random

the clock went backwards by one hour today. we will have the sun come up a little earlier than usual. i have tons of work this coming week, dreading it actually. too much to do in a short time + [fairly useful] meetings on top of this.

international phone connections seem to have gone down today. i tried calling singapore and australia this morning [sunday, 31.10.04] and the automated voice declares she cannot connect me this moment. this has been happening for 2 hours now. i will probably give it one last try before giving up until next weekend.

things happening this coming week: monica's last day at work tomorrow, monica's aquanatal class on friday and our first NHS class on parenting on saturday. monica has booked and paid her for tickets to indonesia: departing on the 20.02.05 and arriving on the 14.05.05 i think. we couldn't buy the ticket for the baby as they required a name and date of birth - things we obviously couldn't supply yesterday. we have been advised that it would be fairly easy to buy infant tickets, hence, no need to fret over it.

bosox did beat st.louis cardinals as predicted. good for them. on the sad side, india lost the test series to australia - the first time india had lost to australia at home since 1969 !! a record that stood for 35 years is gone. but then, records are meant to be broken. hmm ..

hyper-sensitive nose

in the car, driving towards cambridge from milton.

monica: nuggie, did you fart ?
me: no man. my office is close to a farm land, the smell of cow dung and manure is rife in the air in that area. may be that is what you are smelling.
monica: oh ! ok.

in the afternoon, on the way back from cambridge

monica: did you fart nuggie ?
me: yes
monica: why don't you fart outside ?
me: bu .. but, i farted 1 hour back on st. andrew's street. not now !
monica: oh ! ok.

in the evening, watching agatha christie's poirot on the telly

monica: i sshhhmell something, did you fart nuggie ?
me: NO man.
monica: oh ! ok. may be it is your shoes ?
me: yes, possible. but my shoes are about 10 feet away along with all the other shoes in this family.
monica: oh ! ok. may be it is your feet then ?
me: no, don't think so. i always wash my feet after removing the shoes and socks when i come back home
monica: oh ! ok.

end of poirot, time to open my daily mail and bills

monica: i shhmell something, did you fart ?
me: oh God, no man !!
monica: may be it is the envelope ?
me: yes, must be. i don't think the british home office and UK's inland revenue have anything better to do than to send me a "mail-a-fart" envelope just to piss you off.
monica: kikikiki .. ok
monica: i *still* smell something nuggie !
monica: can i light some perfumed candles ?

now, we have perfumed candles everywhere ! in the living room, kitchen, bedroom. sooner rather than later, we will find a perfumed candle floating in the toilet where yovita's "mighty, unsinkable poo" once used to float.

3am, sound asleep

monica: nuggie ... nuggie .. NUGGIE !!!
me: uh, huh .. yeah ?
monica: did you fart ?
me: how the bloddy hell i am supposed to know, may be i did when i was sleeping ?
monica: oh ! shmells.
me: crazy indonesian
monica: bloody indian !!

i am confused. where is the problem ? my arsehole or her nosehole ? hmm..

coming along just fine

hmm .. some annotations on monica's website. krithika, my sister and [ammu AKA moose], my niece had offered to do monica's site. my niece is pretty much an accomplished web site schemer and her work ethics qualitatively are up there alongside any of the best in the world. krithi's mate rakhee has this web design firm in bombay, india and krithi wanted to draw up much of the needed support from her. in turn, rakhee utilises deepali's expertise in scripting and graphics design. let me not get into too much detail as this is not the point i intend to drive in this "some what" scrupulous blog.

to keep it short, a lot of people have staked much of their time into this project and all monica or i did was give suggestions as to what is to her liking and what better ways to symbolise her ideas etc. it is coming along so well: now it has a forum, blog area, private & public galleries, lyrics database, story vault, guest book .. blah blah. krithi has been ceaselessly patient and perceptive through all this as monica could be quite enduring and selective. but then, krithi and monica have always liked and understood each other very much.

when my brother got married in june 2001, i couldn't attend his wedding since the usa embassy refused me a visit visa. but gladly enough, they granted monica a visa and i asked her to attend the wedding. bear in mind, although monica has spoken to my family members, until june 2001 she had never seen any of them ! i acutely recall monica telling me on her return: "nuggie .. when i came out of the arrivals hall, before i could realise what happened i was hugged by someone". now, that was krithi. monica described the episode as "exceptionally warm and affectionately comfortable". you know, there is something called "first impression" and it almost always works. monica even said "she could see tears about to roll off krithi's eyes" before she boarded the plane back to the UK.

krithi, for her part, promptly called me and warned that she would "kick my arse if i don't take care of that sensitive and mature girl". hello !!! do i look like king louis from jungle book ? [please note, krithi used the word mature here. how wrong could she be ?]

so, returning from all that twaddle, the point to note is: many people have spent loads of time in to monica's site. the site is sure to open in a few days. i hope monica & her mates can use all the facilities the site provides to their satisfaction.

mi manhood

the midwife says, by week 33 the baby usually gets into position for delivery. monica is in week 29 and the baby is already in position !! the midwife did say the baby will move around when and how he feels necessary. just this morning, i read an editorial on the internet. when the baby's head is down towards the pelvis, there are 2 feasible postures - the back of his head faces the mother's tummy [called anterior] and the other where the back of his head faces the mother's spine [called posterior].

so, which one is better ? when the baby is in anterior position, the widest part of his head fits well into the widest part of the mother's pelvis - easy and short labour. if the posture is posterior, the baby needs assisted delivery, usually including forceps and ventouse [some sort of a suction device]. is it luck then the baby gets into an anterior posture ? absolutely not, the docs say. start mopping floors, wipe skirtings clean, don't sit on the couch curled up while watching telly, don't sit at the computer for long, never sit such that your bottom is down and knees are up, don't sit in the car for long - these make the pelvis incline backwards meaning most western women end up having babies in posterior positions.

monica's maternity leave starts on monday. i bet she is saying woo hoo at the moment. she goes to antenatal yoga on monday + aquanatal classes on friday. good things really. she intends to change her name to HRH.sittin_on_her_arzealot. i am the "dedicated" everything at home now. well, to be evenhanded, yovita does help out as much as she can. the Rh compatibility tests have shown everything is ok. well, the baby moves around a lot monica says. he is doing the mexican waves inside her tummy. he likes it when we run our fingers over monica's tummy. i think he has a feel for it - much like a cat going after anything that moves.

monica has breathing difficulties. this is because the baby is already in position with his head down: most importantly with his legs up towards the top of monica's tummy. hence, her chest expansion does not occur with ease. it is a tussle - but not a major concern.

oh .. i don't know how many of your use yahoo for email ? i use both hotmail [seldom] and yahoo [habitually] and i grant they both handle bulk email very well - but differently. in yahoo, you can go sift through your bulk folder and see if the engine made a mistake in classifying. anyway, we all know the "increase your bust and enlarge your penis" email we get day in and day out. if any of these junks were true, i should be able to simply sit at home, enlarge my penis, apply for a 0% mortgage, acquire a free 500 USD credit card every week and live my life for free with the government happily financing it.

but, this one email today was a shock - well, bastards, i take this one personally. the subject of this email was quite compelling. so, i open it. the body of the email was short and simple. "NAGI, your wife wants you to enlarge your penis". hello !! who is this klutz ? would my wife not tell me directly instead of using some cocker spaniel for a messenger ? or may be this is monica's crafty way of saying something about mi manhood ? hmm.. i have to investigate..

photos from country park

.. here is a [link] to the photos from our weekend walk. well, there are few photos of monica from days old, you can figure it out.

my niece left a comment regarding my previous post. people like pointing out mistakes. :-) it is not the houston "astros" boston "red sox" are playing. it is the st. louis "cardinals" who are in the finals. still, red sox should sail through .. hmm .. finguuuuuuurs crossed man !

85 year curse

bambino's 1918 curse is over !! the boston red sox turned a 0-3 deficit to beat the new york yankees 4-3. there were 2 base ball teams i ardently followed while i was in the usa, the atlanta braves and the boston red sox. this is indeed great news. anyway, the story goes as follows: from 1914 to 1918, boston red sox had won 5 straight world series titles. in 1918 however, boston red sox's manager sold one of his most valued stars - "bambino [aka] babe ruth" - to the new york yankees to fund his girl friend's play.

since then the boston red sox have never ever won the title. a curse, they say, the bambino's curse. not that the sox have won the title this time, they still have to play the finals against houston's astros - but beating the yankees almost defintely must mean they would beat the astros. well, let us hope so [my finguuurs crossed man].

last weekend was perfect. we had good lunch in the city. cypriot food, well, greek food really. we went to [heffers] after that and picked up the book monica had ordered 2 weeks earlier. it is a dictionary of sanskrit names. now, we have a list of names - one list made by me, one by monica and one [yes] by yovita. i and monica will sit together and draft a final list from these - a list that would have no objections from either me or monica. then, the final list will be filtered by the maharajah of kumbakonam [aka ME] to just one. woo hoo !! feels good to say that. the first kid will be named by me, the second kid will be named by monica - that is the deal. but we are not going to have a second kid !! hmm...

sunday was good. we went for a loooooong walk in the [country park]. the sun was up and the lakes were full of birds. kids on their bikes, stoopid looking dogs trying to sniff my private parts, tall trees showing yellow/orange/red colours - some of the things you could have sighted at milton last weekend.

list of to do's this week: mid wife appointment on tuesday. winter gym session from monday and on friday we have a "wear it pink" office day. essentially, we have to wear something PINK [shocking pink preferably] and give some money for cancer research. will i wear pink - i will keep you guessing.

yes people, monica's site is being readied. almost there - reaching, reaching, reaching - not able to touch it yet. be patient.

no more movies..

no more movies until delivery ? WHA !! the reason, monica says, is because she feels uncomfortable sitting in those chairs at the cinema. the reason, i reckon, is that her arse has become too fat to fit in those seats :-). oops, i better watch out when i get back home tonight. she will perhaps feed me cat food, shove me to sleep on the couch or cut my penis off while i sleep.

antenatal [yoga], aquanatal [swimming], child birth preparatory [for mums & dads], NHS workshop [for mums] are some of the classes monica would have to attend between now and child birth. three evenings in a week will be devoted to these proceedings. i would go with monica to the evening classes ofcourse.

isn't it frustrating when people spell your name any which way they want - particularly after you have spelled it for them a few minutes earlier ? the most hated character, i am sure, has got to be the english alphabet 'h'.

yes sir, your name please ?
-> nagi mahalingam

yes, can you spell it for me please ?
-> can i write it down for you please, the surname is quite long

sure, very kind of your sir.
-> n a g i [] m a h a l i n g a m

ok, thank you sir. i will input them into the computer and print out a copy for your records.

wallah ! the print out is handed out. i take one look at it and throw a tantrum. the bastard [sometimes a bitch] has inserted a 'h' in my surname. mahalingHam. man, there is no f*&^ing HAM in my name !

-> ahem ... hiks, you spelled my name wrong.
oh, i am terribly sorry sir.

the guy takes a look, compares names and says:

sorry sir, i don't see it. everything looks to be in order.
-> ayatollah bloody arseholla, can you not see the extra 'H' in my surname ?

if this happens once or twice it is ok, i am sure it will be no more than a faux pas. everyone - in every organization, agency, cricket club, bank – all spell it wrong !!! oh God. i am heated up. could it be just that, lots of names in the UK do actually have a similarity with my name ?[yes, i am not joking].

willingHam, gillingHam, walsingHam, alkHam, cheltenHam, chippenHam, birmingHam – just a few examples. please go aheard and insert mahalingHam somewhere up in the list.

have to go home now. bonus, it is a weekend - although a rainy one.

yes, i am alive

my apologies for an overly delayed blog. unfortunately, i have been tied up at work and my daily work load is twice as much as it used to be back at nokia. while i have my sanity intact, i cannot claim this is a good deal – but the rate at which i am learning can't be anything but preposterous.

my hardware background begins at and ends with naught. now, i have been asked to design a shared memory system and a mailbox methodology for inter process communication. God, where do I begin ? but, honestly, there are examples to follow and i am not overly troubled by it.

monica is HUGE !! her diet regularly include "finest" short bread cookies, french / italian bread with pure, clarified butter, lamb slow roasted in beef stock and similar items. na .. just joking. she looks awesome although i never imagined a tiny woman with an enormous tummy. she just looks like the smiling Buddha on a sofa [without the smiles] ordering me and yovita around constantly, demanding either this or that. the baby kicks too much. it is not subtle anymore, you could see the kicks at left bottom and a few seconds later it is at the right top. i admit the baby cannot be moving around that fast, may be it is a kick & punch combination – kick with the left leg, punch with the right hand ?

we have seen a few movies lately: hero by jet li – I give it a zero. complete crap. bride and prejudice – an adaptation of jane austen's classic, was good. not as good as gurinder's previous hit bend it like becks. the movie has lighter moments. they could have cut down on the number of songs. even funnier, the cinema had more chinese audience than brits and more brits than bloody indians !!.

monica's blood group is A+ and mine is B+. so, there are no concerns with 'Rh' mismatch. monica had done some additional tests today and we will know the results when we meet up with the midwife in 2 weeks' time.

hopefully everything will be ok.