How deep is your Love

Last week I woke up one morning to a special delivery at my door from Mr. Ninja's office - a bouquet and a box of chocolates giving our anniversary wishes in advance. For a sleepy-eyed moment, I thought, what anniversary?

With the anniversary coming up, I thought this week I'd highlight how Mr. Ninja has unique ways of expressing his affection - particularly this instant from Valentine's Day last year.

P.S. For the purpose of understanding this comic, I think it is imperative that the reader knows I love creatures of all kinds, especially reptiles (note the understanding look rather than shock on the BFF's face).

Weddings. Ugh.

People who know me may know this about me - I do not like weddings.. although this fact was probably reinforced by the fact that I got married earlier than my other friends.  But now since I have to attend other people's weddings I don't mind it as much. It's actually a breeze after I've picked out what I'm wearing for the occasion.. now I'm actually looking forward to attending different kinds of weddings with their different traditions and rituals!

So I concluded that it's more fun at another person's wedding than your own wedding (I don't know if this holds true for others but it did for me).
Oh, how I despised having to dress up.
Sheesh.. how I disliked having all that attention on me.
Argh, the posing for photographs!
(I could go on and on, but clearly I don't have the luxury of time for that - it's a Sunday!)

On the bright side, a good video came of it.

Point being, there was definitely more than just a good video that came out of all that.

Sing!

One thing about Mr. Ninja is..when he is passionately singing his favourite song, he will complete the verse..even when the moment has long passed.

I swear, sometimes I think I can decipher his happiness scale based on the gap. Not brought it down to a science yet, though.

Code of Business Principles

Gone are the days when I associated BLT with a sandwich..only to be replaced with days when I think CoBP is the acronym for a Harry Potter book.

P.S. This is the first comic strip that I've completely done using software without even lifting a pencil..so yay! Oh, but I still love my pencils.

If Mr. Ninja heard a Who

I may have mentioned about how my thoughts tend to go on different tangents very easily - turns out I'm not alone. This is a week where I illustrate something that is a product of the imagination while on one of those tangents with another person.

So this came up one time when Mr. Ninja's old flat mate and I were having a conversation about Ninjumani's (he oh-so-lovingly calls him that) unique style of dancing and enjoying himself without a care in the world (which is how people should dance anyway, but I digress).

And then he pointed out that Ninjumani sounds like the name of a very happy elephant, to which I instantly agreed.

And then he mentioned that he'd watched a show one time where mahouts were (proudly) introducing their elephants to the camera.

Following was the visual that came up, obviously.

Game on

I'm not a big fan of games, particularly card games. There's no reason, I've just never been into it. I prefer games with words, mimes and drawings like Taboo, Charades and Pictionary.

Needless to say, whatever be the game, sometimes mine and Mr. Ninja's enthusiasm clashed, possibly giving other contestants strange ideas.

Relax, it's just a game - don't read into it.

P.S. I assume everyone knows how to play Taboo. If not, please read it up!

#DoILookFatInThis

Nah. I'm not the kind of person that even bothers asking questions like that to Mr. Ninja.

But there are other such silly things that I sometimes need an opinion on. It doesn't even have to matter, sometimes I just want a third party vote, whether it counts or not. Or maybe I use this method in times I'm too bored to pick what to wear..or something along those lines. Go figure.

This week I discover a way to get Mr. Ninja more involved in these ridiculous-but-somehow-necessary decisions..by bringing in outsider maybe?

Communication Breakdown

I've mentioned many times before that Mr. Ninja and I have an "all or nothing" attitude when it comes to means of communication - 'all' being face-to-face talks and 'nothing' being texts.

It works efficiently enough for us..until there's a time when some information isn't passed on immediately and the time lapse isn't accounted for when using the 'nothing' process.

Happy Diwali...vacations!

Okay so maybe I didn't post this Thursday because I was chilling on my Diwali holiday. Is that a crime? Well, I definitely wasn't out there bursting crackers ( don't get me started on what a crime that is, not just to us but to the earth and living organisms in it).

I don't even mind the real small silent crackers and I can understand the fascination with the big ones that go up in the air because they look pretty. But those long string ones that just make a lot of noise and emits smoke..what is up with that??

I promised myself I wouldn't make this post all about how firecrackers suck for the environment (because then I'd go on and on) but I really couldn't help myself - especially after seeing the kind of things being shared on the social media this Diwali. There were your standard have-a-safe-Diwali memes, then the cut-down-on-crackers ones, control-noise-pollution ones, reduce-air-pollution ones, regular neutral Diwali wishes and then to my shock, Anti anti-cracker ones.

Some may think I'm overreacting, but seriously? It wasn't even the post itself that irked me; it's the comments that just drove me nuts. One person said being against crackers is being against Hinduism (Right, like no one has fireworks for Christmas, New Year or anything). Another gave statistics saying the polluting effect from Diwali is nothing compared to blah blah blah. Who said anything about it being more polluting? It's just that the earth has enough problems already. And then there are the poor animals who we share space with us wondering what the hell is going on around them.

Like I said, I could go on and on. So I'm going to share what I share every year on Diwali - Michael Scott's "Diwali song" from the US hit TV series "The Office", only this time I'm doing a version of my own.

Disclaimer: I don't own "The Office". Or the Diwali song. Or the lyrics. Heck, I don't even play the guitar! I just like to draw.

If you want to see the original video, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5i6DC2BtM

P.S. Sorry about the delay. Holidays can make me lazy. Cheers!

Sweet Surprises

More often than not I get the feeling that Mr. Ninja isn't that big a fan of the things that I make - which is ridiculous, because I just know that he enjoys it (not to mention I've gotten quite confident with my baking now, there's no way he can't like that!).

And that is just what I said it is - a feeling. The hyper-sensitive me probably thinks that way because I'm used to getting loud and animated feedback from cousins, friends and fellow foodies. It's stupid to expect that from everyone!

But who cares..when there are moments such as the one shown in today's strip that completely make up for it.

Oblivious Uncle

Remember how I came up with a character to display all the never ending advice and comments that were given to me around my wedding time? Yeah, Annoying Aunty, that's the one (Being Mrs. Ninja #13).

Upon reconsideration, I decided that one character wasn't enough to get my point across. I needed a Robin to my Batman, a Tom to my Jerry and thus for my Annoying Aunty.. an Oblivious Uncle.

Disclaimer: No actual people or uncles have any reason to feel bad reading this.. these comics are meant to be enjoyed not scrutinized and mean no offense to anyone. So chill and enjoy!

Totes!

I find it quite amusing how we seem to be making our words and phrases shorter to enable faster communication these days. Conveying a clear message despite having swallowed half of it is actually a talent (more prominent among teens I've noticed).

But I've always had a habit of using and even creating short forms for long words and names, which is why I'm usually confident (maybe even ignorantly so) that I get along with people of all ages below mine, particularly those in the teenage years that recognize this 'talent'.

Maybe it's because I've had the chance to hang out with teens who are always asking me "OMG I thought you're, like, 16!" when for all I know they are thinking to themselves "why is she hanging out with us?" Lol. (Isn't there a 'lol' at the end of everything these days?)

Although I have to say it's not easy to maintain the 'forever16' street cred when you have to announce to those friends that you've gotten married. But I figured something out. Kinda.

Title

Sometimes I'll type up just about anything. Or say just about anything.

For the record, my punch line in this week's strip was something I had heard on the show "Are We There Yet?" To be fair, it was probably funnier with a laugh track.

Starry Eyed Surprise

Sorry I'm late..just got back from a pizza date with two of my girlfriends..and a real good pizza can make me sleepy!

This week I'm talking about habits..some we grow up being used to and some that we acquire. Mr. Ninja and I let each other be ourselves for most part, but I hope that I have had some (even if a small) influence that has helped him change in some way and improve as a person.

That being said, he has definitely been the reason for a change in some of my more random habits - like how I would read the horoscope in the daily newspaper just for the heck of it (despite not believing in it). Here's how that unfolded:

I don't even glance at that side of the paper now..or feel even slightly tempted to. Guess I'm better off.

Muddled by Randomness

"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."

I think this perfectly applies to my mind because my thoughts can't stay still, even for a bit. That probably explains why I have to keep myself busy all the time as far as possible - or else my mind just strays.

And by stray I don't mean like those mathematical geniuses who see numbers everywhere; not even close. It starts with a single thought and ends up as a flowing body of thoughts with it's tributaries heading in various unknown directions - to the point it sometimes makes no sense and I wonder how I ended up here in the first place. And then it starts all over again, this time leading elsewhere, and so on. Wait, what was I talking about?

In short, randomness entertains me. And it definitely feeds my creative side by making me come up with the strangest things (sometimes not relevant to anything but entertaining none the less).

Here's an example (did I mention how I love word play?).

Ttyl

One of the earliest things that Mr. Ninja and I bonded on was the fact that neither of us liked talking on the phone; which would appear a little odd because we were in different countries at the time.

Sure enough, a lot of our conversations were textual and our phone calls factual. And they still are, a lot of the time.

This week focuses on how vocal non-responses (Being Mrs. Ninja #24) can be equally, if not more, annoying in text form.

Party Time

I enjoy house parties and the like (especially if there is great food) but I can't say I'm crazy about them. Or maybe I'm just feeling that way because most of my post-marriage parties have been the kind that involve meeting new people (namely Mr. Ninja's circle of friends) rather than my pre-marriage college peeps.

Before I actually got to know a lot of those friends, in the initial stages all of them were just a range of new faces to me. And I'm one of those people who's great with faces but crappy at names; which brought about, as you can imagine, many an awkward situation where I enthusiastically greeted a person and then realized I didn't know what the heck to call that person.

I used to label these parties as "office parties" because Mr. Ninja knew most of these people from his workplace. Being in a situation where I hardly knew anybody, I'd check out the people around me and made an observation that his colleagues have a certain way about them. So much so that I started to pass the time by making a mental game out of guessing who worked at Mr. Ninja's workplace and who didn't! I don't do that anymore though..

Speed of Sound

So we all love to watch movies right? And yeah it's pretty amazing how much impact can be put on the audience both in visual and audio form.

Ah, why beat around the bush - this week's comic strip is about how Mr. Ninja used this little factoid to genuinely try and 'improve' my movie experience. It's nice that he cares.

Birthday of a BFF

Back in college, my friends and I were such birthday enthusiasts we went out of our ways to get creative and surprise each other on birthdays. The gifts were crazy (varying from hard-to-find items to special people), sometimes even our venues were quite random.

So not being in college for a few years, it's been weird weaning off all that - although we do meet if possible on those days for a simple meal or a drink or two, but nothing as outrageous as before. Ah, how time passes.

Today is one of those days - a bestie's birthday - and it feels utterly strange that I have nothing in mind, a funny feeling in me that makes me uneasy like I'm supposed to be doing something and I'm not.

But ha! Thought I'm going to let you off that easy? Especially now that you're getting married in a few months? Hardly!
So, err..Surprise!

Dedicated to..well, you know who you are..Happy Birthday! 

Clash of the Titans

Remember how I mentioned earlier (Being Mrs. Ninja #30) that we fight?

Well this week's strip isn't about a fight in particular, it's more like an example of how one line can change a mood completely from one snapshot to the next - and better yet when I happen to have the perfect comeback (don't you just love it when that happens..oh wait, it hardly ever does).

But seriously, I'm not a bad story teller.

That Aww Moment

My posts every week are primarily focused on conversations - funny, misunderstood, one-sided, I think I've covered a lot of it - mostly things that make readers go 'ha!', 'lol', 'no way', 'yeah right' or even 'aww' that one time (Being Mrs. Ninja #15).

Speaking of "awww" I looked up its definition on Urban Dictionary today (yeah, I can be a Word Nerd sometimes) and came to the conclusion that they have various types:

Happy - "Aww, those are such cute puppies!"

Sad - "Aww man, the tickets are sold out."

Tired - "Aww...just give me five more minutes to sleep!"

Grateful - "Aww thanks, you look pretty nice yourself."

Pity - "Aww you poor thing.."

I could go on.. but not without mentioning the one type that I found the funniest:

Friend Zone - "Aww, that's sweet but I think we should just be friends."

So to continue with this theme, I present this week's post - I thought I should give "Sad Aww" a shot seeing as I've already covered "Happy Aww".

The Dormant Pottermaniac.

It's J. K. Rowling's birthday. It's Harry Potter's birthday. It's Thursday. Deal with it :)

I thought the perfect post for today would be a snapshot from our honeymoon where the Potter impact was most evident.

P.S. Being Mrs. Ninja #15 already mentioned what "potti" means. So, I'm sure anyone can take a stab at what "pottan" stands for. Ha ha.

Misunderstood

Of course we fight, everybody does. Life as a couple would be unnatural if not boring without the boat facing rough waters now and then - because then fighting through that and coming out in to calm waters feels even more relaxing with the sun shining seemingly more brighter and the breeze now gentle (not sure if I've pushed the metaphor too far?).

Mr. Ninja and I occasionally have the strangest misunderstandings that seem to come out of nowhere - one minute all's perfectly fine and the next minute it isn't. And still later it's all fine again (that's what matters in the end anyway).

Today's comic strip shows how I can be wonky during these times - a lot of the times I want more words out of Mr. Ninja, but going by this, I sometimes don't.

Are We There Yet?

Firstly, I apologize for missing last Thursday - there hasn't been a free weekend over the last month and not being able to sketch up any new comic strips turned out as collateral damage from being busy. Busy having fun that is.

On the bright side, I promised that I'd make up for it by having two entries this week and I'm sticking to that promise!

Let's get to it then. Today we deal with how Mr. Ninja learnt about what I think is one of the less desirable aspects to my personality - my sense of directions. Because I'm terrible at it. The only way I would confidently be able to get anywhere is if I have walked that way before - and there's only so much walking one can do.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Mr. Ninja knew how bad I am at it..I think he just underestimated how bad. And I avoid using my phone for directions when someone already knows how to get somewhere because of all the 'magical' new alternative routes that are suggested - like I needed any more confusion on that front.

Let's Talk About The Weather

If there's anything that has been going wonky here, it's the weather (among other things).

First there was the delayed on-off winter which had Game of Thrones memes claiming "Winter is coming..and going..and coming..and going.."

Then there was the punch of humid heat which turned me into the Wicked Witch of the West (I'm melting!) and had me grabbing every excuse to have a Magnum ice cream (I'm an addict, who now saves the ice cream sticks to remember how many I've eaten so I don't go overboard).

As for now, it seems to be alternating between sunny days and rainy days. How do you dress for these days? When I wear sneakers it pours (I console myself saying my feet are getting wet in  "filtered" puddle water rather than direct exposure to crap infested water) and when I wear floaters its sunny and my feet get dry (no consolation except maybe it's not raining!).

But I'm here to talk about the other ways that the weather impacts Mr. Ninja and me.

The Curious Case of Curious Ninja

I'm not a great storyteller or anything but when I narrate an incident I totally enjoy myself - complete with colourful descriptions that are exaggerated for effect, voices and sound effects. But this only works if the chain isn't pulled on my train of thought.

Mr. Ninja is a very curious person - which means if I recount something to him there can be no space for creative assumptions, open endings and imagination. Curiosity is a great quality in a person but that pretty much puts a damper on my narrative (now become like a news report containing only plain facts).

At least if it's a story, I can answer these questions to a certain extent. But there are some situations I laugh and wonder, how does anyone respond to this?

Bada Banao

Although I have a funny feeling I may have to use the above title more than once (based on the number of stories revolving around this phrase) I figured it might fit today's topic too.

For a while I sat amused at how Mr. Ninja ordered his drinks whenever we were out - it was never a single drink, always one plus one more. At the time I thought he did it out of habit as the bar that he frequented after work always had happy hours with a one plus one offer on any drink.

Then one day I asked him why he continued to do this and he calmly explained it to me - something about the time saved in calling the waiter an extra time and getting your next drink without having to wait. And I thought to myself, wow, everyone must do this.

His method did go a little haywire in the beginning when I wasn't aware of this particular habit of his (oh how sweet, you got me a drink, too?) but he worked around it (get me 2 one plus one's). This week's comic strip is straight out of that phase.

Some nights

So Mr. Ninja and I occasionally have those nights when either one or both of us are too tired or sleepy for...you know, formalities like saying 'Good night' or even acknowledging that there is another person who has to share the same bed, courtesy any of the sprawled out sleeping positions below:

And we all have our sleeping positions - the foetus, the starfish and my personal favourite which, though nameless, I'm pretty sure can be compared to one of the steps in the Surya Namaskaar.

Before I ramble off topic, this week is about one of those very nights and my (futile) attempt to score some...err, brownie points despite the fact that both (or one) of us just want to shut down for the day.

Okay, maybe not both of us.

So enthu

I'm sure every other person in a relationship has been through the whole "hmm" fiasco - how a monosyllabic response to something that was so-enthusiastic-how-can-one-possibly-not-respond-the-same-way leads to a spat between the two people involved.

That's what this week's strip is about - clean and simple, and an illustration of just that between Mr. Ninja and myself.

Also, he isn't around this Thursday so I thought I'd use that as a (lame) excuse to experiment on my drawing presentation. Nothing drastic, just fooling around with some software instead of my usual scan-and-clean.

To Be Frank (and nothing else)

I just gave it a moment's thought and realized this (the title) is a statement I have never heard from Mr. Ninja... and probably never will. And that's because, to be frank (sorry, couldn't help myself), there is no other setting in his system but to tell it like it is - one of his best qualities that I've earlier mentioned I have a love-hate relation with (Being Mrs. Ninja #18).

One of the surprising drawbacks of this is that one tends to appear superficial, without taking a second to look into the deeper meaning of things - not exactly the kind of outlook you need to appreciate art.

With that I'd like to bring forth a clipping from our honeymoon - no, not that clipping - when we stopped at a castle on our way to Cork City from Dublin.
 

Romance? What's that?

So Mr. Ninja and I aren't exactly the most romantic people in the world (as one would have gotten the impression from Being Mrs. Ninja #13 'Annoying Aunty'). We rationalise - who needs romance when you have love, trust and commitment right?

Wrong.

What do we know?
From what I have experienced, romance (or a certain idea of it) creeps into a partnership whether one plans it or not. It could be in the form of surprising your partner by waiting for them at their bus stop during the 'honeymoon phase' or in unwittingly buying/doing/making something thoughtful for the other person after marriage. Or maybe I just got lucky here.

What have we learnt?
Being oblivious can be a mood killer, as illustrated below.

Special Thanks to a Steve Jobs poster I came across.

Huh.

This is an exclamation I use quite often when I communicate something I find funny with Mr. Ninja. A branching out from Being Mrs. Ninja #4 (That's so funny.), this is another example of a comic strip having arisen from two different perspectives to a supposedly single-view idea. Now that I think of it, that's pretty much how all the comic strip ideas have come up.

Last week we covered the literal side, this week we discover the (selectively) rational side..the primary reason behind me being the funnyman only in my circles.

P.S. I'm an architect.

Complimentary, my dear Ninja

Sometimes it may seem to people that I'm in my own world ( which I usually am) but it's mostly because I like to observe people. I may not remember it the next day but I do it all the same. I've always thought it's because I love to draw and paint - a situation where one gets to actually trace the outlines of whatever subject has been picked.

So yes, if I see something I like, you will definitely know about it - even on the off chance it sounds creepy to some. Bwahaha.

But yet again, surprise surprise.. Ninja responds in a way that throws me off and brings out my inner drama queen. I sometimes forget how he can take my words quite literally.

Sleepy head

In every other comic series that involve a wife and a husband, I've seen that there is always some joke revolving around how one snores and also denies being one who snores. Well, I never! one would say.

You know they say the best ideas come to you when you sleep. In my case, ideas come along with funky expressions to describe them!

30 Rock(s)

What prompted me to post on a non-Thursday? Today is the day Mr. Ninja turns 30. And I thought I should give him a one-glance idea of the supposedly best aspects of turning 30.

                               

I enjoyed doing this so much, I signed it twice!
Happy Birthday dear :)

Pour some Sugar on me

Although the title above is shared with a popular Def Leppard song, there is no relation based on the lyrics whatsoever. By itself, it seemed to be the right fit though.

Mr. Ninja's honesty is a character trait that I have a love-hate relation with. I love it, love to hate it, hate to love it and sometimes simply hate it..for a few minutes, tops.

I appreciate truthfulness, I really do. It's just that sometimes I'm going through something and that particular thing - even if I know it - may not be what I want to hear at the time. Or I'd like a little pat on the back (I've the rest of the world to blindly criticize me) before being taken to the side and given actual feedback.

That being said, I wouldn't change that aspect about him for anything.

What's in a name?

I was totally adamant that I keep my name after marriage. So attached am I to my complete name that I felt that even changing a part of it (by maybe even hyphenating) was like losing, at least partly, my identity.

Not that I have a problem with anyone changing their names. I just didn't see any rational point in doing so. Or maybe it was my feminist side bursting out. Or my association with my full name that I didn't want to lose (I'm very proud that my family name is a part of my full name). Or I just didn't want to have to do something like that just for the sake of doing it.

Who am I kidding. I'm just plain lazy.

OMG

So I came across this comic strip while I was generally browsing and though its subject was bordering on blasphemy, I have to admit it brought a small (if not slightly guilty) smile on my face. Moreover, from a cartoonist's point of view (yes, I'm going to give myself that credit) I liked the clear cut presentation and basic colour scheme (something I've yet to venture into with my comics) that was used here.

But no, that is not what we're talking about today.

I come across a lot of jokes these days in various forms ranging from  memes to comics. What is actually interesting here is that Mr. Ninja and I never respond the same way when it comes to funny stuff online. He likes the kind that are literal and straight-forward in contrast to my love for puns, wordplay and hypothetical situation comedy.

Which is why it's entertaining when I share something that caught my eye with him. The comic strip below which is his response to the one above, exemplifies just this.

P.S. Hello from Prague!

Whole Lotta Love

In one of my earlier strips ( Being Mrs. Ninja # 8), I had highlighted  the  fact that there were various slang terms that Mr. Ninja  used ( I have my own set of words too, actually) that didn't make sense to me on the first go. Sure, I'm pretty used to it now but when I first came across them I was both fascinated and curious. And occasionally too proud to ask what it meant (Am I supposed to know this word already?).

And then there was another response which when I later thought about it, was actually kinda romantic.
Guess sometimes a happy high focuses on what's really important.

P.S. So I'm writing in from Pardubice, Czech Republic today and almost considered taking a holiday break from Being Mrs. Ninja for 2 Thursdays. And then I thought, nah..I love doing this too much.

Baby, Oh Baby

In the process of taking notes for this blog, I realized that I would be missing out on a considerable aspect of the Being Mrs. Ninja experience if I didn't cover the part where Mr. Ninja has a male friend he has affectionately named "Baby".

Who is this "Baby", you ask? Simply put, one of Mr. Ninja's ex- flat mates ( or his ex-wives as I like to call them). And what's the big deal about having a "Baby" in your life? Not a thing, except for the occasional "awkward moment when" I hear an imaginary laugh track play in my head - probably best if I just share it with you.

Annoying Aunty

I thought I would need a recurring character through whom I could portray all the annoying know-it-all things or "advice" that I had to listen to in the time period surrounding the wedding. Because frankly, some of them were outrageously funny (to me anyway)! Thus, Annoying Aunty came to be.

And no, she isn't based on any particular person I know - she's more like an icon. When taking notes for comics I came across many situations where someone said something irritating (smug, even) just because I was getting married. And that's the reason why I had to introduce this character - people had to see how it was funny to me!

As for the so called Honeymoon phase that Annoying Aunty accuses Ninja and me of being in (in the strip below), she should know that we being us, pretty much left the that phase at our actual honeymoon and moved on with our life.

Disclaimer: No actual people or aunties have any reason to feel bad reading this..these comics are meant to be enjoyed not scrutinised and mean no offense to anyone. So chill and enjoy!

The First Email

This comic strip covers the first time that I interacted with Ninja - both of us were in different countries at the time so there was no option but to exchange emails anyway.

Truth be told, my parents were the ones who were more enthusiastic about us exchanging email addresses. I wasn't even interested in looking at any photographs (my Dad had to drag me to the desktop just so I'd barely glance at some pictures of Ninja and his family) because I felt that just knowing what he looks like didn't make a difference to me as long as I got along with him in person.

And then I received a well framed self-introductory email from the man himself and well, I'm a sucker for crisp, honest writing.

Lost in Translation

I remember in the early days of seeing Ninja, one of the questions I'd asked him was which language he was most comfortable conversing in. While his list ranged from English and Hindi to Telugu, I could only confidently say that English is my first language and I can get away with basic Malayalam, with all other languages only having been learnt primarily for paper-passing purposes (don't you just love alliteration?).

What I didn't account for were all the little language variations we pick up along the way (I'm sure everyone does it; even I've come up with my own colorful words) to describe different situations. Not to mention I had the handicap of not having been brought up in India, which meant there was some additional catching up I had to do when it came to stories with childhood references.

Let's just say - it's a learning process.

Food..Yes or No?

So from my past experience of leaving food decisions to Mr. Ninja (as seen in "The Lazy Boy") I can safely say I learnt my lesson. But then I decided I could find some way around this and get him to be more interested in placing orders on takeaway nights.

My first attempt was to simplify- cut down the options to the most desirable and throw them at him.
Result: pretty much the same as "I just want food. "

My second attempt was to pick the restaurant and ask him what he'd like from a menu.
Result: He'd end up picking the first chicken item on the list. Which was okay except he kept ordering the same thing. Every. Time.

Finally I just thought 'screw it' and picked whatever I thought worked and left him with a simple choice of 'yes' or 'no'.

The result was amusing. Guess I hadn't learnt my lesson yet.

First impressions

As you all probably know from the famous wedding video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13CZd_A4neE) Ninja and I first interacted online before eventually deciding to meet face to face. Being the internet, we stuck to exchanging basic information and one thing led to another (both of us are sticklers for live conversation- either that or texting, not even Skype). So all we had to each other's credit was a vague face ( an accumulation of all pictures seen so far) and words on a computer screen. More so because I had stressed that I shall NEVER have a shaadi-dot-com-esque account online. Some personal blech against advertising for myself (no offense to those who do use these services, it's probably just me).

So when we actually met in person, it was quite pleasant. And one of the first things we discussed was quite memorable.

My Denial

So I thought I'd record some of my premarital moments where I kept telling things to myself in order to stop myself from losing my mind over this whole marriage business. After all, this comic strip is about Being Mrs Ninja..not Bashing Mr. Ninja.

What I told myself didn't have to be true, as long as it was comforting. And for someone who is least interested/ excited about big weddings (much less their own), even stepping out to pick an engagement outfit could lead to frustrated hair-pulling. Luckily, I had reliable people around to vent and lean on.

One of the first issues I faced after announcing that I was getting married was people asking me, "love or arranged??" They seemed to do this with so much enthusiasm, I couldn't bear to disappoint them by giving them a straight answer.

First/Last trip Home

Taking my husband to my home in the Gulf (yes, I consider it my home since I spent most of my childhood in that house) was a pretty interesting experience for me as I'd never been able to exhibit that part of my world to any of my friends in India.

Seeing things from his perspective gave me a unique view on things, making even the simplest things that I took for granted seem new and different all of a sudden. His questions made me question things that weren't  earlier considered worth questioning.

I think I pretty much covered every aspect of my life there with him..except maybe the food part - where I lived to eat the food there while in his case, please refer to Being Mrs Ninja # 3.

But over all, an interesting trip.

I, Robot

From as far as I can remember, I've always been the rational person in the group, sometimes to the point (as I'm occasionally reminded) of appearing 'cold'. I didn't see the point of 'wasting time' on emotions when we could rationally come to a clear decision. If I made a phone call, I would skip the small talk, get to the point and hang up without as much as a 'see ya later'. If someone in the hostel was afraid of ghosts, they would ask me to sleep last. If some one needed a tough love talk, I was the one to turn to.

Although a lot had changed over the years, I still thought I beat the others (at least people I'd come across so far) when it came to this aspect of my personality.

And then I met Ninja.