Quirky Quill

Tell me once more

2011-02-20T19:32:00.000+08:00

I have heard those stories so many times.
Of how I learnt to walk or the things I hated to eat.
The tales of my childhood that no camera can repeat.
I recreate them in my head as you narrate the memories in words.
But go ahead Aai, tell me once more.

Tell me of the time I was less than one.
Of my unsure steps and my wobbly gait
that paused after a fall, just as the fun had begun.
Of how instead of latching on to any available support,
I held out my index finger for some adult to hold.

Tell me of the time when I was only two.
The poems that you helped me learn
and the book that had pictures too.
Of how I made people believe that I could already read
When I was really reciting from memory and using the pictures as cue.

Tell me again of the time I lied to you
It was sunday afternoon and the time for my TV show
you let me watch when I told you the homework was done
A blank notebook earned me my first ever slap
Harsh as it was, I learnt my lesson

Tell me of how I was a chatterbox, a contrast to your first born.
Of the clips and bows and ribbons and bands, I insited you put on me
Of how I'd choose a dress myself but never ever wear it again.
And the pre-exam wake up calls with coffee and breakfast at three.

Tell me also of the times when I behaved badly with you
Of the countless arguments and fights and the midnight curfew
Tell me you forgive me for the times I slammed the door
Of how I would have still had buck teeth were it not for you.

Go ahead, tell me once more Aai,
Tell me so I realize that you've shaped what I've come to be.
So each time I look at the mirror, I find a bit of you in me.
Tell me once more, so I can see myself from the lens that you saw me through.
So i know that no matter what my age, I'm nothing but a part of you.

(Aai means Mother in Marathi and this is also, how I address my mother)

Hay- Man (Hey Ram!)

2010-11-01T22:57:00.000+08:00

One lazy afternoon, M made an unusually dumb suggestion.
To which, in my characteristic Dalhi finesse, I replied" Dimaag mein bhoosa bhara hai kya?"
M being M did not let ignorance come in the way and answered back first " Poore shareer mein bhoosa bhara hai" and since that made me giggle uncontrollably, he realized that he didn't quite know what he had said.
The giggles went on and so did the persistent pestering on what "bhoosa" was. But that just brought on more giggles. Since persistence is his middle name, he thinks reframing the question might do the trick.
So, he starts singing!
"Yeh bhoosa bhoosa kya hai, yeh bhoosa bhoosa?"
(Remember Saudagar?- badly made up Archana Pooran Singh and company crooning "yeh ILU ILU kya hai") Now imagine M singing that, with the front and back head nod.
The bad Hindi movie reference was endearing and won him not just the answer, but also a nickname.
He is now known as Bhoosa Ram.

Just like that (or what I have been upto)

2010-10-16T21:03:00.000+08:00

Though I started blogging almost 5 years back (yes-the number of posts belies the age), it still surprises me to get questions or any remarks about my blog. You mean you actually spend time reading what I have to say? And it's not humility or anything nor is it ignorance a reason (note the tracker at the bottom?). I think it's more to do with the comments coming from folks who I didn't think visit this space or even if they do, care much about it.

Anyway, it is mildly inspiring and encouraging enough to pick up the lost thread and weave a pattern or two.

Since I've spent about 3 months away from the blog, it might be good to record what's kept me away:

- Running: Though by no means a good runner- I am starting to stretch myself (not literally, duh!). I recently finished my longest run ever- 30km- finishing it in 3h46m also renewed my confidence in being able to complete the 42km in half-decent time. I have only 7 more weeks to go, so there will be a lot more training to do in the coming days.

- Work: A change of assignment has meant learning new things and working with new people. The novelty factor hasn't worn off yet, though minor teething troubles surface every now and then. As does the perennial existential question of what I need to be doing ultimately and in the 'long run'.

- Short breaks: Thanks to work and sundry, got to spend weekends in Melbourne and Manila and am glad to report I spent them well-on reunions with friends and fashion respectively. Also, managed a very relaxing and agenda-free trip to Bali with M (if ever you need names of good veg restaurants, mail- discovered quite a few in Ubud). We stayed in the middle of a rice field and it was a glorious change to have no internet or TV in the room- lush green fields and the sound of a rooster crowing. I'm sure I'd get tired of it after a while, but for 2 days, it seemed perfect.

- Reading: Thanks to Bali, I managed to finish a book in 3 days (Code of the Wooster, PG Wodehouse). Rediscovering PG was such a joy- such wit and so many laugh-out-aloud moments. I did get M to consider PG but he continues to absorb his daily dose of humor very easily from Dilbert. Sigh. Among other books that I read- Man & Boy (Tony Parsons)- a touching yet funny and well-written tale of a hot-shot TV exec who has it all. loses most of it and gains more in the process- very nice description of a father-son-father relationship; Jia (J. Kim)- novel based in N. Korea- this is an easy read and frankly, I devoured the book out of curiosity that the country generates. Reminded me a bit of Oshin, the Japanese TV series that aired on DD, almost 15-20 yrs back (gosh, I'm such a dinosaur!!)

- Travel Planning: November and December promise to be travel filled months and being an independent traveller means spending hours and hours on research and itineraries. More on those after the trips are done.

- Salsa and Pilates: Joined classes for both about a month back. What's more, even M's joined salsa with me. Good fun :) And Pilates is helping me strengthen my core, which will, I hope, have a positive impact on running as well.

- Cooking experiments: Made Risotto, Thai Green curry and Mapo-Tofu from scratch, and beamed after the results turned out so well. Did want to give baking a shot, but decided against it. Gaining weight before a marathon doesn't seem like good strategy.

Next few months promise to be fun- with one good friend (& awesome shopping partner) shifting to Singapore, MIL's visit, Diwali with family, niece's wedding (now I sound even older than a dino), some work trips, the marathon and then finally the December vacation.

Life's good and about to get better :)

Need real time Spell & EQ check

2010-07-24T13:05:00.000+08:00

This is not a post. It's many rants rolled into one.

I understand that time and space are real constraints in this twitter & FB dominated world. But must we abandon all that we learnt before we turned 10? It's WHEN, not wen. It's THAT, not dat. It's not kool to say just that.

I'm fine with abbreviations but deliberate misspelling and omission of 1 measly letter- how is that going to earn you any more time or a whole lot more space? Last I checked, expression didn't get inhibited by adding an extra letter! Fine, text messages or twitter are very character dependent and you want to economize. But surely you can do that by framing your sentence properly? Or does that take too much time too? What really gets my goat, is when people start operating in this mode on mails, posts and even official mail. *shudder*

__________________________________________________________________________________

While I'm on the topic of rants, let me also make it clear to all and sundry, that I'm in no hurry to reproduce. Just because I have a 1 month old niece (who I love talking about) does not imply that I need one of my own. I wonder what's a good response to "now's your turn"...... My mind usually goes to "Sure, could you show me your bedroom...M and I won't waste another minute" or " This is not a GAME for me to do my turn" but usually those signals meant for my vocal cords get intercepted and waylaid to my frowning muscles.

Even though I usually ignore them, I think these persistent suggestions have started to affect me. I'm starting to hold back on playing with a kid or exclaiming who cute she is , because I know there's bound to be someone watching and then pronouncing that I'm ready. Of course, the only thing holding me back was that certification. Can hold a baby for 2 mins without dropping him. Yes, that shows readiness for a lifetime of responsibility along with proclivity to procreate.

Yes, I do eventually want to experience motherhood but I'm not about to discuss something so private with a bunch of people who fall in the "smile and dismiss" category. We'll have a baby as per our plans and it's usually not something that stays hidden for long. I apologize for the lack of broadcast of those plans. My super genius unborn baby will save the planet but not just yet. Please do be patient.

There. That felt good :)

In that frame of mind....

2010-06-12T14:43:00.000+08:00

when I feel like playing this song over and over again....

What's your song today?

If...

2010-05-11T23:37:00.003+08:00

Thanks Chandni for the Inspiration!

The Bamboo tree might have flowered in the time that it took me to come back to this space and write! But now that I have, here goes:

f I were a month, I’d be April (but naturally)

If I were a day of the week, I’d be Wednesday

If I were a time of day, I’d be 12 noon. (lunch time!)

If I were a season, I’d be spring.

If I were a planet, I’d be Earth.

If I were a sea animal, I’d be a whale.

If I were a direction, I’d be West.

If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a revolving chair.

If I were a liquid, I’d be Wine.

If I were a tree, I’d be an Ashok tree

If I were a tool, I’d be a hammer (so I can nail it guahaha)

If I were an element, I’d be Helium (and help balloons go UP)

If I were a gemstone, I’d be diamond.

If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a saxophone.

If I were a color, i’d be Blue.

If I were an emotion, I’d be Happiness.

If I were a fruit, I’d be a Lychee

If I were a sound, I’d be the sound of windchimes.

If I were a car, I’d be a Mini cooper.

If I were food, I’d be kadhi-chawal.

If I were a taste, I’d be spicy.

If I were a scent, I’d be gardenia

If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be peep toe sandals.

If I were a bird, I’d be a cuckoo

And last but not the least, if I were you, I’d take it up too! :) (This one's for Anu, Sheen and Goofy Mumma)

Lessons in Urdu

2010-03-29T21:42:00.002+08:00

M and I attended the Midival punditz concert a few weeks back. We also got one of the cds as a gift from a generous friend.

One of the tracks that was playing in the car as we were driving back home, was based on Ghalib's poetry- " har ek baat pe kehte ho..ki tu kya hai. Tumhi kaho ke yeh andaz-e-guftagoo kya hai". (stay with me- this is relevant to the rest of the story)

Needless to say, for someone who's gradually becoming familiar with Hindi, this had the same effect a heavy metal song might have on Mayawati- zero comprehension but immense wonderment.

" So, what does gufta-gu mean"

" It's a nice way of saying conversation-but you don't really use it colloquially"

" So would it be right to say- 'mere ghar aa ja. gufta-gu karenge?'"

" hahahahahah. no. that just sounds like a proposition"

" but is it not like 'vaartalaap?'"

" yes. it is the urdu equivalent of vaartalaap- but you don't use it in everyday language unless you are reading the news.....at home!"

" so how would you use it?"

" umm, if I were to compose a poem and say 'aa baith mere ru-ba-ru. gufta-gu karenge" (yes- this was at my poetic best)

"......"

"why don't you call up S and tell her that hum uske ghar gufta-gu ka pradarshan karne aa rahe hain"

"???!!!! silly- pradarshan means display!"

"what does the song mean anyway- each time you ask me, who are you?"

"no no. It's more of a probe into what you are...think of it as 'tu cheez kya hai' types"

"simple-main cheez badi hoon mast mast"

*give up+ apology to Ghalib*

Heavy metal might not be a bad idea. The mayhem does not conceal very many words.

Life Is

2010-03-20T14:00:00.000+08:00

A riot of colors

Poetry in black and white

An evening spent in the company of laughter

A day dissolving tears in fire

The breeze that caresses your face

The footprint that melts after meeting the wave

The dew drops of hope that glisten in the sun

Moments consumed by the gluttony of thoughts

Crumbling under the pressure of convention

Getting resurrected by the levity of ambition

The mind wandering and searching for the truth

The heart stumbling on common desires

Experiences that clasp and mold

Events dispersed and tales untold.

Life is.

Nana Munha Rahi Hoon

2010-01-16T22:28:00.002+08:00

Remember Swades?-the scene when SRK spots the lil’ fella selling water in a ‘kulhad’. You might have felt your eyes moisten a bit or maybe even a lump forming in your throat. Or maybe not.

Remember Taare Zameen Par? the scene when Aamir watches dolefully at “chhotu” cleaning the tables at a highway dhaba. You might have recalled a similar instance from your life when you shook your head condemning child labour but felt too small to cause a change. Or maybe not.

Remember Slumdog Millionaire? the scene when Jamal and Latika are made to beg. You might have felt angry at the foreigners making the film too real for comfort or maybe you stayed indifferent. Or maybe not.

How about the Rs. 700 you might have spent on watching any of these movies at a multiplex? What if the same amount were to make a very real and very meaningful impact to a child’s life? What if all it took was 2 minutes to bring a child closer to 1 year of education?

Would you still hesitate in taking action? If you are proud to call yourself an Indian, maybe not.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?

School Equals Lunch feed 6,00,000 underprivileged children one hot meal every day. This meal is served at the municipal school they study in, and is very often the only way to convince their parents to send their kids to school.

One hot meal. For which the parent sacrifices sending the child to wash your car or sell flowers at the signal. One hot meal. Which is probably the only nutritious meal the child has in a day.
One hot meal. That brings a child to school every day.
And all it takes is Rs 700 for a whole school year.
So here’s what we’re hoping for. If we can get thousand people to donate Rs. 700 in the next ten days, then thousand more kids can go to school this year.

HERE’s HOW YOU CAN DONATE:
1. TO DONATE, YOU COULD USE THE INTERNET PAYMENT GATEWAY AT WWW.MIDDAYMEAL.COM
2. OR CALL 022 40366866. THEY'LL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE PAYMENT OPTIONS.
3. DRAW CHEQUE IN FAVOUR OF 'ISKCON FOOD RELIEF FOUNDATION' AND MAIL IT TO NANHA MUNNA RAHI HOON, ISKCON FOOD RELIEF FOUNDATION, 19 JAYWANT INDUSTRIAL PREMISES, 63 TARDEO ROAD, MUMBAI 400 034. OR CALL SEEMA AT 982084245 TO HAVE IT PICKED UP, IF YOU ARE IN MUMBAI

MORE ABOUT SCHOOL EQUALS LUNCH:
We are School Equals Lunch. We’re passionate about feeding children. You are more than welcome to visit our kitchens or call Seema at 9820842453 to know more, or even visit our website (www.middaymeal.com). We’d love to show you how much thought and effort goes into cooking that one meal. Whether it’s a different Khichdi for every weekday or the steam cooking kitchen we‘ve introduced, we’d love to share our passion with you.

Worth Repeating

2009-12-17T23:50:00.003+08:00

This dates back to beginning of 2008 and since this blog has seen many new readers since then, the following seems worth repeating.

http://quirkyquill.blogspot.com/2008/01/happiness-knockin.html

Season's Greetings. Spread the cheer :)

Weekend Realizations

2009-12-05T13:04:00.003+08:00

- I'm very greedy and ambitious.

What else would explain a 30 before 30 list that is in reality, a 60 before 30 list? Each point on that list can neatly be broken down into two or even 3 individual to-do's. But no, life isn't complete without a goal that stretches or nearly breaks my back. Examples: Do 21km+ 42 km marathon runs. Or what has really got me up in arms- Read 50 good books! And I have been reading, trust you me. But here the clever qualifier of "Good" has meant that I have unwittingly brought in the quality of writing into the picture. Sigh. Now that I have picked up a good book (A suitable boy)...it alone weighs as much as 5 decent sized books. Phew. I''m a tough taskmaster.

- Going for desi movies is a motivational class.

There is this program on one of those lifestyle channels- who'll age faster. Based on your diet, exercise and other lifestyle choices, a team of experts projects just how badly you'll age. Each time I go to the theatre that plays desi movies, I feel I'm in that program- Will that be me in 5/10/20 years?- the auntie who looks equally comfortable with her Benz and her love handles? The one who hopes her expensive accessories will make others ignore her sad fitness levels? The one who looks like a pear and can wear nothing but kurtis? The one whose life is enormously comfortable but nondescript nonetheless? Nothing motivates better than fear and nothing cures fear better than action. So if i'm running harder on a sunday after a saturday movie, you know what has spurred the action.

-I'm 28 and without a baby and I don't feel the void.

I'm genuinely happy in the here and now, being with M, doing the stuff that brings immense joy and fulfillment. The clock's ticking but is that reason enough? There is just so much to do (refer to point 1 above) and no tearing hurry to become a selfless and evolved person (which I have heard other people become as parents- no clear evidence but yes, a lot of hearsay).

- The world of fitness is also a world full of expenses

Being lazy and fat doesn't involve half as much expenditure as your bid to remain fit. Strangly enough, what is unhealthy costs much lesser than what your body genuinely needs. case in point-Mac fries vs 99.9% fat free yoghurt. And it's not just food.No matter how you decide to keep yourself fit you can't escape the fact that Fitness equipment (weights, mats, gym machines, hydration packs, fuel belts), fitness wear (shoes, dri-fit socks, compression shorts), fitness food (energy bars, gels, protein shakes) and motivation (group classes, trainers etc.) are going to make lighter, definitely, your wallet and possibly, you. But then point 2 stares you in the face, you pay through your nose and your determination to chart a course through the fitness terrain.

Saying thank you to differences

2009-10-31T15:52:00.007+08:00

She's devoured 3 books in the last 3 weeks.

He thinks Book Cricket and the score he can keep.

On a trip, he knows not which city is next.

She could recite the itinerary in her sleep.

Her brain cells refuse to store any technical details,

For him, that's nourishment for the soul.

Everything should be out there, mess-his divine right.

She throws away even important documents, in a bid to keep them out of sight.

A crisis has him unstirred- his nerves made of steel,

She's pacing here and there-as stressed as she can feel.

But the situation is quite different if he doesn't see her by the appointed hour

Now he's pacing here and there-the paranoid side revealed.

He talks of buying a house, she's already planning next year's travel.

He's looking at the big rocks while she's playing with pebbles and gravel.

Her music fits his definition of the dying or for the dead.

While his loud techno beats are met with her frowning dread.

His fitness discipline is famous, her laziness less well known.

She loves to move and shake- to crazy jumping, he's prone.

He'd rather watch action and horror and finds her revulsion to those strange.

She eats her meals with Hindi soaps-enough to drive him insane.

They think unlike each other, their ways are so far apart.

They must thank the forces which made the tale start.

For were it not for the vast differences and the contrast so bright,

The story would be quite boring, with little exasperation or delight.

News can be fun

2009-08-18T20:15:00.004+08:00

I'm a news hound and read at least 2 newspapers each day. (International Herald Tribune and TOI/Mint- I have a habit of volunteering information-didn't you notice- I have a blog!). News websites such as ndtv and rediff are also toured but infrequently because I like to sink my teeth into in-depth reports instead of sniffing at breaking news snippets.

However, I largely make do with the epapers. For I stay in a city where the regular newspaper less than delights and carries about 1 page of news worth reading. For I yearn for real news vs "window pane breaks and injures 2" and there are only so many sales, slimming & bust enhancement ads that my senses can bear. But yet, being a news hound, I can't really stop myself from the cursory glance at the free newspaper and if nothing else, then satisfying myself with the easy Sudoku it carries each day.

But today happened to be the day that I picked up the free newspaper and actually found 3 things which did not aim at being funny but were.

#1 Mistaken identity lands IT professional in trouble

Consider a young Indian IT professional who's roaming around one of the shady streets at 6.53 am. It is way past/too early for the time any good girls would be out on the street. So when he sees a lady walking down this street at such unholy hour, he naturally assumes that she is peddling certain services and since of this, he is certain- he proceeds to grab her and then to kiss her!! He is then chased and caught by her colleagues when they hear her shouts for help. Though he apologized and was appropriately fined- what got me was his plea that he was soon to be married to a girl in India and that they were to set up a software company.

Several questions come to mind- What time zone was he operating in? Has he heard of the word "propriety" or of the word "relevance"? What good is that last statement going to do? Or was he just trying to balance the scale and hoping that entrepreneurial instinct would kinda overshadow his abundant stupidity?

Actually, I'm plain surprised that the fiancee is okay to proceed with plans in spite of his morning misadventure.

#2 Gastrosexual is the new metrosexual

This is from Britain-apparently, British men are spending close to 30 mins a day cooking and have ostensibly been inspired by celebrity chefs such as Jamie Olivier and Gordon Ramsay.

I am sure they have failed to record the 1 additional hour women are spending in kitchens cleaning up after the 30 minute typhoon has wrecked havoc in the kitchen. But interesting huh? Good looking and witty chefs have the potential to lure husbands into the kitchen. Now who's up for making over Sanjeev Kapoor?? :)

#3 Advertisement for Bottom Slim (which prominently displays the before and after cellulite versions)

"My mom, my grandmother, my aunts all have bad cellulite. I did not escape this tendency too!I wear jeans and pants during hot days to work to hide my ugly thighs. My problem areas were so severe that I honestly thought nothing could help. But after 6 Professional treatments at Bottom Slim, things have certainly changed. I wore shorts to work yesterday, and it felt so good and amazing!"- Ms. Tan, 32 yrs old, Accountant

Gulp- I can not imagine why an accountant who's past 30 would want to wear shorts to work!! I'm sure her colleagues echo the " feeling good and amazing" sentiments.

FB-the laughter tonic

2009-08-02T01:32:00.005+08:00

Funny that I should be getting this after extolling the virtues of FB just a couple of days back.

Message one from random person- " Hi. Plz add me to your friends list"

My reply- " Eh? Who the hell are you?" (only people who are daft would mistake this for curiosity)

Second message from random person who turned out to be daft as well- " Hi. Im businessman from gujarat. I am in civil line and doing laiozan work-i know some of good constracion company in mumbai.what about you what are you doing and you are from which place.from your face i come to understand that you are very sober woman and you are very soft neture and it is good for you. futher if anything pls mail me or contact me on - Random person"

Sober and good natured. (I have tears in my eyes)

No person in their right mind has ever called me that and if all goes well, never will. I'm wondering whether to edit the previous post and also put down FB as a laughter tonic? There is also the question of an appropriate response - since "who the hell are you" has resulted in a generous and irrelevant description of self and "Eff off" might not be understood, I'm in favor of ditching my usual sarcastic style for a more direct and blunt"Not interested. Buzz off" approach.

I need to share the story with M now- I hope he laughs harder than the time someone on orkut called me a genius person! :)

You know you have landed in Delhi when...

2009-07-29T23:13:00.006+08:00

The last disciplined and synchronized activity you see will be the seat belts coming off before the airplane has made a complete halt and mobile phones buzzing to life before the aircraft doors have been opened.
The sullen guy at the "pre-paid taxi" counter repeatedly mispronounces your name the way only a Haryanvi jat can.
You see taxi drivers soliciting the "long distance sawaari" from the 20 odd passengers whose trolleys are bumper to bumper, lest someone cut the precious queue.
When you hear more abuses laced sentences in 10 mins than you heard in the last 10 days. (this is the part when the glamour from "kabhi pyaar mein gaali deta hai" from Delhi-6 comes undone)
You have every reason to believe the taxi driver when he narrates the grand conspiracy theory which implicates the guards who allocate taxis to passengers, the cops who book those who won't pay the guards and the drivers who pay the guards to get the more lucrative passengers.
You can't quite decide on what is causing you greater trauma- the sound of 100 horns trying to beat each other at the game of cacophony or the sight of seemingly every other man who thinks that scratching self in public is as natural as breathing.
You marvel in disbelief at how wide the roads are compared to the excuses Mumbai commutes on.
You hear the punjabi on the streets, in the neighbourhood and on the radio station and realize how much you missed it.
You see fat aunties typified by dripping diamonds and still haggling with the kabaadi for 5 bucks.
Talking to old friends and discussing old favorites such as PVR, Big Chill and Flavors is about the only important and urgent thing in the world.
You are home and wonder why you left.
You read about water shortages, electricity problems, 20 rapes, some dozen robberies, water logged roads, cracks in bridges- all in the same day.
You wonder when you'll ever truly return.

If you hate FB, this one's just for you!

2009-07-22T19:56:00.003+08:00

In the last few days, I've heard too many rants against Facebook-on how it is completely stupid and how people are wasting time updating status messages and playing dumb games etc.

Truth be told, I'm a regular and frequent Facebook user- the kind who update their status prob once a day and are thankful to FB for reminding them of friends' birthdays, the kind who don't take stupid quizzes and who ignore all application requests, the kind who like the fact that FB has brought distant friends back in touch and their life's experiences closer through photographs.

The following is dedicated to the Facebook haters and their myriad reasons.

If you dislike the concept of social networking and people spending time as per their choice, well, you might be better off taking up another cause instead of getting millions of people to change their minds.

If you can't stand others updating their status message, please get a little savvy and open your eyes to a feature called "Hide"- hide that user or your entire friend list. If you don't really want to know what a friend is upto or are irritated by all the fun he/she is having- well, maybe that person does not really belong in your friend account. Also, if you continue to read the status updates and yet keep complaining, you are either hypocritical or just plain lazy.

If you are concerned about lack of privacy, please use the security settings and allow access to your profile, info and pics only to individuals you trust enough or don't put them up in the first place.

If someone is stalking you, block them and report abuse.

If you don't like the idea of the whole world reading your message to a friend, don't leave a wall post-send them a private message instead.

If you think your kids are going crazy over FB, well, monitor, screen, filter- in the same way that you do for other internet sites, mobile phones etc. A good measure of judgment, advice and trust should work, right? And in any case, no matter what you do, the next generation will find ways of beating your system. Getting yourself familiar with new means of communication will only help you assess benefits or damage better.

If you think FB is making mails and calls obsolete, you might find your thoughts resonating with those who said the TV would make print obsolete- different methods of communication can co-exist, especially if they serve different purposes!

If you can't bear FB, close the account and bid adieu- there are millions of users and one less is not going to hurt anyone. Least of all, you. If you are on the site, you are choosing to click-unless, someone is holding a gun to your head and insist that you get socially connected. If they are, you should consider getting help.

Facebook is not perfect- there are way too many weirdos sending you friendship requests. Traditionally strong lines between work and fun, business and pleasure, family and friends are getting blurred. Tweens and teens are getting seriously affected by the site which make them measure self worth in terms of their friends lists and number of wall posts. People are getting obsessed with doing things just so they can report on them through their status updates. And yes, it's surprisingly easy to take the cleverly constructed mirage of a good life for reality.

But then guess how real life is turning out? Our communities, our groups and our social networking sites are only a reflection of how society is evolving. You can either sit in the corner and sulk because no one told you the world is changing or you could be out there, recognizing teh change and and trying to adapting to it. The choice between denial and participation will always be yours.

In short, if you don't like facebook or the other social networking sites- stop whining, stay away and let others FB in peace. While on your way out, please collect the winner's goody bag-it contains a typewriter, a gramophone and a VCR. The committe had recommended a laptop, an Ipod and a blu ray player, but then we thought obsolete might suit you better.

ps- If you hate Orkut, I don't blame you. The site sucks :P The ratio of losers: decent junta on that site crossed the permissible limit roughly 1.5 years back.

The Leap

2009-07-13T21:32:00.006+08:00

So there's this list that I made at the start of the year- stuff to do before I turn 30.

I made the list in January and the opportunity for that first tick came in... January! After which there was a lull- at least with respect to the list. And then I lost the list-sure I retained about 40% of the items in my head but a list pruned down by half aint good enough and I couldn't just make a new list. So I searched high and low and then gave up and then almost as always, the list turned up when I was looking for a completely different thing. So the resurfacing of the list is going to be marked by a record of that first tick on the blog and by active efforts in accomplishing the other 29 things on that list.

The list is not known to anyone but myself and this is by design. Most of the items are in my control. There are some that relate to others- family and friends. Some of it is plain outrageous stuff which does lead me to question my state of mind when writing that list, 6 months back. But well, the ink is spilt on the paper and it is nothing but my mortal duty to obey the letter. It promises to be fun :)

Oh yes and here is proof of accomplishment of my first task- The Bungee Jump!!!

Kawarau Bridge, New Zealand

There are those who hesitate; those who look to the familiar face in the crowd for support; those who succeed a person who broke down and gave up; those who follow a person who swoops down like an eagle; those who scream their lungs out and then there are others who do all of the above. But it does not matter because once you have fought every cell of your body which is telling you not to jump, braved a height of 43m and just walked off the ledge after saying " Dammit. I can do this"..... you'll still be mighty hilarious to the crowds who take pleasure in hearing you scream "Help me" after the jump's done and as you are about to be brought down into the boat. That the crowds who witnessed the moment of truth include the husband, who made for an elegant jumper (in the words of the AJ Hackett folks) and who by the way, also recorded all of this on video, do not help the respectful cause of bragging rights.

What was funnier thought was the family reaction:

My mom: "You shouldn't do insane stuff like this."

My brother: "Did your contacts not fall out?" (yes- that is the first thing he asked me)

My brother again: " Be careful" ( this is after I've done the bungee yeah?)

Would I do it again? The adrenaline rush is completely worth it and I have a very persuasive adventure buff for a spouse-but at my core, I'm a scaredy cat who can be described as risk averse. So the short answer is, I don't know. The fact that I'm willing to consider doing another bungee, in itself marks a significant improvement over the "me" of past.

Here's to 29 more such life improving measures.

Happiness is...

2009-07-06T19:42:00.003+08:00

.....staring out of the window watching little drops of rain bring out the true green of the leaves.

.....reading his mind and being halfway through the preparations for pakoras and tea and meeting the request with a triumphant and knowing smile.

....treating the senses to the sputter of the batter in the fiery oil, to the ascending aroma of the spices and to the tone less high pitch mix of shrieks and mercilessly wronged lyrics of a popular song.

....the division of duties between the two which sounds better as a concept than in practice.

....ending up with dark-as-devil tea because the chemical engineer ran out of milk but yet decided to throw in half the tea container into the brew.

....presenting the pretty plate of fattening fritters complete with ketchup and serviettes

....playing Scrabble with the left hand coz the right one's too busy supplying mouth with pakoras.

....whipping the self proclaimed champion's ass so badly that he scrambles the board at the end so you can't take score.

I'm a superhero and my secret power is winning at Scrabble while eating pakoras when its raining outside.

Pappu pass hua

2009-07-04T14:20:00.002+08:00

This news release is accompanied by much joy and pride, as also the realization that mugging up for exams is my core competence. I've passed the basic theory test- the first step in getting myself a Singapore driving license. That the test was completed in 12 mins and that it followed only 2-3 days of random prep are facts that I put here only because today they seem brag worthy.
I will shatter this illusion of genius that 1% of people reading this might be veering towards, by producing one question from the test that cracked me up:
On approaching a zebra crossing, you would:
a) speed up before any pedestrians appear
b) Slow down and check for any pedestrians
c) slow down and let the zebra cross

The other questions were tougher. Ok? :P Wipe off that grin now :)

Jaws like that

2009-07-01T20:20:00.003+08:00

It began as a mild discomfort near my right ear and jaw-something that I could dismiss and yet get on with life and sundry socializing. However by Sunday night, it had outgrown its discomfort status and assumed the bigger role of minor pain- at least one that ensured that I couldn't sleep on my right side.

By Monday morning, it seemed like a small mutiny by my facial bones, nerves and muscles that led to a sorry swelling around the joint which further gave way to immense pain as I struggled to chew breakfast.

The situation was dire enough to warrant a call to the beloved hospital whose sole redeeming factor is the proximity to office (it's just across the road).

Frantic me: "Could I get an appointment with the ENT specialist?"

Dorky girl: " Wait aa". " Let me check for you"

FM: .......

DG: " But let me check with you first....what is wrong with you?

FM: *a variety of things could fit in as appropriate answers* " You mean why I need an appointment?" I went ahead and described the pain etc.

DG: "So what is your diagnosis?"

FM: ???!!!! * at this point DG became Exasperating Girl. If I knew how to diagnose, I'd attached a Dr in front of my name and not waste my time on the call, yeah?* " I don't know why or what has caused this but I am interested in curing this and which is why I need the appointment"

EG: " Ok aaaa. Let me check for you"

FM: ........*are they measured on how many times they repeat this phrase during the day?"

EG:" There is no appointment for today. Tomorrow can?"

FM: No- there's too much pain- I need to see a doc today- what do you suggest?

EG: " Then you can go to the A&E department"

FM: "What's A&E?"

EG: "Accidents and Emergencies department"

FM: "Are you sure? Isn't that for more serious cases?"

EG: "It's ok lah. It's 24 hours. You'll get to see a doctor."

FM: "Ok then. Thanks." *for nothing?*

So that was how I landed up at the emergency department of this hospital. Now, unless you've been on a space mission or something, you would know that this is possibly the worst time to visit a hospital- especially if you sneeze every now and then and have also been overseas in the past 7 days. The swine flu precautions meant that at least 4 different people checked on my travel history, my temperature, my flight number, my address, my contact number and every other piece of information that I could reveal through my miserable jaw. I almost got sent to the communicable diseases centre coz of a mild sneeze- it was only after I assured the nurse that this was just a silly dust allergy that she finally asked me to go wait inside for someone to attend to me.

And so I waited, feeling rather guilty- there were old folks on wheelchairs, some people on stretchers, but for most part, the place was rather empty- sure, there were others who seemed quite all right but by sheer glance condemned me for infringing my undeserving ass on what was rightfully, an emergency chair. To prove that I belonged, I started wincing a bit and also made intermittent gestures to support my jaw. Truth be told, it was paining but since there was no obvious external injury- I felt quite unqualified to be sitting there. Thankfully, the nurse yelled out a nice distortion of my name and I proceeded to volunteer more information while my BP was checked. The funniest question was " What is the degree of your pain"- it was a 10 smiley scale which went from a sheepish zero for "None" to a wailing 10 for "Intense". I debated and judged my pain at a Mild 4.

I think that was a bad move- I had to wait another 30 minutes to see the doc, who spent all of 2 mins looking at my ears and referring me to an X-ray. Now the X-ray guy was obviously in need of some entertainment in life and since radiology is not exactly E!, he decided to amuse himself with specimens such as moi. Out of the 8 x-rays that he took, the last 4 deserve special mention. I had to lie down with one arm straight ahead, the other by my side,with my head looking up and my knee folded: all this for my jaw??- I really think they supply some of this footage to candid camera! In any case, after the 70 min wait, even I was in need of some entertainment- so I obliged.

Anyhow, 20 mins after the X-ray, the doc summoned me only to tell me that since he was no expert at ENT matters, he would prescribe some painkillers and try to get me an ENT appointment for the next day!

After a morning of pain and silly encounters, the prospect of sound sleep induced by painkillers can fill your mind with such joy! However, after 11 hours of sleep you don't really feel much except heavy disorientation. Sure the pain's gone but so is any sense of time or purpose.

I'm no closer to finding out how this silly pain started in the first place- I've been assured by a competent doctor (my mom) that this will go away in 2-3 days and that I should stop worrying.

The worst part is the impact this has had on the only happy constant of life- food- regular crunchy munchy food has become a bit of challenge- I've been asked to have only soft food- soup, porridge, khichdi, the likes. And so I veer between cerelac and mashed khichdi and my brain switches between infant and geriatric modes.

The one silver lining in sight is some unintentional weight loss that may occur as a result of this soft diet. Till then, it will be all bark, no bite. For the biatch in me, no respite. Jawly good, I say.

On my playlist

2009-06-26T11:14:00.004+08:00

You can think of this as the filler post when I feel compelled to write but when words do not oblige. So I make do with my most material friend and report on what it plays for me. My top 5 for today:

1. Poker face by Lady Ga-ga: It is an addictive song that enters your mind and refused to be uprooted. My only regret is having watched the video: someone get that girl a stylist who makes her look good or a video director who shoots a better video.

2. Rehna Tu from Delhi-6: The lyrics are a killer and each time I hear this song, I catch myself wondering how a song dedicated to a city can feel like the most appropriate dedication to M. "Kabhi neem neem" from Yuva comes close though it gets a bit coy at times.

3. Maula by Atif Aslam: This is one of my favorite running tracks-gives a whole new meaning to getting to the destination. Something on the lines of U2's "still havent found what I'm looking for". Especially true when the restlessness at not having figured out purpose and lifemap, has not ceased. Credit to Panda for the introduction to the song.

4.Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas: The lyrics are silly but then this is one of the kickass songs that packs in such a punch that you can't help listening to it-the bass creates the same impact as a 'dhol' on your heartbeat.

5. Paper Planes by M.I.A- This is my favorite song on the album. Delivers the right level of angst and recklessness that a life on the street will witness. The dark undertone makes it delectable.

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On a side note- has anyone watched this ridiculously bizarre piece of advertising for Amul Macho or some such chaddi-baniyan brand- it starts with how men are bowing down to women in every situation that was traditionally male dominated (e.g. karvachauth moon viewing, the arranged marriage tea tray scenario, eve teasing in bus, bike ride with brake for sufficient contact...you get the picture, yeah?) and then the pleas of the "abla Indian male" are finally heard and he gets a boon in the form of a banian- that too in a temple no less. Instructions from higher powers are to "stop this nonsense and become macho". The guy dons the banian and takes bold steps towards a gang of girls who are appropriately scantily clad. (Of course, the sheher ki ladki wears a hot red dress to a temple at night, didn't you know?). The swagger inducing banian also enables the guy to make lewd gestures and cause the gang of girls to shriek. Having put them in their place (beside the guy, with apsara like servile gestures), the guy faces the camera and the Voice over tells us " Yeh toh bada TOING hai".

WTF?

Kill me now.

The one year old nest

2009-06-04T12:25:00.005+08:00

Two young birds
Setting up a nest
A space to call ours
For succor and rest

Things aren’t perfect
There are color clashes
And gross mismatches
There’s a chip coming off
And a light that flickers.

There are wires peeking from that corner
I can sense newspapers hiding somewhere
Old junk that’s been hoarded
Hundred keys abandoned with zero care

But then there are memories
In each direction that we turn
Of things old and new
What we bought and earned

The moments we spent on the easy chair,
Give it the comfort that holds you so
And it is the warmth of company
That gives the candles their lovely glow

Masks and paintings and souvenirs
They are but mere props
The lead actors are the inhabitants
Invariably, the drama never stops

The bell chimes a welcome
And familiarity ushers you through the door.
When you enter you feel different,
The harsh spotlight on you, no more

It is then that we realize
it’s not the twigs we collect nor the leaves we store
But the residue of happiness
That gives our nest its real décor,

We may trade this space with another
And our possessions may change too
But our home will always have a perfect view,
Because I will see it with you.

Glimpses of May

2009-05-28T19:30:00.004+08:00

This post took a long time coming- primarily because too many things were happening in life and I chose to live the moments and save the archiving for later. (save the archiving-haha?). So what did we do in May:
a) Hot Wheels-Though the acquisition of a car happened in April itself, the rubber hit the road in full earnest in May. With the set of wheels also came a series of discoveries and realizations. Of how blind we have been the past couple of years to road signs, road names and roads in general. Of how few U-turn signs there really are. Of not knowing where those signs are. Of not knowing that our life's savings could probably go away in parking charges. Of spending 50 mins in a parking lot and becoming more familiar with Basement 1 and Basement 2 than is usually recommended. Of how pleasurable getting dropped to and picked up from work can be. Of how much I now respect emotional decisions such as buying a car when the MRT 50m away from home gets operational. Of how much I now respect irrational decisions such as buying an Audi when it was always the Civic which made more practical sense.
b) The arrival of Logness- My full time household help, similar to the car, arrived in late April but made us feel the full consequence of the arrival only in May. Life's become simpler and better and more comical. Logness (not her real name) is a bit like the Audi- quiet, efficient and calm except for the fact that she has certain quirks. All of them we find just funny right now coz they dont really get in the way of actual performance. She walks real slow and usually focusses her eyes on the ground; She confuses potato and tomato, lauki and mooli and other similar sounding things. She bunches everyone without discrimination, under one common pronoun- She (so if I ask her "what's M doing?" the response is "she is talking on phone", " she went out already" etc.). She also extends this gender non-discrimination policy to our clothes- arranging M's clothes in my cupboard and my clothes in his :P (i'm inclined to ignore this subtle suggestion of cross dressing because M will really not fit into my clothes and for no other reason.) But on the whole, I really like her, not just because she is unassuming and sweet and likes reading , but also because she learns fast and tends not to make the same mistake twice :) May God bless her for being such a blessing to us.

c) Library Lass- On May 11th, I became the member of the National Library here. I kicked myself for not having done so in the last 3.5 yrs I've been here-but then, better late than never :) Now please allow for some gentle boasting of membership features- I can borrow 8 books at a time! (6 for self; 2 for Logness). I can also choose not to borrow silly X box games (plenty of which are there in the library!). I can also borrow magazines and other AV material. And the most thrilling thing is that the library keeps Indian authors- I think this perception of a complete absence of Indian authors at the local library had been my biggest hesitation in becoming a member- but one look at titles and I was sold! Since it's a network, I can borrow from any library and return to any other. I can also renew the titles online. How cool is that? I think I may not buy a book for a long time- also because I'm out of space in my current bookshelf and more importantly, out of space at my home to put another bookshelf.
d) Return of the fitness Nazis- Both M and I have resolved to get fitter and we did so by cancelling our gym membership :) Yeah, a bit of an anti-climax I know-but we realized that we were donating about 300 dollars a month to the gym and since this is not on the list of charities we support, we decided to put that money to better use! The free tough treadmill called the Road- yeah, that's our gym now. Also, I stopped turning up my nose at the gym at which I'm entitled for a free membership, courtesy my kind company. If tis free, tis good.
The burn of calories by running is being supported by a frequent intake of healthy food- we carry lunch+ snacks to office. (snacks here refers to fruits and salads btw). I've got taunts on becoming domesticated and carrying dabba, but I will persist and let my future higher metabolic rate send out a brusque revert.
Some of the dietary regime was also a result of a bone density test at work which showed that I have osteopenia (it sounds worse than it actually is!)- basically people with this have low bone density and are more prone to suffering from osteosporosis in future. Exercise and food rich in calcium such as bananas, milk, yoghurt etc help. As do calcium supplements. So nett, if I don't take care of my bones and the rest of my body, the ride ahead could get tough and tortuous.

On that solemn note, I shall go consume some banana milkshake and check out Sony's hyped new line up of shows. So long.

Munich Mayhem

2009-05-07T16:27:00.000+08:00

22nd Sept 2007

We took the train from Salzburg and reached Munich in 2 hours. The small world principle was amply proved when we realized that though our hosts were strangers, we had 6 common friends- one of whom had been kind enough to put us through to P&N, when he got to know that we could not get any vacany in any hostel, courtesy Oktoberfest!

So after 10 days of staying in hostels and amongst strangers, being "home" was just sheer bliss. Hot shower. Ample space. Gracious hosts. Indian food that tasted Indian and good. Being able to leave our passports behind. I don't think I can thank P&N enough.

So well, we were in Munich and it was that time of the year. What else could we do? We headed to Marienplatz (city centre) and then to Goetheplatz.

And what a crowd!! The first weekend of the Oktoberfest is typically the busiest (we were told that the Italians come during the next week and in those days, Munich becomes little Italy). The The sight of hordes of families & friends in their traditional attire reminded me, strangely enough, of Navaratri!Felt like donning a dundl myself!

Oktoberfest used to be in the 1st week of Oct, but due to better weather, it was shifted to September. Resistance to change ensured that the name stuck.

Now the important thing about Oktoberfest is that you need to book a space in those Beer tents in advance. It costs a good amount of money. It's not something silly backpackers like us do. What we do is to rely on our good fortune and sheer impudence (or charm if you like!). We entered a tent through the staff entrance, quietly strutting our stuff, not realizing what we were doing. It was only after we were in, that we happened to look outside the main entrance and saw this huge crowd waiting to get inside...through the legitimate entrance!

Now the more important thing about Oktoberfest is that those golden litres of beer are served only to folks who have tables (I did tell you about tables needing to get booked in advance). So what this meant is that the waiters didn't spare us even a dirty glance because we did not have a table. Now observing the song and dance and drunken reverly is all very nice but being the only persons without a drink in their hands is not very nice. What will you tell your grandchildren- I went to Oktoberfest but got not a drop of beer down my throat??

G took it upon her self to salvage our fate by coyly asking a bunch of Italian guys to buy us a beer. What we got was 1 whole litre of beer!! Now this is potent stuff- not like the flimsy stuff that you have on a hot Saturday afternoon. G promptly got tully and since I hate beer, I was content with 2-3 sips.

What amazed me was how the waiters carried out about 8 glasses of beer (remember- 1 l each) in each hand!! Some seriously strong wrists, those!!

We made an exit after we got tired of looking at drunk people and inhaling smoke. Dinner, Church visit, Teddy bear museum and Starbucks followed. After that exhausting day- we spent some quality time with N watching bad TV- the panacea for long days. We watched Big Brother till about 12.30 am- I love the creators of these hilarious and badly made shows. They make a wonderful difference to our lives. No?

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Traveller's Tip #1: If you want to have some serious fun at Oktoberfest, book in advance and go with loads of friends.

Traveller's Tip #2- Gets seriously crowded. So be prepared and stay safe.

Traveller's Tip#3- Buy some pretzels and mixed nuts. Yummy. Also buy the souvenier shirts and mugs. Worth it.

Cheer Up Time

2009-05-06T22:08:00.002+08:00

This is from the glow worm caves at Lake Te Anau:
I wish I were a glow worm.
A glow worm's never glum.
It's tough to be gloomy,
When the sun shines outta your bum.
:)

The discontent in settling down

2009-04-27T12:45:00.000+08:00

Gypsies and nomads lead charming lives. They do not bother with cash flows and assets. Hoarding is not a hassle. Gypsies and nomads also have no fixed address. A caravan to guide and a spirit to explore.

I look at our nest- bustling with newly acquired possessions of entertainment and mobility. I stare at sufficiency but do not find contentment. Do I need more to live more?

I do not shun responsibility. Nor do I want to flee the material mortal world for some silent meditation in the hills. I would not be able to life the ascetic life. Yet, I find myself brooding over this consumption led lifestyle which clips many other bohemian options in the bud. Again, the survival of an option is quite unrelated to that option being exercised.

I can't quit at the drop of a hat. I can't call myself fancy free. I can't live on love and fresh air.

I certainly come nowhere close to a gypsy.

Wish being hedonistic did not come at the cost of abandonment of all romantic notions.

The first First.

2009-04-26T12:43:00.000+08:00

It's been 12 months since we signed on the dotted line and got the law to recognize and register our relationship. The official anniversay is in June-yet, this day too deserves to be celebrated in its own right.
This day has three themes:
1. A bit of introspection and self-congratulation.....
"Looks like we made it. Look how far we've come my babe.
Glad we didn't listen. Look at what we would be missing."
2. Some appreciation and mush......
"You're a part time lover and a full time friend.
The monkey on your back is the latest trend.
I don't see what anyone can see in anyone else, but you."
3. A stream of dreamy wishes for the journey of life......
"Safar yeh khatam na ho. Rahein yeh kabhi kam na ho.
Miley ya na miley manzil. Bichchade ka gham na ho.
Guzar na jaaye yeh khwaab sa safar."

Happy first First to us.

So who wants to know when I'm going to be a Mommy?

2009-04-08T21:34:00.008+08:00

Until last year, the question that haunted me in social gatherings concerned the timing of my wedding vows. After the wedding, the most repeated and less irritating question involved the state of my married life and how this was different versus being single. And now, when people presume that we've settled into happy domesticity, the most FAQ is "so when are you going to have a baby?".

There are multiple insulting ways in which I could answer the question:

a) Probably never

b) None of your frickin' business

c) Before I turn 30

d) I don't know because I don't feel ready yet.

e) I already have a boy to manage and I'm waiting for him to grow up.

f) I want some more time with M and we don't want anyone else to respond to our call of "baby?" just yet.

g) If you are clamoring for one, what's stopping you from popping out one?

h) When I know a little more about expecting/parenting etc.

i) When we are done travelling to the destinations we've planned for this year.

j) When we feel the need to expand our family.

Depending on how I'm feeling on that particular day, any of the above responses is applicable.

I do not know whether people who ask me this realize that this is not like asking what time it is or how my weekend was. I'm not even sure that they understand that this is not a one-time activity like going to the movie or buying a bigger TV- it's a voluntary life change of gargantuan proportions AND something totally personal. It is not a frivolous piece in the jigsaw of polite conversation.

Some insist the question is light-hearted and in good humour. Sorry. The decision is big because it is a lifetime commitment and I can not pretend to answer it in a lighter vein. You better practise your conversation skills a little more than expect me to answer something that does not concen you in any way.

What's more I see no logical reason in sharing the timing of this decision with all and sundry. The question has nothing to do with them too- it's not like they can contribute in any way nor will my answer will change their life's purpose in any way. What good would it do to anyone to know if and when I'm planning to reproduce???

Of course the exceptions to the above are family and friends, who I would expect to help/advise/annoy by advising- but then being family and friends, they would have probably had the above responses thrown at them one time or the other.

This is not to say that I don't want a child or I'm a perpetual party animal who can't bear to be responsible! I know the concept of a biological clock. I do want to be a parent someday if only to exercise my parent ego, dress 'em up in lil booties or to be fascinated with how their mind works. I have not yet discovered that I'm incapable of either biologically producing a child or legally adopting one. I admit I am scared of labour pain and about not knowing anything about raising a child. I also get those whiffs of self doubt on whether I will be old and energy less when my kid grows up. But I do not feel pressured by other friends turning mommies and I certainly don't feel it's a race and I'm getting left behind.

What I do not understand is the motivation behind the question about me becoming a mother!

Actually, in my case, it doesn't stop at being a question- given the strain in the relations with my dad, it extends into a freindly suggestion- 'Get a baby and things will be all right'. I lose all sense of peace when I hear these supposedly well meaning sound bytes from people at work or elsewhere. I think I will lose all respect for myself if I bring another life into this world hoping for it to act as a patch-up device. Surely, he/she needs a stronger reason for existence?

When I choose to have a baby, I think it will be obvious-there are only so many days that I can hide the bump. Until then, I will drink, travel and make merry and oh yes, reserve the best glares for those who persist in prying on this topic.

Phew. Had forgotten how good it felt to vent out on this space.

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And while doing this post, I also realized that this is the 100th post :) Hurrah for me and for those who grace this place with their visits. Keep reading and inspiring me to write. Cheers!

The Missus misses

2009-03-30T22:48:00.004+08:00

I'm missing the wet towel on the chair.

There isn't anyone screaming out my name 10 times and bug the hell out of me.

The guitar isn't losing its chord nor am I losing my mind.

There's still juice in the fridge.

But neither coffee nor cheer at home.

I've put on the TV so the silence won't gobble me up.

You've made living alone so very un-cool.

Now that you are away, I'm living with myself.

I'd rather get my roomie back than be a better person.

Come back you messy monster of mush.

I'm missing you loads. More than I care to admit.

Besides I haven't said "chup kar" to anyone in 3 days!

Come back. Before I lose my nasty ways.

Ears on Strike part II

2009-03-14T22:27:00.003+08:00

One of the fallouts of staying away from India is that you don't really get all those song snippets or movie trailers which show you what a song is about. Not neccessarily a bad thing but since you can't believe what you can't see, you just tend to believe what you hear.

Have you heard the song " Masakali"? We listened to it quite regularly on our drives in NZ and loved Mr. smooth-voice Chauhan's vocals. The song's lyrics were somewhat of a mystery to me and it bugged me that I could not find a satisfactory reply to M's persistent " what does masakali" mean. I feebly suggested 'type of a flower (bud)' but I think he knows enough Hindi to know I was bluffing. But that wasn't the only mysterious part of the lyrics. I deciphered the rest of the lyrics as:

" Aye masakali masakali. Thoda matakali matakali.

Zara BUM ko jhatak. Gayi dhool atak..."

(I did ask myself how in the world someone could catch dust on their behind-but then in the bold new world of Mehra/Kashyap cinema and the Joshi lyrics factory, the possibilities seemed immense. Maybe this was their way of saying 'don't sit on your arse- get moving'.) Also, I knew the song was good enough to be filmed on the lead, Sonam Kapoor- so I imagined a fair bit of jhatkas associated with the visualization and suspended any further analysis.

Imagine my shock when I learnt that the song was about a pigeon called Masakali- I found it quite difficult to wrap my liberal poetic-license bestowing mind around the concept of a song that asked a pigeon to first shake and then dust its poor butt. What cheek. (pun unintended)

And then at Bangalore airport, while browsing through books and music cd's, I chance upon the very attractively packaged cd of Delhi-6, which features notes from the lyricst and the lyrics too. Needless to say, I hurriedly flip to the Masakali page only to see the following as the actual lyrics:

" Aye masakali masakali. Thoda matakali matakali.
Zara PANKH jhatak. Gayi dhool atak..."

...........(laughter)...........(very loud laughter).......(stares from fellow passengers)....(sheepish exit)

M, on learning of my discovery was quite amused. Admittedly, I feel this slight dent on my hitherto undisputed authority on Hindi songs and lyrics in our household. Well, whaddya know-Hindi lyrics sites just got a new reader.

25 Random Things

2009-03-11T23:18:00.003+08:00

25 Random things about me

(this is a tag I got on Facebook and from Goofy Mumma, Anu and others- most of my friends have already done this coz this was circulating a while back. If they haven't done it yet, I'm assuming it's coz they didn't feel upto it or had done a similar "quirks" tag earlier. Feel free to take it up)
1. For the longest time ever, I was really touchy about my height. To make myself feel better, I’d compiled a list of short people who were successful- Napoleon, Rachel Reuben, Sachin Tendulkar are names I remember from that list. It's ironic that most of my bosses have been really tall people! Life!
2. I loved watching Remington Steele. Pierce Brosnan was irresistible.
3. Your are likely to find more Hindi film songs on my playlist than English music. I can relate better to the lyrics and it doesn’t sound funny when I sing it in my natural accent.
4. I learnt classical music (hindustani) and dance (bharatnatyam) when I was a kid. I regret not pursuing these arts further.
5. I am intensely loyal to my friends and family-if you opt to criticize them in front of me, do so at your own risk.
6. I admire people who can do cart wheels.
7. I would rather be an Archeologist and spend my time discovering more about Mohenjodaro and Harappa, not only because I like the sound of these names.
8. I love watching movies. I love watching “Behind the scenes” specials even more. Especially the ones in which director, script-writers, cinematographers etc. are seen discussing story boards or camera angles or dialogues or lighting or costumes. I dream of directing a movie some day.
9. My mind works in pictures, which is why I love reading books so much. Each book is a new story waiting to be cast and played in the cinema of my mind.
10. I hate discussing intimate stuff with people at work. It just feels wrong and weird.Especially given that my mind has this visual bent.

11. I can’t bear to watch horror movies. I found “ Bhoot “ scary. I also hate the idea of kids being in horror movies. That too feels really wrong. There was this crappy movie called Darna Zaroori Hai or something and they showed kids with their eyes gouged out- I could not sleep that night.
12. I love the sound of bamboo wind chimes. Metallic ones don’t work for me.
13. I hate polite conversations and politically correct individuals.
14. My face has recruited an army of errant muscles that are not in my control and give away my true feelings. My face goes red when I am angry or embarrassed. Frowns automatically appear when I think someone’s not worth my time or is largely fully of crap. Needless to say, this has led to “situations” at work.
15. I usually don’t drink aerated drinks, unless it’s Mountain Dew. Ironically enough, my first job was at Pepsi. I preferred Thums Up when in college but drank only Pepsi products while working there. (I did mention loyalty somewhere, right?)
16. I prefer prose to poetry. I like limericks but don’t think those count.
17. Will choose brain over brawn. Especially if the brainy one plays the guitar :P
18. I love earrings and if my earrings are either missing or not co-ordinated with my clothes, I’m either feeling unwell or am deeply depressed.
19. I loved collecting shells and mica, when I was young. I found mica only in Nagpur. I have not found shells in Nagpur :)
20. My favorite line from Pride and Prejudice is “Mr. Darcy proposed! I scarce believe it.” (when I said random things- I meant it :))
21. I would like to write a book, open a restaurant and start my own business (in addition to the restaurant)- I do hope I find time, money and inclination to do all of these things.
22. Most of my wardrobe consisted of blue when I was in my teens. It took birthday presents and severe coaxing to make me wear anything that was not blue.
23. I have been called a stubborn mule. I think it was meant out of affection. :P
24. I don’t like people who brag and steal others’ thunder. I’d rather they take a dip in the drain or go suck an egg. (DT- owe you for this phrase :))
25. I hate making resumes and writing appraisal forms. I would rather stick to one job than make my CV again and I’d rather do my job than talk about what I did.

Leave of Absence

2009-03-09T22:53:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I visited this space. Allow me some time to dust away the cobwebs, open the windows and let the musty smell out.

I see that you missed me. Plenty happened in the past 6 weeks or so that I've been away and there must be reaps of pages that deserve to be devoted to stories that deserve to be told. As for most things in life, sequence is of no and every essence. NZ will pour in the posts that follow. My experiences in India shall come alive. Tales of house hunting and home finding will unfold. And this space will look inhabited once more.

But tarry a little. Dusting takes some time. I'm allergic to dust.

As for the leave of absence, I humbly beg you to consider my case and now, humbly I must take your leave.I shall return and yes, you could thank me for the warning.

Main Chali

2009-01-23T16:50:00.003+08:00

This would only make sense if you know the old Hindi movie song "Main chali, main chali". Actually even then, it won't really :)
Me:
Main Chali
En- zee
Mujhe roke na koi
For the life changing bungee
Main chali Main chali
Evil me:
La-la-la my desi cow
Sheep mein kho na jaana tum wahan
And as you think of bungee,
Apni 'aux' ka rakhna dhyaan

I'm off for 14 days. Thanks to Flooey, I might even blog from NZ. Take care, you guys.

Scenes from Salzburg

2009-01-20T07:56:00.000+08:00

20th/21st September 2007

Our hostel defied expectations (which incidentally were a rung above rock bottom after the Innsbruck fiasco)- it was really nicely done up- warm and cosy, with good furniture and service to match. Since we just had a day in Salzburg, we decided to make the most of it. (this sounds nice and amicable but it took an adamant G to dissuade me against the Sound of Music tour. Thank god for her adamance-or we would have spent 5 hrs with the commercial and touristy busload of old people.)
As luck would have it, we shared our room with an Austrian girl from Innsbruck, who happened to work at the same campsite (Kranebitten) that had given us the crappy caravan. And though we did not mean to- we ended up whining and giving feedback! If you go there and no longer see the dusty small caravan- you know who to thank. Yes- I'd like to believe that some people do take feedback seriously.

The morning breakfast was like a visit to the Chak de India sets- there were some sports teams staying at the hostel who'd descended to the breakfast area for their dose of energy at 7 am. It was fun seeing girls twice my size pick up 3 glasses of milk with 6 slices of cheese and a mountain of sunflower bread. The soundtrack of Chak De played in my mind as did the thought that I looked like a midget amongst giants.

We'd decided to start the day with a trip to Salzkammergut, the lake district of Salzburg, which in hindsight deserves a dedicated holiday.The 1 hour journey to St Gilgen, the lake, was beautiful-it was as though a new set of picture postcards was unravelling right in front of our eyes. Lush green valleys separated by a pristine blue. A patch of white and black in the form of cows. Nature glowing with pride under the watchful eye of the pleased sun.

The lake was more beautiful than anything I'd seen before. The kind of place where you could lose yourself and the track of time. Apparently, we did- we missed our bus back to Salzburg (it's an hourly service) and that led us to explore the place. We chanced upon a restaurant that was right in front of a chapel where a wedding celebration was on in full swing! The ambience was merry enough to be enjoyed better- with awesome ravioli and strudel. In my mind's album, these are the memories that will never come unstuck, because they get created without prior design and yet, are so perfect.

Mirabell Gardens, the next destination on our itinerary, was a beautiful park (a picture of which you also see in the header of the blog). It was charming, unhurried and just the relaxing spot you'd need on a sunny, gorgeous day. Only we had to hurry through it to reach Untersbergen on time. This was a cable car ascent to 1853m, to the summit that offered a magnificent view. We saw the snow covered Alps!!

It was here that we met this retired Canadian physician who was on a bike tour with his friends. They'd done about 1000 km and by the looks of it, had the stamina for another 1000! If ever I need to define zest, I know what to use as an example.

Spent the afternoon doing some touristy things, like buying the Mozart chocolates and doing the Salzach cruise. The hightlight of the cruise was the Mozart waltz, where they actually make the boat spin and turn to the rhythm of Mozart's music :)
In the evening, we walked through the carnival (their version of the Oktoberfest apparently!), on our way to the fortress which can reached by the cable railway. The fortress dates back to the middle ages and is currently used as a concert venue etc. We used it to soak in the magnificent view of the city. The bright lights of the carnival; the sun setting in the backdrop of the Salzach river and the old city stretching out, calling it a day.

Came back to the hostel around 9 pm and after a hot shower, went straight down to the video room where they screen The Sound of Music every night! :) I've watched the movie a hundred times, but that night in Salzburg, after the day of lakes, dales and mountains, Maria and the hills did come alive. The notes of Salzburg were pitch perfect.
Traveller's Tip #1- Free and Easy rocks. Do not fall for the tours, please! You'll waste more than the 30 odd Euros that each tour costs.

Traveller's Tip#2- Try the food at Indigo- it's right near the bus stop for the fortress and serves great fusion food with loads of veg options. The curry I had, tasted strangely Maharashtrian :P

Introducing Flooey

2009-01-19T06:49:00.001+08:00

Flooey- apparently, is my (really early) birthday gift. Truth be told, she belongs to both of us (I say this only to keep the possibility of other gifts alive till April).

She is a Lenovo S-10 idea pad/ net book/a really small laptop that looks extremely cool. I realize the above photo does not do justice to her.

She is a charming white and weighs less than the books I read.

She is also responsive, unlike the work monster that takes 20 mins to boot and 5 mins to minimize a window.

She will also help me blog more often. (I'm not sure just how many would think that's a good feature..but oh well.)

I was earlier reluctant. Now I'm just proud. The transition was rather easy.

(If only I could think of kids in the same way..!!)

Shades and Patterns of Love

2009-01-17T12:18:00.007+08:00

The deep blue of shared possibilities.

The beige of space in togetherness.

The orange of intimacy.

The crimson of petty fights.

The mustard of predictable routine.

The purple of unexpected touch.

The sandy white of that sleepy morning cuddle.

The grey of unmindful neglect.

The sepia of memories created with you.

The green of contentment.

The turquoise of a surprise gift.

The peach of willing adjustment.

The rusty brown of possessiveness.

The deep red that stokes passion.

The yellow of knowing what makes you happy.

The black that spells commitment.

The pink that gives a naughty nudge.

The burgundy of wanderlust.

The fluffy white of cushioned truths.

The silver and gold of vows.

The transclucent film of secrets.

The stripes of real fidelity.

The criss-cross of doubts and reservations.

The small circles of near surrender.

The shadow of vulnerability.

The metallic finish of need.

The damp touch of loneliness.

The satin smooth of being in your arms.

Sometimes vacuum.

Sometimes eternity.

The heady feeling

that tends to infinity.

Innsbruck Times

2009-01-16T06:00:00.002+08:00

(Sept 19th & 20th, 2007)

And so we arrived in Innsbruck with the clean mountain air gladly filling our nostrils. Our hands and legs were glad too with the unexpected bonus of escalators and well maintained facilities.

We dutifully took public transport to our campsite- which looked beautiful. Sadly, our caravan was not. I have no clue what we did wrong-but we got the ugliest and dirtiest caravan that they had on offer. Dirtcheap could be a very apt name- what we paid and what we got.

Anyhow, we were in a mood to let it go and visit the city centre to get some grub. The food was amazing- the concept of vegetarianism was not alien to this city and I gorged on a delightful salad and mixed veg rice. A for awesome.

A very heady and convenient calculation showed me that this was yet another place where the cost of wine was equal to that of coffee and that of water :) Sigh.

We went to the Golden roof and the Haustbopf palace- basically explored the city centre, which, much to our horror, shut down at 6 pm! The town officially shuts down by 6.30 pm. I think the only establishments open were some restaurants, pubs and Mcdonalds! Since we had nothing better to do, we thought we'd surf the internet- but there were no internet cafes around! Our best bet was this pub that let us use the internet for 20 cents a minute. The surfing plans were abandoned in favor of dipping toes and scooting to a mall that showed some sign of life.

We went to a bar called Habana, that served great Chardonnay and had sufficient eye-candy for two bored girls. We rounded off our "evening out" with Apple Strudel. My tastebuds can still recall that divine creamy cinnamon. Yum.

Dirtcheap appeared even smaller by nightfall and though it was cramped for me, G and the bedbugs, we did manage to get some sleep. Actually a lot of sleep, because we woke up at 8 am! And the view outside was breathtaking!! This was right behind our caravan :) I think that's what they mean by saying 'look at the bigger picture'.

We checkout of the campsite and headed straight to the station, where we deposited our luggage and had a hot breakfast. This was the second big splurge day of the trip after the Venice mask+pendant day. We went to Swarovski Crystal world where I ended up buying a lot of what else, crystal! I think I ought to be a little more eloquent here- this was no jewellery showroom-it's more a combination of crystal theme park and a family's lasting way of showing off their wealth & expertise. I'll let the pictures talk more.

Though Innsbruck is a very popular ski destination, we went during summer, so that aspect of the town remained hidden. It's safe, clean, has great food and we really enjoyed our time there. All except this rather unfortunate time, when I got locked out at the station loo- Damn, that was scary! Is there some unstated understanding between those loo designers that no country shall have identical systems for locking/ unlocking, flushing and tap water? Also, instructions in local language don't really help when you think you will grow old in that tiny cubicle that flushes in some places, on the left or on the right, through a push or pull in others and in yet others, through a food pedal! Indian public toilets, esp at railway stations are quite simple in this respect- they stink so much, you'd never enter one so getting locked in one is quite out of the question. But coming back to the minor adventure- I did finally get rescued when I managed to turn the knob the wrong way. I got the tap all figured out in 2 secs though and made a dash to the exit in another 5, before all those Austrian aunties let out hearty laughs.

Our next stop was Salzburg which is about an hour away from Innsbruck, and deserves a separate post :)

Venezia & The Tourist

2009-01-15T05:00:00.001+08:00

( Sept 18, 2007)

This was almost the only day during this trip, we got into the typical tourist trap- you go to Amex to casually change TC's. While waiting, you rest your gaze upon these wondrous posters on the wall that inform you of the glorious wonders that are, but a short distance away. By now, you also notice other tourists walking in and enquiring about the tour and then booking it. A quick memory check reveals that you have heard of these places before and since you don't want to miss out on going to a place worth going to, you now officially belong to the queue of tourists paying a good sum of money to be ferried to these islands.

That is how G and I came to see the sister islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Each of them has its speciality- Glass, Lace and Quiet Solitude, respectively. Only the last is being beautiful without being exorbitant! The mandatory tours around the islands, be it the demo on Murano glass making or a tour around the lace workshop at Burano, involve a visit to the souvenier shops. Word of advice- please do not buy here unless you have noble objective that is not rational. Do take a lot of pictures- the colorful houses make for very nice subjects. Burano is also famous for its cookies-Again, not very cheap, but good enough.

I did buy a couple of Murano glass pendants but those were from Venice itself- expensive but so darn pretty. Hold it up against the light and you'll see beautiful patterns doing a joy dance. I guess my rational side decides to make an appearance only for things that I don't really care about- lace table mats being one.

This day was also marked by barely tolerable food. Really, for the number of tourist that throng Venice, you'd think this would be the food capital of Italy- but nothing could be further from the truth. To compensate for the lack of quality food, we turned to the other essential- Drink! Had Bellini in our little caravan, packed and then braved the breezy cold with Hindi songs and a walk around the campsite. And thus ended our stay in Venice.

The journey from Venice to Innsbruck wasn't as straightforward as we'd expected. Bus from campsite to Mestre (the main train station) and then a train to Verona. And then a train from Verona to Innsbruck. But well worth it!
Innsbruck was a treat for sore senses- clean, safe and with a view of the Alps as you get out of the station :) More on that in the next post.

Clouds are no longer grey

2009-01-14T09:42:00.000+08:00

Apology is due.

I took off the last post and along with it, went the comments that spelt concern. There are a couple of reasons why I deleted it- well, for starters, it was just too damn negative and that goes by and large against the spirit of the blog- I definitely won't like to read this five years down the line and there's a fat chance that I'd get misty eyed about getting so neurotic.

The cyber life offers an 'undo' option and I'd have been a fool to ignore it.

It's only too clear that a horrid post like that could have impacted my friends enough for even innocent status messages to appear sinister. To be fair, my status message on gtalk reads: (Ready to face my worst fear in 2 weeks). Since it was so close on the heels to the whole post and the randomness in my behavior, I did get some very anxious queries on what the hell the matter was. So that's the second reason- I do not want to worry people who matter to me, especially since I got over the whiney mood after a mere 12 hrs of posting and subsequent deletion.

Incidentally, if you are wondering, the worst fear bit alludes to Bungee jumping which I shall force myself to do in NZ! It's my worst fear and well, action cures fear or so I've read. Time to test the theory- even if I sacrifice myself in the process!! :P

The grey clouds have parted and the silver lining is that I finally got down to putting together my list of "30 Before 30" (things to do before I turn 30). Even if it lacks the grand vision of life, it does give me a sense of purpose and hey, who doesnt like ticking things off their To-do list? That these are things that I will do to make self happy just doubles the joy of the tick mark :)

What are those 30 things? As policy that governs these lists dictates, I shall act first and gloat later. So if you hear me talk about weird stuff that I'm about to do, there's a high chance that it's because it's on the list. Or it could just be me being crazy!
You take care too.

Beckoning 2009

2009-01-01T17:13:00.001+08:00

Moments of introspection. Crib-free hours.
Work that doesn’t just pay the bills.
New Things. New People. Old Friends.
Days that are ordinary,,and yet fulfilling.
Enchanting vacations and Cheap Thrills.
Happiness and joy that is not always selfish.
Music and dance. Thoughts that waltz.
Warm smiles and genuine affection
Getting closer to being the person you want to be.
Going back to being the person you were.
Exploration and Adventure.
Experiences that are not captured on camera.
Time for yourself out of the calendar and inbox
Hot chocolate Fudge induced inspiration.
Walks on the beach and at times, on cloud #9
Cups of hot coffee and interesting conversations.
Hog-athons and marathons. Prayers and Peace.
Here’s wishing you a wonderful 2009.

For Hire

2008-12-17T01:00:00.000+08:00

....in a small town in Madhya Pradesh are two of the world's most recognizable cartoon characters :) Along with sundry other party supplies.
The Nonchalant Evidence

(Raj Orchestra & DJ- Stage decoration, security guard, mickey and donald are available for hire)

I don't know about you, but I find the lady in the sunglasses, doing some form of "chale chalo" type exercise most distracting and irrelevant.

Of course the vision of some poor guys in vague furry costumes dancing to a shrill orchestra singing 'beedi jalayee le' could also be filed under 'disturbing entertainment'. I'm still trying to fathom why the security guard would mention on that board. I mean yes, I get that his services are available-but why exactly? To control drunken brawls or to ensure that in lieu of the actuals, no one takes Mickey Singh and Donald Kumar home?

Crack in the Connection

2008-12-16T01:00:00.000+08:00

I’ve loved most animation movies that Pixar and Disney produced for us. The ilk of Finding Nemo, Ice Age (all parts), Shrek, The Lion King, Shark Tale, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, and Ratatouille has always meant more to me than all the Bonds and Joneses put together.
Most of these stories have simple (but not simplistic!) plots with very identifiable characters and great animation. But what makes them really sparkle is the human insight these capture perfectly and effortlessly- be it a father’s endless paranoia about his son; a parent's desperation to be admired by their kids; a kid’s ardent desire to do something different from those around him; the resistance to change; giving a second chance to someone you think is the villain or the eternal dilemma of understanding what success is all about-all these stories connect with us because besides being based on universal themes, they are rooted in thoughts and ideas of real people. That the film makers beautifully weave these into dramatic storylines, magnificent landscapes and likeable characters is an added bonus.
Or so I thought.
The past few weeks have thrown at me animation movies that were ostensibly appealing in the trailers but have turned out to be anything but. I’ve sat through Madagascar 2 and Bolt in the last month and am now even hesitant to say I’m looking forward to Ice Age 3.

When did animation movies become so formulaic and soul-less? When did the special effects guy supersede the script writer? You could almost imagine the check-box approach that these movies & their makers took:
- Goofy but heart of gold character: Check
- Some witty punchlines based on current affairs: Check
- Some cool celebrity voice dubs : Check
- Unlikely characters becoming friends: Check
- One song with populist potential: Check
- Panoramic nature shots: Check
- Journey that leads to self-discovery: Check
- Heart and Soul: With so many checks, this one can be ignored.
- Emotional Connection: What’s that?

There are many things that you can learn to do very effectivly though a manual- there are still others that you can make more efficient through a template. An animation movie is not one of those!
Pixar and Disney- Please do not mix and match modules from what’s worked in the past. Individually beautiful pieces do not a harmonious whole, make! Indulge not in a shallow make-over of old characters and a less than clever rehash of situations. A stale story delivers a still born movie. Infuse fresh breath-Keep the connection raw and alive! It's simple- Tug at the heart and you wont need to tug at the purse strings.
Ice Age 3 will be watched, yes but by a pair of very skeptical eyes.

Waded in the Sea of Blue

2008-12-15T01:00:00.000+08:00

On 7th Dec,2008, M and I completed 10 km in 67 mins and 74 mins respectively. But since this is my blog, guess who the exclusive bragging rights went to?

The 2008 StanChart Singapore Marathon was hugely inspiring. For there were 7700 women who ran 10 km and the person writing this was a part of that statistic. In total, 47000 people participated and hopefully completed the race in different categories- 10 km was the "fun run", in case you took the part about me bragging seriously. The winner completed the race in a little more than 2 hrs. Yes, that's right- there are human beings who are capable of running 42 km in that time.

I loved the way the event was so well organized- there were very visible and very accurate signs leading to the venue. There were sufficient baggage counters and a 5 seconds waiting time. There were enough and more volunteers to help, in case you suffered from the disease of being able to ignore very visible and very accurate signs. There were plenty of mobile toilets, drinks stations and first aid counters. There was also total respect for order and punctuality.

You can tell by that glowing paragraph that I will run again next year- to wade in the sea of blue yet again. In 2009, I will train better and make an effor to conquer 21 kms. My target is 2 hrs. And my middle name just became determination.

(that sounded better in my head-oh, whatever)

And I got an award

2008-12-14T21:54:00.000+08:00

Compliments in the real world challenge me a bit for I really have not been trained very well in receiving them with grace and good humour. A response becomes either an investigation into the person's motives or vehement disagreement with what he/she said. Please note, this is mostly in a work context. With friends and family, I am more often than not, a petty beggar who fishes for compliments quite blatantly.

With online awards, I haven't had much experience purely because I have not received any. Ahem, save the pity and stock up on the applause- Quack Rites aka Goofy Mumma has bestowed on me, my first blogger award....which tells me my blog is cool.
I'm conveniently ignoring the fact that it is called a Butterfly award (*gulp*). I am most definitely not a social butterfly, nor is there stark evidence of me having emerged all glamorous after a sojoun in a warm cocooon- at this point, I shall suspend logic the same way as I do when I watch Heroes. Since I'm not sure what category this truly represents, I will pass this on to some blogs which are pleasant and add color to my life. Yeah. Kinda.

(This was the urge to find similarities with a butterfly, playing out. It's now retired hurt. It definitely hurt my readership prospects.)
3 Cool Blogs I enjoy reading. Read their posts and discover your own reasons for liking them.
1. Jabberwock- Such unbridled wit and humour. Also preciously good writing.
2. Bohemian Rhapsody-She's unpretentious, balanced and funny. Very refreshing read.
3. Living on a Jet Plane- His sarcasm rocks and he writes in this quasi-Wodehouse style with Indian sensibilities that makes it essential reading.

The tag does need a mention of 10 blogs and some other rules. I'm sticking to 3. I'm in that kind of a mood today.

I might as well admit it....

2008-11-25T22:41:00.002+08:00

....I'm addicted to:

a) Makeover shows: I watch Style by Jury- have watched Oprah episodes on free makeovers. Heck I even loved movies with a makeover theme or even a makeover scene (Pretty Woman, OSO, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (yeah!), Chaalbaaz (ok, maybe this doesnt strictly fall in this category-but we'll just extend the addiction to make'unders'- Remember, Rohiti Hattangady?), Taal etc. My 2 second pop psycho-analysis tells me that this could be because a) I'm in need of a makeover b) I love magical results without too much stress and hard work, c) Appearance can transform a person and d) just. I'd go with option d). Anyone who thought I'd choose a) doesnt really know egoistic me.

b) Audition rounds of reality shows: It's serious business, this. India seems to be the land of a billion talented people and also the land of a milllion TV channels just falling over themselves to bring this talented mass to the fore through the means of a 1000 odd reality shows. Sing, dance, act, stand on your nose, fart the loudest, have an attitude, - the term talent is loosely defined and the reality is rather un-quietly stage managed. I have come to hate these talent shows that ultimately provide a platform only for out-of-work and hence-on-your-screen judges and publicity hungry film folks who troop in to promote a release and mouth gems such as "two of you all were mind blowing", " you are a good package" etc. But what I don't ever miss are the auditions of these reality shows-Roadies, Indian Idol, American Idol and Saregamapa-you name it and I would have most likely made an effort to catch the auditions. Such precious eye-opening lessons in understanding human behaviour!- Move aside quantitative studies- one episode of Roadies Auditions is enough to make me aware of how people think, feel, react and interact. Even the most moronic episodes are revealing, if not entertaining. So take my advice, skip the shows- watch the auditions.

c) My 'satin'- Faithful companion of countless years, my security blanket, unlike me, is ageing well. No matter how rough my day or how terrible my mood, I just pull it over my head and it soothes my nerves and keeps the cruel world (exclusive of M) at bay. Laugh not, I can manage sleep without it (now), only I don't want to.

d) Pickles- I love pickles and have at least 4-5 jars at my place at any given point in time. Different flavors of course! As a consequence of this addiction, I end up spending the maximum time in Mustafa's Pickles section that has a mouth-watering, slurp-inducing array of pickles.

e) My lull-to-sleep playlist-I love music and on most nights, just before I go to sleep, I play an assortment of songs that are high on melody and low on beats. Currently the playlist comprises- a)"Vellai Pookal" from Kannathil Mutthamital-filled me with hope and peace, even when I didnt know the meaning of the lyrics. b) Chanda Re from Eklavya- it's meant to be a lullaby :) c) O Saathi Re from Omkara- because you can touch the notes of love in the tune and the lyrics d) Scarborough Fair & Bridge over Troubled Waters by Simon & Garfunkel- For lyrics that include "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and for tunes that refuse to leave me. e) O Re Pakhi from Khoya Khoya Chaand and f) Raat Hamari Toh from Parineeta-To me, these just appear at their best at night.

I was tagged to do this by Goofy Mumma when Lehman was still around, when recession was a word long forgotten and when the media debate was about Obama and Clinton- yeah, the good ol' days when consumer sentiment, the stock market indices and credit ratings were up.

*********************************************************************

And since I have not provided any running updates for a long time, here goes:

3 Running attempts in 2 weeks (India): Delhi and Chennai runs were eventful only because I was chased by dogs in the park and on the beach. Very haha not. To ensure I dont tempt fate and dogs in central India, I ran in the gym in Bhopal.

2 runs on the road (yes, I've migrated from the track) with M (make that run behind M!)- 4 km on Monday and 5.5 km today-all in about 30-35 mins. All the coolness will get challenged day after when the goal is to touch 7 km. Till then, adios.

Ears on Strike

2008-11-16T22:25:00.004+08:00

Sleep deficit was a rather inevitable consequence of a hectic fun and work (notice how the two get separate mentions-the conjunction is deliberate) filled week in India. Loads of experiences to be recounted but that's for later, when I'm back home. (hopefully, it should bear a semblance of home, given that M is managing things on his own.)

For the moment, I leave you with this:

ASR and I were being given a free ride to the outskirts of Bengaluru by a company executive who had volunteered to take us there, when we could have easily taken a cab. That he greeted us with the enthusiasm of a tourist who's glimpsed Taj Mahal for the first time, should have given me an indication of things to follow.

Now most people are not at their best in the morning. Most people understand and respect this unwritten rule of "allow time and space and no converastion" till the person recovers and makes the first move.

Now, this rather enthusiastic and chirpy young executive who I shall dub Duracell Bunny, for it is shorter than saying "enthusiastic and chirpy young executive", did not fall in the category of "most people" and insisted on making conversation.

If you have begun to wonder why we were going to the outskirts of Bengaluru, well-that makes two of us. I think you will wonder a wee bit more when I tell you that the Duracell Bunny chose to drive us in an Omni-yes, the vehicle and spits, shakes and sputters when it reaches the glorious speed of 60 kmph. Which should ideally not make it the vehicle of choice for people suffering from sleep deficit and a natural proclivity towards sleep, when in motion.

So anyway, Duracell Bunny had resolved to emit sound bytes and ignore yawns and all other body language signals that scream " Stop speaking"/ "I'm in no mood to talk"/ "silence is golden". He asked us how we found Bangalore. When we'd arrived in Bangalore. What we did the previous day. What we were doing in the evening. You get the drift?

At one point in time he actually asked us " what happened- are you guys bored- why aren't you talking". Considering that I and ASR can both give each other a tough fight on "who's more asocial", we returned the question with what else, more silence.

Actually no- I did manage an excuse to stay silent- since it was rather stupid, I am choosing to forget it. To avoid any more silly Q&A, I thought I'd pretend that I am asleep- though that turned out to be a bigger effort, what with the Omni rattle, Duracell Bunny's eager & breathless narrative and the Tamil music doing an irritating 'jugalbandi'.

So I opened my eyes, for it was getting too hot for the sleep pretence game, and attempted to participate in the conversation that ASR and Duracell Bunny seemed to be engrossed in.

Duracell Bunny was giving us highlights of the town that we were about to approach. Suddenly, he realized that I was awake and this raised his enthusiasm several notches-he turned back and asked me "Do you like drinking?".

I admit I was a bit taken aback (some people would term it 'shocked'). This did seem like a very bold question but then i put it to my being an NRI and having missed this piece in India's liberalization and evolution of values. I managed to recover with a smile only to be told by Duracell Bunny that the town had great places for drinking and that we could go there.

Now I didn't really fancy going to a local 'tharra' bar with Duracell Bunny, much as that would have reminded me of my earlier sales route (shady bars and theatres that were customers for aerated beverages). Seeing my baffled expression and raised eyebrows, ASR intervened with a hearty laugh and an explanation " He means Trekking, not drinking". I recovered fully now and told Duracell Bunny that since I was wearing sandals I couldn't really go trekking in them.

My ears and mind, I declare, go for a toss when trying to deciphering the thick south Indian accent that makes card and curd, drinking and drayking sound the same.

On a positive note, though, my faith in Good Old Indian Values has been duly restored :)

4 Movies. 4 Questions

2008-11-01T20:16:00.004+08:00

This week was rather movie-heavy, what with the serious looting and plundering of Panda's DVD collection. Could have reviewed but most of these movies have been watched and re-watched by most who watch movies. I leave you with the movies and the first question that came to my mind after watching them. {R= repeat viewing}
1. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (R)- Who in the world conceptualized and finally painted all that stuff in Genelia's bro's room? Move aside, Imran Khan, I'd like to meet that brilliant person.
2. Welcome to Sajjanpur- Why was this movie made and who was this targeted towards? Was the idea to introduce village life to slick city dwellers or to show the mirror to our country cousins for introspection?
3. Johnny Gaddar (R)- Why can't more movies be like this one, with attention to detail, no hamming, no lip synching to songs, with a tight script and yes, a story?
4. PS I Love You- Could we promise to not lose our tempers so easily and to not squabble about silly issues? That way we could spend more time building happy memories and less time creating situations and scenes to regret.
Lined up for next week are Kismat Konnection, Blue Umbrella, The Prestige and Hazaaron Khwahishein aisi (R). The only question is on the first one-Do I feel brave enough to watch it after all those reviews that labelled it a disaster?

For the Madrasi Mundas. Aaho.

2008-10-29T15:28:00.005+08:00

This is my response to the forward that told us what North Indian and South Indian girl stereotypes could read like. Since I have no clue who wrote it, the inspirational forward shall be given a miss due to copyright issues. Leave me a comment and I promise to forward.
Here, all you'll get is my take. If you don't like it, I shall direct you to a better take on North Indian boys. Deal.
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Chennai Boy
Disclaimer: (Any resemblance to the lead character in my life is coincidental- note some of these don’t apply to him :P)
-Grew up on a diet of thair chadam and vatta kozhamba and other unpronounceable names that give no indication of ingredients.
-Sees no utility for a spoon or a fork or a bowl. All he needs is a plate and his right hand. Mind it. - Goes bonkers if while switching channels, he encounters images of fat girls and old men dancing together to a double beat. You hear him mumble ‘classic’ at these times.
- Goes bonkers and makes you go bonkers if by some stroke of luck, he catches Rajni or Kamal on the above channels. He forgets you are in the room at these times.
- Knows no difference between baag (garden), bhaag (run), Bagh (tiger).
- Is sure to spell Shweta as swetha.
- Wakes up to suprabhatam everyday.
- Thinks it’s completely natural for someone to wear a bindi even when she’s not dressed in Indian attire.
- Does not give second thought to slithering on the floor because it’s too hot.
-Thinks girls in sphagetti tops are quite “bold”
-Thinks all girls in north India are fair and hence, beautiful.
- On spotting a fellow Tam (always a machchan), will break into Tamil, unmindful of non-Tam company.
- Drinks more coffee than water
- Genetically wired to make great dosas, great coffee and unfortunately, a great mess at home.
- Hates breakfasts that consist of toast/ muesli/ cornflakes.
Since you've reached this far- go further on your mad rush to absorb more stereotypes.
Over to the queen of hyderabad.

Presenting Daruwala

2008-10-21T22:34:00.000+08:00

Our glorious bar cabinet- sirf naam hi kaafi hai.
I'm tired. That was 2014 words.

Gondola city : Venezia

2008-10-18T12:26:00.006+08:00

(Sept 17th 2007)

For Venice, we'd decided to go off the beaten track and had booked ourselves in a camp (Alba D' Oro)- that this was the cheapest option available, just made the decision easier. At 19 euros per person, an ensuite camp caravan wasn't a bad deal at all! Trust me, sleeping in a room with only one other person (as opposed to the 6-8 in a dorm room) was a welcome change and the sound sleep that we enjoyed was replendent proof.

The camp was about 20 mins away from the main city and the camp runs shuttle buses on the hour. As with most tourist cities, they offered a wide range of passes and cards based on your interest. We bought the Orange card, but that that turned out to be a huge waste of 22.90 Euros as we were hardly in the mood for museums and churches, having nearly exhausted our cultural cravings in Paris and Rome.

We started with San Marco Square (for those of you who'd had the 'fortune' of watching Bachna Ae Haseeno, this is the square where "Khuda Jaane" was shot- and now if you'll stop imagining Ranbir with his arms outstretched, we can move ahead) and then taking pity on our Orange card, went to the Doge museum.

Now the Doge was no ruler- rather a nominal head of Venice. Now, we are Indians and we know our president. So we understand what a nominal head means, yeah? So the Doge museum was some sort of a presidential palace and now it houses artefacts and the likes. In the era gone by, Venice enjoyed the reputation of being a busy trading and merchant port and the lion, its official mascot, represented Venetian dominance over land and sea. The lion also served to underline the differences between Venice and the Roman Church.

Although charming, the Doge museum didn't really hold our interest. What was infinitely more interesting was walking around Venice's ever-fascinating and sometimes-stinking walkways, crossing canals and hearing the gondoliers sing to (and fleece) romance-stricken tourists. Here's a video of the gondoliers.

The thumbs down factors were (a) the terribly over-priced and less than delicious food and (b) the crowds. Now, coming from an Indian that might sound slightly weird, but you do feel the magical ambience wearing down a bit when you see more tourists than locals. Also, more hands with maps and more fingers on the flash buttons mean more mouths to be fed and more wallets to be lightened. Really missed the great, cheap food of Rome!

Venice was also the first European destination to leave me lighter by several hundred Euros-I bought a few Murano glass pendants (hold it up to the light and you'll see colorful patterns dancing in front of you :) and.... a Venetian mask, which could easily be the most expensive piece of home decoration that I've bought or plan to buy in the near future. And here it is, my gorgeous Venetian mask, in rose and gold (esp for you Goofy Mumma!). It currently occupies the place of pride in my living room. Though I've realized that it does take some taste to appreciate something as exquisite. I was rather annoyed when a well meaning colleague asked me" tumhe isse raat ko darr nahi lagta" but then chuckled to myself realizing it would be quite funny if I-the scaredy cat, were to ever get up at night and see a gold face with hollow eyes staring back.

And since I've already declared my inability to stop at a single item of purchase, I also bought a charcoal painting- which the artist created from scratch, in a matter of minutes and exclusively for me! Here's the picture of the painting and also a small video of Marco skilfully converting a few strokes of charcoal into a Venetian landscape.

This Venetian extravagance also meant that I and G skipped the gondola ride- At 80 euros a ride, we figured we'd save it for a more romantic episode in our lives. All said and done, Venice did turn out to be quite a romantic place- nowhere else, did I miss M as much or as often. Little wonder then, that a lot of people tend to make this a honeymoon destination. (Crowds are the root cause of all evil-refer point (b) above).

The great wine that accompanied dinner, compensated for the mediocre food and we ended the day, singing peppy Hindi film songs while walking to our ferry- we got a few stares and someone even commented on our happy state of being. Though embarassed for a moment, we quickly raised our faces and decibel levels and carried on singing.
The wine and song induced happy daze cleared up rather quickly when we realized that we'd missed our shuttle bus. We ended up taking public transport all the way to the airport and from there to the camp, thereby spending about 1.5 hrs to complete a journey of 20 mins. Another minor tragedy awaited us back at the camp- in our morning hurry to catch the bus, we'd left the caravan window open. It had rained during the day and the casualty of the downpour was my unfortunately located bed. Since I was too tired to protest and it was meaningless to sulk (M wasn't around to pamper), I just pretended it was a second class railway berth and crashed.

Traveller's Tip#1- Please buy your day card with care- we ended up wasting our money!

Traveller's Tip#2- Bargain with the gondoliers. Everybody does it. For a reason.

Traveller's Tip#3- Shop at the stores located at some distance from the main tourist spots. Even a distance of 200 m can save you 2-10 euros, depending on what you buy.

Office crimes

2008-10-14T20:40:00.003+08:00

Always brought on a smirk.-this sign in my office loo which told visitors to flush the toilet, throw waste in the basket and show courtesy to the next user. I wondered why they'd bothered to put such a stupid sign up. We were all educated grown ups who presumably had been toilet trained and did possess some basic sense of hygiene.
Imagine my shock then when at 8 pm today evening, I walked into a loo that resembled an unkempt public loo which had the tap open, tissue paper strewn on the floor and horror of horrors, the flush signal furiously blinking red!
The smirk has turned into dismay and disgust. Though guilty of hiring some process donkeys, my company has on an average, done a reasonably good job of hiring smart people. No one I know could I associate with such idiotic behavior. This is not an unwilling fart in the lift that you can try and fail to ignore. It just smacks of apathy, for what kind of hurry could induce such wilful neglect and indifference? What excuse could justify this utter lack of regard for others?

Now I'm wondering why that sign isn't in font size 42 because clearly a gentle reminder is not enough for people who work late but whose sense of shame has left early. Or why the instructions aren't more detailed with pictures & bold illustrations because clearly some of us haven't surpassed toddlers in matters of comprehension and propriety. Or why the cleaning staff must bear the brunt of these office crimes while the guilty roam scot free, making presentations to unsuspecting colleagues.

Pyaar ke side effects

2008-10-05T11:38:00.008+08:00

It's supposed to be a well known and widely acknowledged fact that a boy needs only two belts- brown and black. Since I was on an expedition to another galaxy when they made one and all aware of the above fact, I merrily bought M 3 belts on his birthday. You know, I thought variety would be nice. Also, I have a technical flaw-can't really buy ONE of anything. As far as I can remember, clothes and accessories have always been bought by me in 2's and 3's.

If I thought the ridicule and laughs that followed the unveiling of the gifts was the worst that could happen, I was wrong. You see, M also has a technical flaw- he's a boy. And by definition, that means ridding self of all accessories-wallet, watch, company id, coins, handkerchief- at no fixed spot, each time one comes back home. The dining table, the centre table, the desk, the kitchen counter, the ironing board, the bar counter, the side crockery cabinet, my dressing table, the printer- all have been blessed at some point or the other with his highness' mess.

Now the wallet, company id, watch etc are all essentials and leave with the bearer the next morning- all except the belt because thanks to the generous wife, he proudly owns FIVE of them- 5 belts to strew around the house, as he pleases. So the belts sit pretty in their corners- only to be discovered during the weekly dusting mission. To twist a line from Asian Paints: Har ghar ka kona kuch kehta hai. Ki is konay mein har week ek naya belt rehta hai.

Now I know why boys only need 2 belts. I also know what self inflicted pain means.

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In his mind, M equates the bed to an open cupboard, with the result, that the actual cupboard yearns to be populated with clothes, socks or even belts, while the bed in the guest room resembles a clothes' village after a typhoon. The disarray does not attract M's attention but puts me in distress mode.

So I neatly fold all his clothes and restore the bed to some degree of order only to have M tell me in an excited voice " You know our house has magic elves. They fold clothes!" M also refers to the part time maid as our weekly fairy godmother. Sigh.

Do you know of a fairy tale character who spanks kids who mess up their rooms? M needs to be introduced to that character. Before I become the wicked witch of the north/west.

***************************************************

We've watched quite a few Hindi movies heavy on Urdu/Punjabi words in the recent past (Khuda Kay Liye, A Wednesday, Singh is King)- enough to have taught M the use of words & phrases such as " fakr hai", "mehfooz", "mehsoos", "ijaazat", "bhootni ke", "kamaal hai", which he uses in the most unlikely situations- e..g instead of how are you, he asks me "sab khairiyat?" on chat! Sounds ever more hilarious in person- the lovely Tam accent accentuates the fun :)

********************************************************

We watch animal planet quite regularly and he keeps asking me for animals' names in Hindi. And since, I havent yet mastered the art of shoving my foot in my mouth, I tell him.

He's using baby magarmachch (crocodile) , baby gilahari (squirrel) and lakkadbagghi (hyena)as terms of endearment for me.

I quite like gilahari, though.

Roma-15th Sept07

2008-10-02T21:16:00.003+08:00

This could very well be a post on the Colosseum- it pretty much captured our imagination and time.

The magnificent structure was built in 72 AD-Nero, Octavian and Dalmatian all played their role in its construction and eventual use. It is likely that you are a pre-historic fossil or that were born on Mars and hence haven't had the chance to watch The Gladiator , if you don't know that games of gladiators and beasts were held at the Colosseum. For 400 long years.

The structure was built with limestone, bricks, volcanic rock and marble in an intricate but highly evolved fashion- for instance, there were underground rooms that stored weapons, equipment and housed the animals in cages- the animals were later brought to the arena through a pulley system.

The seating in this torture theatre was strictly as per social class and profession- closest to the arena were the Editor and the senators, then came the priests, followed by professionals such as teachers. Plebians were to plonk themselves in the upper sections.

Cruelty kept a schedule. In the morning, beasts such as hippos and lions were tortured to death. Afternoons were reserved for the duels between gladiators and beasts. The duels were proceeded by a gladitorial procession which began from the Arch of Constantine ( if the name sounds familiar, it's because he was the founder of Constantinople and also the emperor who stopped the persecution of Christians and who converted to Catholicism). In the event, a gladiator could ask the Editor (usually the emperor) for pardon. As a glorious example of letting populism guide decision making, the Editor would then look to the crowd. Mass sentiment controlled life and death.

The church put an end to the savage and brutal games in 523 AD, after which the Colosseum became nothing more than a source of building material for the Romans-this is the reason why one wing of the Colloseum is almost gone. The pillaging stopped only after the church started using the amphitheatre for religious purposes.

Walking through those ancient corridors, listening to the commentary of the audio guide and conjuring up those images in front of me- I felt I was reliving the scenes from my favorite movie (no points for guessing!). After a while, my imagination resorted to pleas of mercy , but the sun was relentless- we literally baked in an open oven and finally when brain threatened to turn into gooey mass, we made way to the Roman forum.

It was something else. Oh, to take in the same view that 2700 years ago, was the most magnificent view for the Romans. Scenes of ordinary life and commerce played out here. History was created here. Hell, Ceaser walked along the same path. The path that was paved with betrayal and death. History lessons came alive in the midst of the famous Roman ruins.

Again, had the weather been kinder, we'd have lingered on but since we didnt want to turn into historic shrivels ourselves, we kept moving. (in retrospect, a very wise decision as the series "Rome" recreated history better than us, and in a manner that could be enjoyed in the comfort of our air-conditioned room!)

The evening was spent visiting the Pantheon, which was earlier a pagan temple and ironically, is now a church!; the tomb of the unknown soldier; Giolitti for gelato and finally the Trevi Fountain- a beautiful and majestic, (what else but a) fountain. A very cash rich fountain at that, for tourist after tourist pops in coins-this ritual is supposed to get you back to Rome one day. Yes, the stingy desis (G and I) also rummaged through the bags and found the coins of the smallest denomination to throw, in the hope of return.

We are hoping the legend does come true. Since we parted with only petty coins, I won't be surprised if we have to make the trip back on a budget airline!

Traveller's tip #1-Take the train to Colloseo- MRT station is right outside the building.

Traveller's tip#2- Be very careful of your bags etc especially in & around tourist spots and trains- we were witness to a pickpocketing scene that happened before we could blink and register what was happening. What made it worse was that it was done by a band of gypsy girls who were pretending to be pregnant. I recommend sling bags or a waist pouch!

Traveller's tip#3- Right opposite the Pantheon is a souvenir shop, run by an old couple. You'll find really nice postcards and knick knacks there. I don't remember the name of the shop but look for the adorable senior citizens- you won't go wrong!

Traveller's tip #4- If you can make this the first day of your itinerary, you'd really allow the eternal city to make its best and everlasting impression on you! That's the only thing we'd have done differently.

Traveller's tip #5- Audio guide for Colloseum is a must!

Traveller's Tip #6- Carry sunglasses, enough bottled water and some asprin. The sun can be harsher than you think and beverages around Colloseum, more expensive that you'd care to find out.

Roma-14th Sept 07- Part 2

2008-10-01T10:42:00.003+08:00

From the Basilica we moved on to the Vatican Museum, the highlight of the day- The only cribworthy factor was the linear progression scheme which meant that we had to spend time in the boring sections of modern religious art, in order to get to the Sistine Chapel.

In those days, most Art was commissioned by the church and was used to depict scenes of significance from the Bible, to impart lessons in divinity and the power of Jesus. Once such work of art that was entrusted to Michelangelo in the 16th Century was the decoration for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And from an uninspiring brief, (Decoration for the Pope's residence) and a reluctant artist (who really thought he worked his best as a sculptor) emerged this famous fresco- which means that it was painted while the plaster was still fresh, so that the paint got integrated into the wall. And this was no ordinary side wall either- but the ceiling itself, thereby making this complex process even tougher.

Standing at the centre of the room, staring at the vast canvas above you, you just can't help saluting Michelangelo and his phenomenal brain- For someone to have conceptualized and executed this fresco with no modern aids at his disposal is simply astounding. (He even created the scaffolding on which he stood and made this fresco!)

The popularity of the Sistine Chapel and it's famed ceiling also meant that we got limited gawking time. So by early afternoon, we beat an unwilling retreat to the hostel.

The quiet afternoon was spent doing groceries and cooking-buying veggies was actually the most eventful activity of the afternoon- G got ticked off at a wet market, when trying to buy tomatoes. We just thought the fat bald stall owner was being rude & racist by not letting us touch the tomatoes (!) -but then when I faced the same ticking off in a supermarket, it occured to me that there was something bigger at play here than the color card. The helper at the supermarket lived upto her job designation- she helped by directing me to the plastic gloves and it's only then that I realized that in Rome, you need to put on a plastic glove before touching fresh produce! Since we were in Rome, we did what Romans do- wore gloves and bought Pomodoro for pasta :)

Food and nap later, we walked to Piazza del Popolo, where we met a couple of G's friends, who took us to this authentic Italian restaurant. We had starters (veggie in tempura style and best mozarella cheese I've had so far) and good pasta. The real dish, though, turned out to be the owner of the restaurant!! But alas- the looker's girlfriend exuded too much hotness and the dish never made it to our table.

A post dinner walk to the Spanish Steps followed. The nice and festive atmosphere seemed so much like India-something that you'd see on a summer evening at India Gate, perhaps. We drove around and then went to Old Bridge Gelateria, which I was assured, serves the best Gelato in town. And i'd have to agree- the Bacio & Chocolate Gelato was yummy. So yeah, the day ended with good food and drink and with the promise of the Colloseum and the Roman Forum the next day. Slept giddy happy.

Rome-14th Sept 07- Part 1

2008-09-30T21:40:00.000+08:00

The Day started with Basilica Di San Pietro- the world's largest church. Grand and opulent. The power and the wealth of the church left me awe-struck, but frankly, I felt it lacked the spiritual intimacy of St. Chapel or Notre Dame. The grandeur just felt...distracting.
For me religion amounts to a matter of personal faith and belief systems. I don't really think the architecture of the place of worship is going to play a tremendous role in how or how well I exercise my faith. And no-this isn't about churches. I'd say the same thing for big temples or huge mosques- the smaller and the more sparsely done up places just seem more inviting. I'd any day, choose a small corner temple over a thoroughly decked up temple with loudspeakers and light; the low key satya-narayan puja at home over a noisy display of devotion at a "jaagran"; or even a visit to local church on anyday except Sunday! I have nothing against a place being popular & crowded-The Lotus Temple in Delhi and the Golden Temple at Amritsar they do emit that precious feeling of tranquility,inspite of being on the tourist map.) I'm just against the pomp and show, the in-your-face demonstration of faith and the hyper activity of commercialization that grand places of worship tend to encourage, directly or indirectly. In some cases, scale is an advantage- in this case, it just distorts and distracts- the same way that a beautiful melody turns into an irritant if played at too loud a volume.

The other thing that made me frown was this prominent sign that informed visitors of the earlier held notion, that the Pope was answerable to no one except God. That didnt go down well with me. At the very least, each individual is accountable first to his or her own self- his/her conscience, his/her sense of right & wrong and then to others, who have played a role in shaping those thoughts and actions or bear the consequences of those thoughts/actions. Human beings are just congenitally imperfect and error prone. With time, rigour and experience, one can train to be of six-sigma quality, that too on a particular skill or task, but there's only so far that you can go. "Tends to" perfection can never equal flawless.
And I guess that's a lesson I'm learning in my life as well- I've always put up certain people on a pedestal-to me, they represent the sum total of all aspirational qualities with the benefit of experience and good judgement. Now that's a silly and a rather impractical expectation to begin with and needless to say, even a minor slip or lapse on their part had the potential to make me lose heart, feel disappointed and even, cheated. It's only off late that I've come to realize that they are not infallible-only as human and a little less error prone than me. So I expect and judge a little less and allow for more room to breathe.
So no matter how old or how revered, let humans be humans- with accountability- just don't expect them to live upto an impossibly exalted ideal.
To be continued...........................................
Bear with me...I know this hardly sounds like a merry travelogue but then it's no longer the singular heady rush of the travel memoirs-the experiences of the year that's passed between the trip and now, have also crept in. Uninvited but not unwelcome :)

The day of the Sun is good for a Run.

2008-09-28T20:12:00.006+08:00

Just when I thought I am beginning to show some promise in the fitness department....I go all out and deliver on that promise!! :) Woohoo ^10
Day 7-6 kms. 15 laps. 40 mins. followed by 1 km of walking.
Heck, this was my goal for 15th October. I love this feeling of surpassing a goal . All by myself. M's encouragement did play a minor role, I admit.

Now I don't mean to dissect my own "achievement" but since I have been accused of being overly introspective and compulsively connecting dots (by M, no less!) I will carry on in that vein. I've realized that I run best when I'm the only one on the track. When it happens to be a Sunday. And when the sun has set. All 3 conditions were fulfilled when I did 4 km previously.
I am fully cognizant of the fact that out of these, only one will remain valid for the Marathon- that of the calendar showing a Sunday!

Now, I'm a believer in equal opportunity and I don't really have the heart to disqualify the other 5000 odd earnest runners who deserve a "fun run" as much as yours truly. Nor can I sufficiently impress on the marathon organizers, the need to emulate the Singapore F1 (world's first night race) or the logic that a run without the sun can indeed be fun.
Oh well.
And you thought I was influential.
You didn't?
Just as well. Proves that you can be right once in a while.
Look what this blog does for your self esteem.
Now that smirk doesn't look very grateful to me!
Coming back to the my Sunday runs...(yeah, inspite of your smirks and dismissive head shakes, it does remain my blog and I can come back to the topic. just like that.)...The small sweaty selfish milestones that I miraculously touch on Sunday evenings are beginning to serve as the perfect antidote to the ultra-mild depression that used to let itself in , in anticipation of the Monday morning and the work week. My song for the week:
"Bhaagna meri jaan meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday
Jisse hanste gaante you can kick the butt of every Monday"
Let the week begin!

Keeping Track

2008-09-25T21:38:00.004+08:00

Error of omission. Forgot to update my running chart. This is just a running log. Go away. Actually, since you are 1 of the 10 people who read this blog, stay! :) I promise to not bore you too much.
Day 3- 10 laps. 4 kms.28 mins. My fledgling career best. I surprised myself. And the expression on M's face was somewhere betweeen delight and shock. I do realize I mentioned this in my earlier post, but what the heck- it's a glossy achievement as far as I'm concerned. Better be prepared to put up with it. For the next 10 years, at least.
Day4- 2.4 kms ( i was so disappointed with my horrible performance, i didnt even bother with the time)- though to my credit- it was blazing hot at 5 pm!! And the running track way too crowded. You could think of it as an excuse. But then what an excuse- look at what it inspired me to do!!
Day5- 11 laps. 4.4 kms. 28 mins 30s.+ 1.2 km of walking- So proud of myself. Though my family is a bit horrified at my registration at the marathon- they are very used to the idea of a seemingly "kamzor" creature who doesnt have the stamina to do a thing. (that I have become a fat blob escapes their notice. I love my family!) My mom was quite concerned and told me to take it easy or i'd be discovered "pada hua" on some road. My bro asked me whether i could manage 2 km and snorted off a very disbelieving "achcha" when i bragged about doing double the distance. But well, it's to be expected. Because it follows years of disinclination towards any physical activity. The cynicism actually makes me feels nice coz I'm doing something that's not expected from me. The rebel without a cause in me is most pleased.
Day6- 10 laps. 4 kms. 27 mins. + 1 km of walking. I'm glad about the consistency. Though a tad worried. Hope I havent reached a plateau. October shall have to give me the strength to run 15 laps at bare minimum!

Meanwhile, the boy who I live with has gone bonkers. He insists on taking protein supplements, popping vitamins, reading stuff on how to get a flat stomach by eating fibre and salads & pasta (for the record, he detested eating raw veggies and hated pasta) and brace yourself, is determined to cut down on coffee (which he easily guzzles litres of) and horror of horrors and has declared that he will have rice on rare occasions!! Yikes.
I'm finding it hard to recognize this person who is shedding all the traits that made him a Tam-brahm. The delicious irony is that he told me of his rice abandonment program just after I'd polished off a serving of sambhar rice!
How in the world am I going to explain these changes to my MIL? Gulp. Yelp. I mean, Help!

Thrilled/Thumped

2008-09-20T12:58:00.003+08:00

Thrilled

....with the fact that I too can make good filter coffee (if the decoction has already been made).

....by my 4 km run (10 laps. nonstop.28 mins)

....by the new age Hindi movies that are so real- characters are not outlandish, no one's larger than life, the situations are something you can identify with and the issues gritty, thought-provoking and controversial. ( I watched Jaane Tu, Rock On, A wednesday, Khuda Kay Liye over the past few weeks).

....by how last weekend totally revived lacklustre life- Danced till 4 am after a really long time and the company made it all worthwhile. Good friends, I've figured are the effortless panacea to all problems....they might not be able to solve a lot of the problems but they do end up making you feel as though those issues dont really matter in the larger scheme of things.

....with the evolution of tourism boards in des- try the Kerela Tourism's tour planner. I was completely enamored by the beautiful images and the ease with which I could plan a Kerela trip (that's saying something coz I've never been there). The Tour Planner feature even recommends improvements on your travel plan and has accomodation+ayurveda centres listings depending on which locations you selected.

....with Mint- I never knew HT could produce such a superb newspaper.

....by my new bar cabinet- it's gorgeous and at the throwaway price we got it, it just became even more endearing.

....by finally being able to redeem miles for an SQ ticket to Delhi. I feel quite accomplished now.

....with my new pulley system clothesline that helped kick the earlier grotesque eye level clothesline out of business. Boley toh, ekdum neat and clean.

....by Singapore's efficiency in delivering what you need, when you need it- gas cylinder delivered in 20 minutes flat. How do they do it?

Thumped.....

......by how stupid & sans-common sense people at work can be. Do they not realize when things dont make sense and border on the plain ridiculous or do they realize and care not, simply because they have become conditioned to respect process and system more than simple logic?

....by existential angst that is surfacing a lot more and making me restless and uncomfortable. How long can escapism be my weapon of choice?

....by terrorism and how pointless this loss of lives is. I understand the kidnap and ransom mechanic-but dont quite get the objective being served by bringing death to ordinary people going about their daily lives?Yeah, okay maybe they want attention to their cause- but what the hell is the cause? Do they want land, money, moral supremacy...what? They are holding our security and sanity to ransom but havent really told us what they want. Or is the untimely snuffing out of lives, the price of misguided ideology and individual vendetta that ballooned into something monstrous? Is co-existence so tough? Restraint and tolerance so rare? Intelligent debates in living rooms are not the solution-but what is? I hate the vilification of one particular community or complete nonchalance, the standard response of people around us but know that merely having a strong opinion on this makes my response no better. Sigh.

****Resuming the Europe diaries over this weeekend. Heck, it's time for the first anniversary of that trip :) Inertia needs to die.

Sliver linings aren't always nice and shiny.

2008-08-31T12:12:00.005+08:00

The intent to run was all there today morning. Any thought of action was washed away by the rain. But thanks to the glorious weather, masala chai and poha made perfect sense. So far so good. Silver lining and me-we understand each other.
But then the maid ditched us today and M took it upon himself to do all the piled up dishes. Which was quite a sacrifice as opportunity cost comprised precious X-box time and saving the world. Knight in silver shining armour to the rescue.
Doing the dishes ain't as easy as it seems (it tops my list of least preferred tasks). Dishwash foam flies.Water sprays here and there. washed vessels just seem to take up all visible kitchen space. All ordinary occurences which demand no particular attention.
But when it sounds like a cup has been dropped, I need to sit up and take notice. Oh, but the cup is fine..but it seems the stuff it was dropped on, is not quite. The smile vanishes abruptly when a chipped off bowl is put up for examination with a feeble "didn't it always have this crack?". Heck, no! Probing eyes hurriedly look for any other signs of damage. Only to find another glass bowl which used to be a bowl, but now laments the loss of its right hand side.
Ok. so the set of 6 gets reduced to a set of 4. I shrug. These things happen.
And then I heard something on the lines of " Oh good. 2 glass bowls broken means two bowls less to wash. Yay!"
I'm switching to steel and plastic now!
Or begging my maid never ever to ditch me.
I'm guessing the first is a lot easier.

And the base keeps runnin runnin

2008-08-11T20:17:00.003+08:00

A new passion has been discovered.
Home and work have contributed in equal measure- Peer pressure (& spouse pressure) has succeeded like never before.
I've started running.
I have also signed up for the 10 km run (Stanchart Marathon-Dec7).
This is no meagre achievement for someone who is clearly not the athletic type and can possibly not count any sport, save for badminton that has been played at some competitive level.
I kid you not.The passion has truly been ignited. New shoes bought. Running track 5 mins away from home discovered. In the mood to crack the track :)
Day 2: 5+4 laps (running), 1 lap (walking). 30 mins. avg speed 8 km/hr.
On my mark. Ready to run.
ps-the daily/weekly update on how I'm shaping up vs my goal is by no means an attempt to brag (actually, you could be quizzed for substance abuse if you think running 10 kms gives bragging rights!)..Only want to keep track, with the hope that I get to gloat in Dec at how pitiably unfit i was in August! I could have maintained a chart at home-but let's say this is another form of pressure! The online escape route is now officially closed. Wish me luck.

Humour among Thieves

2008-08-10T17:51:00.005+08:00

Now, losing something-irrespective of how much money or time you associate with that possession, really annoys the hell out of most of us. What really adds a thick coat of frustration, though, is the discovery of theft-someone wilfully and malevolently parting you with what you call your own. It's more than a sense of violation- to know that a stranger gained access without permission and merrily took away what was loot worthy without really knowing how much the memory associated with that physical object was worth.

So yeah, if something gets stolen, you end up getting depressed, grumpy and maybe a little paranoid. But the 3 times I've had something stolen from me have just led to more complex emotions. Look, I'm normal and do mourn even the most minor of losses but dont know why these incidents seem like a feeble attempt at comic relief for whoever's writing my life's script.

Incident 1. Innocent college girl, barely 18, treasures the glitzy wallet gifted by boyfriend but knows not the pitfalls of using open cloth bags in crowded DTC buses. She encounters pushes and shoves by dirty looking gypsy lady with a kid. Waves of sympathy keep her temper in check. Stoic girl changes buses- boards an auto and arrives at her destination, only to realize that stoicism equalled stupidity and that gypsy auntie had polished off wallet and contents quite smoothly. College girl panics-cancels credit cards (yeah-she had a generous father), applies for duplicate id, library pass, club membership, license etc and sulks all week long. A week later, she receives a courier with all contents of the wallet(cards+license+college id), save for the Rs.50 & the wallet itself. With the net effect that she can't mourn the only thing which she truly misses.

Type of humour: Irony: as used in Alanis' Ironic?

Incident 2- Brave 22 yr old stays alone in a 9th storey flat (with terrace) in Baroda. Parents are not that brave and have ensured that this flat is just 4 flats on top of the relatives' apartment. Hard working girl comes back at 11 in the night to discover things strewn about in a very unseemly way. Shrugging off doubts of nephews' mischief, she runs to the 5th floor and is apprised of the day's events-An unhinged sort of character had entered another flat on the 9th floor and had demanded food from the 10 year old boy who, not knowing any better, had simply given him something to eat. And guess what that freak did with the fresh dose of energy!! Burgled the brave, hardworking girl's apartment- at considerable risk to life!! And what did his exploits cost the girl? 3 bottles of expensive perfume, her specs, a silver pendant and NOTHING ELSE. The fool left behind a laptop (presumably because he knew not what it was? maybe it was too heavy?), gold earrings (maybe he just preferred silver?maybe he didn't like the design?) and cash (this part has never been fathomed by any listeners of the tale). The police report of the loss was met with incredulous amounts of laughter and weak suggestions of a psycho admirer. The girl's angry glares were punctuated by her exasperated shrugs. The girl was later, amused at her contribution towards making an unhinged male see and smell better!

Type of humour: Dark: as used in "Jaane bhi do Yaaron"

Incident 3-Well travelled 26 year old (let's keep calling her girl, shall we?) is most excited about a girlie trip to Bali. The most stressful part of the trip for her is over by the time she's at the Singapore airport- she's managed to pack real light, you see! The arrival at the Denpasar airport proves how wrong she was. On the conveyor belt she meets her bag, which looks sullen and lock-broken. Her anxiety at this violation soon gives way to relief and idle annoyance as nothing of value is missing-her perfumes, specs and silver earrings are also very much there. Peace. Narration of this weird tale to eager audience of one is followed by a declaration of making self beach-worthy in the morning, by good use of prized epilator. Morning arrives with a scream and the realization that the epilator is missing, thanks to the glamorous silver case in which it rested. Angry 26 year old showers choicest abuses on the hirsute thief who thought of stealing nothing else but the epilator and wonders how many more unhinged thieves she'll encounter in the 60 odd years ahead. Yes, she hopes to live long. If anything, the laughter induced by the funny thieves will help longevity.

Type of humour: Slapstick, "C" grade: Think "No Entry"/ "Adam Sandler"

Potential Thieves of Humour to note: If you have any sense of dignity, shame or even some trace of logic, thou shalt not a) steal items that can never hope to get you any return commensurate with the risk involved in the theft and b) pick the writer of this blog because 1)She's been the target of your kind sufficient number of times and 2) she now stays in Safe Singapore. Hah!! Try being funny now?

Touchin Wood and all other lucky materials

2008-07-27T18:43:00.003+08:00

Life's good.
After the hectic pace of the last couple of weeks, it was good to have this nice and slow weekend. Warm and fuzzy feelings abound-feelings akin to hugging a fluffy cloud- and they were brought on by the most trivial of reasons. But hey, there never was a rule for happy moments to be ushered in only by the grandest of causes or the most enormous events. I digress from my never ending travelogue to record the 10 happiness inducing moments-if only, for the fear that a few years down the line, when I'm old and haggard or just plain stupid, I might forget that it doesnt take too much to be happy and content and that bucking the popular theory of judgement by comparison, happiness exists as an absolute, with no need for damn benchmarks.
1. Waking up to perfect filter coffee made by the boyfriend who's now husband but will forever be boyfriend first :)
2. Losing my phone in a cab but gaining a gorgeous E66 as a replacement. I know what a silver lining is-I carry one in my bag.
3. Lying down on a bench in East coast park, staring at the sky & the palm trees, while the ipod belted out my favorite melodies, even on random "shuffle" mode.
4. Taking a leap of faith and straightening my hair-only to realize that I dont really miss my curls and that change can be good.
5. Interacting with the smartest 2 yr old I've ever met and getting about 10,000 unconditional smiles from him :)
6. Receiving an unexpected pay hike.
7. Getting free candy from cabbie uncle, who told us it was part of his daily routine and that he spends 50 dollars a month distributing candy to his passengers-If this ain't Santa, who is?
8. The prospect of a YKY-II in Mumbai, with girlie time, gossip, wine, good food and full attendance.
9. Buying groceries and getting order into my kitchen- well, something on this list had to be about better control, right? Even something as mundane as a 10 compartment spice tray counts.
10. Catching an old snap of me and M and sighing in a moony-eyed way about how he continues to be my best friend. A best friend with benefits :) (sorry for stealing words, Alanis)
So nett, I'm as happy as the babies that you see in Anne whatzername's calendar or closer home, in the J&J commercials. And since I'm heading to be as fat & chubby as those adorable younguns-now's the time to move the "tashreef" and let exercise give me a biological reason to be happier.
*To happiness-may the pursuit keep my feet on the ground even while the spirit's soaring sky high *
ps-Gving myself only 2 more weeks to wrap up the 2007 Europe trip. Hope to honour the commitment. Whack me if you sense a lack of inclination. Conditions apply.

Roma-13th Sept 2007

2008-06-14T17:13:00.007+08:00

FIFO. (For those who've been lying in the dungeons of acronym land-First In, First Out)

Am applying this to restore order and to finally finish what I started last year- My Europe travel diary. Other interesting and life altering events have since, taken place but knowing that my memory is only marginally better than Dory, I will keep that narration for later.

*********************************************************************************

And so, G and I headed to the eternal city of Rome. The train journey was pretty uneventful-of course, there was the unkempt artist who sneaked in a portrait of G and the cheeky steward who spared me a knife and fork and also a kiss on my hand- but then this was Europe and we had heard enough about the Italian penchant for flamboyance. Any gents attempting this in a train in India would have said hello to my heels.

The start was less than perfect- after a 3 hour delay, I realized my body clock had gone cuckoo at the wrong time and to add to the misery, we lost our way- we spent about 15 mins walking in the wrong direction! A heavy bag and cramps can really alter your perception of time and space!!

Help came in the form of two charming Italian guys who directed us to Via Boezio- where stood our abode for the next 3 days.

Colors hostel (http://www.colorshotel.com/) lives upto its name and reputation- It was bright, cheery and well, colorful. The rooms are huge and airy; the bath/toilets-clean and very well maintained. I might sound a little senile raving about hygeine factors but trust me, the privacy of an attached loo and bath was a welcome change after the very tiny and very open Paris bathroom.

G did the groceries and whipped us a delicious salad and pasta. (Colors has a well stocked kitchen and a lovely dining area). That was followed by a walk to Castle St. Angelo, a rather dilapidated building which is now a museum and then along the Tiber.

The phenomenon of generosity from absolute strangers was to become a common theme for this trip-the Bangladeshi porter who refused to charge us for the internet joined the Generous strangers club. He also plied us with his own story and other sordid tales of Italy. He described Italy as a the dustbin of Europe!- something which shocked us when he said it, but gradually struck us a near-truth- the place is full of grafitti, pick pocketing and corruption (there are touts outside the Vatican Museum who let you cut the queue for 40 euros when the standard admission fees is 13 euros). The first impression led me to despair- was this another country ready to neglect everything in the present and content in resting on past laurels? Though not ready to write off Rome- admittedly, my first impression of Rome wasn't all that great. The place seemed to have neither the charm of Paris nor the dynamism of London....And then, we had Italian food and all the above was promptly forgiven and forgotten.

This was G's day-News about the Pasricha Index (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/How-financially-open-is-India/216177/0) travelled far and wide and gave us a superb reason to celebrate. We went to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed a marvellous dinner- Pizza, white wine and Tiramisu. Both the pizza and the dessert were top-notch, melt-in-the-mouth fare. I must rave about the pizza- it had just the right flavors, a divinely thin crust and enough and more veggies to keep me happy-in short, it was, what pizza should aspire to be-definitely not the overdone mass of cheese, maida and ketchup that usual pizza companies serve their sorry customers.

Mood was sufficiently uplifted by the dinner and yes, the wine also played a role. The after-dinner course was an hour of peppy Hindi numbers (baadal pe paon hain etc..), before finally hitting the sack at 1 am.

The Roman holiday had begun.

Teaser

2008-06-13T13:40:00.003+08:00

Open Letter to Sheen
Yes.
I will update my blog.
Will surmount the problem of plenty.
Of abundant thoughts and events.
That I simply can't sort or rank.
And if I tell it all in one go.
It will resemble this lumpy mess of a post.
So wait, dear Sheen while I gather my thoughts
and brew something more palatable.
The potion will be bittersweet, even if the wait isn't.

Much love,

QQ

Birthday month tribute

2008-04-12T00:36:00.004+08:00

You know you are in your late 20's when:

You read about someone who's 16 and won a gold medal or invented something cool, and curse under your breath because it's been 10 goddamn years and you are nowhere closer to winning a medal or inventing something cool.
The only question you ever get asked is "so when are you giving us the good news", which depending on whether you are single or not, could be interpreted as "when are you getting married"/ "when are you producing babies"/"tell us you are confident of your sexuality".
Everyone around you seems to be questioning their purpose in life-surely it's not to be a best friend to excel sheets or the master proponet of jargon or to sell stuff to people who are doing perfectly well without it.
Parents, relatives or sundry other do-gooders try pulling off stunts on shaadi.com to "help you settle you down" once and for all.
Life emerges from the cubicle to pay a fleeting visit during weekends and vacations.
You find your general likes and dislikes in life have really changed-it could be with the decade or less that's passed by when you discovered and froze opinions in your brain and now.
Your nieces and nephews are on orkut and facebook or whatever the latest networking site is and say stuff like "wassup, coolio and adios" that totally freaks you out.
Strangers with kids always make it a point to address you as "auntie/ uncle" and you cringe because two years back, "didi/bhaiya" would not have been totally out of question.
Your body metabolism ain't what it used to be and a gym membership seems worth it.
Health in general, begins to establish itself as a matter that needs attention.
You suffer from intermittent neck/back/muscle pain and have been told your posture needs to improve. Damn the desk job.
You yearn to study more or change your line of work or if not, emit anxious cribs about assignments and bosses that suck.
Your hair line is either receding or you have lost count of grey hair. Either ways, a hair stylist occupies the place next to God.
There are clothes in your wardrobe that you deem "too young"/ "fit for a teenybopper" but yet dont' want to let go of. Not until you turn 30 anyway.
You have at least one fixed commitment (house/education loan or the likes) that binds you to your desk and your cribs.
You wonder whether hostels in Europe will admit you. (They will, btw)
The clock on your wrist isn't the only one ticking away.
You click on the drop down menu on registration forms and it takes a while to scroll up to the year of your birth.
More than half your country's population is younger than you. (Not if you are Japanese, though!)
You regret both the time you spent growing up in a hurry and pretending to be a mature and responsible adult and the time when you yelled at your parents or stormed off in your ugly teens.
You have at least one "what was I thinking" moment/ incident/ relationship that evokes regret and shudder and acts like an effective block against nostalgia.
You realize there's so much more to life that you haven't a clue about and yet, that it's okay to discover answers one day a time.
You joke about getting old and acting senile because you feel safe and invincible in the halo of the "twenty-something" tag.
You write posts which do little to hide your underlying reluctance to turn older and your gross inability to turn wiser.

(I do think I will like this post when I turn 30. Yikes.)

Glorious 50-Time for a classic

2008-04-08T22:45:00.004+08:00

At long last.
The 50th post.
I can't make it about the Bose ipod deck, though I would really like to.
*showing off comes naturally to Dahli wallahs*
Instead, I'll mark the milestone with a link to the song that I adored as a kid. I think I saw the video in 1988/89 as part of some Grammy awards special. Love at first sight. People remember this video for MJ's moves (actually, the gazillion times MJ does the Mithun thrust :P) My associations are a little different and as it turned out a little differently remembered too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEU9Q8NlOiY
I saw the video a few minutes back and couldn't help smiling-only the smile had precious little to do with benevolent nostalgia!! I forced myself to remember some reasons on why I remembered loving the video.......

I liked the rhythm of the song and the interlude (ta-da-da-daa-daa)
To the untrained ears & eyes (mine) and the untainted mind (also, mine), it seemed like a cheeky song about high heels & loneliness, set to some really good music. (have noted childhood error in registering loveliness as loneliness-Stupid kid (me, not mine).
I liked MJ and his "aouuuhs". (I still like crazy people.)
I liked people dancing on the streets for no reason.
I liked that the ruffian gang danced so well and that their moves were so synchronized. ( I was proudly learning Bharatnatyam at that point in time.)
To say nothing of the curly haired chick (it was really reassuring to see a curly haired girl being shown as a (gulp)..."product of loveliness"- even back then I hated the fascination, that all people responsible for putting anything on TV, had for the straight hair brigade. I also liked the fact that the curly haired women outnumbered the girl with straight hair who wasn't much to look at anyway. 100 points to you for guessing that I have curly hair.
I was also fairly oblivious to the not-so-subtle hints to her profession given in the video. Not that it would have mattered. But it only seemed fair to list an omission in association. I also did forget to notice MJ's curly locks. Maybe I wasnt a stupid kid after all.

Ayway, don't pay attention to the cynic. It's a classic and you must go watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEU9Q8NlOiY
Dont miss MJ's white belt; the psycho oldie who appears out of nowhere to give a thumbs up to him (for what-chasing a hooker down the street with a war cry?)and how Tatiana (curly haired chick) gets convinced that it's easier to deal with one "aoouuh crying weirdo" than 5 body slapping mutts. The music's good too.
And hey, before you go- this would be a nice time to wipe your shoes on the welcome mat and knock :) Good to know who's visiting.

Have you ever?

2008-04-07T20:10:00.005+08:00

Have you ever felt like running away from it all because it seems so futile?
Have you ever run away from things only to realize that the reason for your escape is trivial?
Have you ever turned back and returned to the point when you threw in the towel?
Have you ever looked at that point with disdainful eyes, wondering how you got there in the first place?
Have you ever traced your steps back to the beginning of the journey and kicked yourself for getting the directions wrong?
Have you ever got the directions to your destination all jumbled up coz there are so many ways in which you thought and still think you could steer your life ?
Have you ever wondered why life can't just be about curling up in your bed and reading a book while the ipod deck hums out a gorgeous melody?
I sure am wondering exactly that right now. The rest was just to ensure this sounds like some nice philosophical turn of thoughts, without showing off my new ipod deck or without stating in simple terms that I really couldn't care less.
Have you ever said " I couldn't care less" and realized that's about the only truthful thing you said today? :P

Preacher Practises

2008-04-06T12:59:00.003+08:00

I strongly believe in the fact that if you ain't got anything worthwhile to say, then you're better off not saying it. Not unless you want some negative re-affirmation.
Hence the break from blogging. Or I'd feel like a TV news channel covering the story of some boy who jumped into a ditch.
Sorry & Guilty.
Vaccuum is prettier than senseless drivel.
So ta-da. I'll be back when I discover inclination & thoughts/events worth recording.

Mute Speech

2008-03-06T20:06:00.003+08:00

I think I'd be really rich, if I got a diamond for every tag that I pick up from Mystic Pizza! This time she wants me to put down 10 things that I wish I could say right now(but didn't/ haven't/won't?) and I need to do this without naming people.
What I've written below is not a work of fiction and bears a very close resemblance to my true feelings. For anyone who, through vague suspicion and uncommon intelligence, traces the following retorts/questions/statements to himself/herself, well, good for you- Now you know and I didn't even say it :) Without further ado:
1. Why do you have to make things so complicated? I wish you'd tell me what's really on your mind.
2. I won't know what to do, if not for you. Nonetheless, you are the Chief of Pain :P
3. You make me choke with your kindness and affection.
4. Since how long have you been suffering from verbal diarrhoea?
5. Can you stop assuming things about me and try getting to know me? You don't know me and I can't go on pretending like you do. Get real-you full-of-fluff baboon! Don't make me hate you.
6. You've got really pull-worthy cheeks :)
7. Oh. I really really wish you'd be able to make it. The tentative list is not for you. Please don't disappoint me?
8. I think we are going to have a blast-now that you've learnt how to swear :)
9. Opportunist Bitch.
10. I think you are the brainiest amongst all my friends. And I really like it when you find my jokes funny.

I tag anybody who's feeling jobless or tongue-tied. In the next post, I shall resume my Europe trip journal-almost forgot about it!

Time, the Ravager.

2008-03-05T12:30:00.005+08:00

Okay, another tag from the Mystic Pizza- baby pic time!

Deciding which one to put was tough-I'm not very objective when it comes to myself, even less so, when it comes to my baby self. Limiting myself to the glorious number of 3. Was less than a year old in the above snap- obviously being propped up by a helping hand.I learnt standing up for my rights early on. Actually, i think i'm offering the chair to someone. What kindness.
And this of course is at the time of Rakshabandhan- and that of course is Delighted Me tied a rakhi to my brother :)

I tag Sheen and Saumil coz those are the only friends of mine who blog! The others can take this up as a facebook/email/'whatever mode they are comfortable with' tag.

p.s.- I dont quite like the mirror after looking at the baby snaps. Time is so cruel.

Also, Thanks to M for scanning these-how'd you know this tag was coming up?

Pass me the chill pill

2008-02-29T19:47:00.002+08:00

I've been on the edge this week- So much so that people that I work with, are calling me nasty and fierce! Who would've thought. (And to think, some others in my previous company had ranked me "not aggressive enough". Tee Hee.)
M's asking me to relax and loosen up and for a change, I agree with him. Have become so high-strung and reactive-a very distorted version of what I used to be. Ugh :(
I think a bit of the stress is because my misplaced sense of hope & possibility on a major issue is in a cruel contest with foregone conclusions. The restlessness & the dismay at the silly futility of it all just doesn't go away, no matter how hard I try.
Making peace with an undesirable but certain consequence of my decisions and actions is sapping more positivity and energy out of me than I'd imagined possible.
Life's being the meaner bitch. Snap, snap, snap. I have to get out of this state of mind. Two things you can do to help:
- Distract me by saying something funny and irreverent.
- Slap me the next time you see me brooding.
(Don't wince if I slap back. After all, I do have a nasty reputation to live upto.)
I'll be back when I'm feeling better or sufficiently distracted.

Tags are not effort intensive.

2008-02-24T18:43:00.003+08:00

After the partially intentional and utterly unavoidable break of almost a month, she returns to strike the keys and punch the space bar. Only to realize that there is so much pent up that wants to be told. Since no thought can lay singular claim to being first and foremost, preference is being given to an external stimulus which suits the lazy mind perfectly :) Tagged by Mystic Pizza to do the following:
Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given (family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like). Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better. Now don’t forget to read the archived posts and leave comments.
Post on family-umm, none! Don't really use this space to talk about them. Hmm. maybe I will. So this will be linked to a post in future. Moving on....
Friend- The inimitable G, with whom I spent 20 glorious days in Europe- it won't have been half as much fun and adventurous, if not for her!
Myself- Well, couple of things here- my quirks and the stuff I can't stand.
My love- Since no mush permeates this space, this and that is what I wrote. I'm just not allowed to be romantic-Honest :P
Stuff I like- Funny experience, A movie that made me think and something I really liked doing.
5 Friends that I'd like to tag: Meravalablog, Sheen, Makdee, Saumil, Journeying through the within.
2 People I interact with, on & off the blog frequency: Mahogany, Footnotes on page 4.
Phew.
Catch you on the other side of the commercial and habitual break called the weekend.

Before & After

2008-01-28T22:14:00.000+08:00

Name: Neo

Family Name: Ikea

Color: Dark Brown (mahogany, maybe?)

So.
This is what a bookshelf with two doors looks like.
Complete.
Now we know.

Send me to Rehab

2008-01-23T22:59:00.000+08:00

The thing about blogging is that it’s rather addictive- in both active and passive forms.
If you’ve cared to notice, my blogging frequency for this month has surpassed the number of posts I wrote in all of 2006. Earlier the question was umm, should I blog this month? Now, there are times when during a regular day I catch myself framing a sentence for my blog or thinking whether what I just said or did was blog-worthy. Waste of time-not really. Evolution of expression- arguably. Addiction- most definitely.

I like reading a few blogs and sometimes when I over-do it (read 5-6 posts one after the other), it wreaks havoc-I can hear stray phrases and sentences- incoherent little devils that float in my mind-it’s almost as exhausting as having long conversations with people, till your phone battery gives up and as addictive as multiple doses of caffeine! (Would have compared it to smoking-but nah..passive smoking isn’t addictive-esp not when smoke makes me sneeze. A lot.).

I do think I’ll have to trim the habit down a bit because these are not the only things I read. The mainstay still remains the world of books, newspapers and magazines. Those I shall definitely not give up or cut back on. And since my day job teaches me that my basket is finite and that for whatever I put in, something needs to go out- I’m wondering whether my greedy self can give up anything at all.

This year giving up exercise is not an option-fatness makes me banish the thought. Sleep defies all restraint & will power .Shopping is a necessary evil. Cooking-a cathartic timepass. TV is hardly visible behind the nine yard sarees & the 2 cm radius bindis that dominate the screen most of the time. What then do I sacrifice at the altar..who shall be the (blog)ificial lamb?

Aha, I think it will have to be Facebook-the connector to all acquaintances. I think I can save about 15 minutes a day if I don’t respond to any requests, do not take any mindless quizzes and ignore all application requests which ask me if my friends think I’m a hottie; what type of a stuffed animal I am and whether I think I am a bookshelf.
Now…which blog should I read in those 15 mins??

Hello Vice-How Nice (Last Day in Paris-12th Sept)

2008-01-21T21:28:00.000+08:00

The last day in the French capital served us some measures of vice and some of virtue-won't really call them equal but well, it was a fairly palatable mix.

Of Sloth & slumber

Because we had the laziest start to a day

Of Sleepless charity

Because I spent a near sleepless night, sneezing but smothering most of my sneezes for fear that I might wake up the other 5 people in the room.

Of Expensive Expression of love

Because we sent postcards to our nears & dears (& later, discovered that we had reached home before they did!)

Of Spectacular views & God's glory

Because we preferred the view of the mortal kingdom (Paris from Sacre Coeur hill top) than the gateway to the heavenly one (the Basilica of the Sacred Heart)

Of gluttony and greed

Because I consumed in excess- the 3 C's I love- coffee, crepe & caramel custard.

Of lust on sale

Because we took the train around Montmartre and went through Pigalle- the red light district of Paris and because I found the openness of the "business" conduct shocking.

Of the prudish image in the mirror

Because I found myself wondering how I'd react to Amsterdam if and when I visit.

Of kindness & kinship

Because the Indian guy who asked us our nationality was not making a pass at us, but rather trying to warn us because his bag got stolen in a bus and he didn't want us meeting a similar fate.

Of moving on , yet not moving away

Because though I left Bercy, Paris in the fall of 2007-I know this is not the last we've seen of each other.

Au Revoir, Paris- Phir Milenge.

Power Of One

2008-01-14T21:37:00.001+08:00

M and I added excitement to our lives by welcoming two glass showcases into the living room There’s a bookshelf too- wait till you hear the story on that one….

Just to be clear, this is all Ikea furniture- cheap, functional etc- where you pick up doors, shelves, cabinets etc on your own and wait 2 weeks for them to get delivered. (don’t worry, these facts are relevant to the story).
So, there were these two delivery guys who came and started assembling the showcases. After they finished, they turned their attention to the book shelf- while they were assembling that one, one of them had an a-ha moment and he asked us “where do you want me to put the door”- I found that absurd..surely there was only one place for a door to be put, esp. since we weren’t asking him to plug it any room, but on a bookshelf with had grooves for the door and that sort of a thing.

And then it became clear- they had got only 1 door with them (one door for a twin door book shelf!!) And then he came up with the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in a long time- “Should I put it on the left side or right side”) Who orders a bookshelf with one door?? Apparently M did!!
Ooh M. He assumed that being the door package for the "twin door bookshelf", it would be a set of two- which it wasn't.

With the result, that now I have a one door bookshelf, which looks like a “kaana” pirate, right there in my living room!! I have named him Neo-the One. Why do I say "him"- well, just that I haven't heard of any fair maidens who answer to the call of Neo.
Coming back to Neo- neo, we can’t let it be that way-as much as it amuses us. We did go back to Ikea, where we bought another door, which will arrive in 2 weeks.
Please don’t judge me for naming bookshelves. I’m not psychotic. Just plain bored.

************************************************************************************

All in good fun. Is there any other kind of fun?

Exhibit 1 Good friend D's response to my status message "on a protest march against boredom"

D: ghar pe bhi boredom? why dont u chat with x:P
QQ: oh then that would mean i have to make another entry on my anon blog...won't it?:P
D: ur anon blog link doesnt work
QQ: LOL LOL LOL you dumbass...it wont be an anon blog if i post the link there..would it?
D: :-( haan

Exhibit 2 Random request on Facebook:

ABC sent a request using What does your birth date mean?:ABC wants you to find out what your birth date means.

Hmm. Let me think. It means I was on born on that day. It means that there is proof that there is life on this planet that started on that day. It means that if you let people make useless applications, there's a good chance they'll do just that. It also means that I will twist your neck silly if you send me these random requests again.

Look who's back

2008-01-14T20:45:00.000+08:00

Lasted all of a day.
I don't think the anonymous blogging was for me.
I've always been an advocate for owning actions and thoughts & the repurcussions that follow. No, being anonymous was an out of character sojourn- which incidentally, I might resort to, under extreme pressure, absolute lethargy, intellectual depravation or unadulterated malice-The Gollum avataar, I'd like to call it, with your permission.

But for now, I shall go have dinner & come back. To my senses. To my identity. To my inhibitions.

Did I happen to mention, humble pie's on the menu tonite?

Wondering if I should take cover....

2008-01-13T13:22:00.000+08:00

When I started this blog-it was anonymous and for most part of its existence, it's seen little activity-both from me, who posted sporadically and from the reader, who never came :P So the question of cloaking identity never really came up.
Gradually, I started giving out the blog address; dropping it shamelessly on my profile pages on social networking sites etc; even posting my life's scenes out here. But now, I wonder if that was a big mistake-whether this very act of telling the world upfront who this blog belongs to, doesnt actually make measured words and uncontroversial topics a mandate-I don't feel this blog can take the no-holds barred type of writing I want to indulge in.
Too many people I know have either read this in the recent past or will do so in the near future. And weird as it may sound-I'm not really willing to put up all aspects of my life for scrutiny and judgement, especially to those who know some of those aspects! Am I afraid of the judgement? Oh I don't know.
I am thinking of taking cover and just blasting off my thoughts without weighing in the nuances and reining the flight. I dont know whether I'll do that. just yet. As standard response to any decision, I'll procrastinate.
Ho hum.

Update
All I needed to unleash the bitchiness was a trigger and it was so readily provided. By whom? For that you'll have to read the blog where I officially let my dark side run wild. For a preview, click here: youhavetobeadumdumtoclickthis.blogspot.com :P Lovin' it.

Elegant Eloquence

2008-01-10T20:36:00.000+08:00

Minimalistic-yes! Product is the hero-yes! Grabs attention-yes! Will I buy the Audi-if you lend me the money, yes!

Happiness Knockin'

2008-01-09T12:02:00.000+08:00

This year has started on a good note. Turning thought into action is satisfying-more so, when the action is not purely selfish and could make a difference to someone else's life in a little way.

Go to http://www.nanhikali.org/ and make that difference. For as little as Rs.1940 (~75 SGD), you can sponsor a girl's education for a year. Just think about it, instead of buying yourself a fancy meal, you can gift her 12 months of hope, determination and ambition. You can help a young mind learn new things; make new resolves ; view the world in a different way- small steps in ultimately, deciding for herself-for better or worse.

And if that's not enough-photographs of your "nanhi kali" and her progress report cards will make those happy steps transcend the borders-right upto your doorstep! Happiness is coming knockin'- usher in the change-Click on that website now :)

Year of Change

2008-01-07T21:48:00.000+08:00

Not quite the type to welcome change with open arms, I usually start with denial that morphs into terse acknowledgement and then an absolute capitulation because I for the life of me, can't remember why I didn't want the change in the first place. (Did I mention inertia is my best buddy?)

This has been more or less the pattern with most of the things that happened to me in the last 4-5 years: getting used to a hostel room, case studies, crummy software, changing cities, contact lenses, colors other than blue, mobile phone handsets, ipod, cheese..the list is endless.

The lyrics of one of my favorite songs (Bittersweet Symphony) had told me long ago-No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change, but I'm here in my mold , I am here in my mold. And I think I repeated it too many times for my own good.

Which is why I thought I'd make 2008 a year of change-where I will challenge status quo, scale greater heights and fight the demons of sloth & laziness. Okay maybe not-but please excuse, I saw the 3 LOTR movies over the weeekend and 9 hours of war, higher purpose, dominion of men & "maai precious" did distort my sense of reality a bit.

However, the resolve to make 2008 "the" year of change was strong and to prove just how strong, I took the "How lazy are you" quiz on Facebook, forwarded by makdee, who for some reason has gone underground (blogwise, I mean). I love those personality type MCQs-you can pretend to be what you want. Now only if Facebook too had taken the same pledge of change as me! The submit button led me to their cute apology page, from where I meekly clicked 'Go home' and shut down my computer in despair.

But no, I would not let the virtual world determine the course of my "change inducing" journey. To demonstrate how the positive waves of change had swept all over my old self, I did what I thought was impossible- cleaned my office trolley, which after 2 years of indiscriminate hoarding of junk, paper & training material (oh-that does get covered in junk!), just refused to let even a pencil inside. The vibes of change reverberated. I could feel the change- I tell you, the positivity almost choked me. (That sounds like Chopra and Oprah mixed into one :) Soul sistah, only.)

Thus began my journey of change. Here's listing the milestones of the week old trek-I read in some "cheesy" self-important book on change that in this journey no milestone/ resolution to get to that milestone is incosequential- and I believed it- I do take the written word more seriously than I should. After that detour, here goes: (hear the sound of check-check-check on those resolutions)

- Waking up at 8 am on Saturday to rush to the gym! The Yippie Kai Yay trip to Bali in March is a serious deadline by which I must swing back to shape or be a moronic mass forever.

- Not cursing/mentally abusing people as often as I did in 2007 I do want to be a nicer, kinder, gentler human being. Don't ask me why....

- Getting serious about cutting back on caffeine (actually cutting back is the next step- I have also read that change is a gradual process-hmm, I do believe what I read!)

- Calling up language & performing arts institutes & learning about the various courses on offer. Maybe my incoherent self just needs another mode of expression.

- Making a valiant effort at getting rid of this stone age machine my IT folks call a laptop but being told off by the service centre because though 2 years had expired, the warranty had not. (this seriously threatened my 2nd resolve-but will power won and I wrote them a happy new year mail instead)

-Taking charge of my finances and researching options to make better use of my money-investment, charity, travel, shopping trip- the plans are nicely plotted :)

- Doing what I loved to do-everyday: reading, going for walks and uninterrupted listening to music.

And inspite of the cynicism and the popcorn philosophy, there is one good that came out of the first change week of 2008- my will to recognize the small joys of life and to actually act on those mental maps- just paves the way for the bigger changes that I'm about to bring to my life this year. Yes, I can change, I can change, I can change, See me turning my mold.

I see you've started taking the written word seriously too, eh?

Eye Sa Lah!

2007-12-10T23:17:00.000+08:00

No. An ordinary sty wouldn't have done. Some vague rash-too pedestrian. My eye needed something grander. So it opted for a chalazion- which by the way, looks exactly like a sty but since it is grander & sounds more sophisticated- fancies itself a much much longer & indefinite stay on the eyelid.

I'm compelled to write about this "thing" on my left eye which developed sometime in May, starting out as a small swelling but by sheer determination (by the glands on my eyelid) and by utter neglect (my own), has grown to be quite a nuisance. To be fair, its a painless bump on the left eyelid which causes only a very minor incovenience-no eye make up; but has become a "grr point", thanks to the predictable barrage of questions & reactions it invites.

At first, people shy a second glance and then when they've acquired enough courage or have astutely established the presence of a swelling on my eye that deserves to be questioned, pop the exclamation-first in a series of many....

" Oh there's something on your eye!"

Those who pride themselves on their acute sense of observation come up with a diagnosis:

"oh something's bitten you on your eye"

(this is accompanied by them pointing to their own eye to show me the exact location of the "thing"). The assumption being that I lack either a mirror or any sensation in my eye or both. At these times, I'm tempted to give them sheets of paper and crayons so they can draw me a delightful, colorful diagram.

When I deny the existence of an insect bite and tell them its a chalazion-they are partly outraged at their superior judgement being questioned and partly confused at what the hell a chalazion is. So they proceed to:

"Oh, its a sty!"

"Why dont you go see a doctor?"

" Are you taking any medicines?"

"What did the doctor say?"

"When will it disappear?"

" How did it happen?"

"Does it hurt?"

" How can you prevent it from happening again?"

Explanations & details such as this thing being painless and having been there since 6 months, having to do nothing with make-up or my diet or any other deliberate action of mine are neatly ignored. They are convinced that this hurts and that I'm responsible-they just have to trace the steps back to the scene of the crime.

Facial contortions follow if I do happen to let out that this will have to be removed surgically.

"Oh so painful!"

"How awful!"

" Is there no other way"

Of course not, I just thought a surgery sounded like a fun thing to do. And yeah, buddy, those exclamantion marks sure help in easing out the pain and preparing me for the minor surgery (which I'm assured by my doc-takes only a couple of hours and about 2-3 days of rest).

So if you've seen me in the past few days or months and have been bursting with curiosity about the "ugly" thing on my left eye- Here's where you should go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalazion

It would have been thoughtful of me and convenient for you if I'd just put up an FAQ list on my eyelid, right next to the chalazion-but I've kind of grown fond of the 6 month old "thing"-don't really want to offend it 2 months before I make it go under the knife.

I knew you'd understand.

ps- I do realize that most of these questions would have & continue to come from well meaning and thoughtful individuals, but pls realize-collectively, the same questions everyday, become quite a pain.

- I want to start SFAAC (society for awareness about chalazion). If people are as generous about donations as they are with questions-this society will never be cash-strapped.

11th Sept-Two Guys, Two Girls & a Shorwa place

2007-11-21T22:13:00.000+08:00

Summing up the last evening in Paris is like recounting all the adjectives & descriptive words/phrases I know. Admittedly the vocabulary is limited, but well, the emotions are not. So here goes.

Confused were we, with the food choices we had in Latin Quarter-quaint eateries, pricey fine-dines, cheery cafes and just so many Greek/Medit. restaurants!

Generous was the owner of Mason Gyros ( a shorwa place near the Tunisian sweet shop). He was a Sri Lankan and when he found out that we were Indians, he gave us free juice! That single act of generosity was so unexpected for us that we kept staring back in disbelief-It was just so nice to have someone be nice to you for no reason. I wasnt really planning to order anything, but then after this, just felt compelled to order something!

Delicious was the sandwich which the Generous Owner made for me. Since there was nothing veg on the menu-I asked him for the regular pita sandwich without the chicken. But then true to his name (strictly on this blog), he loaded it with feta cheese, corn and olives, besides the usual lettuce etc and then went ahead and charged me a full euro less than the actual price.

Annoyed was I, at being asked by 2 men (estimated age: early 30's or maybe late, really late 20's) whether they could occupy the table next to ours. A good deal of my annoyance came from the reluctance to relocate my bag, which at that time was sitting bang in the middle of the coveted table.

Persuasive was G- who was probably just sick of my company by that time to readily welcome some nice looking strangers. Also she was more more accepting of their logic-the only free table was next to the shorwa grill and sitting there was like happily stepping into an oven.

Thankful was I- coz if it hadn't been for G, we wont have got to meet Sofiane and Amine, the 2 friendly Algerians, who'd been staying in France since 5 years or so. Conversation started with Sofiane trying to guess my nationality- he thought I was Mediterranean! And for some strange reason, I seemed to like the fact that the brown skin and the curly locks could be attributed to another region, another culture and I dont really know why that felt liberating. Just did. In a similar way, getting to know that "Sumeida" meant brave in their language, made me feel braver & more warrior like than usual.

Quasi-Indians they turned out to be! They told us that they watched Hindi movies every Friday-sometimes the same movie every Friday! They shared anecdotes on how more and more Algerian women are wearing saris for their weddings, about how their moms cried during Hindi movies and how they feel intrinsically, the two societies were similar.

Lit up were their faces when I sang out the song that they referred to as "Jaane Tu" (tera mujhse hai pehle ka naata koi...). If you'd told me a year back that I'd be sitting in Paris with 2 Algerian men singing a song from a Mithun movie, I'd have laughed my guts out. Acutally I did laugh my guts out at the way those two sang away "jaane tu ya jaane na" without a clue on what it meant :) Singing forgotten Hindi songs in foreign land with absolute strangers possibly has the same uplifting effect as having karhi-chawal in foreign land.Try it.

Intense was our discussion about Algeria and the politics of that country, about Islam and how some customs just dont make sense any more (e.g. how men are not supposed to look at their brother's wife); about Hinduism and how India is so diverse; about Paris and how living in Paris could be-it's home but the sense of alienation does creep in every now and then; about their professions (Pharmacist/Biologist) and how they encounter a fair bit of racism even in their professional lives.

Gallant were they to offer to walk us to Berthilion for ice-cream and extremely suspicious was I, for even after spending about 2 hours talking to them, my defensive instincts (honed to perfection on DTC buses & sales routes) told me that strange land, strange people & late evening do not a happy prospect make. But then as the story goes...Persuasive was G and Thankful was I :)

Happy coincidence was a shut Berthilion which forced us to walk more and discover a delightful Gelato parlour which even shaped the ice-cream (sorry, gelato!) as a rose. Awesome treat for the senses.

Hilarious was Sofiane's English when he gloriously announced in the Gelato place, "I would like to invite you all". The serpent of suspicion was just about to hiss in my ear (what?? invite us to his place? invite us where? huh? huh?), when better sense prevailed and we asked him what he meant. Apparently, all he wanted to do was to treat us to ice-cream! Funny how even intentions get lost in translation.

Charming was learning how to pronouce Champs Elysees correctly and teaching them a few Hindi words like "phir milenge" , "chalo" and "achcha" in return.

Conclusive was the evidence that men will be men, always- silly putty, at most times and just so hopelessly illogical, at the others!- You'd have chuckled knowingly if you'd seen Sofiane express with his hands how "Hot" he thought Aish was. You'd have also stared incredulously if you'd heard Amine pronounce his dictum on "more children are good" and how he wanted 6 children of his own. But then if you'd have been there, you would have also sensed their warmth and goodness, their strong desire to set the record straight for their community and their daily struggle against prejudice and stereotypes.

But well. you weren't there. A good thing too-because "Two Guys, Two Girls and a whole lot of others at a shorwa place" wouldn't sound half as good. But then, you do know now, which song to sing to an Algerian to break the ice, dont you? :) Jaane tu....ya jaane na?

11th Sept- Paris-Of Notre Dame n Latin Quarter

2007-10-28T23:21:00.000+08:00

The morning emerged with the relentless question-"Do Romanians not like taking a shower?" In the 3 days that we'd been at our hostel room, not once had I actually seen them head towards the shower-combine that with the assault on the sense of smell and the answer seemed astonishingly simple. The solution was not-we just sprayed some perfume in the air and got on with the explorer's life.

The day was to be devoted to Notre Dame and then the Latin Quarter-the original "cool" place.
Taking the audio guide at ND chapel was such a waste-all the information is available in English and it was one place where the guide was a bit of a distraction rather than an invaluable aid.

The tour up the tower though, is highly recommended. The cost of the uber scenic view of Paris is 400 steps or thereabouts-not ready currency with the faint hearted! What was really persuasive to my 26 yr old legs was the sight of people 3 times my age mocking my stamina and marching on-Such josh machines, those oldies!

Got to discover loads of fun facts-e.g. all religious bells are baptized-thought it was a rather sweet tradition. Naming inanimate things just makes it better, yes? 'Met' Emmanuel: the largest bell of 'em all- it was earlier rung by bell ringers, but is now set in motion by the electric motor, that too on major occasions only.

Awesome crepes and gelato later, we walked towards the Pantheon (the fake French version-we did see the real thing in Rome). It was completed in 1789 and remained a church only for 2 yrs-post which it was seized by the Revolutionaries. Now these Revolutionaries-they were anti-Catholics and because they were proponents of an extreme ideology-they did take things to the extreme. Burnt bodies of saints; converted churches into civil offices; even beheaded the gods on the facade of the Pantheon! (many of the heads are now either in the Middle ages museum/Musee de Cluny). Today's Pantheon serves as the final resting place for some great and glorious people (Mdm Curie's buried there!) and well, you have to be really great and really French to find a berth with the other exalted ones. Pity not too many are making the cut these days-dont make 'em like they used to!

Janine was our Latin Quarter Walk guide-the tour's absolutely worth it at 12 euros-nuggets of trivia, exploring the place by foot, lovely weather-all added up rather well.Highlights of the Latin Quarter walk:

- The first and the most prestigious high school in France.
- The Chapelle next door (no its not called that-just dont remember its name, but do remember where its located)-famous for two reasons-a) its the only church with the stone rudeway left (a structure that divides the worshippers and the priests) and b) it stores a Saint's finger-the only part which somehow escaped the rowdy revolutionaries who burnt her body and threw it in the river. Such idiots!

-Mitterand's house: no. 22, if you please: he lived in a narrow gully!

- Oldest church in Paris (11th century i think)

- Oldest tree in Paris (1602)

- Shakespeare & Co-the English book store started by an Englishman called Mr. Beech, who also rented out the rooms above to aspiring writers- this was a regular Hemingway haunt.

- Place St. Michel

- the fruits and veg market (operates on 4 days of the week-Tue, Thurs, Sat, Sun)-not so much of an 'attraction' for the desis-but well, everything in Paris gets a coat of mystique and finesse-even a subzi mandi.

- Lots of eateries: Greek, Mid-Eastern, Indian and yeah...a bit of French and Italian too.

- The original jazz place: served as a hiding place for Free Masons!

- Sorbonne University, which actually started as a theological school-but surprise, surprise-it changed its positioning after the Revolution. Smart thing, that.

- Luxembourg Gardens: Beautiful and majestic-overlooking the Senate. The lady (hehe..forgot her name too) who ordered the construction, never really got to stay here-her son sent her on an exile to Germany! No respect, I tell you!

Two bits of trivia which I feel compelled to share:

-Most avenues in the Latin Quarter are named thus: Rue de "____"- the blank is filled by a profession, coz this is how the residences were organized and recognized...so there was one avenue for scribes (people had to go to them for all things to do with the written word- illiteracy was rampant), another for butchers and so on. I found this quite fascinating- using profession as a variable of organizing society isn't just one Ancient Indian whim then! Silliness is pervasive and as ancient as society itself. How gratifying.

- Notre Dame was cleaned in 2000, with lasers! and as proof of how dirty it had become, they've left the middle tower out-so the poor, not-so-little-thing stands tall and ashamed, showing the visitors the surrounding soot-less towers, silently begging to be revealed for what it really is.

To be continued.....(the evening was the most memorable one in Paris, and perhaps in the entire trip-just have to give it the privilege of undivided blogspace-sure G would agree.)

ps- if any of the facts stated above are found to be wrong, you know who to blame- Janine, of course! :)

Zoned out and Switched Off

2007-10-24T22:46:00.000+08:00

The gyaan is getting to me. The sound of jargon hitting my ear drums very hard. Maturity levels of people around me testing my tolerance limits. I need to count to 1000 in 5 different languages to stay calm. Screaming out loud seems so much easier.

How hard is it to ...shut up and listen....to think....to be mature.....to not jump the gun....to not assume....to be humble?
Zap.Zap.Zap.
To put my mind to some rest,
On brainfall.com, i took a silly test.
Which Harry Potter character did they think was I?
the freckled friend, the wise oldie or the wizard boy...
Oh great-the answer was plain to see
Oh blast-even my hair looks like Hermione's!

I need anger therapy. and maybe some shampoo as well.
But know what-I don't really care
whether my hair shines like a diamond
or dandruff signs you can tell.
My worth is not equal to what I buy.
My sense of self is also not for sale.
Happiness-not a derivative of products & deals
What they make is fluff-I know I'm for real.

S-C-R-E-A-M! REAL LOUD SCREAM!! (look ma, no rhyme-no reason).
I'm putting myself to sleep.

Sept 10th- Paris- Utterly Loverly Louvre

2007-10-17T22:16:00.000+08:00

The day started relatively late (8:30 am), but the silver lining was the unhurried and exclusive use of the shower and a leisurely breakfast. Having spent a wonderful & no-harm-done day in Paris, we deemed it proper to dole out some tips to newbies (e.g. what bus number to take to the Eiffel Tower etc.). Very satisfying was that! And very smug were we!

We took the Metro to the Musee du Louvre. (While reading the news today about the metro strikes in Paris protesting Sarkozy's "main azaad hoon" type war cries against the welfare state's stubborn deficit inducing ways- I only wanted to thank our stars, for having made the trip when we did- Dunno what poor backpackers would be doing on Oct 18th!)

Anyway getting back to the Louvre-ignore the hideous monstrosity of the glass pyramid and soak in all the other sights-the fountain, the old medieval fortress look (it actually was one) and the yuppies doing the Da Vinci Code tour. Take it all in and brace your feet for the long haul and your brain for extra comprehension and absorption power!

You'd need about two days to do this museum justice-and I know two days in a museum can sound dauting-so here's the deal- devote to it one solid day-non-negotiable!! It has 8 sections- Sculptures, French paintings, Oriental Arts, Egyptian, Arts of Islam, Middle Ages paintings, Napolean Chambers (Objects D'Art), Decorative Arts & Paintings and trust me-even 12 hours may seem too short.

We did the paintings section first-populist tendencies overtook better judgement-didnt want to "miss" the Monalisa! And this is not my cynical self that speaketh- Found it a bit over-rated- Maybe it was the crowd of people & cameras that I had to negotiate with to get one look at that mythical smile or maybe it was because I've seen so many good and not-so-good copies of that image-it has perhaps lost that allure. If you'd seen the empty rooms in the previous section and the mass assembled in Mona-Lisa room, you'd be forgiven for thinking poor Leonardo never put brush to canvas, save for the lady's portrait!

The real surprise in that room was "The Wedding at Casa" (portrays the scene of the feast where Jesus turned water into wine)- It was such a beautiful & vast painting and oh, with a really comprehensive explanation carried in the audio guide-I probably stood there for 15 mins, gawking! Again, the audio guide is an imperative-most of what's written in the museum is in French and there's a good chance you'll be breezing past masterpieces if you dont have the audio guide. Not a stickler for looking at at every square inch from all dimensions, but then having travelled that far-it'd be a shame to deny your brain even that eensy-weensy bit of perspective on what your eyes transmit as a fuzzy flower in yellow.

Nett-dont miss it the Paintings section (arguably, the Middle Ages section is missable- they didnt call 'em the Dark Ages for nothing, duh!) Mesopotamian is a great treat and it did get me into a philosophical mode (what with people routinely dying in Iraq everyday and the general sense of chaos this country has come to portray)-what is it with great empires and not being able to sustain their power and might-Romans conquered that region and then decadently voted themselves out of the race. I really do wish to be born again after 500 years with the same consciousness to see whether the US, Germany and Japan really retain their power or does Trinidad & Tobago edge them out for the Top Job, somehow!

Dont miss the Sculptures-esp the few Greek ones-extremely rare! See on display "Venus Di Milo"- now the sweet part is-no one knows whether its Venus or some other goddess but well, some Roman decided it was Venus and therefore, Venus is what the world calls her.

The Romans really did a darn good job at copying all that was Greek and Great and then creating their own borrowed versions of greatness. And you see it in the sculptures around you. While you grudgingly grant the Romans their due, also bless the French archaeologists who are responsible for getting a lot of these artefacts together from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Italy.
Another thought that lingered in my mind was how fashion and trends come a full circle and how similar people living generations & continents apart could be! A lot of the jewellery and art on display from the Pompeii ruins or the Eqyptian pyramids is so contemporary-on more than one occasion I caught myself thinking-hey, I or my friends could wear this stuff!! (no sarcasm here, I swear and no criminal intent, either!). The same fuzzy we-are-one-always-have-been feeling emerged again when I looked at the Egyptian beauty products display! :D

The Guided Tour of the Louvre was well worth it (might have been better if we'd managed to catch the morning tour-seeing all the highlights and then doing the sections that seemed really interesting would have been simpler-but oh, well!). Our Guide was very well informed and gave us lots of stories on the different sections and the major highlights of the museum-her accent also kept me well entertained-Her "H" was silent and I really did find it amusing when she said something like-"Dis 'orse 'eez verrry good".

On our way back from the Louvre, we went to the Garden of Tiles again (doesnt sound half as pretty as when you say Jardin de Tuileries, na?). Watched the evening sun blot its colors all over the sky. I did think the sky was really pretty in Paris but a long debate with G made me think, maybe it was just coz I never bothered to look up when I went about my daily existence in Sing/India!

After our Heat and Eat dinner at the hostel, we decided to walk a bit around Montmartre-the charming district we were staying in- as was expected, we lost our way but discovered some small winding streets with quaint shops. And we caught a glimpse of the lit Eiffel Tower.

The icing on the cake was the free internet hours the French (& by now friendly) receptionist gifted us, along with the advice to avoid Sacre Coeur at night-Free internet, lovely French music in the background and smile on our faces-what else did we need-umm, a keyboard with the keys in the right places would have helped!! Demanding, demanding!

Traveller's Tip#1-Do take the audio guide-at 5 euros, it's a steal and an absolute must if you are to make any sense of what's inside the Louvre. Also taking the morning guided tour makes more sense.

Traveller's Tip#2- Keep some time for lunch-the terrace cafe is supposed to be good but has a long waiting line-we had to make do with a cold and expensive salad just to be on time for the guided tour.

Traveller's Tip#3- Avoid Sacre Coeur at night-if you insist on going there to catch a view of the Eiffel Tower-carry minimal cash & be safe!

An evening in Paris-9th Sept

2007-10-10T22:42:00.000+08:00

Glorious sunset. Laced the wannabe Paris Eye (just a wheel really) with its battery of reluctant-to-leave rays and turned it into a magnificent work of art.

The beautiful sky. Draped in hues of orange and pink. The kind that makes you do a 360 degrees marvelling at nature.

Champs Elysees. Stealing some and getting the ground its fair share of glamour, light and color. The sprawling n sparkling avenue is called the most beautiful avenue in the world and according to us, it surely lived upto its reputation.

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder and what our eyes showed us were dazzling lights, places that define fine-dine, shopping arcades that spell class, perfumeries & chocolateurs luxuriously humouring fabulously dressed people (and here, my eyes obviously wasted not a second on people who came anywhere close to looking like punks with pink hair & pierced bodies...like aunties who combined saris with sports shoes...like scruffy smelly strangers...you get the picture right? Essentially other ordinary plebians. Needless to add, mirrors and reflections were duly avoided to prevent self from cringing).

I think I saw all the brands I thought I knew and more, which simply deserved to be known coz they were on Champs Elysees. (Note: not to be confused with Champs On Lease, the galli just behind New Rambo Gym that produces (third) world class wrestlers!- the correct pronunciation for the lovely avenue, if written in German style English (where each letter written was in dire need of intonation), would be- Schaunz Eleez) Of course you'd still sound silly saying it without a natural or cultivated French accent. Think the easiest way to not offend someone French would be to say "oh..we went to the most beautiful avenue in the world"-they would understand and also be more likely to be amenable to your lowly existence :)

Arc de Triomphe was spectacular as well and thanks to the misadventure with the bus (we waited for over 40 minutes for the bus back to our hostel, only to realize that buses stop operating after 9 on weekends) & my stubborn hostility towards the Metro (just had this image of it being a shady and unsafe place to be at night-not true, btw), we got to see the Eiffel Tower at night-all lit up, resplendent and awe-inspiring. There's even a brief period when the lights flicker and you feel there are 1000 people celebrating Diwali on the Tower -the Sparkler effect is really something else.

I think G was really on the verge of losing it because I was steadily veering in the direction of "lets take a cab and just get to the hostel" (which obviously was a violation of the "if-you-are-on-a-budget-trip-act-like-you-are-on-one rule"). A local couple came to her rescue and they seemed earnest and reliable enough for me to pay heed to their advice to just take the Metro. We did and reached the hostel in 15 mins :)

The comedy of errors that followed looked something like this. G & S go to the kitchen (same place where we had breakfast) to heat dinner and realize that the door was locked. So they trudge up the stairs and tell the French receptionist that they need help since the door was locked. He says-no it isnt locked-just give it a gentle push-it should open. G & S run down the stairs and use all might to give the damn door not so gentle pushes and shoves and continue to do so until they become scared that they might be accused of breaking down the door and made to pay. Thankful that no one was paying particular attention to this drama, they run up to the lobby again-and since both G & S pride themselves on being mega intelligent souls, they decide there must be another way to the kitchen, so they go down the other way, but lo and behold that door is sealed-it might have opened to the street, once upon a time-you could tell. But it is not the door to the kitchen, that too, you could tell. So after completing a virtuous circle that only serves to make the tummies rumble louder, G&S decide to approach the receptionist again. The receptionist looks at them quizzically and decides he needs to intervene. 4 confident steps later, he shows G&S the "kitchen" which they had passed some 20 times in their hunt.

Hurt, but still defiant, S asks what he meant by pushing the door a little harder, since the door was already open. At this, the receptionist calmly points to the microwave!! (he thought we couldnt open the microwave??!!) G, S and the receptionist look at each other and burst out laughing. We murmur "Merci boku" (thank you very much)-though "moorkh bewakoof" would apply better to all the participants in this drama.

The evening ended with a desi delight-kadhi chawal! Long Live Kohinoor and its makers. Bless them-for what could give greater joy to the soul than yummy kadhi chawal enjoyed on the steps of Montmartre-the slight chill in the air making us savour each hot bite a little more. Yeah, we were in love with Paris. But the Dil remained firmly Hindustani :)

Traveller's Tip #1-When strolling down the Champs Elysees, keep an eye open for street vendors-they end up selling 3 eiffel tower keychains for 1 euro! Good gifts for sundry junta :P

Traveller's Tip #2- Be mindful of time schedule differences for buses, between weekends and weekdays. And it is safe to take a metro around 10-11 pm (I see G smirking)

Traveller's Tip #3- Do not eat on the streets-even if its the small pack of French Fries-you wont get ticked off. Verbally that is! Sit and finish your meal. Remember this is the prim and proper land and you dont really want to stand out any more than you do by virtue of your tone (both skin & accent!)

Oh Paris- 9th September (afternoon)

2007-10-06T23:18:00.000+08:00

The Boat tour lived upto the high expectations-We passed major landmarks of the city, located on the banks of the river-audio guide was also good in that it wasnt exhaustingly comprehensive but provided enough interesting facts to keep us entertained for one hour (sometimes, staring at bridges does get a bit tiring-but then you hear some snippet from the past which makes you perk up and take in the view with renewed interest).

That done-the next task at hand was to take care of our rumbling tummies-and here we were let down-the mistake we made was to settle down for lunch at one of the places near the Eiffel Tower-the primary consideration of something veg on the menu was satisfied and we even saw some desi faces-But as they say-kindly not to be going after appearances!! The expensive and cold meal consisted of a tough baguette with grated carrot and tomotoes (for me) and cold ham with potatoes & cheese (for G). My teeth rattled, my palette saddened & my tummy and G became grumbling companions-former hated me for the excuse for food I was shoving into it and G cribbed vehemently about the "kachcha meat"!

Next we trooped to Musee d'Orsay. Home to wonderful impressionist work-feasted our eyes on Monet, Renoir, Passaro, Sisley & Van Gogh- Oh, art can be so beautiful :) Leave alone art as an investment which tends to take a rather economic & dry point of view-my entire "art-nah for me! perspective was totally transformed. One of the many changes that this trip brought about in the way I think.

Outside the Musee d'Orsay, we joined the crowds sitting on the steps and the sundry street artists who were performing to this audience: there was a skater boy doing wondrous stunts (the stuff that finds its way to youtube) and there was this crazy wizened old man who was imitating passers by in a really silly & highly comical way. (I too became one of his hapless victims, though for me it wasnt very embarassing coz I was just intently looking in the skater boy's direction, with hand on chin- didnt realize when he sat down next to me, obviously imitating my actions-so when I turned, I jumped coz I was staring right into his face LOL-crazy idiot!).

The Jardin des Tuileries was lovely-combine a sunny Sunday afternoon, couples & families basking in the sun, some coffee and a rum crepe- Heavenly! A walk in the garden just brought alive all the praise and the adulation that I had heard heaped on Paris and made me a convert of the "I love Paris" brigade. Such a beautiful and unhurried city-would definitely be coming back here loads and loads of times (but armed with better French!)

( I just have to break this day into 3 parts-just cant get factual about Paris-bear with me as a I relive the experience in words & visuals)

Paris & Tour Eiffel-9th Sept morning

2007-10-05T21:29:00.000+08:00

Got up quite early, considering how bad the previous night had been, but then the competition to the bath and the loo is known to have transformed the laziest buggers into proverbial early birds. Early breakfast and helpful directions later (contrary to what we'd heard, all the people we asked for help/directions etc were rather forthcoming and sweet-not stuck up at all!), we boarded bus 80 to Tour Eiffel, named after its creator (The tower-not the bus!)

What I discovered is that the French tend to dislike anything new, its gotta be old enough for them to like it-we saw plenty of examples of this-from the unique Metro station signs (which looked like dragon eyes) to even the poor Eiffel Tower-which were subjected to the same treatment- therefore, anything new must age before becoming a recipient of grudging acceptance or adoration. (Remember the term nouveau riche? same logic!-so you need generations of wealth to be certified wealthy! Rags to riches story wont do!)

The Eiffel Tower is an imposing & grand structure, but when you are walking all those steps to get to the 3rd floor (from where you take the elevator up to the top), all you are seeing are the welded iron & steel insides, which arent particularly glamorous. Also, my long held belief of the Eiffel Tower being black in color was shattered-its as brown as Cadbury's Dairy Milk! I attribute my wrong belief to the black replica we had at our place (had it just fallen prey to oxidation?)

As testimony to the great shape we were in, we managed to climb all those stairs without too much fuss and man, it was so worth it. The panoramic view was aided by information on what exactly you saw in front of you and each of these info points was accompanied by small visual milestones on the left (when the tower became a TV transmitter station/ weather station, the tower's 1 millionth visitor, when prominent people came to visit etc).

The view from the top is a busy tourist attraction and well, just about okay coz at that height, you do manage to make out some of the more important structures but well, you did that with better sight downstairs anyway!-but if its your first time in Paris, you just have to go right to the top, even if it is knowing what I just told you :)Living upto my reputation of being a sucker for souveniers, I bought small Tour Eiffel replicas (brown, oreadi! so no danger of oxidation and propogation of a wrong belief) and a couple of extremely nice Black & White postcards.
Since the Seine Boat Tour was really recommended, we bought tickets for those and used the time between then and the departure time, admiring the Eiffel Tower from afar.

Traveller's Tip #1-Buy the Visite Paris pass (i think there are difft versions available-we bought the 3 day pass). This pass also entitles you to discounts at a lot of places, including museums and boat tours etc.

Traveller's Tip #2- Avoid buying the pass to the top from the ground floor ticket counters-Climb up 3 storeys and what awaits you is information & a shorter Q to get to the top.

Traveller's Tip#3-What really helped in planning our days in Paris (and the other cities) were the Fodors travel guide itineraries, available for free at the website-they usually mention tourist places and must do's which are close to each other, so you can take devote each day to a district and the highlights there, without totally wearing yourself out). They also have nice culture & food tips -which, if not very useful, make for a fun read.

London with a touch of Paris-8th Sept

2007-10-04T23:24:00.000+08:00

The thought of getting up early after a nite of hard partying was torture-putting it into action was tougher. But no recourse, as I simply could not leave London without meeting good friends-The Loomba parivar.

While in the tube (the metro, silly!-wasnt travelling through magic beakers & test tubes), for some strange reason, I couldnt stop smiling at the fact that this was going to be the first time I would travel alone in London (yeah, I know-grown up girl and should be no big deal)-but I get this feeling each time I travel alone in a new city-the nervous excitemen does fizzle out after a couple of hours but I do really feel proud of navigating my way around a new place-it could have something to do with my pathetic sense of direction (in my world, I locate places by landmarks and landmarks alone-had a hard time during my sales stint in Pepsi, where I wouldnt know the name of the road but I would know the exact series of outlets that I'd find there-" Laxmi pan bhandar se right" , phir "jalaram cold drinks", uske aage " Bhavesh general store" blah blah- Landed me in a soup a couple of times during high profile visits, coz I missed the turn and made my god level bosses believe I was a fat-ass who never did any market work & someone who just played a recorded traffic scene each time they called). But well, enough of a digression!

So yeah- felt great to meet the Loombas-had a delicious hoome cooked meal and saw great snaps (that sold me on to the idea of definitely visiting Scotland, sometime!).

And as paranoid that I had become after the barrage of horrible stories of thefts at youth hostels and the pickpocket gangs in Italy, I thought it'd be wise to download all my London snaps onto Suvir's unsuspecting computer. Logic being-at worst, I'd lose the camera-wont lose precious memories. Yeah, very positive, I know.

(for the record, all my steely glares and paranoia-induced strategies of deception worked and we didnt really lose/forget/damage anything valuable, during this trip-only our minds, sometimes!)

The day was also marked by the huge 'phatka' of 125 pounds each, courtesy a misunderstanding in reading train times. Our train was supposed to leave at 15:11 and arrive in Paris at 18:43. However, G in some delirious trance, calculated time differences and worked out some economic curve to arrive at the fact that our departure time was 18:43-with the result that once we reached the station, no rubbing of eyes could reverse the train that we missed. So well, had to buy new tickets! (Einstein!)

The temptation to scream and generally create a scene was curbed rather well, I'd say, particularly by me (given the past record of hysteria and panic at smallest change in plans), with the long term vision of having a great trip and the overarching feeling that we shouldnt let this minor blip make grouchoes (if ever that's a word) out of us.

The Eurostar journey from London to Paris was comfortable and uneventful and largely comprised a great quiche and a dishy but extremely boring co-passenger.

Arrived at Paris du Nord-had to change trains (yeah-backpacking also means no-frills, no-cabs and no 100 euros a night hotels!) and several steps to get to the hostel and we did get a bit lost on the street looking for it (rather frightening..coz I had visions of us huddled in one corner-spending the night on the streets!). God bless G's soul- she helped me with carrying my fat bag around most of Europe (so G, this is the cumulative, all-in-one mega Thanks :)

Though at one place, the Montmartre station, it was just so pointless-and since its a funny incident, I insist on describing it in detail. Yeah so we reached the station, relatively unscathed (after an encounter with a Loony Punju weirdo who kept shouting sat-sri-akal & blowing air-kisses from the other platform-When will scumbags leave this planet and create their own scumworld??).

Now the direction to our hostel clearly stated, "Take the steps followed by some rights/lefts (which i couldnt distinguish between as no landmarks were provided)" as the instruction #1 and since, compliance in foreign land comes easy-we gulped as we saw the "sign of 90 steps" that greeted us, but valiantly made our way up. Huffing and puffing and sweating- even getting an occasional sympathy smile from the passersby, -we made it-tired but victorious! Getting to the hostel safe and sound made us forget our torture-What revived it cruelly was the sign to the bloody elavator which we noticed, the next day!!!!Those smiles- they were not signs of solidarity from kind hearted souls-they were the "how-dumb-can-you-get snickers from strangers!

The hostel was nice & warm and it felt nicer after we realized that we get 1/2 an hr of free internet and that there was a loo+shower attached to the room :) (yeah, I also had visions of queueing up for the basics!). We were to share our small lil home for the next 4 nights with 2 American girls (stuck up), 1 Romanian girl (seemed nice but her lack of english and our lack of french couldnt possibly amount to a decent conversation) & 1 Romanian boy (her bro, we discovered later).

Sleep didnt come easy-maybe it had to do with the squeaky bed and the individuals listed above who had graduated in honors from The Twist & Turn through the night School. Maybe it had to do with sleeping in close proximity with total strangers. Or maybe my hostel paranoia. Or maybe just, maybe it could have had something to do with the 2 calls I got from Singapore numbers at some unearthly hour, about my cable tv and my credit card! (the singaporean accent can sound very very annoying at 4 am, trust me!). Or maybe my brain just sensed how stupid the rest of me would be proved the next day when i read the "lift" sign. Ah well. suffice to say, I hardly got any sleep. But well, what do they say, tomorrow's another day-and will admit, it did turn out to be a great one!

Traveller's tip#1-For London-Paris, a return ticket on train is cheaper than a single ticket. Yes ! Just dont ask me how or why. The flight is even cheaper-so unless you are spending sleepless nights over global warming and you've turned carbon-o-phobic, just fly a budget airline. (The indian rule of train fares being lesser than air fares fails miserably)
Traveller's tip #2- Book your hostel in Paris way in advance-tends to be the most expensive city as far as good hostels go. Square Caulaincourt, where we stayed, was good-but we booked it only coz others like Le village etc were full.
& since Im feeling generous, Traveller's tip#3- Do carry some heat & eat/cup'o noodles type of food (I'd reco kohinoor rice series-coz it gives u the curry and the carb together lah)-most hostels have fully equipped kitchens-make the most of it. This will be really helpful if you are comforted by'hot' food alone/are veggie/dont have the energy or money to make it to the next restaurant & can not, simply can not have more crepes! (which I promise, you WILL have a lot of , if you are veggie).

London-7th Sept

2007-10-03T18:59:00.000+08:00

The celebrity hungry morons that we were, we went back to Mdm Tussaud's, quickly forgetting the shooing away of the previous day.
After an internal debate of "should i really be clamoring to pose with wax dolls" vs "you are here-might as well", populism won! For me, there was also the vicarious pleasure of comparing height with other short famous people (I lay claim to only one of those adjectives :P). The vicarious pleasure of standing next to Jennifer Anniston and seeing eye to eye was immeasurable. The only celebrity statue who I couldnt wait to be with was Jack Sparrow! (didnt stop me from joining G with Leo and others, including Bob Marley, Newton & Shakespeare).
But here too some sort of a prejudice-all the desi celebrities looked so hideously plastic-even their accessories seemed to have been bought from the great chor bazaar sale-really irked me no end to see SRK and AB looking like poor cousins of themselves, while even the B-grade firang celebrities had been done up rather nicely! There were exceptions though-Beyonce looked as if she had used 1 yr's supply of whitening products in 24 hrs :D

Strolled around Baker St and picked up the mandatory souveniers. I'd decided to buy a coffee mug from all the places I visit (yes, the Delhi show off spirit rules :) and well, London marked the beginning for this purchase series.

We went to Buckingham Palace after this-did my best to peer inside those drawn curtains, but the grandeur behind the gates was all I saw. The time at Hyde park after this was simply great-abundant sunshine and a lazy afternoon- splendid partners! Had Ratatouille at the cafe there and well, cause enough for me to grin, all associations with the movie came wafting back.

Oh, and since no day in London must go without us getting ticked off (however much politely!)-we did! We did ask for it though, when we walked into the Ritz and were about to enter some sacred area, when someone in a haughty voice reminded us that we were not dressed "formally enough" and hence could not enter-Bah!!

The evening was absolutely exciting-packed with new friends,club-hopping and dance. We went partying with Bracey ,Super Sam, G & B's friend. We went to Leicester Square and was that place abuzz with life or what! The places we hit & the drinks that hit us: All-Bar-One (1 wine), Planet Hollywood (1 Absinthe), Metra (1 wine+ 1 tequila). The alcohol added up to a fair bit and G & I had a minor tiff over some equally minor issue (I'm glad we made up soon after). Ignoramus ol' me had no clue what Absinthe was-it turned out to be a saunf-based alcohol which is banned in the US and other countries as it escapes the breath analyzer tests!

Had a fantastic time dancing (though, for the life of me, I can't remember what we danced to)-and I do recall getting back home around 4 am! whatta rockin nite.

(a tankful of thanks to Bracey and Super Sam for all the happy times in London)

London-6th Sept-the jinxed day!

2007-10-01T21:07:00.000+08:00

London greeted us with a sunny morning and we cheerfully responded by setting out for the Tower of London-we didnt know that time that this was the most jinxed day of our entire trip!

We got off a station too early and as a consequence, walked a fair bit to get there. The funny bit was, when we asked for directions, the gentleman passing us by, asked for the street name! As abnormal as people asking for India Gate and being asked back for the name of the frickin street
Tower Bridge looks great-awesome photo-op provider! The Tower itself was okay-the place itself has a rich and varied history-it's served as a residence, a mint, an armoury..even an execution site! Saw the different weapons on display and yes, the Kohinoor too! Did get a bit agitated that its really an Indian treasure which is being forcibly kept in the British custody.According to G, it's a good thing they took it away and are keeping it there safely-I couldnt argue with that-well, the safekeeping and insurance expenses are serving them right :)
Post that, went to Baker Street to Madam Tussaud's, but since we'd booked the tickets online using Devika's credit card-we were briskly turned away as we were in possession of neither the card nor Devika. Big Boo to the burly smartass at the counter who saw these innocent faces as those of fraud perpetrators!

Smarting at the gujju crowds which effortlessly made their way inside and determined to put our time to good use (itni door aaye hain, to kuch dekh ke hi jayenge!) we decided to go to the museum named after the most famous inhabitant of this street. After getting the token snap clicked at the gate, we went in and hurried over the over-priced souveniers. Expressed interest in going inside but were politely told that wasnt possible as the museum was getting re-carpetted!!
Hungry and a bit disappointed at being rejected by museums (tch.tch.), we just decided to head home-But well, the tube was also raring to give us a beating- we took the wrong train-TWICE!-and finally reached home only around 3 pm. Decided to give ourselves a hot meal break!

Then came the ugly encounter with the dark rogue who misbehaved (wont go into the ugly details-but essentially he took 'eveteasing' to a new level) and shook me out of my touristy complacence. Double Boo to him and may he be denied entry to Madam Tussaud's as well :P

Harrods was next on our list of To-Do's and contrary to my image of it being a style haven, it turned out to be the most hideous & grotesquely done department store. Sure it houses everything I cant afford (except for the donuts and the coffee at the food stalls)-but must it put garish replicas of Egyptian mummies at every corner? Jimmy Choo & Pharaohs-icky combo this! But well, its a great place for spotting trends and every style diva in London does sashay down the aisles here, though the view does get marred by the well-past-the-prime wannabe with the bulging, adorned with bling waist and the shrinking, painted red lips. But well, after an hour there, we had luxury brands streaming out of our ears-Tiffany, Chopard, LV...it does want to make you feel like a millionaire-if only to offer to redecorate the Dodi's gaudy place!

Since no true London Experience is complete without watching theatre, we trudged along to Playhouse Theatre (no connection with Playboy!) to watch Footloose-had a great time and there were so many times, when I just wanted to run up to the stage and join the performance! Any shoes are dancing shoes :)

Oh and as if we hadnt rubbed the snooty London nose the wrong way enough number of times, the pregnant waitress at the Italian pizza joint asked us in the most icy tone possible- "Is that all you are having?"- Our crime? Ordering one pizza for both of us! We hastily ordered fruit juice-Ayyo, what attitude!The post-musical walk along embankment was wonderful-the city looked beautiful at night.

<---that's us-and in the background is the London Eye, though you have to strain Your Eye to see it :) Day ended happy- infinite boos to the jinx!

Traveller's tip: Book tickets for the museums and theatres online-much cheaper (also, do remember to take the credit card with you-and yes, do ensure you have a credit card before u embark on your travel :)

London Expense orientation: Coffee for 2 pounds & pizza for 5-7 pounds. Not all that bad, huh? But take that with a pinch of salt-that's the happy tourist talking!

London-5th September

2007-09-30T18:24:00.000+08:00

Arrival at the heathrow terminal 3 was also marked with the longest immigration queue I've ever seen. Made even my 'favorite' Delhi airport seem much better. Though the one thing that was common was the Punju accent-London is more "tikka-ized" than I thought.

Happily smiling at the reverse imperialism, I met Devika and Sam-the journey back home took three times longer than usual, thanks to the extra wheels on the roads because of the tube strike. Home for the next 3 days was at Hammersmith.

After an angrez breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup, we ventured out. Took a day pass of 5.10 pounds (most economical way of travelling around-unlimited rides on all public transport). First stop was Leicester Square-home to many theatres, pubs and swanky eateries (the place really comes alive in the evenings). Walked towards Blackfriars and saw the Thames up-close-mucky water-looked like a grown up version of the Mithi river (yes, there's a river in Mumbai and it looks like a disguised drain!).
Passed the Hyliograph gifted by the Egyptians to Her Majesty for the English victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile. Found it very hard to understand this curious habit of the erstwhile Eqyptian governors of gifting national treasures to imperial powers for random battle victories. (the De La Concorde has an obelisk-its twin is in Luxor). Its like seeing one minaret of the Taj Mahal in Philippines, where you'd least expect it-Culturally discordant and a bit detrimental to tourism for the original monument. ( A funny anecdote from our Thames cruise guide-the sphinx were put in a wrong position-facing the hyliograph, instead of facing outwards- they are meant to guard the damn thing, not ogle at it admiringly!)

We met Annie (one of the most genuinely funny & really warm persons I've met) after much deliberations over directions etc. Had great pizza (we had loads of those on this trip) at Harry's bar & pizzeria. From there we walked to St. Paul's-we just lit two candles and spent most of the time admiring the cathedral from outside.

Took the DLR from Canary Wharf (this was like coming to Raffles Place-all concrete and glass) to go to Greenwich. But alas, the observatory was closed (closes before 5 pm) but we did have a look at the famed 0 degree that our time zones are based on.

Weather was gorgeous and we spent some time lazing on the lawns-that's one thing I was taught by London-enjoy good weather while it lasts! (though to give them credit, the weather gods in Europe were really kind to us-not one drop of rain in London-my umbrella felt so cheated!)

Took a river cruise from Greenwich to Westminster and thoroughly enjoyed it-thanks to the witty cruise crew who kept us in splits with his comments. Some gems:

" To your left is the house of contemporary art-Does not draw too many visitors-if you see the art-you'll know why!"

" To your right are the containers that carry Londoners' waste to Essex-that takes care of two problems-what to do with the waste and what to do with Essex!"

Saw all the picture postcard sights-Westminster Abbey, London Eye, Big Ben (which incidentally is the name of the bell that tolls insides-not of the clock tower). The evening was spent walking around Westminster Abbey, Downing street (closed to general public, but well, at least we saw the sign) and Trafalgar Square.The one thing I loved about London was the adorable little flower baskets hung at home & shop entrances, lamp posts and well, just about anywhere-Felt very pleasant!

Took the direct bus from Trafalgar home and crashed-I let jet lag catch up and win!

Sawadee-kaa: At Suvarnabhoomi airport

2007-09-30T17:37:00.000+08:00

The best laid plans do go astray and you learn this the hard way when you start the big trip with many firsts (first independently financed, first 10+ hrs flight, first "long trip etc) with a big boo-boo-leaving the neccessary travel companion-the jacket snug in your cupboard! Armed with the knowledge that some of the cities I'm about to visit have temperatures hovering around 14 degrees and weakened by the body's low cold tolerance levels-buying a jacket was the single most urgent task at the Bangkok airport.

(my flight was not direct- Thai Airways insisted I spend some hours yawning at BK airport, before I was allowed to go to London-But entrepreneurial me decided hunting for a jacket was much more interesting-So there!)

But finding a decent jacket turned out to be a fair challenge-I was faced with 20,000 bags, but only 5 jackets-out of which only one was my size-Since laws of probability indicated that there was bound to be more choice than just one-I set out to hunt for another shop that was kind enough to understand that people forget jackets at home. My feet covered all square feet of the Suvarnabhoomi airport, but nope-bags, bags everywhere-not a jacket to slink.

Usually I hate too-much variety as it confuses the hell out of me-but on this one occasion, I just felt so cheated-Not that the jacket was bad-but having no choice while purchasing, did cause some post purchase dissonance!

The other airport experience (dinner) was surprisingly pleasant- Best green curry-rice I've had in a long time (at Pizza & More-dont judge by the name!). Made a trip to Boots too-impulsive shower gel type purchases, planned so that I could test my new credit cards :)

After all that walking around, I was sufficiently tired and sleepy to just head out to the boarding gate and well, board my flight!

The flight was quite comfortable and thanks to my walking expedition, sleep came easy. What didnt come easy was acquainting myself with the soggy, lifeless dinner plate in front of me. My veg meal request somehow got lost in translation and emerged as a vegan monstrosity-dull looking tofu, some red beans dessert, margarine, dinner roll and some bland, boiled-against-their-will mushrooms! I became that much more indebted to "pizza & more" and that much more determined to change my meal request for, at least, the flight back to "normal veg".

For the breakfast, i hurriedly returned the Asian veg plate (which had steamed rice & steamed veggies!), graciously accepted the normal fare- ignored the sausage and gorged on the omlette.

The small talk with the Brit lady next to me, revealed that 11 of the 14 tube lines in London weren't working-A welcome strike by the tube workers! Nice.

Anyway, Devika was coming to the airport to pick me up-plus weren't buses much better to "see" a new place? I think the yummy omlette made my outlook towards life really positive :)

The journey also allowed me to read my Paris and Rome printouts-but I had serious difficulty staying engaged with strange and unpronouncable names-decided to take on one city at a time and since I had researched nothing on London-I rewarded myself with what else, but sleep! Only to wake up and feast on the marvellous views of the wimbledon, the london eye, the thames and the other readily identifiable places. Paisa Vasool!

The Quirk tag

2007-09-28T18:16:00.000+08:00

Oh this is so unfair- just when I was about to start my travel blog (yes the 19 day glorious Europe trip has ended..(sob sob.).but (smile, grin, bigger grin)..what a trip!! Wonderful experiences which deserve to be told in much greater detail. But first the tag- since McD insists she wants to know my quirks, here goes:
1. I frown- a lot-and most of the times, i dont know im doing it- I've been frowning since i was a kid-its the thing i do when i want to listen, to pay attention, to understand, to disagree, to think- so if you havent seen me frowning-dont think you've met me :P
2. I smile- coz I really do feel it doesnt take much and just makes you & others around you feel better. And as a rule, I dont trust people who remain unsmiling for the better part of the day-something menacing about that! There have been times when I've done it rather unwittingly, like the time I did it when a prof was asking me something and I hadnt been listening and he ticked me off with " you will not succeed in the corporate world with a sexy smile" or something to that effect. I didnt know whether to feel insulted with his stupid comment or happy with the compliment. I just frowned in response.
3. I have a security blanket called "Satin"- I have slept under it ever since I can remember (there have been times we've come back mid way from a journey just coz I had forgotten it at home and wont sleep without it) and though I can now, get sleep even without it-its like a hug, a comfort wrap, a pacifier-yes, i do realize it is inanimate but such a constant in my life. (and no its not a museum relic- my aunts and relatives have been gracious enough to gift me substitutes every now and then-though I do have a hard time adopting the new one & letting the old tattered one go.
4. Food is a mood changer (share this with McD)- its a Top of Mind item-always! Singular in its ability to uplift mood or cause it to sink to deeper than deep levels. I love food and I love being a foodie! Loads of quirks associated with food (eating maggi sandwiches, or licking off the cream from cream biscuits ..but too many to list down here)
5. Doing random activities like reading, making cards, writing etc while in vajrasana, walking or standing- My parents used to get quite concerned that I stood for hours while I made Diwali cards for friends and family-but I just couldnt sit on a chair and do those things. Did get a cramp in my legs sometimes and my legs went numb sitting in vajrasana for 3 hrs..but well, I did it my way!
6. The color blue- Till college, 90% of my clothes were blue and I would have ended up as a dyed in indigo version of Simi Garewal, had I suddenly not discovered my fascination for other colors. (yes, even yellow and tan).
7. Extreme panic & hysteria when I dont find something-even if its extremely inconsequential. This is a very time consuming and painful habit (ooops, was I supposed to call it a quirk?). I am a mad woman on most occasions but go raving mad when I cant find something where its supposed to be or where I last left it. On most such occasions, I find it where it was supposed to be-the bloody thing just did a darn good job of hiding itself for an hr! (Recent case in point precious hours saved by Rashie through the discovery of my earrings in the original container- just seconds before I was to embark on a massive hunt).
8. Matching tunes- I'm good at tracking tunes and songs which sound like each other. So I know that "tanhai tanhai" from koyla was actually used as a background score in "karaj arjun". Or that lage raho munnabhai is actually a modified version of a bong song (dhitang dhitang bole).
9. Rembering just antaras or mukhdas and not being able to retrace the start/end of the song is such a nightmare!
10. My hello on the phone and other not-so-glorious ways of saying things- have been ragged enough about the former (of how the accent is so acquired etc-its not by the way-its just been that way since I was a kid and we didnt even have satellite TV then-only the world this week). I do have a sing-song way of saying somethings and have been imitated enough by uncles & aunties & friends when all I said was "Could-I-speak-to-Divya" or shouted "aale aale" (coming!). For more ask DT and wicked meera :)
This is an open request to others- if you think of any other quirks (worth mentioning and not worth censoring), do leave a comment-always good to agree/deny/refute/frown/smile :)
And the travel blog will start tomorrow-any more delays and it will feel as dated as the Roman Forum.

3-2-1...Blast Off...!

2007-09-04T13:54:00.000+08:00

This happened on way to Boracay (may). The kid was precocious. Would be about 10 years old. No loss of baby fat. All gains made in the decibels department. And as the airplane prepared to take off- the kid was almost choking with excitement, but that didnt come in the way of his rhythmic semi-screams, semi-chants of "1-2-3 Blast Off". (His dad did try to tell him this wasnt a rocket nor a missile & that the order should be descending). But no, the lil champ continued unperturbed.
His enthusiam was so infectious-my frowns at being constantly woken up (this was a flight at an unearthly hour of 7 am or thereabouts), gave way to wide grins.
I think I feel the same way, now that most of my packing and logistical nightmares are over (almost-there's always something I need to do right before the exit to the airport, to feel I've judiciously divided my tasks among my waking hours). This is the first trip I'm managing independently and though it may not sound profound, but this is really the longest I'll be in a foreign country (ies) on a holiday! And unlike most other holidays, wont have my security blanket-my fall back option (read the ear that takes in my cribs and the shoulder that supports me while i nap). Nerous am I. but Excited as hell.
And as I set forth on my Europe trip tonite, I know what I'll be chanting when the airplane prepares to take off.
Bon Voyage, Gnain & me!

2007-09-01T12:44:00.000+08:00

My life looks like this right now. So many things to do-desperately fighting the "why didnt i do this earlier" thoughts as I set about listing down stuff that needs to get done before i leave on the Europe trip!

And all this when i just want to complete "in spite of the gods". Just where is the magic wand when you need it?

Glorious achievements of Maya memsaab

2007-08-24T14:50:00.000+08:00

Admittedly, she's not my most favorite politician and that's certainly not coz she scores nil in the personal grooming department. But when the Tabloid of India screamed out a half page ad announcing her govt's achievements in 100 days, I found the story too interesting to miss. The relevance of the aesthetically disastrous ad had also artificially heightened due to my touch & go visit to lucknow the previous day.

I was genuinely interested in giving the lady a fair chance-I'd just re-read my own crash post and decided against judging (or at least decided I'd judge less- with Mr Judge-ria & Ms. Judge-a-thon doing a relentless & tremendous job of doing that, I didnt miss it that much). I mean we did hear about Laloo and his IAS army doing a solid job of turning around Railways etc. So I did read the "ad" with all the objectivity i could muster.

There were some 30 odd points and I read through them all. An excerpt:

The grammar was as expected- abysmal-but so was the quality of the "achievements". To tell police officers to register FIRs and to decide to appoint school teachers takes 100 days?? Demanding crores from the central govt-Reserving more seats for SC/ST-transferring jails from one department to another because of increasing "anarchy"- This is the work a state govt accomplishes in 3 months and then boasts about???

And then comes the news that Reliance retail and Spencer's hyper cant sell fruits and veggies coz it upsets the law and order situation in the state and since no one knows how soon the elections may happen-why annoy farmers-just ask retailers to shut shop coz they might just upset all those intermediaries who provide the moolah and muscle for the party.

And in the midst of all this, the Times of India is creating a ruckus about its Lead India campaign-it's seeking to be the Rang De Basanti agent of change. Quite good and positive-that move. Though it did pinch me- this blatant assumption of a man leading India (their recruitment ads are peppered with "he", "him" and "his", when describing potential candidates & expectations)-I just felt sad, not neccessarily agitated.

Maywati just proved how silly fighting a gender debate is-though she does make a fine case for equality- equally terrible , equally repulsive and equally avoidable as Mulayam!

Good mood induced by good food & sundry others

2007-07-28T17:44:00.000+08:00

The mood's awesome!!
And it has ze lot to do with the lovely lunch I treated me and family to at Original Sin.(highly reco'd-the food i.e. Dont think my family would like the idea of you wanting to try them). I want to learn how to make hummus-so I can keep more than myself happy :P (dont think everyone will get this-but that's ok)
Promotion news natually thrilled me but for a shorter period than expected-the effect wore off after the first 12 hrs-but that's usually the case with me-bad or good, things can't hold me for too long. The move to marketing is a bitter-sweet pill-Sweet coz i asked for it and finally got it-bitter coz in some ways, its like starting all over again. I just hope I can stick to this function for long enough-2 yrs in sales, almost 2 in CMK....I almost expect myself to find myself in finance or IT after 2 yrs! Dont bother absorbing that-its just my usual schizo cynical self. (why else do you think i'll sit and analyze my own good mood)
Good tidings also took the form of my UK visa approval-one less 'what-if' to get tormented by! And most of the hostels are booked too-save for salzburg. But the europe trip plan deserves an individual post. So getting on with another good mood inducer. X visited my orkut page and since curiosity could be my shorter middle name (current one is a mere 14 alphabets), I visited X's page and I blessed him-with a hearty laugh. Read on:
X says:
i m tough guy (ooh)......difficult to understand (dude-most ppl like it simple and if you understand yourself, wont really put it past others)...slightly romantic (ok!) ,,,,,, (notice how the comma has been used as a fullstoppish pause) highly temperd (with jeera and rai?),,i luv to make frnds (n i also thnk u lrnt ur eng thro sms).......but i don't like girls who show exessesive attitude (lil attitude u can take, huh?)........i like soft girls who can understand me exactly wat i m (contradiction-weren't you difficult to understand and what's this obsession with soft-u mean soft spoken, soft skin, soft in the head....a pillow?).........i simply give up myself in front soft girls.......... (Even i give up!)
Sorry-rather mean, but I honestly, dont understand how or why someone would say such things-about themselves too! Tee hee. And to think the guy had put Pierce Brosnan as his profile pic. You asked for it, bugger!!
I'm supposed to move house tomorrow,but there's no sign of the cartons the movers promised-Hmm...why do I sense my mood shifting to anxiety!

Whoa Woe Europe

2007-07-25T17:28:00.000+08:00

Have done precious little today except for random 'classified as admin' work. Searched for hostels in venice, innsbruck and salzburg and navigated through unpronouncable names and impenetrable locations. I dread being recognized for what I truly am, when I finally get there. And before I go any further, I am taking a budget vacation across Europe-London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa, Innsbruck, Salzburg & Munich. (No. not with my significant other. Why-coz he has work to do. Who with then- a close friend. No she's not in singapore. She's an Indian doing her PhD in the US. No. Im not gay.Yet)
Now that I've answered the unasked and hitherto unanswered questions, time to start describing my woes. We want to see the world on a shoe-string budget. Nothing wrong with that-except that decision leaves you wandering in the maze called "hostels".
I think the primary problem is that there is just so much information-Rough Guide, Lonely planet, gomio.com, hostels.com, hostelineurope.com.... and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Info overload just acquired a mighty ominous dimension. All I wanted was a glamorous sounding, scenic, backpacking vacation-why, just why, didnt anyone tell me about all the work involved in getting there!!
All hostels by rule, have and equal measure of both good and bad reviews, which just confuses the hell out of you or leaves you with no choice! Everything's good and everything's bad. This one has complaints about the bed, the security sucks at this place, this one has curfews, this one is too noisy. References are only a tad better. It just seems to boil down to putting your money where your karmic circle ends and breathe and wait for the trade-off to play out during your stay.
Im an Indian and I need a visa to go anyplace worthwhile on this planet, other than des of course :P The UK ppl want me to give them all possible details to assure them that i do have money to take care of myself in the 4 days that i'm there. So after 2 trips to the application centre and the biometric test & loads of dollars later, my application has been submitted. "if all goes well", i should get my visa by the end of this week/ Monday. After which comes the next step of the Schengen visa (im beginning to believe its a spelling & pronunciation conspiracy- Pray for me. And save some for next week.