This is a tale in two parts – the first part was painless and easy. The second made me rue the day I decided to embark on this journey. But such is life and I hope my experiences make your journeys somewhat easier.
This is the story of my family and I becoming British citizens and then trying to remain Overseas Citizens of India, as well.
After pondering for more than 4 years, my husband and I decided to change our citizenship last year. It wasn’t easy, deciding to give up our …

BBC’s “Famous, Rich and Jobless” (telecast at 9.00 pm on March 10, 2010) seems another in the long list of “Celebrity tourism”, as the Guardian puts it, to grace our television. A bunch of “celebs” visited various members of the public who are living purely on benefits to see if they can help them.
That the rationale behind the show was shaky as hell is another topic altogether. What I want to discuss is the issue raised by one of the celebs, Diarmuid Gavin, as he visited a big family receiving …

I took the last step to change my surname today. Finally. No going back. And I feel kinda weird about it.
I have been using the married name slowly and gradually since I came to the UK. From strictly stating “I WILL NOT CHANGE MY SURNAME” to ” hmm yeah maybe in my medical forms – and purely so the baby will have your name”, it was a journey fraught with difficulties. What’s in a name, you ask. Well it is MINE. The one I was born with and here …

Some might find it dreary, some depressing but to me, Autumn has always seemed exotic. With trees sporting warm tones of colours, from a mellow yellow to a fiery red, the first half of Autumn is more fun than Winter can ever be.
After Bonfire Night, it gets tedious, admittedly, with sodden leaves on pavements that make you slip and slide but despite this, there’s nothing to beat Autumn. Last week, as we were bowling through Scotland, with the hills covered in orange, I was most ecstatic. Standing at Glenfinnan, gazing …

Just got back from our holiday last night. Nightmare, food-wise. Being preg and a proper veggie is a hellish combo as far as Disneyland food is concerned. See leaves, stuff your face, seems to be the thinking. I shall get into that later.
But for now, I am steaming. I had some coleslaw one night and have been worrying ever since about the ‘eat no raw eggy product’ preggie rule ever since. This morning has been spent in trying to speak to a midwife who can appease my mind and essentially …

So young Max is not going to continue blogging for Guardian. What a shame! After the vitriol that followed his introductory post, the poor lad will not be posting furthermore. The Travel Editor posted a follow-up piece on Feb 15, explaining the editorial decision behind allowing the trip to go on the site as well as pooh-poohing any claims of nepotism. Well that went well with the punters, I tell you. The great British public had a rollicking time commenting on that piece, with phrases like “shame on you, Editor” …

Jordon – sorry, we are supposed to call her Katie Price now, to go with her new demure, non-smutty image. She is, after all, trying to reinvent herself as a serial writer and a children’s author. Which moron decided to let her loose on the influential minds doesn’t bear thinking.
For those of you who don’t know who she is (oh you lucky, lucky sods!), she’s a Brit glamour model, who married former pop singer Peter Andre and has been alternatively baring her bod and having his babies. She’s also …

I spent some jolly 10-minutes reading about young Max, 19, who’s off to India and Thailand, in a bid to discover the world and himself AND blog about it for Guardian. Normal? Harmless? Well, the entertaining commenters (451 at the last count) thought not, especially as it seemed more and more probable that Max’s daddy might be the Guardian’s travel writer. Comments ranged from a fairly normal ‘tut, tut’ to more vociferous ‘shame on you, a pox on you!’ kind of curses. Most Brits are getting their knickers in a …

A friend forwarded me this hilarious article from Times Online as it would appeal to my quirky sense of humour. Well, hell, it did. It is so droll I loved every word of it. How can you not, when you find beauties such as this:
“about discovering how comprehensively a mixture of hot
water and detergent can reduce banknotes to an indecipherable squidge of
papier-mâché, while leaving tomato-sauce strains entirely intact elsewhere
on said garment.”
or,
”
Nor about realising that I may need to work until I am 89 because my pension
has shrivelled to the size …

Well no one can come up with a more outraged squawk than the Mad Momma but as she has implored us desi bloggers in merrie England to not take it lying down, well, how can I ignore the invitation?
What am I blathering about? This – the Communities Secretary Hazel Blears’ ‘Immigration pack’ that is inform an immigrant how to behave on landing on British shores. Simple things like don’t go touching the nice woman at the tube station, put the trash out, spit in the street or *gasp* play loud …

 
What is this guy doing? I mean, seriously. Yeah he had a pop at a tennis career. That bombed. Now, in true blue British sense of the word, he is trying to make a career for him as a celebrity? I mean, what gives?
When I saw him with his family on Family Fortunes last month or so, I thought “what?” but then, the oddest celeb has-beens parade on that show so it wasn’t a big. Or so I assumed.
And now, for the past three weeks, he has been gracing my …