The Tag of Elevens x 4

As you must have guessed I am picking up 4 tags passed on to me by 4 of my lovely blogger-friends. Sheer laziness made me put them off, not anymore though. So without much ado let me go straight ahead and answer the questions :).

Usha’s

1. In one word, what have you gained, in life, that you hold most precious?

Namnam

2. In three words, a pet peeve?

Perpetually cribbing cynics

3. A word you think you use a lot, unconsciously ?

Goodness gracious!! 😀

4. What is it that you love to do, most, and would rather spend your time doing it?

Listen to music and sing 🙂

5. What do you think others think of you?

Now thats a toughie! I cant gauge what others think of me, each person can have a different opinion of me. I can only hope noone thinks ill of me though 🙂

6. Who would you say made you who you are today (other than your parents, if that is what you would answer )

My teachers, friends, my husband and my daughter

7. What gives you joy?

Watching Namnam grow

Reading to Namnam

Watching her perform.

Watching her come out of her class holding her friends’ hands, giggling and laughing,

Driving around with R beside me

Shopping with him

Experimenting new dishes on R and Namnam and seeing them relish it

Planning a holiday

Spending time with my parents

Getting pampered by them and pampering them too 🙂

Feeling the  first drizzle of rain, breathing in the smell of wet-earth

Smelling cocoa, eating melted chocolates

The red notification alert on FB ever since it introduced the ‘unfollow post’ feature..because now it means I get notified only on those posts which I want to get notified on 😉. And recently the orange notification on top of my wordpress page :D. What joy!

Look what you’ve done to me with this one question, Ushus! I seem to be going on and on and on.. 🙂

9. If you could go back to one moment in your past, which moment would it be?

Any one of those Sundays of my childhood when my father and I used to head to a nearby park and fly an airplane. This was much before my brother was born, so I must have been 4 or 5 but the those moments with my Achan are still vivid in my memory and one of the most cherishable ones in my life, so I’d give anything to go back in time and live them again 🙂

10. Do you believe in alternate lifetimes? If so, what is the you there doing now?

Oh no I dont!

11. What makes you you?

My past- each day each moment every little experience I have lived has been instrumental in shaping me, making me the person I am today. Be it the mistakes I have committed or the accomplishments, each one has helped me face a situation in the best way possible. So I am what I am because of them and despite them

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Kanagu’s

1. Name your favorite fictional character and why?

Such a difficult one to answer, Kanagu! There are so many I like. Ok to be fair to the game, let me just mention the two names that came first to my mind..

a) Phantom, the ghost who walks. Why, because I  grew up feasting on the book-series, even remember having a huge crush on both the fearless, masked fighter and Kit Walker, the alter ego who was as much of a family-man doting on his wife and kids – so much so that I had a secret desire to live in the skull-cave just to know how he could switch from Kit Walker to the Ghost who walks with such ease 😀

b) Florentyna Kane, The Prodigal Daughter. It was the first book I read which focused on showing women as strong and powerful. And I loved Florentyna for her perseverance and strong-will. Much later I got to know that author Jeffrey Archer took inference from Indira Gandhi’s political life to write about Florentyna’s political journey and her eventual ascension to the Presidency. So now I like the character even more 🙂

2. What you like to do more in your free time?

Listen to songs, browsing the internet, chatting with my mother, friends 🙂

3. Please tell us the most funniest prank you are involved in?

I am sorry I cant remember any!

4. What makes you happy?

The same that I mentioned above for one of Usha’s questions 🙂

5. Any regrets in life?

None whatsoever.

6. If you can chose an alter-ego, who or what it will be?

I am happy the way I am 🙂

7. Do you have any interest in politics? If yes, what you feel about UP election results?

I am quite hopeful of Akhilesh Yadav. His youthful zest looks promising. Just hope it doesnt give way to over-confidence.

8. Name the place which you visited last? Whats the special about that place?

I went to the Museum of Islamic Art during the weekend with my family and some friends. I personally am not much into art but surprisingly I enjoyed the tour where we could find a lot of interesting artifacts way back from 12th-13th century.

9. What you like about you most?

That I can adapt to different situations without much of a problem, that I can derive happiness from the simplest of moments and that I can smile even when I have made complete fool of myself 🙂

10. Name 5 things which you feel is most important in life.

Family, Education, Shelter/Home, Financial independence, Entertainment 🙂

11. Name a childhood favorite serial other than animation one.

Hum Log

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Rekha’s

1.) If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

To get my washing machine to also fold my washed and dried clothes and save myself the horror of getting into a room filled with a mountain of clothes to fold 😦

2.) What was your favourite childhood television program?

Hum Log

3.) Have / had any celebrity crushes ?

Oh yes I still do and I am sure some of you know who he possibly is. Still let me field this q to you all…can you guess who he could be?? This way I can ensure if you all are reading the tags still or have dozed off already 😀

4.) If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Paris, Eiffel for myself and Disneyworld for Namnam 🙂

5.) Name 1 thing you miss about being a child.

The long walks around the colony holding my parents’ hands

6.) Name the one comic/book character that you loved the most and why?

I have mentioned about it above as an answer to one of Kanagu’s questions

7.) What is the one thing that you are dying to try but haven’t had a chance to do so yet ?

Scuba diving

8.) Do you have a role model – someone you want to emulate? Whom do you admire the most?

My Ma

9.) What do others make of you?

I dont know. As I mentioned above, people may have different opinions of me.

10.) Have you ever gotten into a fight or punched someone ?

Nah I dont remember punching anyone. Verbal-slings, yes

11.) If you woke up tomorrow to find out you are Brad Pitt, what would be the first thing you’d say upon looking in the mirror???

Oh no! 

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Deboshree’s

1. Which is your favourite blog post? Why is that so?

Of my own? This one because I loved writing it, each and every word coming out of me made me feel how blessed and fortunate I was and am as a mother 🙂

2. If you could choose again, which is the profession you would choose for yourself?

I always wanted to be a professional singer

3. Do you believe in ghosts? If yes, briefly tell us about an encounter.

Nope.

4. If it could be anywhere at all, where would you want to win a paid-vacation to? (I am not sponsoring it by the way.)

France and neighboring places-the more the merrier 😉

5. How do you ward off an irritating customer care call? Or do you straight away press the End Button?

I simply say ‘I am not interested’ and hang up.

6. Which is the best book you have ever read?

To Kill a Mockingbird and The Palace of Illusions

7. Do you have a dream in the closet? Something you wish you could get back to doing / start doing?

To record a song, the professional way.

8. What scares you the most?

Losing a loved one.

9. In one word, what is your current state of mind?

Bored…after 4 tags back-to-back 😦

10. How do you ward off anxiety? Or, what is the one stressbuster that mostly works for you?

I pour it all out to R and feel lighter or simply play some music 🙂

11. What do you ask people to initiate small talk, say on a long-haul flight or a train ride?

It depends. If the co-passenger has a child accompanying I ask about the child’s age/school, if I see the person fiddling with the seat belt or baggage I offer to help and then eventually the conversation flows. So it varies. Sometimes when I am not in a mood to initiate talks I just keep to myself and Namnam 🙂