewel of my life (though I keep shouting at them all the time)! Well, that’s a different story altogether and so let’s keep it for some other day and time.

When I joined JCK on this day, I also came to know that it was my boss’s birthday. So every year I send him birthday wishes and today also I did the same. Later on, I got very friendly with a girl in the HR department and came to know that it was her birthday as well on this day. So every year I wish her also on her birthday. Then on 16th August, 2007, when I fractured my left foot while boarding a train, I was bed-ridden for 21 days and my plaster was removed on this day. While waiting for my turn, I came to know that it was the doctor’s birthday as well. So here’s wishing my ‘fracture doctor’ a very happy birthday!

I have special feelings for 7th September and generally I try to be happy on this day. So far I am and to keep up the momentum of happiness around me, I am humming the song “You sang to me” by Marc Anthony which I heard in the morning while traveling.

I want to put in writing more about my being in the jewellery industry since the last five years. Though I left JCK on 30th June, 2008, and joined a PR agency for a month (July) and was jobless in August and was a Mumbai correspondent for a Bangalore-based magazine for two months (September and October), I went back to my true love (diamonds and jewels) in November and till date I haven’t shifted my most loved industry. In fact, I don’t want to. I just want to be in this industry and like I rightly pointed out, it’s my true love. I keep reading about the industry to keep myself abreast and just love everything about diamonds, gold, silver, platinum, rubies, emeralds, turquoise, etc, etc, etc. Just the mention of all the color stones and metals bring such a peaceful feeling in me. I believe I was born to be here!

Though jewellery buying has become a little unaffordable right now because of the raised gold as well as diamond prices, the beauty of this charming industry remains the same and always will be.

Some magical words like carat, cut, color, clarity only bring dazzle in my life. To learn more about the industry, I try to attend as many seminars and events as possible. Tanishq is the trusted brand for me and in the last few years I have got all my old gold exchanged with them. I only have good quality gold and diamond jewellery from Tanishq now.

There’s a big first-ever color stone event happening in Jaipur on 2-3 November this year. Let’s see whether or not I am sent to cover that event by the apex body. Just keeping my fingers crossed.

Friday, September 2, 2011

My third Levi’s

I guess the first few stumbling blocks to my shopping for Christmas, 12th Wedding Anniversary and New Year are finally taken care of and I have at last started shopping for all these back-to-back events in December. Firstly, let me tell you about the cost of that sexy navy blue top which I saw at Wills Lifestyle that day. Ahem! Well, this particular top turned out be a designer wear priced at Rs. 4499/-. When I saw the designer label and the price tag, I quietly came out of the store pretending not to like it. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed and strolled towards my favorite Levi’s store at Colaba like a dog with its tail down and in-between the legs. But the moment I entered the Levi’s store, I soon got over my disappointment and quickly forgot all my displeasure. Within no seconds, I had selected one dark blue Levi’s jeans (my third pair) and a grey T-shirt to wear with that. I believe that I look good and feel great in grey, white and black t-shirts but unfortunately, black isn’t a very lucky color for me professionally and so from last two years I have stopped buying black colored clothes. Once in a while I wear the existing black ones so that they can become old faster. Earlier, I used to love black colored clothes a lot and my entire wardrobe was filled with black clothes. But from the time I have realized that it only brings me bad luck, I have totally stopped buying and wearing black. Now I have a fetish for white and grey tops for all my jeans. So, the gist of the story is that, instead of that one expensive and sexy designer wear, I bought one jeans and one tee in much lesser the amount. Yesterday, while we were going to shop for Goldie’s seventh birthday on 30th September, somehow the topic of dogs started in the car between me, Googaa and Goldie. Seeing our passion for dogs, Golu said that if we three love dogs so very much, he doesn’t mind getting a good breed puppy for us but no more a street dog. He said that he’s ready to buy a Labrador puppy for us provided the puppy doesn’t trouble him too much. We three have been on cloud nine since then but weighing all the pros and cons, I know the entire responsibility of the dog will fall on my head as the puppy will have to be taken care of like a baby. One needs to be with it all the time which is definitely not possible. We are unable to give that much time even to our daughters; forget about dogs. To shake off my inhibitions for anything new, I tried visiting Globus yesterday. What a big disappointment! Firstly, the clothes there are not at all ‘my type’ and secondly, they are exorbitantly priced. I guess I should happily continue to shop at Westside. They are decently priced and I like some of their stuff (if not all). Let’s see how Fabindia treats me. And just one more thing – I want to buy two books: OLIVER TWIST and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. PS: I need to buy only clothes for the triple celebration in December. I have used only once whatever else that I bought for my birthday. They are still as good as new and I don’t need to buy them.

My third Levi’s

I guess the first few stumbling blocks to my shopping for Christmas, 12th Wedding Anniversary and New Year are finally taken care of and I have at last started shopping for all these back-to-back events in December. Firstly, let me tell you about the cost of that sexy navy blue top which I saw at Wills Lifestyle that day. Ahem! Well, this particular top turned out be a designer wear priced at Rs. 4499/-. When I saw the designer label and the price tag, I quietly came out of the store pretending not to like it. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed and strolled towards my favorite Levi’s store at Colaba like a dog with its tail down and in-between the legs. But the moment I entered the Levi’s store, I soon got over my disappointment and quickly forgot all my displeasure. Within no seconds, I had selected one dark blue Levi’s jeans (my third pair) and a grey T-shirt to wear with that.

I believe that I look good and feel great in grey, white and black t-shirts but unfortunately, black isn’t a very lucky color for me professionally and so from last two years I have stopped buying black colored clothes. Once in a while I wear the existing black ones so that they can become old faster. Earlier, I used to love black colored clothes a lot and my entire wardrobe was filled with black clothes. But from the time I have realized that it only brings me bad luck, I have totally stopped buying and wearing black. Now I have a fetish for white and grey tops for all my jeans. So, the gist of the story is that, instead of that one expensive and sexy designer wear, I bought one jeans and one tee in much lesser the amount.

Yesterday, while we were going to shop for Goldie’s seventh birthday on 30th September, somehow the topic of dogs started in the car between me, Googaa and Goldie. Seeing our passion for dogs, Golu said that if we three love dogs so very much, he doesn’t mind getting a good breed puppy for us but no more a street dog. He said that he’s ready to buy a Labrador puppy for us provided the puppy doesn’t trouble him too much. We three have been on cloud nine since then but weighing all the pros and cons, I know the entire responsibility of the dog will fall on my head as the puppy will have to be taken care of like a baby. One needs to be with it all the time which is definitely not possible. We are unable to give that much time even to our daughters; forget about dogs.

To shake off my inhibitions for anything new, I tried visiting Globus yesterday. What a big disappointment! Firstly, the clothes there are not at all ‘my type’ and secondly, they are exorbitantly priced. I guess I should happily continue to shop at Westside. They are decently priced and I like some of their stuff (if not all). Let’s see how Fabindia treats me.

And just one more thing – I want to buy two books: OLIVER TWIST and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.

PS: I need to buy only clothes for the triple celebration in December. I have used only once whatever else that I bought for my birthday. They are still as good as new and I don’t need to buy them.