Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Today is my Birthday!

July 4th - I am 33 today. Typically, I do not write anything at all about myself on this blog, but today I am making an exception to that rule.

My birthdays mean nothing much to me. But, my husband makes it special and I like that. My parents are very happy, and I am happy for them. I understand now what it means to have a child and to know that your child has completed yet another year on earth. My kids wish me and have no clue what it actually means, but I love that! So, at the end of it, the day would have meant absolutely nothing without these people in my life! I love 'em and I thank God for having them in my life!

Some random 10 things about myself, and in no particular order:
  1. I love the movies! They have defined a lot of things for me. I 'get' some of life's important lessons from the movies. Yes, there is the Gita, but give me the movies anyday! I must add that I cannot watch any and every movie. I am extremely choosy, but when I like a movie, I appreciate it whole-heartedly. I love some of the artsy/indie type, and of course I like an out and out romance or comedy movie. As long as they have a message, they have an audience in me. Some of the movies that I have truly enjoyed are listed in my profile, and of course the list doesn't cover 'em all.
  2. I totally believe in love, marriage, togetherness, romance, growing old together, going all out to follow your heart, and all that jazz. People who know me will vouch for how much this is all true for me. That said, it does not mean that I am not pragmatic; in fact far from it! Go figure. :)
  3. For a long while now, I have enjoyed the passing years. The teens and early twenties were turbulent! I have enjoyed the late 20s and the early 30s much more. The maturity and the feeling of contentment have been the big pluses.
  4. I love taking pictures. Dorothea Lange once said "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." That is so true. If you look at things through the imaginative lens of the camera, everything will look beautiful. Of late, I have begun playing around with a Canon DSLR. Don't know how far that will go, but I am enjoying it right now.
  5. I did my B. Arch in college. I chose Archi after my 12th for a variety of reasons; one of them being the creativity and the other being the ability to practice it independently and at a pace that I wanted to. I enjoyed the design aspect of it immensely as a student, but by the end of the 5 years, I kind of figured I had lost interest in the field. Sad! I did practice it for about 2 years, and I am glad I gave it up when I did. I then went off to the US and after doing computer courses, chose to work in the IT industry as a writer.
  6. I love writing. I have enjoyed it all along, but now I know it; thanks to this blog!
  7. I love colors! I appreciate all shades that are in nature. I have always wondered how the blind perceive color!
  8. As for my future plans, I have a couple of ideas, and will slowly start working towards those. And as and when the kids are in school full-time, I will have something going on in parallel.
  9. Selfishness, insensitivity, and apathy are a put off. I am a tad too sensitive about the world around me and can't digest injustice, oppression, harassment, and the rest of it. Sometimes, I avoid news if I have to. Most of the times, I wonder what I will tell my children in the years ahead?!
  10. I am thankful for being a woman. I could have neither experienced pregnancy nor become a mom without being a woman! And I am thankful for both of those, especially because I started appreciating life only after becoming a mom!
When I started with this post, I had no clue that this was what I was going to write! But, I did. And you are welcome to ask me questions. :)

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Chitra!

I am so glad that you are where you want to be with your beautiful children and family.

Chitra said...

Hey Luffffffff! Is that really you - I cannot believe this! Thank you so much! Will email you!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Chitra!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Chitra... Enjoy!!!

Anonymous said...

Chitra, Many Happy Returns...

Prashanth M said...

Happy Birthday Chitra..

//here thru' RK's blog

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

Happy Birthday !!

Anonymous said...

Hi Chitra,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Nice writeup. Feels good after reading a post like this.
NJOY ur day.
Tell "Hi" to the kids on behalf of me!! :-)

Regards,
Sriram

Anonymous said...

Dear chitra,

Apart from the customary HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU and HAVE A GREAT DAY,

Its a nice post to read - frankly you have expressed how you feel on the day including enjoying the past in terms of years and looks like you are enjoying every moment of it.

Good post which make the afternoon roll on good times!

cheers
mohan!

jyothi said...

Happy Birthday Chitra..
I really like ur writing style
the way u put forward imformative points in a simple yet elegant style..i have been reading all ur blogs regularly but never posted a comment before..and today is ur Bday..so i thought..why not today
As far as my intro goes..i am jyothi..married and working as a S/W engr in Singapore.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chitra,

A very very happy birthday to you.

Big Fan!!

-Ganapathy

Anonymous said...

hey, happy b'day Chitra! Nice post.

Anonymous said...

Chitra,
WISH YOU A HAPPY & WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY.

regards
rk

(something tells me you are from KV? if yes, plz tell me which one.)

Mahipal said...

Chitra,

A very Happy birthday!! As usual a great post, and, in my opinion, there's nothing wrong in divulging a little bit of personal information from time to time...:) It helps your readers get to know you more.

One question, you probably were in US for your last birthday and the previous ones. Are you happier today than previous years, celebrating your birthday after returning to India?

Anonymous said...

and just imagine the whole of America celebrating your b-day!

Chitra said...

Thank you all for your wishes!

Shilpa, Prashanth M, Jyothi, welcome to my blog

Sriram, glad you enjoyed the post.

Mohan, I am glad you liked the post. A few years earlier, I would have hardly believed that it is possible to enjoy every moment. It is all in the perspective! I am glad I come across so differently now.

Jyothi, thanks for your appreciative words! Guess what? We know a 'Jyothi' who is also in S'pore and working as a s/w engineer. Did you ever work in Wipro? :)

Thanks Ganapathy!

rk, I am not from KV. What makes you think so? :) And as for the US celebrating, the fireworks were a nice finale!

Mahipal, I am still not sure about writing about myself here. But I do have a lot of other things to talk about. I am thinking of branching out!
About the US and India thing, well I had a fantastic time in the US since it used to most often be a long weekend, and my hub always planned some nice trips. We would do what we enjoyed the most - road trips! And as long as I have his company, I am quite fine! :)

Usha said...

Hope you had a wonderful day. here's wishing you a great year ahead.

FH said...

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty!!:))

Anonymous said...

chitra:

happy bithday to you!

- s.b.

Shobha said...

Cute post :) Hope you had a wonderful b'day!

jyothi said...

Nope..never worked in wipro before..but glad that i reminded u of ur friend

Ravishankar Hirisave said...

happy b'day!!! have a wonderful year!!

Anonymous said...

"I chose Archi after my 12th..."

having studied till 12th in a KV, i forget that other schools too have the +2!

what a treat to have fireworks on your b-day!

cheers
rk

Anonymous said...

Hi Chits,
Many belated wishes(well,not actually...I wished you y'day!!!).Very nicely written.Could relate to a lot of things here......brought back a lot of old memories..........
Shilpa.

Anonymous said...

Chitra- Belated B'day Wishes....Have fun and welcome to age of 30's. We too celebrated your b'day watching the fireworks in DC....Have Fun!!! Vinay

Anonymous said...

chitra,

Belated B'day Wishes. It's an elegant post!

I cheked the list of your favourite movies. I remember watching Paniamma as a young kid sitting next to my mother. I did not understand anything then - other than feeling bad about somebody cutting paniamma's pony tail along with the jewelry! I still remember that. Do you know if the video (CD/DVD) is available somewhere?

Chitra said...

Thanks for all your wishes here and on email!

rk, I said '12th' so that everybody knew what I meant. I did PUC.

Shilpa, Vinay, thanks!

Nags, Thanks! About Paniamma, I watched it twice, once as a child, and once as a teenager. Both the times it was on TV. Unfortunately, I do not know if we have copies available. I want to own a copy as well. Let me check around. I regard the movie very, very highly. It was very touching on so many levels. The main character's acceptance, patience, endurance was commendable. And of course the times were depicted very well.

Anonymous said...

Chitra,

Yes, I too have high regards to Paniamma. Even though I did not understand anything when I watched it, my mother has commented on the movie many many times and it was one of her favourite movies. So, I pretty much know the theme of the movie and the strugglings of Paniamma.

I still remember the song..."runner..runner naanu runner"

It reminded me of Paniamma when I watched "Water" a couple of days back. I liked the movie.

Anonymous said...

Belated Birthday Wishes Chitra.
Thinking about July 4th I was thinking that you might write about US independance day and celebrations and later connect another one on Aug 15th.. (kind of typical R2I post)..
Nice to know more about you.
The last line says we can ask questions...
I have two questions..
1. I heard that if a kid is born on July 4th in US, then all his education expenses are borne by the govt.. Is that true...!
2. You are 33 and already 11 years old kind.. amazing, somehow I was always thinking that you must be in your late 30's..

I appreciate all your optimism and positivity in you and your writing...!

മൂര്‍ത്തി said...

Belated Happy Birth Day!

Jovially on Birth Days I used to send my friends this message

" You are one year older; are you any wiser?"

:)

Chickoo said...

Many Many Happy Returns of the day!!!

Slogan Murugan said...

Missed the post by a few days....
Happy Birthday!

Pradeep Nair said...

Happy birthday...!!!

Anonymous said...

hi chitra, belated happy birthday!

btw 'paniamma' rang a bell somewhere. isnt it a movie about a child widow or something? i think i'd seen it years ago on TV when DD used to screen regional films on Sunday afternoons. remember a couple of scenes very clearly, much to my own surprise!

Chitra said...

Thanks everybody for your wishes!

Veena, I have no clue about a July 4th born US kid. Interesting tho'. Will ask around.
I am so glad I sound like I am in the late 30s. :) Thanks for all your encouraging words. You are too kind.

Murthy, thanks! I hope I am wiser. :)

Thanks namvor, yes it is THAT movie! I was lucky to watch it the second time at an age when I could understand it better. Yes, it was aired on DD regional movie slot. Very heart-warming in a differnt sense, not depressing like how it would have been considering the theme of the movie. Simple and straight-forward.

timepass said...

Belated Bday wishes Chitra. Loved your blog.

Vidya said...

Hello Chitra,

A belated happy birthday wish to you from a reader who loves your narration style. :)
It was just accidentally that I happened to read your blog and I liked it so so much that it became a habit. Such nice narartion style u have got..Keep it up :)
One thing which impressed me a lot in this post was your self-appreciation for being a woman. Even I share that opinion strongly. Even I feel so proud to be a gal, to be a wife and even though I am still to know how it feels like to have a new life inside u...I am very much excited for the various phases of womanhood I have experienced till now..And one more thing..even love, marriage, togetherness..all excite me a lot.....
Just wanted to share my thoughts and here is wishing u once again a belated happy birthday. And do write on how ur hubby made that day special for u...:)

Regards,
Vidya

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

Hey why no new posts? Post Maadi !