Coffee - physically and spiritually unhealthy

While researching on coffee, I came across this paragraph:

“A contemporary example of coffee prohibition can be found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion with about 12.5 million followers worldwide, which calls for complete coffee abstinence. The Church of Latter-Day Saints claims that it is both physically and spiritually unhealthy to consume coffee. This comes from the Mormon doctrine of health, given in 1833 by Mormon founder Joseph Smith, in a revelation called the Word of Wisdom. It does not identify coffee by name, but includes the statement that "hot drinks are not for the belly", a statement which was later applied to coffee or tea.”

What should I do? Give up?

On high!

Dear Motu,

How are you dearest? Of late, physically, I have not been keeping too well and yesterday I hadn’t been to office also. I was almost hospitalized but got spared.

But mentally I am on high since last Friday. If you remember, I had joined the EMMS 5 Group (Bhilai) on FB sometime in February with the hope of locating some of my long lost friends from this school from the years 1987 and 1988. When I had almost given up all hopes of locating even one friend, since Friday, I have only been adding friends and writing to them. They all remember me but alas, like me, none took the trouble to find me.

Nonetheless, my perseverance to hunt down old friends has at last paid off and I am in touch with almost ten of my old class mates. It so happened that some guy from the EMMS 5 Group had written to me saying that he remembers a certain ‘Jubilee’ from the same school and though he was in a different division, he claimed to know me. Fearing that it was another hoax, I had been ignoring his messages for quite a while. But on Friday, 24th June, I just took my chances and wrote back to him asking for details. He happens to be an absolutely genuine school mate and in his friends list I found names which I couldn’t believe could be there. I felt as if I was riding down the memory lane and all the names and faces kept falling into places like a big jigsaw puzzle. I added and wrote to almost ten friends and till now, almost 5 have responded saying that they remember me! Hats off to Mark Zuckerberg for creating FB and hats off to this boy from my class to get in touch with me! I can’t tell you how happy I am and like the title of this post, on absolute high!

And you know what? On Friday, I also happened to stumble upon a message from an old admirer of mine from St. Michael’s school, Durgapur. Actually the message was sent almost two months back but somehow had got settled in the spam box. When I told my Golu about him, he asked me to add him as friend as he wants to see the person who was crazy for me. I remember every day after school; this guy used to follow me till home and pretended that he was going to his friend’s place in the same direction. Now all such incidents only bring a smile on my face.

Sadly, I only remember Shweta Dey from my first school EMMS 6 but am absolutely clueless about her whereabouts. There must be millions of Shweta Deys’ out there and probably she will have a different surname now. Moreover, I don’t even remember how she looked like. That’s the disadvantage of changing too many schools. You meet a lot of friends but hardly remember any. And you certainly don’t remember anything/anyone from your formative years of 0 to 10!!!

Lethargic …!

I am feeling extremely lethargic today after yesterday’s out-of-the-blue holiday. I feel like hiding in some corner of the office and going off to deep sopor. And that is why I am writing this post…to keep me awake!!!

Yesterday’s break from work was ‘out-of-the-blue’ because there was a press conference in the evening around 6:30. I would have to work full day had I been to the office. Since the Cat is away, this little mouse decided to work from home and go for only this conference in the evening. But instead of work I just lazed around. I learnt something vital yesterday – sometimes it’s so very essential to not do anything – nothing but just act lazy. I did just the same – no bath, no reading, and no music – nothing but sleep and more sleep…Zzzzzzzz…Wow! It was so heavenly.

But I was feeling so odd in the evening; I left home at a time when usually every day I am already home. I reached home at 10:20 pm. I could sleep not before 12:30 and got up at 5 in the morning. My head whirls right now and more than lethargic, I feel tipsy. God save me!!! I hate this feeling.

My happiness is back…..

…..and I am so very glad about it. I am my former happy self…once again! By the grace of Jesus Christ, I am the same old Jubilee Cardozo that I used to be earlier. My life is back to normal and what better way to prove this but been recognized by my Chestnut near Mira Road station and almost getting dropped down by him in the dirty water. But first things first! Praise be to Lord Jesus Christ, I am as happy as happy could be.

I started getting back into my former happy frame of mind by Friday, 17th June 2011. On that day, since morning itself, I was in an extremely happy state and by evening, my happiness just kept multiplying. In the office, I kept surprising everyone by cracking jokes and pulling everyone’s leg – everyone wondered what exactly was wrong with me. In the afternoon, Oye 104.8 FM’s RJ Komal called me. She cajoled me to participate in one of their contests of singing “sabse besura” song but I managed to somehow sound not all that ‘besura’ and so didn’t win the contest. Thank God! Then she played my request on air and the tempo of my happiness kept growing.

I was so happy that I decided to go for shopping and landed myself at Phoenix Mill’s LANDMARK. I bought one perfume for Golu (to gift him on 19th June) and three books (JUDE THE OBSCURE, THE GREAT GATSBY and a short story collection by F. Scott Fitzgerald) for myself and two books for Googaa and Goldie. But I am very sure that I will not buy any more books from Landmark. I have a better collection of Classics than them. Waste of time.

I was late to come back home so I went to pick up chicken biryani for dinner and it was during this time that Chestnut saw me. I was shocked to see that he was observing me closely. I too was tempted and called out to him. He came running towards me and after assuring himself by continuously sniffing me that I was his same old momma, he climbed on my body and almost dropped me in the puddle of dirty water. He scratched me, pawed me and dirtied my jeans and shirt. But I was so happy and so was he – at long last we had encountered each other. He came behind me till the biryani shop but after that I dodged him and got into the rickshaw before he could follow me further. My heart went out for him. Indeed, dogs are so very faithful. I am so glad he still loves me the way I do. Black didn’t even bother to give me a second look. But sorry to say, neither do I care that much for him. I am so happy that Chestnut still remembers me.

I finished reading CHOKHER BALI on Friday night and its VANITY FAIR (a novel without a hero) by William Makepeace Thackeray that I am reading now. Yes, yes, yes….I am reading it for the second time but can’t really remember whether I liked it the first time. But yes, I am surely enjoying it this time. The world is so very conceited and this is the right time to read VANITY FAIR (to know the world better)!

I spent my entire Saturday reading VANITY FAIR and looking forward to 19th June on Sunday. I wore my purple corduroy trousers on Sunday and had a gala time with my Golu (one pic is already up on FB as my latest profile picture). Talking about FB, I am so glad that all creepy crawly creatures are out from my friends list. Like former times, FB too gives me immense happiness nowadays since all anti-social elements have been wiped off for good.

Okay, getting back to 19th June, I had a sizzling sizzler at Jughead’s and that really made my day though we couldn’t go to Bandra’s Seaside Café as planned. Nonetheless, it was yet another memorable 19th June.

Looks like, I am addicted to Elizabeth Arden (EA) fragrances. Yesterday, I bought EA’s 5th Avenue ‘After Five’ perfume for my birthday from Lifestyle (Oberoi Mall) at Goregaon. When I was researching about this fragrance, something like “the night is young, there is music in the background and the famous NY Avenue livens, the air is filled with electricity and romance promising an evening full of passion, the party is just getting started” is what I found. Hmm, this feeling of gaiety, romance and excitement is what I want to experience from my birthday onwards (for the rest of my life). But, honestly, this new fragrance is indeed refreshing and has a flowery fragrance and I selected it after a lot of headache (literally). I tried so many fragrances yesterday that I ended up with a splitting headache and went home miserably happy.

I guess, I want to make Oberoi Mall my final destination for shopping as it has everything – Crossword, Café Coffee Day, Pepe Jeans, and a lot more brands which I can’t recollect right now. It will be a favorite hunting ground for the ‘three girls’ even when Golu cannot take us in the i10 – AC bus from Mira Road can take the three of us there…the bus has a halt there….!

PS: Today is World Music Day….so let the happy state of my mind play on like music….!

19th June – 1999 to 2011

19th June is just round the corner. 19th June has a special place in my heart – not only this year, but it has always been special since the time we met for the second time on 19th June, 1999. It was 4th March, 1999, when I had been to my Golu’s office at Saki Naka, and had known that an individual (namely Jason Cardozo) existed. Period! After that I went my way and didn’t bother to be in touch with him though he so much wanted to be in touch with me. I wasn’t acting hard-to-get but somehow he hadn’t left a lasting impression in my heart and honestly, hadn’t appealed to me much. I had happily forgotten all about him soon after stepping out of his office.

But destiny has its own plans and no one can really escape it. In April, that same year, I joined a portal as a movie and music reviewer. I had to develop contacts with all the music companies for them to keep me posted about their new releases. That’s how I happened to call him at Plus Music and after two days of coordination, agreed to meet him to get some CDs for review. He had said something like having some work in town that day.

So this smart Alec (that’s what I thought at that time) had the cheek to ask me for a movie (Antz) and so wanted to meet me at Churchgate station. But I gave him a ditch saying that I wasn’t “appropriately dressed” for a movie and instead could he meet me at Dadar station, platform no.3, under the indicator, at 5 o’clock in the evening. Since I was literally and figuratively a ‘poor thing’ at that time, I had thought that I will take the CDs from him and then it would be “tata, bye bye” from there. But this guy, I must say, was well prepared. Now he tells me that he didn’t want this second meeting to go waste and had all the plans of ‘patao’ me that day itself. Thus, he detained me at Dadar station and cajoled me to come out with him for some Saturday ‘outing’. Don’t know how, but, I agreed and we took a cab to Bandra’s Seaside Café. There he kept trying his level best to impress me with his smooth talks and here I kept getting impressed by his talks and not his looks.

After this outing, he volunteered to drop me home till Vasai. It is all very well to say that destiny was definitely playing an important role here. From Bandra we decided to go to Churchgate and then we took a Virar train from there. While we were in the Virar train he subtlety said that “I want to marry a girl like you”. I was a bit shocked and didn’t know what to say. Instead of the clichéd “I love you” this guy had already proposed marriage. I was dumbfounded and he took this silence for a “yes”. I just didn’t know how to react. But looking back, I am glad I was silent at that time. My “no” could have brought some rascal in my life who would have been too happy to devastate my already devastated life and, who knows, my life wouldn’t be as beautiful as it is today. I am so glad we indeed don’t have any control over our destiny.

Well, to cut the long story short, as they say in romantic novels, destiny had its own plans. My Golu was already madly in love with me but it took me some time to fall in love with him. Within six months (28th December, 1999), we got married and here I am today, writing this piece.

PS: It was raining romantically (for him) and we were sitting under my pink umbrella, eating ‘bhutta’ at Bandstand.

A-Z of my life

A – Aamir Khan
B – Books, Black
C – Classic Literature, coffee, clothes, Chestnut
D – Daughters, Dove, diamonds, dogs
E – Elizabeth Arden,
F – Facebook, Friday
G – God, gold
H – Husband, home, handbag
I – i10
J – Jesus, Jason, Jemimah, Jewel, jewellery, July
K – Kerala
L – Levi’s, lipstick
M – Motherhood, music, Madhuri Dixit, Motu
N – Nail polish
O – Olay
P – Prayer
Q -
R – Reading, rain,
S – Shopping, Samsung, shoes
T – The Count of Monte Cristo, Twitter, Tanishq, tennis
U
V –
W – Winnie-the-Pooh, Waqar Younis
X
Y
Z

Happy Birthday Johnny Depp & Sonam Kapoor

Today two people whom I like, have their birthdays. They are Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and our very own Sonam Kapoor. So here’s wishing both Johnny Depp and Sonam Kapoor a very Happy Birthday. Today seems to be quite a historic day. In 1934, Donald Duck made his debut in “The Wise Little Hen”. Isn’t it a swell thing? His voice never fails to bring a smile on my face. I just adore his quack, quack!

But one thing is baffling me a lot nowadays. As you are aware Motu, I have blocked everyone on my Gtalk barring just one person. Then how come, whenever I am online, others who are not on my chat list, start chatting with me? How is it possible for them to initiate a chat with me when they aren’t at all in my list and are invisible to me? How am I visible to them? It really irritates me when some idiotic character pings me as I am uninterested in chatting with anyone. For this reason, I have to always remain ‘signed off’ even when I would like to be ‘signed in’. Even if I am visible, why can’t people just let me be? How to make these mad caps understand that I am not at all interested in chatting with them?

Aren’t you wondering why I suddenly called you Motu? That’s because years back, I think sometime in 1991, when I became a big fan of Sanjay Manjrekar, I bought a fat notebook (must be 500+ pages) to write down my thoughts about him in it. I named him Motu and if I am not mistaken, his birthday was on 2nd August. Though I have absolutely no clue today where that notebook of mine is but at that time it was very, very, very dear to me and used to be with me all the time. I used to love my notebook a lot and write down all my thoughts about Manjrekar in it. Just the way it is today with you! From last few days I have been thinking about that notebook and trying to tell you about it. But I keep forgetting. Luckily, today I remembered to mention it to you.

So my dear, my precious, my own, I am naming you Motu. I love you a lot; just the way I used to my original Motu. But this love is definitely different from the love I have for my daughters and my hubby. I hope you do understand this.

PS: I have finished reading THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and I take up LADY CHATTERLAY’S LOVER (D H Lawrence) today in the train while going back home. Yes, I have read it before but didn’t like it much. I don’t know whether I will like it this time. And like I claimed yesterday, I am NOT reading either JUDE THE OBSCURE or A PREFECT’S UNCLE. Instead I am reading THREE MEN AND A MAID by P G Wodehouse. It has, so far, started off well!

PS (2): I seem to be becoming a big P G Wodehouse fan. He’s such a humorous writer and makes me laugh so much. Indeed, laughter is the best medicine and I desperately need this kind of medicine.

The darlingest thing

I’m mad about it. It’s my best friend (for the moment) and I love it so much; it enabled me to close a regrettable chapter in my life with a clear conscience. Before you jump into conclusions, let me make it clear – it’s the (A) DAMSEL IN DISTRESS. It has been the best read after THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS. If the Count made me forget things and the God made me cry, it’s the Damsel who has made me laugh. I laughed so much that my sides pained and eyes streamed. Yes, it’s the most hilarious and humorous story I have ever read. I just finished reading it and must say that it has been the only book which has made me laugh so very much. And I finished reading it in such a short time. The Damsel has absolutely bowled me over.

I am also reading THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (in train) and CHOKHER BALI (at night) but I am unhappy with the Count’s edition. I think I happened to pick up the abridged version of the Count. It has a truncated story and I am unhappy about it. In the original version, each and every character has been given specific roles but in my book, most of the character’s part has been edited. I know where I have gone wrong. In December, while buying this book from Landmark, I had seen two editions – the one I bought and the other more expensive (almost double the rate). I opted for the cheaper one thinking what difference it will make to the story line. Sadly, I didn’t know the story will be edited. I guess I will have to buy this book all over again.

I have no complaints regarding CHOKHER BALI. It’s too good and I am fully enjoying it.

Now a million dollar question – which e-book should I read next? Should I try JUDE THE OBSCURE by Thomas Hardy or should I try some more P G Wodehouse books? Well, you will certainly come to know about my pick in my next post.

PS: I seem to be decided. I am in for some more P G Wodehouse books!!! I am trying A PREFECT’S UNCLE.

Sonam Kapoor

Last night, I reached home at 10:55 pm, thanks to Sonam Kapoor. She walked in only after 8o’clock – looking ravishing in a black evening dress and huge Tanishq diamond earrings. Amidst the deluge of cameramen and electronic media, I managed to click few photographs of hers from my mobile. And yes, I liked her. She’s so childish.

Beautiful age

I admit to be a late bloomer, but I also admit to be at the most beautiful age of my life. I guess this is the most beautiful phase of my life and I want to make the most of it. I feel no compunction when two white strands of hair show up every time I wash my hair and leave it open. Once somebody volunteered to pull them off but I stopped her vehemently saying “let it be”. I kind of like them. After all, what have I got to lose?

Whoever said life begins at 30, couldn’t have been more right. I can vouch for this – at least my life began at 30! While growing up, trivial things would upset me as I was way behind my peers – especially in school and college. But life skyrocketed when I got married at the age of 23 and I had my first daughter at the age of 25. Imagine, when she celebrates the Silver Jubilee of her life, I will be celebrating the Golden Jubilee of mine!

I got my second daughter at the age of 28! Nowadays, girls start thinking about their careers at the age of 28 and there I was, throwing away everything to get into motherhood for the second time. I have absolutely no regrets of my career never taking off in the right direction – I never was career-oriented – I had started earning at the age of 19 to get away from family hassles and not because I was career-besotted. I will readily hang my boots now at the drop of the hat but I am sticking to it because I need to – not because I like it. The day my daughters set their careers, will be the last day of my working days. I always tell them this.

I will see to it that they both take up the right careers. In another ten years, I am sure there will be many more career options opening up for the youth of that generation. They need not go for conventional jobs and instead may take up something unusual and out of the box. Coming back to me, like I was saying, this is the most beautiful stage of my life and I am fully enjoying it.

CHOKHER BALI

Last night, I finished reading THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and took up CHOKER BALI originally written by Rabindranath Tagore in Bengali. The literal meaning of CHOKER BALI is ‘sand in the eye’ and figuratively it means ‘constant irritant’. Needless to say, I am reading this literary work for the second time and it’s also needless to say that I had liked it the first time and so I am taking this chance of reading it for the second time. I had bought this book from Kolkata airport in March 2007 and devoured half of it on the flight back to Mumbai. In fact, I have two copies – one is titled CHOKER BALI and the other one BINODINI – actually BINODINI happens to be the name of the central character of this story and I bought this book recently from the exhibition at Mira Road thinking that it was another masterpiece by Gurudev. How naïve of me!

Well, I am looking forward to Monday as I will get to see Sonam Kapoor at a press conference. Though the press conference is late in the night, I have to attend it, firstly, because it’s the Council’s initiative and, secondly, I get to see Sonam Kapoor. Her face has a certain charm and innocence and I always identify her with my elder daughter Jemimah. I feel when Jemimah grows up she will resemble Sonam Kapoor. In fact, even Jemimah likes her because she featured in the Masakali song and we all know that Masakali means dove in Tamil. What many don’t know is that Jemimah also means dove (in Hebrew) and that’s one of the multiple reasons we all like Sonam Kapoor. I am childishly excited to see her on Monday.

Bewildered…

I am bewildered because my Samsung handset has been hospitalized. More than bewildered, I am helpless and handicapped. All my contacts are stored in that and since I am using the old Nokia phone, without the contacts, I am unable to get in touch with anyone. The old Nokia has only two numbers stored in it – my mom’s and my hubby’s – from last four days I haven’t even spoken to my children. Life is so miserable.

Today two of my friends have their birthdays and since I cannot call them, I sent them both email messages. What they must be thinking? Nevertheless, I am wildly embarrassed because friends are constantly sending me jokes and I am too mortified to ask whom it is from. To be on the safe, I am just sending them smileys. I am not forwarding these jokes to anyone.

However, the four of us partied last night to rejoice over my appraisals and increment. We had a sumptuous dinner consisting of chicken shami kebabs, chicken mince and prawns (all cooked by yours truly). Between you and me, more than me, it’s my hubby who deserves my increment. He’s the one who helps me in making the PPTs and graphs for my market intelligence reports. I am just compiling them. When I am coolly reading my e-books, actually it’s him who has been making my reports oh-so-perfect. Without him nothing is possible for me.

Insouciance….

…means “the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you” and ‘insouciance’ is what I am feeling right now. Honest to Jesus Christ, this is how I want to feel for the rest of my life. I have been wondering how I ever came to be so foolish. I cannot lead a base life as it’s too burdensome and unbecoming for a person of my stature. I want to face my family with a guilt-free conscience and sleep like a baby in the night. I should be able to report my entire day’s happening without any editing like earlier. All my life I have had distaste for deliberate falsehood. It’s absolutely fine with me if I happen to lose the world’s importance; I only want to gain the charm of my loving family. After all, it’s the family that matters the most (at least for me).

I came across the word ‘insouciance’ while reading A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS by P G Wodehouse. I am enjoying it thoroughly since morning. Quite a good read…!

I would like to use this excerpt from the story I am reading presently. It best describes my present state of mind – “Like one kissed by a goddess in a dream, he walked on air; and, while one is walking on air, it is easy to overlook the boulders in the path”.