A few years back...

About this time...

1) I took my 1st ever alone vacation out of the country - There's nothing like a solo trip to make you feel like a true grown up. I've travelled alone often, but there's always been someone at the other end I know I'm going to spend time traveling with. This was the 1st time I not only traveled alone, I also went around the place all by myself.

My host would get off work every evening and take me around non touristy places, but most of the bigger stuff was done all alone. I hate growing up and feeling like I have responsibilities most of the time, but I've never felt so grown up in a GOOD way ever before :-)

2) I met P: Apparently every time my parents went around Bombay to invite friends and relatives to our wedding, they'd get asked standard questions like "where's the boy", "where are boy's parents" and so on. Once the whole spread of locations had been laid out for the audience (Girl in Singapore, Boy in the US, Girl's parents in Bombay, Boy's in Madras), the 2nd obvious question would follow in utter shock - "How did this even come about!?!?!".

Wherein my mother would get to explain how her out of control daughter ran off on a solo trip to this country where she met the friend of a friend, and how they got talking and kept in touch over the distance after she came back and so on and so forth.

And how we now have what one could easily term 'ajab prem ki gazab kahaani'. Many thanks are being sent up into the atmosphere today. Many.