Sunday, February 24, 2008

When the going gets tough...

How many of you have played this game- of adding a totally inane phrase behind a sentence, quote or even every line one speaks?
In my ragging days (by now, I am sure quite a few of you are wondering about the kind of ragging we had) we often had to append some (usually off-color) phrase when introducing ourselves to our seniors.
A favorite that was given was "in my pink panties". Another- "in my purple pyjamas"

So it went-
My name is XYZ... in my pink panties.
I am from ABC... in my pink panties.
....
I love reading books... in my pink panties.
My favorite hero is Shahrukh Khan... in my pink panties....

(Try doing this in your head in everyday conversation. I am sure you will get some gems :)

However, the first time I came across this game was when I was in Class 6th or whereabouts, at a friend's birthday party. The 'phrase' to be appended was "Under the Carpet".
And everybody had to add it on to some famous quote.

The one that I remember clearly is -

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.... under the carpet.

You see??? So every time I hear this quote "When the going...." my almost Pavlovian response is to add 'under the carpet'.

But it bears repetition-
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Was introspecting quite a bit today, and I realized that I had to get both over and through some muddles created in/ by my own mind. The self-made morass I was wallowing in left me precisely there- it is nice fun to wallow in the mud, but I guess it is time to come out and have a wash... in my pink panties :)

Ruminating on this, I fell asleep. And woke up with this quote on my mind and lips...

When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

After all, Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Shoe Bite

Contrary to all my New-Year resolutions (this HAD to happen), I am still blogging infrequently. I promised myself that I would blog more, but then it seems that I never have something to say... or too much, in which case mere words can not do justice to my emotions (Oh yes, that is just an excuse for my laziness).

However, this time I am going to talk about something that has been part of my life forever, and has taken up substantial time and energy (and conversation) of mine - my ShoeBites.
(mind you, with a capital B)

Every single shoe that I have ever worn has given me shoebites. Be it a lowly Bata chappal, or some exorbitantly strappy high-heeled stuff- everything results in 4-5 shoebites. So I have lived in perpetual pain in my feet almost all the time. I can still walk miles with my feet killing me, simply because I am so used to doing it.

I have developed a theory around my shoebites- I wear the new shoes for a couple of days- live with the pain- to break them in. Then a few days break- and voila! The next time I wear them, they are relatively painless.

My heels are perenially in various stages of blister formations- burst, about to burst, in conception... Not to mention my toes...and the rest of my feet.
There was a time I used to display the blisters of various colors and sizes to all my friends - since I was so proud of them. Nobody else had such a collection!

Am still suffering as I wore a nice new pair of formal shoes a couple of days back. Have this one horrendous burst blister- which means I can not wear shoes with a back for the time being.

And it reminded me of my long tryst with shoebites all my life.
Is it just me? Or my big, ugly feet?

I guess I am no Cinderella...