I have bouced back to the world of the living. 
No cold. No fever. Life seems good again!:D
Homecooked tagged me on this one. As a rule I like doing tags and I liked this tag even more because of its timing. I have been out of ideas for posts of late. This tag will fill-in the gap perfectly. Here’s my list of eight….
Eight things I am passionate about:
· Family
· Music
· Arts-of all kinds
· Travelling
· My work
· Friends
· Books
· Cooking- I am not really passionate about this, but I like doing it. I was out of ideas for the 8th item on this list, so had no choice but to write “cooking”!
Eight things I want to do before I die: this is easy!
· Learn oil painting. Properly this time. And to come up with decent products.
· Learn to crochet.
· Travel to some of the unexplored regions of the country
· Design and decorate a house
· Learn tailoring and come up with useable end-products
· Gift my dad a huge aero-modelling kit and my mum, a trip to the mountians
· Learn to not get upset over small things
· Find the perfect state of calmness within (high hopes, na?)
Eight things I say often:
· Shut up
· Don’t bore
· Are you maaaaad?
· I want to go home
· What are you doing ( used only when talking to family/friends over the phone. That’s like the standard starting line)
· Who said life’s fair?
· Why does this have to be done now?
· Don’t answer my question with a question( used specifically with some people only but of late its been used a lot. Therefore its made it to my list!)
Eight books I have recently read or am reading: I can think of only 6 right now, so here they are-
· The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve
· Acts of Faith by Eric Segal
· November of the heart by LaVyrle Spencer
· The Lazy Sunday Book by Bill Watterson (does this qualify for a book?!)
· Autobiography of a Yogi by Shri Paramhansa Yogananda- an all time favourite which is being re-re-re-read.
·The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery
Eight songs I listen to over and over:
· Annies Song – an eternal favourite.:D
· Evergreen Tree by Cliff Richards
· Words by Boyzone
·Cloud No.9 by Bryan Adams
· You’re still the one by Shania Twain
· How deep is your love by the Bee Gees
· You’ll be in my heart by Phil Collins
· Tum se hi by Mohit Chauhan from Jab We Met- this is a current favourite 
Eight things needed by me for cooking: I don’t need too much to cook with, mainly coz mostly I prepare simple meals. So here’s a list of the obvious.
· Ideas!
· Salt
·Vegetable oil
· Turmeric
· Onions
· Tomatoes
·Garlic
· Pre-cooked foods! 
Eight things that attract me to my friends: I don’t ask for much from my friends, that’s why my list is small!! ;D
· A sense of humour
·Honesty
·Good conversation skills
·The ability to provide help/support when needed
· The occasional email/sms to keep in touch- especially for those friends who stay far away; I really appreciate any effort that they take to keep in touch.
I am to tag eight people but since most people I know hate tags, I’ll keep this open ended. Anyone’s whose interested is free to pick up this tag.:)
PS: Lively, may be you’d like to do this since you too are outa ideas!
March 12, 2008 at 4:51 PM
Welcome back Mandira. Good to see you all healthy and happy. Interesting list out there. Will try n do it soon. Have also written a post. Will publish soon.
March 12, 2008 at 4:57 PM
no no, we feel cheated!
No one asked us about eight things we need for cooking!
HMPH
March 12, 2008 at 8:52 PM
Attagurl! Nice meme ! I loved the ‘8 things I want to do before I die’ part the most
thats an absolute sweet one I say.
March 12, 2008 at 9:24 PM
@Lively- thanks thanks…its good to be back! waiting to see your list…
@Chandni-aaaaaaw..how come they forgot that one? do an ‘edited to add’ or a ‘PS’ on your meme and write out the 8 things you need to cook..:D
@M- thanks
do you want to pick up that tag? feel free to, if you want to.
March 13, 2008 at 2:51 AM
Thanks for taking up the tag.Wow you read intellectual stuff,girl !!! I love to crochet too,though I lose interest in stuff easily.Always wanted to learn painting but I cant seem to get the shading of various colours right,so I always admire everything from far.Great list and an interesting read.
March 13, 2008 at 9:04 AM
@Homecooked- intellectual and me?! :O i think u missed the Calvin and Hobbes book that was on my list! lol! i learnt a bit of painting as a kid…and i like to go back to it even now but since i practice so rarely, the paintings dont come out nice. but still, its a great de-stressor
March 13, 2008 at 10:10 AM
garlic – aiyooo
are you a non-veg freak?
March 13, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Welcome back : ) That made interesting reading!
I learnt to crochet as a kid, and gifted colourful stuffed mice (looked more like teddy bears/bunnies etc) to all my friends, but I have always regretted not being able to knit:( …Crochet strains your eyes, while you can knit even in the dark!
I love WORDS and ‘How deep is your love?’ too:)
March 13, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Hi Mandira, I left a comment sometime back but I think it lost its way.
Thanks for dropping by! I’m very impressed with the 8 things that you usually say. I wish I had the courage to say Don’t bore me, instead of tuning out and looking listlessly at the speaker .
March 13, 2008 at 1:14 PM
Ah.. how I wanna write and do a post soon also this tag. I’ve done a post and it is in a word doc. Got to post it. Hoping to do the tag soon, for the fear of forgetting.
March 13, 2008 at 1:56 PM
@burf- i am a non-veg turned veg but i still love garlic! did i just hear you scream AIIIYYOOO!!??
@Indian Homemaker-wow man! can you really crochet? i cant.. my grand mom could..i shud have learnt from her.. i cant knit either… i mean in a way i can- if you do the first line of loops, then i can simply add more lines to it.. but thats all i can do!! and i dont know how to end the knitting..basically cant start, cant end, cant do designs..basically can do verrry little!lol! I see we like the same kinda music
@Chronicworrier-i enjoyed reading your blog..will be back to read sm more soon:)i have guts but in a limited way.. i say “dont bore” to ppl i knew well or am friendly with..with the others i just suffer in silence..
@Lively- worry not, there is no tearing hurry..you do publish the post and do the tag..i’ll come around and drop in a comment or two.
March 13, 2008 at 2:15 PM
yah! dont have much choice right now.
BTW I like garlic too, say garlic tea! I just looooooooove it
March 13, 2008 at 2:17 PM
oops.. pardon my earlier comment. confused it with ginger. I like ginger tea.
I like garlic fried with salt and red chilli powder and added to some snack.
March 13, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Lively- i flipped out there for a mintue!! i have never ever heard of garlic tea!!!! because it doesnt exist..thankfully.. garlic tea would be just too weird ..ginger tea is nice tho.
March 13, 2008 at 3:57 PM
hey mandira,
whats this tagging business?? and how do i tag you?? for starters, i ve strated my own blog- http://www.temerarious.wordpress.com its something i ve started on my own and am still struggling wid it, so a little help would be appreciated!!
March 13, 2008 at 4:27 PM
meghana!! thats soo coool!! you got urself a blog! me super-happy..and me blogrolling you already
ok..to explain this tagging business in simple terms- when i tag someone, that someone writes the post on the same thing as me..tk for example the Eight tag..homecooked tagged me, i write it and then tagged nidhi from nidhi’s nook, who did her own version of it.. if you read homecooked version, my version n nidhi’s version, you’l get an idea of wat i am talking about.. its basically like a chain..
if you are up to it, do the eight tag
March 13, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Yeah, i’m surprised you didnt laugh. You can easily guess that I’m over working. Still slogging at office and when I get frustrated, coming back to this page to see if something new is up. *sigh* what a life
March 13, 2008 at 9:17 PM
i dont laugh at people…i am a polite gurl
still in office??thats nt good…*hug* havent written anything new yet…wil try doing a post tomorrow ..cheer up… go drink coffee and finish up work 
March 14, 2008 at 8:12 AM
Of course, Mandira! I’d be honoured.
March 14, 2008 at 8:56 AM
wokaaay! check it out..u’ve been blogrolled,madam!:D
March 14, 2008 at 9:33 AM
Hey thats indeed tooo cute:-)))
I liked the most 8 thinngs u need for cooking:-))
simple and plain things:-)))
“I want to go home: is even my punch line…..:-)))
March 14, 2008 at 11:24 AM
hey chakoli… i keep saying “i want to go home” ALL the time.. especially if work is getting very stressful or if people are acting difficult or it im sitting thru boring conferences/seminars… home is my escape route from all things unpleasant.. thats why it keeps coming up in my conversation..:D
my list of things i ned is simple coz my cooking is generally simple! i dont do elaborate stuff unless iam in the mood or hv loads of time on my hand..
March 14, 2008 at 12:39 PM
lol, i just remembered something when i screamed that, very very unlike me… lol
March 14, 2008 at 2:08 PM
hmmmmm….am wondering what that something u remembered was…..
March 17, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Ohhh….
for me its alwayzzz the same no matter…work is thr or not…
I m alwayzzz like finsih ur work…and escape from this place:-)))
March 17, 2008 at 10:11 AM
iam with you on that one chakoli.. as much as i love work, home is home.. and theres no place better than home!
March 17, 2008 at 12:22 PM
haven’t u come to office today?
how was the weekend?
where are the updates?
where is the post?
March 17, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Howdy Mandira? Hope you had a great weekend. Y no new posts?
March 17, 2008 at 2:01 PM
@Burf- am very much in office..where else would i be? sigh.. the weekend was good..wasted some hard earned money on shopping… no updates and no posts coz-
if u have some good ideas lemme know!
a) i dont feel like doing a raving/ranting/cribbing/general update
b) i want to write a reallllllly nice piece,you know something of value… but am outa ideas!
@Lively- scroll up and read for reasons for “y no new posts” i thinking girl, think real heard to come up with something..
u got any bright ideas?
March 17, 2008 at 2:38 PM
how do i return the same pinch when we’re not even sharing the same theme!!! child what is happenin to ya!
March 17, 2008 at 2:48 PM
Ideas?? Hmm why dont you write about ideas? ideas for a post!
on what you can probably write about.
But I really wanna read something funny. Real funny and silly. Write about silly things that happen at office and your neightbourhood that you observed.
March 17, 2008 at 3:34 PM
@Lively-ok madam.. i just did a new post.. i dint read this comment before i wrote the post… but interestingly it is one of those silly/funny things at work..go take a look..:D
@Freespirited- sera when did you become “free spirited”?? i realised my error and mentioned the same on your blog..go see it!