And The Meme Goes On…

I’m cutting to the chase here because, it’s my first time being tapped/tagged for a meme – I need to work on the online efficacy of my E personality, it’s taken this long? . And so, here we go!

1. This is the first time I’ve been tapped for a blog meme. Given that I’m social networking junkie, one would think it would have happened earlier, but I have blogging arrhythmia, I blog when I feel like, and usually after long intervals of time, so it’s really not that surprising . And yet, it happened, and I went giddy with delight, followed by a state of decision paralysis: What five things about me do I want to share? What do they already know so I can steer clear of being repetitive? And so on and so forth…

2. Which brings me to my second thing (is it good English to start a sentence with “Which”? Gardner, Barbara, don’t go English prof” on me ): Most of you have seen the extroverted, fiery me (according to my Indian horrorscope, my rising sign is Leo and my moon sign is Sagittarius), but few of you know – I think – that I can over-think things (like above) when my anal, perfectionist, detail-oriented Capricorn/Virgo side kicks in (according to my Western horrorscope, my rising sign is Virgo and my moon sign is Capricorn, or is it the other way around?). On the other hand, I inevitably cry at the endings of each episode of Ghost Whisperer, actually, any teary scene in any movie or TV show. That’s the sappy Pisces in me, my sun sign. Thankfully, both my Western and Indian horrorscopes agree that I’m a Pisces.

3. And thence to my third thing: We didn’t get a television set at home till I turned 15, but our neighbours in Mumbai had one and every Saturday, as a child, I would head over to watch the Saturday night movie. If it was a tear-jerker, I wouldn’t cry there, but I would come home, settle into my favourite spot behind the door leading to the balcony, and bawl my heart out to my heart’s content. Its family-lore now, and my aunts and uncles take great delight in recounting that story over and over to my friends, my husband, and I suspect my nieces will hear it eventually too!

4. Speaking of nieces, mine turns one in a few months, June to be exact, but what’s really exciting is that her name – Diya – is contained in mine and we also share the same Indian star sign known for its obduracy, I beg your pardon, tenacity . In India, naming the child is a significant event and name are chosen with great care and deliberation. My brother for instance, was named “Arvind” because when he was born, he was so fair, his pink feet looked like little lotus petals (Arvind means “lotus” in Sanskrit). So I asked my parents why they chose Vidya for me; they don’t remember. But here’s what it means: Knowledge and wisdom. And my last name loosely translated is “eternal god”. So I guess that makes me “Wise and Eternal God(dess)”, at least in this lifetime .

5. And so we come to family. I wrote a post a while ago about how I was blessed to have had a liberal arts upbringing, and consequently, music was and is a big part of my life. At one time, we had seven musical instruments at home: two sitars (I learnt Hindustani music on the sitar for five years), a tanpura, a harmonium (I would accompany my father on the harmonium while he sang), a tabla, a harmonica, and a flute (these latter three were my brother’s musical passions at the time). My maternal grandmother still plays and teaches the veena, my mother is taking singing lessons at this time, and I hope to start taking guitar lessons soon.

And that my friends, are five things you didn’t know about me before, I hope. Here’s who I’m tagging to keep this meme going: Sarah Robbins, Barbara Ganley, Laura Blankenship, Jennifer Navarette, Brian Yuhnke.