Awards galore.. and the 7 Meme thingy..

Thanks a lot Syeda and Yasmeen for the latest awards in my kitty.. Thanks Zainab for creating an award especially for me.. Ur gesture moved me to tears.. Hmmph.. ok.. I'm being over dramatic here.. but I just cant come up with enough thanks now.. hence the dramatic overtones.. My excitement on getting proficiency awards in school is paler in comparison to the excitement and creative fervor I experience on being awarded these cute little blogger awards.. Needless to mention, they bring so much cheer and joy to my mundane life.. I never imagined in my wildest, wackiest dreams that the world of blogging would open its arms so wide for me.. The feeling is no less than becoming a celebrity overnight.. If u think am exaggerating u got to start blogging urself to believe it.. There is no creative high greater than this.. Imagine, what u thought to be incoherent musings and a rigmarole of ur ravings and rantings is read by people from all over the world without actually having to force someone at gunpoint to listen to ur personalized opinions.. And an icing on the cake.. they reach out to u on their own and give u their positive feedback.. Isn't that sooo amazing.. ! All thanks to the Internet and to all u wonderful people out there..

Thanks Syeda and Yasmeen for tagging me with the 7 Meme.. I had so much fun writing them and hope u have fun reading them too.. So here goes my lists of 7 things..

7 Things I Say More Often:

1. Ya Allah! (Exasperated tone)
2. Hau, Nakko accompanied with Aaain?.. (True blue blood Hyderabadi ishtyle)
3. Aji.. sunrain aap? (The reason why I say this more often lies in the question itself)
4. Ayeshaaa.. Ayeshaaaaaaaaaa.. Ayeshaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.. (My neighbor must be tone deaf by now)
5. Chirkut and Chirkuti (Thats my version of a Nincompoop..)
6. The Mashallah, Alhamdulillah, Inshallah and Subhanallahs..
7. Ohhhh.. okayyyy! (With as much amreekan accent into it as possible!!)

7 Things I did Before:

1. Slept whenever I wanted to.. ate (read gorged) on food.. and refused to lift a finger around the house.. Hated cooking and cleaning.. would hate to get my hands wet basically.. LOL! Ironically thats what I do now all day long..
2. Loved reading and hence bought all kinds of books from book fairs, retail stores, Sunday markets, thrift stores, footpaths etc etc.. u name it.. I've been there..
3. Bagged a number of awards, prizes, certificates, scholarships and what not.. topper in class, 90% in boards, best all-rounder, singing, debates, elocution, radio-ads, dramatics, arts and crafts.. once again.. u name it.. I've done it.. was a very competitive person in school.. (read 'was')
4. Believed I was the best.. and no one could come even an inch closer to my endearing, flawless, adorable personality.. (Ok.. dont sneer.. we all have our little misconceptions about ourselves).. I never lost hope, broke down or gave up.. never.. Was calm and composed, even in the most challenging situations of my life.. (dont know how I could do that!)
5. Drove a bike, had the time of my life riding doubles n triples.. met with an accident, injured myself.. and still refused to give up driving the two-wheeler.. (Zainab I blame u for being the source of inspiration here.. lol!)
6. Opted for Biological Sciences in Intermediate, then took up Commerce and Accounting in Graduation and ended up with Masters in Computers..
7. Had an awesome sense of humor.. was immensely talkative and the life of any party..

7 Things I Do Now:

1. Manage to cook palatable food..(mind u.. my husband loves it ) and do every bit of work around the house.. single handedly managing one toddler and one infant..
2. Quit reading books, so to replace the void, I read stuff, blog and try to be socially active online.. which includes food-blog browsing, signing in for mom meet-up groups, connecting with old/long lost pals and long distant cousins..
3. Plan an extensive list of things I wish to get into once I'm done with my parenting days.. which includes an MBA, BEd or a PhD in Education..
4. Enhancing my religious and spiritual side.. in whatever ways I can.. trying to be a better human being..
5. More thankful, humble and subjugated to the Almighty now than I was ever in my life.. taking each day as a new experience... being a wife and a mother, life never ceases to amaze me..!
6. Find it very difficult to approach women for friendship in USA .. something which I had never thought as being this tough.. I magically made friends without having to try so hard all my life..
7. Day dream, reminisce, recollect and ponder over what life has taught me over the years.. making a special note of my mistakes and blunders which I would never want my children to commit..

7 Things I Want to Do:

1. Perform Haj.. Thrice.. one for myself.. one for my father and another for my mother.. Inshallah!
2. To able to change the wrong perception of Islam among people in the West.. To do Dawah.. Inshallah!
3. Raise my children with the best religious and human values one could ever impart to their children.. to be their best friend, philosopher and guide..
4. To be able to command respect and authority in whatever job I take up..
5. To be able to whip up deserts, bake goodies, barbecue chicken and practically breeze though cooking delicious stuff.. yummm.. (a far cry from the way I slog in the kitchen with meticulous attentive hard work.. boo hoo!)
6. Start my own little organization for charity purposes.. stop wasteful expenditure from my side and put aside money for donation..
7. To churn out millions through one of my brilliant brainwaves.. (Psst: I have several brainwaves.. if only someone could sponsor them.. lolz!)

7 Things That Attract Me About The Opposite Sex:

1. Dignity and a very high level of decency..
2. Give full attention when spoken to.. regardless of who is speaking to him.. even if it happens to be his wife..
3. Lower his gaze at scantily, provocatively dressed women.. on second thoughts.. at every strange woman..
4. Ability to realize when to shut up and not ruin a brief shining moment of vocal brilliance..
5. Believes in peaceful coexistence, what the world calls 'compromise' and what I call.. 'Saying YES DEAR to everything I say'..
6. One who gives financial liberty, shopping liberty and spending liberty to his woman.. (sigh! wishful thinking..!)
7. Religious, Kind, Considerate, Understanding and sensitive to a woman's feelings, Is not too loud and brash, Dresses impeccably, Smells good, Loves children and is a good role model to them, Doesn't bring his work problems home, Takes the family for outings and spends liberally without a grumpy face, Flatters a woman to the skies, Is not self pompous, Doesn't snore, Doesn't belch loudly, Doesn't smoke (and drink of course), Can laugh at his own expense, Should laugh at his partner's jokes no matter how silly they sound to him, Knows how to calm down himself when instigated, Has the ability to forgive and forget when crossed, Doesn't sleep, eat or drink or do practically anything else except holding ur hand when u r in labor, Can cook in emergencies, Can change diapers and prepare formula for the baby, Can sit beside a child for his first pooping lessons.. etc, etc.. I'm sure I missed a lot of other things.. LOL! (Err.. did u say 7??? What good is a man with 7 virtues.. lol!)

7 Favorite Foods:

1. Hyderabadi ghar ka khaana (Home made food) consisting of Khatti dal and Tala hua gosht (Sour Lentils and Fried Mutton)
2. Ohris ke Chole Bhature, Banana split and Bull's eye Ice cream.. (talking about Ice creams, Cold Stone here in USA is pretty darn good too)
3. Butter Chicken and Naan preceeded by a bowl of Chicken Hot n Sour soup..
4. Chicago Downtown's Fish Biryani (U have to eat it to believe it)
5. Chicken wings in hot sauce and Halaal Pizzas of the Arabic restaurants in Detroit..
6. Grilled Chicken and Kebaabs combo with coriander chutney at Devon, Chicago
7. Chaat at Gokul and Chirag Ali Lane, Lassi of Old city, Haleem of practically every restaurant, Kebaabs of Purani Haveli, Cold Frappe of Cafe Coffee Day at Hyderabad.. n loads of other stuff exclusive to good old Hyderabad..