Day 1 in NY - The NY Treasure Hunt

Literally, that's what Day 1 was all about. Apart from some very touching yet very serious embarrassment at the airport, that is!

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Before I start, I have to do one quick round of intros to the characters i've already rudely mentioned earlier without an introduction, coz they'll keep coming up in future mentions over the next 7 days :)

Superman:

Called so simply coz his Halloween costume was to be Red cape + Red chaddi outside bluee pants ala the famed Superhero. (Sadly that Halloween bit didn't quite work out for time constraints and we went as ourselves, yes, scary enough anyway).

Mogambo:

Called so cause she doesn't like to sign off with her real name on her comments to my blogs. Also is one 'orre happy most of the time in her own world" kinda individual, which then becomes conducive to the famous line from Mr India - "Mogambo, khush hua".

Mogambo and Superman are currently engaged to be married in March. Superman was introduced to me by a common friend, then his then girlfriend Mogambo bunked in my home for a week on her way to India from NY last year and suffice it to say, we hit it off :) Superman studies close to NY and Mogambo works here. Our once tenous acquaintance is now a cherished friendship, one of the best things to have happened in the last year :-)

PuppyManohar:

Mogambo's friend and ex flatmate from her post grad Univ. Called so coz he christened himself that through his own blog. Don't ask me why. I didn't ask either! Now lives in Virginia and bunks here on weekends with Superman and Mogambo. Nice boy with acutely sarcastic sense of humor. But nice boy nevertheless.

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Coming back to day 1:

The NY treasure hunt was the ideal ideal way for a newcomer to get to know NY. So Mogambo signed the foursome up for this fun thing as Unpredictable's official introduction to NY.

The idea was to start off in a bar, get a list of clues and to do's and run around the city accomplishing them, before getting to the next bar which one can only identify if they get all the previous clues right. Then do a chill stop at the bar, do a round of drinks (on the sponsors if u win the round, else pls to pay for self) and continue on the next round. Winner of 2 of 3 rounds gets .. emm .. well .. the joy of victory itself and 2 rounds of free drinks :-)

The best part obviously was the 'to do" list which involved taking pictures of the team doing everything from 'invading a stranger's privacy' to 'getting a stranger to piggyback on one of you'.
Mogambo put SO much effort into taking these pics for this blog, I just hope the post lives up to her vision of how cool it would turn out to be. Most human headshots needed to be chopped off in the process (this intends to be an anonymous blog in case u didn't realize!) but not like you're missing much anyway!

Pitstop1: Kelly's bar where the hunt starts with ALL of 2 teams, including our own :D This is where the hunt begins ... our team of 2 boyses and 2 girlses vs the other team of ermm .. .2 girlses!

Eh, look! That's me pointing to the Kelly's signboard for your viewing pleasure :D

The to do's had us doing all the following:

1. Invading a stranger's privacy: Mogambo decided no better way to do this than to pick someone's nose. IEW i know! But not to worry, she only pretended, although knowing how passionate Superman and her were about winning, she'd have done it for real if needed.

Trivia: Turns out this lady is a state senator, her husband pointed it out to us as we walked away thanking her, and we came home and googled her to find out it was true. Mogambo has officially touched ... emm . .dug .. fame!!! (cant put up pic of senator and all ya!)

2. Getting a stranger to piggyback on you, spraying graffiti on a wall and doing a road crossing thing aka the beatles ...

3. Finding AND wearing sunglasses in the 6 pm darkness, taking a pic with a skull, find a man with a tie (on a hip NY street in the evening, gah!) and holding hands and making fish faces at complete strangers.

And at each bar, Mogambo would provide a status update on the win/ lose situation of our team.

Phew!!! That's the most pics ive ever put up here.. and the most edits to the pics!!! 2nd half of day 1 was spent eating Kathi rolls at this awesome joint and gulping them down in 2 mins to make it on time to Cafe Wha with its live band ... oh and wat a live band!!! Everyone was nice and happy and singy and dancy as the music got better and better and finally came to an end at 11.30 pm.

More adventures included a rather 'happy' me and PuppyManohar singing on our way back much to the amusement of MS, my batchmate from engineering who hasn't seen me in like 4 years now and didn't quite expect to see what he saw :D (lets just say i was a VERY different person 4 years ago!)

We finally ran out of hindi songs to sing and resorted to singing slisha early type Xmas carols on the subway as co passengers looked on with amused expressions. Apparently we also called Penguin and told her we love and miss her. This I have very little recollection of, but Penguin, I hope this tells you how much we do miss you :)

And that's how my 1st brilliant evening in NY came to a rather musical happy end :D

Coming up ... Day 2 ... in the next post .. for now i need to head out and meet Ma'am Liberty and see the famous Ellis Island where Mr Will "Hitch" Smith took Ms. Eva Mendes out on their very 1st date in the movie. :-)

Adios!

More New York .. what else?

So day 1 2 and 3 have gone past in a flurry of activity ... every moment was savored, breath held at the right moments, delight expressed at others, and most captured through the lens of Mogambo's brilliant camera.

(Note on cameras: A camera is like a good partner, it needs to make you look good, everything around you look good and make you feel worthwhile in your abilities to capture all of this beauty. Mine didn't. Forget good, every shaky snap indicates an earthquake in the vicinity. Amma, don't panic. It's just an analogy. No earthquakes, I promise! Anyway, for being such a bad boyfriend, I ceremoniously dumped my Nikon Coolpix back home and am having a very fulfilling affair with Mogambo's Casio Exilim. Life is indeed good!)

And yes, I know its 5.30 am in the morning here in NY, but I dozed off at 6.45 pm last evening after a LONG day outside and woke up to dinner at 10 and slept back off ... so at 4.30 am this morning my eyes opened (literally, not figuratively as in "meri aankhen khul gayeen") and I did the only logical thing a madwoman can do that early in the morning. Started to blog.

I'll follow this up with 3 posts, day 1, 2 and 3 and I promise not to launch into sundry details .. will keep you engaged with more pics and less of my gibberish.

(Ok FINE, I'll try! Get that disbelieving look off ya face!)

Comin up .. Day 1

New York New York!!!

So I land at JFK this morning after a 17 hour flight journey - without inflight entertainment might I add. Apparently the "problem was beyond the control of the air crew and would need ground staff help to fix" but we were thanked profusely for our kind understanding (we didn't bother clarifying it was more like simmering anger, so they went on to assume it was OK to let us sit and ROT for 17 hours with not much to do but sleep and eat).

If it wasn't for how sweet and couteous the TG staff is, I'd be sending them hate mail right now. But having grown to enjoy my own company as much as I do, and with Jen Cox's 'Around the world in 80 dates', 17 hours practically breezed past and we finally landed at JFK.

Here's what makes a trip mostest special. Someone who lovingly comes to the airport to pick you up, although they know you could manage just fine on your own. I tried insisting to Mogambo and Superman that I'd be just fine, and could they pls not wake up insanely early in the morning to pick me up? But turn up they did, with their friend Mr PuppyManohar who brought his new car to pick up (and show off to?) the new girl :P

I do believe, however, that Mogambo had some dark intentions which involved embarrassing the crap out of me, that were her key motivation to turning up at the airport. Look here, who does this to a friend huh?

Superman putting shawl on me as part of official welcome ceremony. It doesn't stop here, Mogambo proceeds to put a 'haar' (neck adornment traditionally used to signify a warm welcome, usually for shady politicians in India as they inaugrate functions and step off flights) around my neck cause you see, the shawl just doesn't count as embarrassment enough!

Pls to see purple color beaded thingie around my neck. The pic doesn't capture the amused expressions of passengers in the vicinity, just as well for me I think! Enough for a day!

On a serious note, I feel so welcome and wonderful despite this being my 1st ever visit to the USA, all thanks to this lovely couple and Mr Puppy Manohar who insists I brought the cold along (its been windy and super cold since this morning suddenly!). Am so so glad I know them, and super kicked to start off on my NY adventures for the day :)

Thanks for your comments so far. Penguin and V thanks for ur concerned msgs :-) I'll keep writing and uploading pics, and any bloggers in the Jersey area who'd like to meet up, do drop me a mail on the blogger mail id and we'll work out something if possible in the 10 days that i'm here :-)

We're off to lunch and then pub crawling on a New York treasure hunt, then dinner and drinks with this gang + Mr MS from my engineering batch, pretty much the only one ive been in touch with ... Looking forward to a chilly yet eventful evening here in NY with lots of dance, daaroo and dhamaal :D

Until the next post ... cheers!

Adios!!!!

Hello everyone! Here I am at the airport free internet counter (what kinda obsessive maniac am I you wonder eh?) writing in the last post for the next 24 hours :) I've left the lappie at home and won't see it for a good TEN days!!! :O But connectivity will still continue with Mogambo's lappie coming to my rescue :)

Still unable to shake off the feeling that I've forgotten something, but that's normal so I'll just ignore it! I'm done checking in and thrilled to report they gave me an aisle seat. Bleddy if it turns out to be one of those terrible seats with a half box in front of my foot in the seat ahead, ill kick someone. (OR ill solpa adjust as barking dogs usually do - but ull never know will ya! ). And in 24 hours, will set foot in New York :-)

I'll post right after I land. Until then, take care, keep posting blogs, comments and the like. I won't be any less of an obsessive blog reader in NY so pls to oblige all my wonnderphool bloggy friends! :D

Adios ya all! NY .. here I come! :D

Status quo

- Searing numbing pain in the hand extending to the shoulder, then neck. OR Searing, numbing pain in the neck, extending to the shoulder then hand. Not sure which.

- Leaving for my annual trip tomorrow. Will continue to blog and upload pics from Mogambo's lappie as I spend the next week and a half in a new city. My 1st ever ALONE trip. Not that i'll be alone alone considering im staying there with M'bo in her house. Still all planning has been done alone with no one to coordinate with - visa, tickets etc. And most touring, travelling within the city etc will be done alone while M'bo is at work.
Very looking forward to seeing fall colors for the 1st time in my life :D Very. VERY!

- Have shitloads to do before then. Workwise I mean. 2nd big project for the year to be done by end November and 1st draft to be shared tomorrow. My brilliant epiphany took some time coming. But its here finally. So a night out it shall be and a ready I shall hopefully be tomorrow morning.

- Still have last minute packing. Books to be picked up from penguin. Last minute check on docs. Warm clothes. Fancy clothes. Essential clothes. Clothes in general .. you get the drift :-) Thankfully can afford to forget the likes of shampoo and toothpaste. Visting a woman is SO awesome :)

Will put up one last post before I fly out tomorrow. And with that my bye byes. And a call to blogger friends in that part of the world to meet up if they'd like :)

And then I'll be on my Jet plane :-) Good night till then!

More questions ...

Are most of us destined to go through utter and total shit before we can attain what's most important to us? Or is it that the things that are toughest to attain end up feeling like the most important just coz they're unattainable?

Do you realize that you can only have somebody's heart and soul if you welcome their sadness just as much as you love their happiness? I hope you understand that when you didn't hear about their pain, it wasn't coz the pain wasn't there, it was coz YOU weren't really there ...

Does karma work within specific spheres of life - like if I help you progress in your career, it'll come back to me only as progress in mine, or could it possibly come back in any other form? Is there even Karma or am I deluding myself? (Though like S once told me, knowing it doesn't exist wouldn't in any way change who we are and what we do, I do hope that's true)

Deciding not to feel angry at someone takes a whole lot of will power. It took less will to stay up nights and study while fighting the monster called sleep, less will than to put up with inanity and malice with tolerance. How does one let go and not let anger find its target? Does the balloon trick really work?

At the end of the day, all said and done, all ties and relations considered, we come alone and go alone right? Then why is it that the things we get most worked up about are related to the people in our lives? Love, death, happiness, illness, pride and jealousy and their kin ...

With the 7 basic notes and their high and lower pitch variants put together, would you have imagined there's enough permutations and combinations to make unrepetitive music for eons to come? So when you and I are born again, not only can we hear Rafi, the Beatles and Pink Floyd, there'll be a gazillion other tunes to keep the mind dazed and ecstatic. Imagine :D Can't wait to be born again, can ya? Join the club! :-)

If you knew this was the last day of your life, what would you do? Who would you call? Apologies, expressions of love unexpressed before, confessions to clear your conscience, new places to visit, old friends to catch up with ... what else would be on the list? Why then are you on that couch watching TV and pushing the little gnawing to do's inside your mind further back into your mind, when you could be LIVING your life right now, exactly the way u'd always dreamt, with the people you'd dreamt you'd live it with? What on earth is important enough to be holding you back?

Why, why, why am I such a curious child, Dear God? Do you realize there's people I've driven up the wall with this habit? People I've driven away? People I'd have liked to have in my life but couldn't hold to my thread of questioning? Did you have a plan with this way you made me? Now's your chance to reveal it, if ever. I'm waiting for the proverbial 'light', kindly note.

Time for some more awarding :)

Its been a few days since Mahogany sent this my way. Time now to stand up take a bow, say thanks to him and everyone else who visits here making me a legit 'schmooze'r coz in Mahogany's words, here's how schmooze is explained...

"With a little help from Google I traced the origin of the Power-of-Schmooze award to Miguel. He's an artist/cartoonist/blogger who lives in New York state. He created the award to recognize bloggers who got noticed, built a reputation, and made new friends."

He does go on to say some rather kind things about my blog, for that and for this award, a BIG THANKS Mahogany!!! I'm touched beyond belief, and true to my word, am finally here to pass this on to the people I think deserve the title in turn. :-)

I pass this award on to those people who started out with blogs read by friends/ family and the like, but have made newer friends amongst their visitors/readers in the blog world. (THAT's what I've always loved most about blogging, award or no award) and these bloggers do it effortlessly :-)

Kusum and Chandni: For so many of the people who visit your blog with increasing regularity and frequency (yours truly being one of them) without so much as knowing you, i admire how you write and how it enables the connections you've made with complete strangers :-)

Broom: I don't know if its the nature of your stories or the way you write them, but you're a true blue schmoozer for the kind of support you've invoked amongst so many strangers :-)

Penguin: Ahem. Let me not go into the 'connections' you've been making on the blogworld. On a serious note though, I think your blog has tremendous schmooze potential tomorrow, despite its infancy today. :-)

With these people, its never the same set of friends/ visitors who love the stories, its a world beyond, and I'm happy to be part of that world :)

Here's to you guys, schmooze on! :D And while you're at it, pass it along!

I'm reeling ..

Not from the bump on the head, no! That's fine now and after having whined to Penguin last night about how i'm scared I might not wake up in the morning (yeah, they don't call me Drama Queen for nothing!) the head hasn't bothered me so far. Looks like I will live after all.

[Side note: A very trusted friend who's fantastic with seeing the future and all told me I'd die when my life was fairly precious to me. I did visit the thought yesterday for one bit to evaluate if my current life state would qualify. Answer was nope! :-) Another thing that gave me confidence I wouldn't drop dead overnight :D ]

I AM reeling however, from this stupid Neoearth thing I've subscribed to. (Btw, why the hell is my sidebar suddenly at the bottom of the page? Some geek type software whiz help!!! No, I don't qualify!)

Anyway, this earth thing keeps moving and by the time I track which exact city/ country the yellow dot coincides with, its gone. I've been trying for a while to place some locations and have consequently acquired a headache and some giddiness (no delight there!). Need to change this to normal neoearth soon. For now, I run to the airport to drop off mom who leaves for India in 20 mins.

Until then, go look at the neoearth counter and share in the giddy feeling, will ya?

As if I wasn't crazy enough already...

S and I were cleaning out the team shelves this morning coz we're moving to a different floor next week. Super-Klutz that I am, I hit my head hard againt a jutting open door of the top shelf as I stood up after picking up something. Its not a deep gash, just a scratch with very little bleeding that stopped soon after. But it left a bump and some notions of nausea. And perhaps tampered with my already demented mind.

You would imagine THAT if nothing else would get me some sympathy from my wonderful friends. Ahem. Not quite.

Excerpts from remarks made by same wonderful friends:
N: (responding to my statement that I hit my head against a shelf and it bled). Whoa! I didn't know shelves at P&G bleed! Strong woman!

R: (in response to me pointing to the bump on my head) Teeheee! You're like Tom and Jerry with those bumps on their heads that jut out like 'POING' (makes the poing sound for added effect). Now all we need to do is hammer it back in like Jerry does to Tom.

Sigh.

In the spirit of leveraging the situation AND getting my revenge, can I claim temporary insanity for physical injuries inflicted on others, just for today?

Boulevard of broken dreams

For best effect, hear as you read
==========================================================
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's only me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone

I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone
===============================================================
Brilliant no? How do people write like this? AND then make music of it!

Lose control? Not really!

The only thing I hate more than (insert the thing I hate most here, Im not sure yet what / who this is) is relinquishing control. Relinquish is such a nice word no? It actually manages to potray the illusion of being in control of the 'giving up of control' process! Who am I kidding. I hate losing control. (Yes, yes, new kids on the block, that's what they call a control freak, no need to wonder!)

My most loved area of work within my functional responsibilities is something I'll call S for the sake of keeping P&G's work anonymity intact. S is the kind of work that involves everything I like doing - working closely with consumer related data, getting into analytics like factor analysis and making sense of consumer choices. All my love goes for a huge toss however, when i have to outsource this piece of work to someone else.

To have them run it through an obscure software where I can only see the input and output and not the internal system , then to depend on THEM for every single follow up question to be answered when i could easily have proved/ disproved the hypothesis myself if it had only been a software that wasn't so friggin exclusive in nature, and then to WAIT until they get back to me to form a new set of questions. GAH!

(As you can observe - Move on F&*%, GAH is here to stay.)

OMG

Its what 7.15 am? Yeah. 7.15 am! I've been awake since 6 am i think. Rattling doors and a switch being turned ON and OFF, ON and OFF (what WAS that anyway?) have kept me awake and blessed me with the chance to start pondering life (and if i would be able to sleep again) since early this morning.

Oh yeah, long day at work yest and then the usual entertaining in the evening. I just thank N and S for taking the pressure off me - the pressure of hosting and pleasant conversation, you know what I mean?

I'm so tired. Seriously. Why does it feel like SO MUCH TROUBLE to host? I'm sick of hearing the criticism and the comments on EVERY SINGLE THING. I woke up berating myself for the limited patience and that i'd make up for it in the next 3 days. Hah! Fat chance!

I'f you're planning tell me to chill / relax, please to take the advice and shove it up you know where. You have to be in my shoes to even begin to understand.

There's SO much to say I don't know where to start. So I won't. (Deep breath, deep breath and let it all out in one big GAH!)

GAH

GAH GAH and more GAH.

i type the foll with my left hand coz ... oh do you REALLY wanna hear the whining again about the hurting right one? ... and the of the 2 ppl id really want to talk to, 1 just fell asleep and the other seemingly hasnt woken up.

So i dont hinge a lot on the men in my life, but WHERE ARE THE WOMEN WHEN I NEED THEM THE MOST???

And my dormant vile temper has to make its appearance just when i have guests visiting.

:(((( :'(((((( :(((((((

GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Insights into the hurting hand...

I write this post with a speed I would normally say "Thooo" to. This unexpected, yet necessary action follows from R's brilliant theory on why my hands hurt so much at the end of every week.

Conversation in bus on way home:
Me: *Having complained ALL evening of heightened pain in the hand* The pain is throbbing in a very scary kinda way. I'm quite scared :-(

R: What did doc say?

Me: See *this* nerve leading from the forearm to elbow? Doc said I've angered it.

R: Angered as in can only be appeased by dancing around bonfire on a full moon night?

Me: Angered as in .. (oh forget it... not getting any real sympathy from this boy!)

R: Ok ok ... don't get all angry ... let me think ...*looks out of bus with intense pondering expression on face while I'm contemplating how life without blogging will look*

R: I know what it is!

Me: What what is?

R: The anger.

Me: !!!!

R: You know what your problem is?

Me: That you change topics effortlessly and confuse the crap outta me on a Friday night?

R: *Sighing at my inability to grasp profundity of his wisdom and the seemingly apparent logical linkage between his random sounding statements*

R: Your problem is - you type as fast as you think

*Lets me munch over this for a while*

Me: *not making any progress on the logical linkage as you can very well see. He must have seen it too*

R: The problem *implied "You poor naive ingorant Unpred" to be inserted here* is not that you type a LOT, its that you type too FAST.

Me: *implied "Oh wise master" to be inserted here* And how do you conclude that?

R: *Now wearing full on professor expression* See my hand *mimics typing motions with his hand* See how the movement of the thumb affects that nerve, so when your movement here is really fast *speed of mimicing motions assumes alarming speed* the nerve is seriously pissed. Hence it hurts. Net recommendation: Don't stop blogging. Just stop typing FAST. Its quite stupid. *For added effect so the advice sinks in*

Me: *All sorts of Graham Bell devices going ON inside my brain* OHHHH. YAY! Ok i'll try tomorrow then. This typing slow thing.

R: *Full givvvvuuuup happening* Can't you NOT blog for 2 days? Just stay away from the laptop OK? Or i'll take it home with me.

Me: Gasp! *Sulking and on cusp of whining* FINE. I promise. I won't blog over weekend. Promise. Just don't take it away from me ok? *Sad pleading expression on face*

R: Good. Very good. Go entertain your mom over the weekend and REST the hand!

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Before you say anything, give me SOME credit, atleast i'm breaking my promise SLOWLY. :D

Short short .. i promise!

I do solemnly vow to keep this post short. (Coz my hands are acting up ettagain!). But 2 of my fav ppl came over to dinner tonight to eat Paella that they missed last night. In addition there was
- self made near perfect bruschetta (mastery being developed in Penguin's absence, she's in Manila slogging her butt off as I post and cook away)
- asparagus sauteed with baby corn in sweetened soy sauce
- bread croutons moistened with tomato and mint gravy
on the side .. coz was afraid the Paella wouldn't suffice. And a good meal was had by all. :-) Esp by N as you can see from almost demented happy expression on his face :D




(Pls note: N was not ASKED to collect the dishes and keep them like a lost treasure next to himself. He did it on his own accord. We think it might be food induced temporary dementia, but with him, you never really know!)


On a related (!!?? how !!!) note, what I totally LOVE about these 2 is how well they know forgotten hindi songs from our childhood days. Everything from the "Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya" song to "Atushree Mahabharata Katha" comes waltzing back into the room when I'm with them. :-) In keeping with tradition, we you tubed the Mahabharata opening song and not only found it, but also sang along with violent glee :)

Louuuuittt when i find mad people like myself in the world to rejoice over the itsy bitsiest crazy experiences :D

And Sha is the bestest mostest astonishing Bong woman ever! I mean, to tell me to play 'Vaseegara' (the tam version of Zara Zara) coz it sounds so much better than its hindi cousin, then to play Sandai Kozhi instead of its hindi sister 'Kabhi Neem Neem' from Yuva and finally request for a song from Kannathil Muthamital I haven't even heard myself!!!

I officially LOU this woman!!! :D


And my mom gets here in 2 DAYS! :D

And my very good pal V is back from his week long absence in Europe :D

And my visa got approved for my Nov trip - I leave in 2 weeks !!! :DDDD (I'll post the where only when I get there. Enough of jinxing my own luck for one year!)

And I had fruit juice AND ice cream tonight. :S

(Note to self: Its just a sugar high - PHEW!)

Ok, ok. ... I'm off to rest the hand and the system.Good night (yaaaawwwwwwwwwwwn) everyone!

Music, food and broken bones ...

Music:
My carnatic vocal lessons started in May 2007 (despite original plan to start in May 2006, but has it really been a WHOLE YEAR!) and I'm so happy to announce that I'm officially done with phase 1 aka 'Githams' (Penguin, if this is factually incorrect, be a darling as always and DON'T correct me, im in the clouds and i really don't wanna crash land onto reality!) and phasing into Varnams slowly.

Sadly, with a lot of travel and the much awaited holiday season coming up in the next 2 months, classes will be suspended until I rejoin in Feb 08. But until then, a big hurrah to having completed 6 months of vocal training, something that had stayed on the 'to do before i die' list for WAY too long! :D

Practice shall continue with the wonderful Penguin crooning along (and leading in most cases, her expertise on carnatic vocals having been established decades before mine even kickstarted) and substituting for my 50 something teacher in the meantime :)


Food:
Tired of cooking same-old-Indian khaana and stubbornly refusing to settle for anything less than exotic, today just had to be uber-special in the kitchen.

Inspired by Penguin (what isn't nowadays!) and many many mentions of Spain in the last 2 days (apparently some training college for my old business team is happening in Barcelona and junta's flown to Spain for that .. some ppl have ALL the luck bleddy!) and inspired by my last successful foray into foreign cuisine (Pasta and Bruschetta, remember?), today was when I ventured further North in Europe in my culinary adventures and dug up a recipe for Spanish Paella.

Dug up recipe, and cooked to boot! :D Simmered in tangy tomato and bell pepper broth, in a base of sauteed onions and garlic, garnished with lemon and mint, here, here ... I present to you ... Spanish Paella!!!

Cool no? :D Now all those who declined my invite for dinner this evening (You know who you are!) pls to feel TERRIBLE at having missed THAT. It tasted a zillion times better than it looks. :-) Nyahnyahnyah loserrssss! :D

Broken bones:
Not literally. But seriously, every limb in my tiny (FINE, my 5' 8" giant self! Happy?!) being hurts like mad.

(I'm sending this link to my mom so she can feel proud of my cooking and all, but guess what's the one thing she'll remember and fret and instantly call me about?!)

Amma's potential 3rd degree notwithstanding, possible hypothesis on how this achy breaky situation might have happened:
1. Sporadic running. Not warming up properly? (not true, not true!). Getting back to it after too long breaks sometimes.
2. Not gymming properly? Lifting weights in ways that not only lessen fat but also grotesquely twist muscles all wrong! :(
3. Body massage that the self was subject to 2 weeks ago. Maybe, just maybe, one of the many many cracks I heard was a legit bone breaking :(
4. Amateurish feeling foot massage that I got done at the art exhibition a week ago. But can a bad foot massage affect everything from the bottom of my neck to the tip of my finger? Someone pls to enlighten my ignorant soul!

I put my money on 3/4 (obviously coz i get to blame someone ELSE!). Any vishesh tippani (special tips) from my beloved reader?

So if you see me squirming in the next few days, it MAY be coz ur pissing me off really bad (lets not rule that out too soon!), but more likely its coz im hurting all over and going ooh aah ouch under my breath!

I'm off to another night of sedated sleep and potentially another morning of waking up with creaky joints. Good night and hope ur having better luck! :)

Pasta and Bruschetta - made to order !!!

I'll admit the pasta may have been my 'same-old'ish idea, but the uber-cool 1st principle bruschetta was Penguin's idea AND execution, with exotic herbs, garlic paste, butter and olive oil thrown in for effect.

Both turned out SO SO good, I'll just leave a pic to say it all :)

Watta dinner! :D

Engliss is a phunny lenguage you say?

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Sensitive post coming up again. I'll get lynched after this one for real. I'm serious. I'm hence putting up a disclaimer before I commence.

The views in this post are mine and mine alone. You may think I'm shallow, petty or judgmental based on the post. And I'm perfectly ok with all of those labels. But I'm not extending the scope of my opinions to anyone beyond myself. My style will stay questioning, but you do not have to agree with what I'm saying. Just think about it and chew on the thoughts in your head.

Pls to very kindly note all the above at the very outset.
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Imagine you're listening to a speech. Intended to be power packed and inspiring. Intended to send a thrill down your spine and get you abuzz with excitement.

Now imagine the same smattered with grammatical errors, space fillers or incorrect usage of words. We all know grammatical errors. Those don't need explaining. Space fillers would be anything in the vicinity of "Ummmmmmmmmmm", "You know", "Errrrrrr", "So" and the like repeatedly inserted where they simply do not belong. Incorrect usage in spoken communication would be "Testimonial" used instead of "Testament" and the like. Incorrect usage in written communication would be "Compliment" used instead of "Complement".

You get the drift?

How do you feel after reading the above? If you're a grammar nazi like me, you're cringing deep down inside at how the language is being abused. More than anything, you're lamenting the loss of great content to poor delivery.

I'm not saying I'm holding people at fault for speaking in poor english. Understandably, not everyone had access to English education or books when they were young. Admittedly, some children grew up in more "English friendly" environments than others. Some were lucky to pick it up from family and friends while others had to struggle and look outside to grasp the language that would eventually become an essential part of their daily life.

I'm saying, I simply cannot seem to get over judging poor delivery. Errors in usage irk me no end. Even the best of speeches loses its charm for me coz i find incorrect English so distracting. It becomes a monumental effort to stay focused on the message when my subconscious is correcting the person as he / she talks. Which is my loss at the end of the day I guess.

But that brings me to my key question (as it does in every blog post!)

Should we as a generation hone our childrens' English speaking abilities considering it could be a driver to their success? Don't jump the gun on the answer yet. Think about it for a while.

Didn't your batchmates with fluent English speaking skills usually find it easier to crack interviews? Didn't you find that they sometimes (only sometimes, mind you!) got away with not so great content simply coz their style and delivery was impeccable, impressive even?

Don't you find that its easier at work to communicate with people who can grasp this language well? Their thoughts as well as your own, even in the midst of arguments, become easier understood simply coz they're better articulated.

Doesn't it become easier, in an increasingly cosmopolitan and globally seamless environment to have a spouse or parent who can speak in English to be able to connect with your circles?

All things being equal: Intelligence, Content and Charisma, if you had to choose between someone with flawless delivery and someone who made constant language errors as they spoke, wouldn't you be inclined to find the former more engaging?

And the simplest measure, in your day to day interactions, don't you find that people who are extremely comfortable with the language can breeze in and out of topics effortlessly, expressing themselves articulately, in the process eliciting approving nods?

I do. I find myself mesmerized by good speakers. That's not to say I can't see through fakes. They're pretty easy to spot. But I find myself being terribly impressed and connecting very very well to people who have:

1. Clarity of thought (assuming the willingness and ability to think!)
2. The ability to translate that thought into expression in a language that's familiar to me (English is the most common given the social and work environments I operate in)

Am I hopelessly shallow? Maybe I am. But I write this judgment evoking post here in the blogosphere coz I know its filled with others who love the language and nurture it through their own writing. Is this "shallowness" necessary baggage for someone who loves the language as I do? Or should I dismiss it as a personal flaw? A consequence of being harsh and non understanding of others' backgrounds?

And more importantly, do you think the idea has merit? Encouraging our children to pick up English much better with the cognizance that it will be the language of the future and that an advantage in expressing themselves in this language will give them that tiny, yet essential edge to make a great impression wherever they go?

Have you wondered ..

How despite being in a room full of people, you can feel silent, empty and on your own (lonely is too negative a term). How none of the banter, jokes or well meant conversation make you feel like you belong there. And how with some other people, even the longest silences can make you feel at peace, at home.

How sometimes, the harder you work at something, the worse you make matters. How sometimes you can run as fast as you bloody well want, but it won't make one bit of a difference coz ur not the only one who controls the outcome? How in the midst of all your professional success and achievement, this inability to make progress can still make you feel like such a top class loser.

How sometimes you click and become friends with the most unlikely people. They walked past you every single day of another life and yet you never saw them. They were right there, and yet you looked past them like you look past clean unblemished glass. And today, they've carved a place for themselves in your heart and soul simply by being who they are. Today having them around is like having the comfort you've craved for a very long time. How wonderful to have the chance to discover such people, later than never.

How some people can find it them to love you beyond belief. Despite the shit you put them through. Case in point - family. Esp mothers.
What on earth gives them the strength to have put up with the snot and the potty and the nursing while we were babies, and the arguments and clashes in points of view as we grew up and then the distance and isolation - real and figurative as we moved away. And to still love us and heal us through the worst lows and to rejoice with us in the tiniest highs, what makes them love us as they do?
Moms and good friends. And in some of your cases, better halves. Have you thought about how blessed you are to have all those people to love you? :)

How much appreciation matters? Do you comprehend the power it wields?
- A friend told me about how his girlfriend blends so beautifully into his circle of friends and how much he appreciates her for it. She keeps in touch with us all, knows all our stories. (She just cooked for a bunch of the 10 of us this evening.) Phew! Do you know what kinda effort that entails? And hence how much love it might come from?
- Another tells me about how her b school going bf never brings work home on weekends so he can have exclusive time with her. Apparently makes time between class breaks to call her and ask her about her day. Hmm .. where does tht kinda motivation come from amidst back breaking skeds and back to back lectures through the day?
- Another has a gf who left a settled well paying job and moved jobs and a country to be with him. Wait, that's 2 men I know. I can only hope they understand what kinda life change that is for the women in question.

So, to come back to the question, do you ever think about the things a previously unknown person today does for you simply out of love?

To plan your birthdays. To painstakingly arrange for little surprises. To put down how they feel about you on email/ paper when you've heard it many times before. To go through your resume when you're in the midst of applying to jobs. To listen to how crappy your day was. To hear your stories they're not a part of. And to enjoy them and try to become a part of your life even across a distance.

Its true that it may not be tough, it may not take sweat and blood of them. But do understand that they have the choice to NOT do any of those million things. They do it out of love. And you bloody well better appreciate it. The human heart although blessed in its ability is no bottomless pit! It can't sustain itself purely on its own unreciprocated goodness. Appreciation - as tough as it may seem, is the fuel that keeps that fire going.

Do you realize how much appreciation matters? Do you appreciate the people in your life enough? Do understand that if you don't, its your loss, not theirs. With their kinda ability to love, if not you, they'll find another person to appreciate them. It'll be your loss, end of the day. Don't let it be. :)

As Nuts puts it, do wonder a little more. Its more likely that you'll end up wondering more about the things that matter to you than those that don't. Maybe that'll be a good estimate of how you rank the people and things in your life today :)

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For those who plan on giving me grief about typing with a bad hand, go right ahead. But I figured after 18 hours of sleep and another 10 hours of no typing, this much I slack could cut myself.
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Health Updates...

Since can't sms / mail (hand hurts more when I type esp on small keypads) back to very concerned messages/ mails I've been getting from friends, am posting common update, will direct ur queries to this place for a reply for the next few days :-)

Pehle to, thanks for the smses and mails. Rk, V, SS, Bm and Sha etc. And million thanks to Penguin who knows how I hate going to the doc alone, so spent half her to be exiciting Saturday sitting with me at the doc's. True love is this eh? :-) For this, Penguin, any wish you cite, shall be granted. :D

And health updates:
A severe bout of allergic cold is the worstest thing to happen to my excited system. Runny nose, sneezing, red eyes, tired muscles .. ugh! After prescribed dose of medicines last afty, I slept off at 3.30 pm and woke up NOW at 9.30 am. 18 full hours of sleep! Yes, I do feel much better :-)

Hand doc wasn't around yest, so will go tomm. Until then I'm undergoing a forced seperation (feels like a divorce more :( ) from sms and typing on the laptop. So if i don't reply to sms, mails, orkut msgs etc pls to understand that I still lou u all, just tht i lou my hand a wee bit more. :)

Adios till next update!

Laga Chunari Mein Daag...

Let me keep this short and sweet.


Kunal Kapoor = YUMMY


*Be still my beating heart*

Shmucky ...

Hand swollen. Not surprising. The part behind the palm hurting bad. Amongst others. Weird bad day. (N, thanks for not asking questions and carrying on like nothing had happened). Weird bad time. Hope its over soon.

Promise to see a doc finally. This weekend is IT. For the cold and the back and the shoulder and the hand. Most imp the hand. Cannot imagine not being able to write :-( My horcrux, as I told someone once, is this space where I write. My passion. My love. At some level, an identity in itself, although its scary to give anyone or anything that kinda power. (But then, a blog can't possibly let you down). Urk. What a dark pathetic post this has turned into.

Anyway, won't be writing here a while. So much to say. Elsewhere, but.

Before i leave for a few days, here's a poem the wonderful Mogambo gifted me for my birthday.


I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
With thanks and love from mine.
Deep thanks to all
Who paused a little near the prison-wall
To hear my music in its louder parts
Ere they went onward, each one to the mart's
Or temple's occupation, beyond call.

But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fall
When the sob took it, thy divinest Art's
Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
To harken what I said between my tears,
Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot
My soul's full meaning into future years,
That they should lend it utterance, and salute
Love that endures, from life that disappears!


I pass this on to the people I love. Have loved. In any way. In any context. In any time and place....this, a borrowed piece of art that one friend sent my way and I send yours.

Ciao everyone! I'm seriously and freakishly scared. So pls to pray that my hand is fine soon and there's no bad news.

Ouch!

Is the current sentiment here. Shoulder is doing what they call a "Tandav Naach" wreaking absolute havoc on my system. Its a normal occurrence here in Unpred land. But its painful while it lasts. OUCH!!!

Oh also the cold. How can I leave out my darling cold? How, how can I deprive it of precious blog space? The thing that sneakily waits around the corner right until I want to do my favorite activities (cycle at beach/ blog/ go to movie with friends etc) and creeps up on me unannounced and sends me into my patented "Series of 12 AACCHHHOOOOSSS"! If you thought I was one of a kind, you weren't mistaken. No one else I know can sneeze 12 times in a row. If you can, then pls to let me know I have soul ... ermmm ... nose brothers and sisters around the world.

Ah anyway, let me not shy away from highlight of the day. The cooking keeda bit once again at 7 pm this evening while at work. Found the ever ready to come over and dine Nayak lurking in one corner of the floor and coerced him into coming home by name dropping dishes like aloo palak and peas pulao. (Eh well, it wasn't so much coercion as him getting free food and coming over willingly, but you guessed right, I happen to LIKE DRAMA!)

I ended up cooking an anagram of the above - i.e. Aloo Mutter and Palak Pulao. Am going to proudly (More like shamelessly you say?) display here wonderful pics of wonderful dinner. Those who declined my warm invitation (Read Sid and Penguin) pls to feel terrible cause it tastes much better than it looks! (Let me point out, I cooked and Nayak took the photos - therein lies the difference!).

Amidst all this was embedded a COB (close of business in P&G parlance) deadline from a friend to check his Saali's resume/ form for her internships which i started with as a formality and then realized how im hopelessly manic about words and their interplay only when my hurting wrist (OUCCCHHHH!!) signalled for me to stop editing the answers!!!

Anyway, all that is done and wrapped up and finisssed and closed and to end (FINALLY!) on a happy note, i'm leaving you with pics of the food that was cooked. And tomorrow I'll hopefully post about something more meaningful than aches and food. My life's much more interesting I swear (more like desperately hope, but wth!)

Pls to be seeing and applauding the strewn with cashews Palak Pulao!



And then to stop squinting and start appreciating this badly taken pic of the mostest wonderful Aloo Mutter! (Nayak you $^%^#^@!!!! Isko photo kehte hain???!)



A very good night .. OUCH .. to you all!!! :-)

Wat a ...

Wat a Monday .. passed by in a blur ... Sunday evening was spent sneezing like nobody's business (Yes, I have an ongoing undefined relationship with allergies) and looking like I was ready to die any minute. Slept at a record 9.30 pm and apparently blabbered complete gibberish over the phone to the 2 people who called me post that time, got 10 full hours of sleep and still woke up feeling dopey!! That's a record in itself (admittedly induced by the anti allergens, but wth, I get some credit!) .. but to my dismay the sedating effect of my reliable anti histamines lasted a little longer than expected - through ALL of the working Monday!!

My stoned expression was simply precious, esp through my afternoon meeting where I think I startled the boss with some terrible CP. S, if ur reading, I was on sedatives (reminiscent of Ross and Rachel's "We were on a break"! innit?) and I'm sorry!

And wat a Monday evening, I've never been on the phone that long even while at work ! Couldn't get any running done although really wanted to. Couldn't blog although I really wanted to. Another friend, a regular on this blog, gave me the 3rd degree over why I'm not blogging, and all i could hope was that its a GOOD sign that i'm not yet putting online pages and running tracks over real people and conversations!

I DID have something to write about last evening, a real topic that often does cartwheels in my little brain and bugs me no end. But I'll do that this evening.

For now just wanted to note that the 2 highest comment earning posts I've ever written were the one below this one (Marriage and the involved expectations) and another one on conversations written sometime in March. Likely coz both revolve around issues very close to most people's hearts. It's delightful to have comments pour in 4 ..even 5 days after the post is put up. But not to worry, I won't give in to the temptation and start primarily focusing on issues like tht. (Not like its in my control - my own mind possessing a mind of its own and all!) So the next post has nothing to do with relationships, Ok FINE! Very little to do with personal relationships... more to do with work relationships and the like.

Have a great day! Cya tomorrow! :-) And thanks everyone who dropped in page long comments on the last post, I appreciate ur views on the subject tremendously! :)

What's with the pressure?

This is a very sensitive topic. To me. To many people I know. Heck, to most people I know! - Marriage. And what we expect out of it.

I've wondered for almost 2 weeks now if I can write about the topic with enough sensitivity and objectivity. If putting it up here is a huge violation of my own privacy in some way. If airing my views on the topic makes me vulnerable to unnecessary judgment by readers, known and unknown. And then I realized, despite everything I potray about how much I care about the opinions and feelings of other people, there still rests inside me a person who doesn't hesitate once in a rare while to emphatically state "I don't care!!". And apart from making me somewhat proud, it also lets me write the kind of things I'm about to. On my public blog.

Btw, why marriage?
Coz its that life stage. Coz its that age. Coz most people in that lifestage at that age are around me and talking about it. Coz their momentary discussions trigger off in my head a series of long arguments with the self on the issue, making it much more complex than when it started out.

And what about it?
I've come to wonder. Don't we place too much pressure on the concept? As a result of having evolved to where we are now, to the point where so many of us can claim to be 'discovering' ourselves, our passions and views, somewhere we've begun to expect that a marriage will bring the fulfilment that our multiple activities and relationships do. Is that fair?

To expect that a spouse will be as good a listener as your best friend?
To expect that they would be great at advice on work related issues as colleagues and bosses?
To expect that they can support you with maturity and grace like your parents did?
To expect that they can find time for you, like your friends lucky enough to not be I bankers?
To expect that they can hold your interest through endless conversations, much akin to those few friends you have great conversational chemistry with?
To expect that they'd be cool enough to take out and socialize with your current circle?
To expect that they'd chip in with their share of housework like your best flatmate?

To expect all that and a little more.

Is it fair? Is it normal? I'm sure most people find a way to love/ find happiness/ both with a person even without ticks on all of the above. I'm sure that even if its not easy, people don't walk out on marriages. They try. And they learn.

But the para before last IS the aspirational list right? How terribly impossible esp for people who have trouble reconciling their expectations with reality! And hence how unfair for a potential partner to have to live up to! How unfair an expectation to peg onto an institution.

Coz that's what marriage is at the end of the day right? An institution. After all, marriages aren't supposed to replace everything and everyone else in your life. They're supposed to enhance the value of most people and things that already exist. They're supposed to (look there I go again ... making a list of obligations for marriage to fulfill!) be a simple uncomplicated way to ensure we don't live our lives alone. They're just a way of ensuring that we have someone to count on as we grow old.

But with lives like ours, in times like today, it's tough to just be content with that much, innit? Think about it. When you have a fabulous life as a single person, unless marrying someone makes a phenomenal positive difference to your life, why would you? And why should you? When you find everything within yourself to give you your happiness, why should you have to 'settle' for something just to ensure you have someone to come home to?

I think the argument is that you might have all of this today, but as time goes by, and more people around you either 'find love' or 'settle' for something close to it, you'll no longer have friends and peers to enjoy that fab single life with. And as many many wise elders have tried to persuade us into believing, you'll be too old to 'find love' or even 'settle' for something close :-)

Which is why so many people my age are struggling to find the middle ground between perfection and reality. Coz none of us know the answer. And despite all our so called self discovery, we don't really know ourselves well enough to know what we really want to make of our lives. OR marriage.

Its my most confusing, unstructured post so far. Simply because I'm unable to find a way to logically figure out this issue in my own head. A tiny voice says that with the right person, all of the above, all the random ranting and questioning goes out the window. But the booming voice (the one that rules for now anyway) says analyse, analyse!!! And so I do.

If u feel tempted to rip apart the style (which admittedly sucks) then pls don't give in to it. I'm not looking for comments on how badly written this is. I know already. If you have clear rational answers to my questions, now THAT's something I'd appreciate :)

Died and gone to heaven ...

More culinary celebrations in this house early in the morning.

- Flatmate makes hot cuppa chai (bless her soul, this is a daily thing!)

- Unpred makes semiya upma with the extra 10 mins tht she borrowed from sleep.
Today is already "sampanna" (accomplished and fulfilled - for those who don't understand Hindi)!

*Sigh and some other sounds of bliss as she saunters off to prepare for a workday*

Food .. lots of it ...

For some strange reason, whenever there's a cooking session in my house where anything more exotic than chai is made (which btw, is every single bleddy day!) I make a little mental note to put it down on this blog. Why I want to tell a bunch of friends (blogger and otherwise) what I've cooked, I know not, but tell I will! Think of it as boastings of culinary expertise, think of it as getting back into the blogging groove. (For that matter, think anything you want, its your mind after all!) But if you like food, and are hungry right now, I really suggest you skip this post. If not, read on I say ...


Cooking adventures from last 2 weeks:
- Last Saturday: Spunks and Kinks were invited home and Palli and I cooked. Scrumptious fare of Lemon Rice, Coconut rice, Vatthakozhambu (HAH! All you idiots who called me a fraud tam, take THAT! I even used a Z!) and Palli's classic Aloo curry.

(Spunks' moaning sounds were slisha testimony to how good the food was. Apparently I also made sounds praising own-cooked food. But that's normal for me. Bleddy, why wait for someone else to praise what you know is brilliant!)


- Thurs before that: Beans + Potato curry with coconut. This has to be seen to be believed. But then seeing is not happening coz i had to delete the pic from camera to make space for messages (yes i still put messages from live people over posting random pics on blog, i'm still human, even if i say so myself!). So you'll just have to believe. Light sauteed beans with tender boiled aloo in a lightly spiced dry coconut base ... heaven!!!


- This Thurs nite: Rava upma. I've screwed up upma so many times in this city over the last year, its not even funny. Let me pls clarify before you think im a blithering idiot. It isn't ME! Its the damn rava! For some reason the varying quality of rava ensures that the rava: water ratio is invariably too high or too low so i end up eating either a slimy gooey mishmash that resembles cerelac or sandy granules of unchewable dry rava.

But this time. This time was different. In my own words, (for the lack of any others'!) I cracked it! :D


- Fri evening: Bread Upma. (C'mon Nayak, vouch for this.) Wasn't the bread just the right combo of crisp and moist? Wasn't the salt absolutely PURRFECT! Wasn't the sauteed onions + tomato base delightfully light yet imparting the most wonderful texture to the upma? And the filter coffee! AHA!!

(Note: No sounds were made this time, my sound making makes me the victim of several corny shady jokes around my bschool friends. Snorting and mmmmming and sounds in or away from their vicinity are hence generally avoided)


- Last Monday: Aloo parathas. 1st principle. Meaning right from kneading of dough to mashing of potatoes to making of parathas. All done by Wonderwoman Palli. Thunderous applause shall get you invitation to next paratha dinner session, so pls to oblige!

(P: Wonderwoman is making me want to crack orre bad joke from yesterday, but I shall resist on a public forum! :D)

- Yesterday: Simmbbbull fare of Dal and Sabzee with rotis. But aha oho aha! Suchaa wonderful Dal it was with ginger, garlic and the secret ingredient (a lump of jaggery) for the perfect aftertaste! As they say in Tamil (the kind i don't speak normally) it was a Pramaaadam! :D


Wherefrom is coming all this enthu to cook all of a sudden you ask? Damned if I know. All I can say is sneak in an invitation and be the inspiration to more culinary adventures! :D We (P and I) promise to not disappoint! :D

Inspiration comes in all forms no?

Haven't blogged in 4 ... maybe 5 days now. No excuses. Ok, maybe SOME excuses. Busy slisha. Tired slisha. Sohit visiting slisha. Palli over for dinner, palli househunting trip and so on and so forth. Many many slishas.

But lots of inspiration. Blogger friends msging to ask if i'm ok. (Awfully nice of you :) am ok now) Friends orkutting and scrap leaving saying woman, stop raising our expectations and then vanishing like this. (Fine fine V, sorreeeee!)

But.

Mostest inspiring message to be found in one liner email from Palli this afternoon.

"Why you not blogging man? This is verry unacceptable behaviour. Bleddy phool. "

It IS true. Inspiration comes in ALL forms.

Oh, I'm back and all that :)

Yeehee!!!

The Rocking Girl Blogger award! My 1st ever award on the blogosphere :)

Rockin 'Girl' comes at just about the time when I've started to wonder if i've crossed the age where I can be called a 'girl' anymore :D And as the MM says, a party is only as good as the crowd that visits, so to Mogambo, Penguin, Bm, Ketan, Ravi, SS and all the others who visit here and fill my mornings with comment based emails and keep me going with this blogging thing, THANKS!!! :) Lurker or not, you have my regards :)

Btw, this one comes as a tag from SS, one of my fav bloggers and someone who feels utterly familiar despite the fact that we've never met! Thanks SS! :D

Now, to pass on the award to other rocking women bloggers, here's awarding

- Penguin (a wonderful friend and amazing woman, her kinda cheer is truly infectious, having transformed even grumpy ol me)

- Hilarious Y aka Yashodhara (Seriously, your sense of humor is just the way i love it, straight faced with oodles of sarcasm)

- Broom (The blogosphere respects you for your courage, for doing all you have, and then writing about it, so do I)

Just for the record, I'd have loved to tag SS and the MadMomma with this one, but they've both already been recipients of the award. But consider yourselves awarded even if not tagged, ladies! You rock, tag or no tag!

Ah .. wat a wonderful start to the week :)

Edited to add: Chandni, I wrongly assumed you were on MM's tag list ... since you're not taken already, here's tagging you with the award as well! :) Your posts are thought provoking and hilarious in equal parts and the link on my blog to urs (despite ZERO acquaintance) is testimony to this :)

Further edited to add: High level cute comment from my mom on seeing this post - "I saw, wonderful! At this age I feel like calling myself a girl, why not you when you ARE a girl!" TOO CUTE my mom is :D (and after all this, I hope she can leave a comment .. MA? You listening?)

I like .. I like ...

Funnily enough, a post named I hate .. I hate ... But I lou. Its wonderful to discover new bloggers like this every once in a while, esp when they also lou Sex and the city. :)

And then He makes it rain ...

One of those days again. Argh, this line of posting is getting tiresome. But its true. Its like someone up there reads what I write and sends the rains down just for me. Its magical :)

(It COULD just mean that my city geographically is prone to rains through the year, but where's the magic in THAT! Bweh! Unimaginative staid people of the world, don't make me like you!)

Shameful ..

For all that ranting about how this is MY blog and how I must speak my heart always and yet to feel utter dejection today and not want to blog about it, cause omg, what will people think if I write about sadness? (SS, you know now why I loved that post of yours about why you blog?)

I'm ashamed I stooped low enough to let my expression be influenced by others' perceptions of me. So to make amends to myself.

Its been a yuck day. Met good friend S after very long last evening and had a great time. But even meeting him this afternoon, even getting a new passport, even getting tons of work done and a very productive day in office, even coming home and cooking up a lovely meal for N and catching up with him after way too long did nothing to shake away the one constant of the day - that silken cloth of dejection, so light and sheer that no one else can sense it, yet heavy enough to stop the flow of fresh air to my heart and mind. That being said, I've smiled and laughed like a bloody hypocrite all through the day. Its scary, this ability to wear a mask at will. It doesn't feel like me. Then again, the cynicism and isolation don't either. Tough to tell if that thing called change is good or bad. Time will tell I guess.

Little black box, wait a while will, ya?

New milestones - For Indian cricket and my blog :)

It's been 10 years or more since the last match i saw. Yes, i mean that thing that makes the men in our lives turn into the apes they descended from. Cricket.
(Collective sigh from women of the world? Sounds about right!)

But today. Today was the day I tore myself away from interesting company (my bestest indulgence, really!) and ran off to watch the 2nd half of a match for reasons I still cannot explain. (P: I Louuuuu you!!! Soreee for ditching and running to seee match liddat! You still come 1st! It meant nothing! I was thinking of you ALL the time! GOD, I sound like a MAN!)

But this was THE match man! And how it ended! Purrrfect for an India Pak - one of those phenomena as awaited yet thankfully a little more frequent than a solar eclipse! And wayyyy more special (Ok don't get all geeky and scientific on me here, its just an expression!) considering how we won! :D

But did you notice? Did you see after all that nail biting when they finally zoomed in on the Indian players celebrating in gay abandon? When they no longer have the expectation of a whole nation weighing them down? That's when you see it. These players, these exalted, worshipped souls who carry the burden of India's pride on their delicate shoulders are just boys.

Young boys (yeah, this happens when you turn 26, you start talking like one bleddy Aunty!) who whoop and jump in joy just like any of us normal people. The facade of being a 'cricketer' falls to reveal kids soaking up the pure joy of a win.

Rain, chocolate, music and words all fade into gray against the rich colors of their joy :) Wat a! :D

I have to confess, I might just be a closeted cricket fan after all.
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Oh! And this was post 150 - a dual celebration is in order methinks! :DDDDDD

Good morning world!!!

It's a gorgeous Monday morning. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

There's all kinds of mornings right?

Ones that simply don't want you getting out of bed, the temptation to snuggle further into the covers is just too much, despite a whole work week that beckons...

Ones that aren't particularly sleepy, but have you keeping your eyes closed in a desperate attempt to avoid the world you don't want to face yet ...

Ones that you're delighted to wake up to ... 'school picnic' mornings, 'start of travel to exotic location' mornings, 'going back home from foreign country' mornings and such others ... wish there were more of these, don't we?

And ones that you're happy to wake up to simply cause the rain stands outside your window, gently nudging at first and then beating down its will upon yours with the furious vibration of windows, even closed ones. How can you say no to that, Monday or no Monday?

Its that kinda lovely morning now. As the MdDee's commercial would say, I'm louuuing it :D

Good morning everyone! Rise and shine!! :-)

OUCH!!!

Its a vent post, yes. Run away if you're looking for chirpy / bright/ humorous/ rose tinted or anything in the vicinity. Shoo!
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Evening before last, Boss asked me if I was getting enough sleep . For added effect, she pointed beneath my eyes. As if it wasn't painfully obvious already. It's now official. I have dark circles. Go on, print it out, put it on air. I have dark circles.

No, my crib isn't that silly, hello! I don't particularly mind dark circles. (I've worked enough in the beauty business to know there's enough and more out there to conceal them). What I do mind is the message of exhaustion they send out about me. What I do mind is feeling a wee bit of that very exhaustion seeping in for real in the last few days.

I love my hobbies. I do. Like any other sane person i look to them for comfort when I'm on my own. But as luck would have it, my hobbies tend to exert the same tiny set of faculties - my eyes and my wrist - over and over again.

To put it mathematically:

Reading books + Reading blogs + Working on a laptop all day staring at xls sheets and the like = Visible Dark Circles = Sending out VERY wrong ideas of active nights filled with partying and sundry excitement.

Writing blogs + Working on a laptop all day + Glass painting + Painting / Sketching in general = Wrist screaming "Save me from this tyrannical monster of an owner!"

So you see, after struggling to draw all of TWO flowers on my latest project, the glass painted Geisha, and wincing in the pain of pressing down on the outline leading tube WHILE squinting to ensure the flowers don't turn into cabbages, it was BUT expected that I'd blog about how my hobbies will someday be the death of me!

Flowers, books, cards, cash and any such tokens of your sympathy / empathy / love to pull me through this tough time will be mostest welcomed :D

*Now that I read what's written above, Kavita's words ring true - I should've considered a career in spewing out hyperbole (Yes, I know there's no such thing but humor me will ya?)*

Convenience theories ...

This is the 147th post. I'd be lying if I said I'm not dying to reach 150. I could cheat and do the thing i sometimes do out of genuine feeling, post lyrics from a song I love, or a poem that touched the heart. But I won't. I'll look to reach there with a potion of thoughts that my own mind concocted.

I'm just back from a deliriously wonderful evening with Palli and Pangal. Conversation with a woman about life, love and sundry others to the accompaniment of fantastic music while our tired butts were sunken into the comfy couches at Book Cafe over Hot chocolate with Marshmallows and cheesy pizza is as good as it gets. And just when we thought it couldn't get any better, dropping in on Pangal and spending the next 2 hours loudly karaokeing to trashy english music (read boyzone, backstreet boys and even britney!!) and classy hindi music (RDB, B&B and Euphoria) was clearly the highlight of the day we hadn't anticipated. Seriously, if the voice of 2 other people screaming "Roobaroooooooooooooo" with you doesn't send you into throes of utter happiness, what will? :D

It makes me appreciate the city I live in even more than normal. If at home, it'd take me an hour to get to a friend's place on a weekday and another hour to get back. I wouldn't ever make weekday plans given the status of evening traffic in Bombay. I have nothing against the city i was born in, i just really love living here and the many conveniences it offers.

Seriously, someone once asked me if i had any material wishes. A car? A house of my own, perhaps? With a garden maybe? I thought about it a LOT and said no ... I don't think any of those things are aspirational to me. I missed to see how the simple everyday conveniences this place offers are what I found aspirational. And having them made me take them for granted.

Let me hence reiterate. I love the fact that I can step out at 2 am and not worry about my safety. I love that I can drop in to visit a friend on a weekday and get back home without being stuck in agonizing traffic. I love that I can live my weekends to their fullest coz i don't spend 50% of my time in traffic and travel. My love for this city isn't rooted in cold convenience. Its what the convenience brings to my life that I value. The ability to connect with friends as often as i wish. The ability to not treat travel time as an unwanted side effect of the job i love so much.

To those who tell me I'm wrong about Bombay: This is MY take based on MY experiences in Bombay. Pls don't judge. Its my experience i talk about, likely not yours.

And don't get me wrong. I love Bombay. For its vibrance and warmth. For the many friends who live there. For my family. But the agony of trudging to anyplace of value always left me too spent and drained to enjoy any of that. My south and central bombay friends laugh at how im a suburbanite. How i live in a "gaon". How they need a visa to get to my place in Bombay. Oh yes, I know this is all in jest. But what they don't get is their Bombay is very different from mine. Where only taxis ply. Where they could hop into a family car and get where they wanted to in 20 mins. Good for them!

But those convenience theories on bombay never applied to me as i grew up. Seriously. My folks couldn't afford a house in the swanky parts of central bombay and we lived in the suburbs. I travelled 3 hours per day through crowded local trains to attend college. EVERYDAY for SIX years. And then struggled to stay awake through the exhaustion and study and do family time as well. Just the memory - OUCH!

Yes i loved train journeys where i made some of my best friends. But i also remember being bogged down too many mornings hoping i could just skip the ordeal that lay ahead! I remember mom on weekends, wondering if she should drop in on a sister who lived 20 miles away simply coz weekends were the only time she had - to rest at home and escape the travel, and no matter who needed her, she was just TOO DAMN exhausted to head out in a train ONCE again! (She still did. Power to her!)

I know that if I ever move back to Bombay, I'll not endure 30 years of train travel like my parents did. I know I'll wanna live someplace close to work. I know my sanity and peace of mind rests on my ability to do the things i love and meet the people I love. Without having to spend 3 hours getting there. I just hope that when I'm back, I can afford to live in the Bombay I hear so many people rave about. That the vibrance of the city is not dulled by the sheer effort to survive daily life. Pray for me!

P.S.: No im not moving now! This post was just triggered by a sweet 10 min cab ride back home from Palli's home marvelling at how wonderful it is to be on a free highway with no honking in my ears and fumes in my face. :)

Ancient Promises ...

I'm awake at 1 am, as you can very well see, while i have a big preso lined up for tomorrow (which btw is sorely incomplete right now).

And yet, I cannot sleep. Madwoman Palli had to go and lend me book like this. Touching, poignant, heart wrenching, making you participate in her not so fictitious misery at times and making you unwish it from upon even your worst enemies at others, this book is a must read for any woman. (Take it from one who stayed up finishing it the night before an impending deadline!)

This, 'Ancient Promises' by Jaishree Mishra and 'A breath of fresh air' and 'Crazy with curry' by Amulya Malladi, 'Monsoon Diary' by Shobha Narayan and some others I'll put up here once I recollect names vs. just the feeling while having read through.

Do read. Tomato soup for the soul (Yeah, im vegetarian) :)

How late is too late?

How late is too late to live your life? I don't mean wade in and out of existence. I mean LIVE. How late is too late?

How late is too late to try and connect with your parents as a friend, not as someone who occassionally asked them for a little extra money and now as someone who barely manages to pull through a single adult conversation, without squirming that you're missing that sitcom to be aired in 5 mins?

How late is too late to try and get back in touch with that friend you childishly refered to as the 'bestest friend' in your teens? After all those days of telling yourself you'll call him/ her or atleast drop a mail, and repeatedly forgetting to amidst the many deadlines you're so caught up with?

How late is too late to start out on that new hobby you've been promising to enrol for? To run the 2 miles you promised urself every weekend? To revive the sketching talent you were once known for? To go learn line dancing like you always wanted to (and darn the slacking weekends that just passed you by) but you never did?

How late is too late to start on that thing you recognize you'd be brilliant at - the dream career? Lucky as you have been to discover it, how late is it to shun the meaningless 9 to 7 existence and move on to finding fulfilment and connecting with your own innate talent?

How late is it to ..........
Make that movie you always wanted to?
Write that book?
Learn that music?
Visit that exotic country?
Catch up for a REAL conversation with your better half?
Share delicious laughter time with your child?

How late? The optimist in me would say never, but the realist in me does sometimes think ahead to the time she's 55 and not as nimble on her feet or agile with her thoughts and just KNOWS she doesn't want a SINGLE thing on her list of 'I wish I had's ..... she just knows.

Perhaps, that's why today she lives the life she failed to live even until 6 months ago. Its turning her into what she'd call 'the best version of herself ever'. And into a simply happier person. In the quest to preempt regret in the future, she's gone and found delight in the present. :-)

So, how do you live your life?

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This one's inspired by this beautiful post from Mr Adrian. Read it. I promise you'll be touched like never before. :)

How do i say this without being rude?

My last post invited an unnecessary comment of "It looks like puke" from - need I say it? - an anonymous blogger. I'm not sure what motivates a normal human being to spew shit like that on someone else's space and I wish I was tolerant/ calm/ unruffled enough to not react, but sorry, i'm not.

So to my anonymous friend: Like I've mentioned before, this blog is mine, and although reading it or not is definitely your prerogative, your opinion (even if its as childish as "it looks like puke") loses all credence when you hesitate to back it with your name. Combined with the nature of the comment, it makes you the lowest order of anything alive, yes? So thanks, but no thanks for dropping by, and keep your trolling comments as invisible as you keep your identity. Bugger off!

Seperately: The payasam turned out brilliantly despite no tasting through the cooking process!!! Am bringing it to work tomorrow to share with friends :) Good week everyone!

Here's the payasam ..

I've tried my hand at 1st principle Semiya Payasam ("Vermicelli Kheer" for the uninitiated) 2 times before. Both times it failed to turn the right shade of pink coz i didn't leave it on a simmering flame for the 30 mins or so that it's supposed to be.

This being Chathurti and all, I promised myself i'd make the perfect payasam and offer as "naivedyam" (offering to god types) to Lord Ganesha. Clincher being ur not supposed to taste the naivedyam until you've offered it to God.

Anyway, here's the payasam and we're headed out to my favorite Vinayakar temple in the city - the Senpaga Vinayakar Kovil. Will taste and let you know later how it turned out. Atleast for now, its the right color. :) I'll make my peace with that :)

How many people you know can you say this to?

Excerpt from a book I love ..

"Here's what I think. You are a good person. You're made of good materials. That's just a fact. A scientist would say its in your cells, that it's built into your DNA just like the color of your eyes. Wherever it comes from, just being you is being good.

I don't mean you can't make mistakes like the rest of us. But you're luckier than the rest of us because if you just do what feels the most like you, you'll be fine. And forget about evil. There's just no way."

:)

Ganesha ... Happy birthday!

Mom's a big big fan of Lord Ganesha :) I didn't know if it was also true about me but I realize it is :) For the last 25 years, she's lovingly welcomed Ganesha home and tended to him carefully for 5 days and then bade him a tearful goodbye during the Visarjan. No we're not Maharashtrians, and no, they aren't the only ones who welcome Ganesha into their homes :)

About 10 years ago, mom decided to revamp the scale of celebration at home. Ever since then we've done something new and creative each year, with silken cloth, little tables, decorative material and flowers. We'd house Him in a lovely house we'd constructed and decorate Him from head to toe till He looked absolutely smashing :) And then on the morning of Chathurti, Amma would get us to be ready by 8 am and huddle everyone into the living room where we'd all pray together.

The unvarying tradition however, was to play the Ganesh Mahamantra cassette for about 2 hours after the morning puja. The house would reverberate with the sounds of "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta" and "Gajanana Sri Ganaraya" in Lata Mageshkar's voice, and my mother would go about her chores in a state of absolute bliss.

Of course, the geek that I was, I'd crib endlessly about how i couldn't study in peace with all the noise. (God, how spoilt WAS I!?!). Mom normally loses her arguments to me in the spirit of keeping peace, this was the one thing she'd never back down on (More power to her, yeah!:D )

And today as i live hundreds of miles away from home, on Vinayakar Chathurti, I sorely miss the songs i cribbed about while I lived at home :( Having discovered the internet and online music as I have, however, i was inspired to look for the songs I love on MusicIndiaOnline - and guess what?! I FOUND THEM!! :DDD

They've been playing in a loop for a while now and I could swear, both my mind and my room feel better than they have in months! :) Add to this the fact that I finally wrote out an email I'd wanted to for WAY TOO long but couldn't until I was completely convinced about it myself. I've done it now :) and the rush of happiness and of inner peace is palpable :) Maybe its just a coincidence that its Chathurti today ... maybe not!

Happy Ganesh Chathurti ya all! :) Have a great year ahead :)

We're all multifaceted aren't we! :D

Sounds more like me. I give u the right to shut me up the next time i talk about talking rabbits ok! :P

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

The book quiz ... of me!

God .. when DID i become this person? That's not me! (Or is it?)

You're Catch-22!

by Joseph Heller

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of people.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.