In Orissa

The first thing that strikes you about Bhubaneshwar is the heat and the humidity. Once you’re over that (believe me, that’s not easy), you notice the light breezy evenings which really is the best part of a day. Here for 2 weeks on some work and I’m trying to like the place as long as I’m here!
Being away from home opens your eyes to so many minute things you never think of when you’re at home. Like how the water tastes, like how different the evening breeze is, like how you miss the noise of the road you live in. I can go on about all the little things. What I miss most though (apart from missing my family n friends) is food…not necessarily home food, more like Bangalore food! (Getting good coffee here is an ordeal in itself which you’re bound to lose…no one makes good ol’ filter coffee here!)
One particular thing never ceases to amaze me about India. The minute you’re in a different state, it’s almost like a different country! It really hits you about how we Indians can be so wonderfully bound to each other despite the crazy world of differences. Of course language can be a bit of a problem, but thankfully I seem to be managing well with Hindi. Also travelled a bit yesterday (details on travelhigh) which was good. Though this is a new experience, me looking forward to going back home!

p.s. Orissa is the home of Olive Ridley turtles which are endangered.

Something about golf

No, I don’t play it nor am I a fan. A friend plays golf regularly (and is quite passionate about it) and hence there are times when golf gets discussed. The friend is so into it that nothing can come in between golf practice, like for example, not even a very close friend’s milestone birthday. I don’t like the game…at all. I don’t know it either. It’s beyond me to fathom how a game can be so expensive and available only to the rich. Do you know any person of modest means who plays golf? Any golf club membership is through the roof. Clearly it’s an elite game. Maybe that’s the reason I don’t like it. Especially here, you’re so used to playing games with just about everyone and everywhere…you play cricket, badminton, throwball, volleyball, football, hockey even on the streets if a ground or a court is not near by. If there is a nearby ground (which is the case almost everywhere), you can play basketball as well. You can swim in the neighbourhood swimming pool. You can play TT, snooker, tennis, swim in the neighbourhood club (invariably someone in the family or among friends will be a member). Accessibility being the keyword here. Golf, did you say?

More on the New Year…

I seem to only be reading columns and articles and seeing programs about what to wear, how to decorate, what to cook, how to get over a hangover, what the celebrities are doing for the New Year’s Eve. That’s pretty much what almost all TV channels are showing and most of the magazines and newspapers (especially the pathetic excuse for a newspaper, the Times of India) are publishing. One article was completely ridiculous, it was talking about how a girl HAD to be dressed in the best-est clothes and have all the right make up, or else there would be no meaning to a New Year’s eve. I mean really, are we so starved for approval and looking good that we can’t just be ourselves? Do we so seriously have to ape the Americans? I understand, for a celebration, dressing up is a part of the whole process, but making it the only thing is taking it a bit too far don’t you think?
Hmm anyway, one thing I do look forward to at the end of the year, is to see all the Best of the year shows on TV…espcecially on the movies, where finally it’s ‘doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani’
My Hindi movie picks of the year are: ‘Rock On’ and ‘A Wednesday’. In English, I loved ‘ The Dark Knight’. I also liked ‘Body of Lies (though I guess it was not such a big hit).
I had this conversation with a friend about how nobody really keeps up to their New Year resolutions…I think I stopped making them years ago since I never really followed it beyond 2 months! This time however, I sincerely want to:

1] Start an exercise regime (even if it’s just walking for an hour in the morning)
2] Stop having late work evenings (plan work ahead unless there’s something critical)
3] Learn to cook Amma’s signature dishes (atleast one dish every 2 months)
4] Re-Learn to drive (As much as I loathe Bangalore traffic, I have to do this)
5] Spend more time at home…reading and increasing the colleciton for my precious library
6] Call my out of town/country friends atleast once a month

I’ll probably add to this list as I think of the other things I want to do

The year that was

Another year gone by…wheels of time continue spinning…
It’s been a very eventful year personally and otherwise. (Eventful doesn’t really describe if the events made you happy, ecstatic, disappointed, sad or angry. It just says a lot has happened!)

I stumbled on this terrific photojournalism site which featured a 3-part series on the year 2008. It’s a must-see. (The site is also part of my Blogroll now)
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Here’s to my career which I hope will turn out the way I’ve envisioned it for 2009; to my family who I’m crazy about…I love you all to bits; to our house that’s nearing completion…I can’t wait to start living there; to our travelling, where I hope to explore more new places; to my books, which are my escape, my partner in solitude ;to Bangalore, my beloved city which I hope will see better things and more trees and restored lakes in 2009; and last but most importantly, to my mad bunch of friends who keep me sane through thick and thin. Muaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Oh and world peace of course if such a thing exists in these violence-obsessed times. (No, I’m not being sarcastic, it amazes me to see how our world has become and how all that one can talk about is of atrocities committed by people towards other people)

I just can’t remember who said this or who wrote this and I’m going to end this post by saying it: May you live in interesting times! Best wishes for a wonderful new year ahead!

p.s. I will find out who said it.

Skipping a day

How do you make a day disappear? Move from today to day after tomorrow…Wish the day away…Wishful thinking eh?

Being in a crowd

Has it ever happened that you are in a house full of people and yet you feel entirely alone? Where you see people all around that you are aquainted with, but don’t want to go up to even a single person and make conversation…the more you are with all of them, the more you want to stay away from them…you just don’t relate to any ideas being exchanged there. All you can think of is solitude. And maybe a book for company. Rather let the book talk to you…

Lost…

I think I am lost…

I am going to find myself.

If I return before I get back, please ask me to wait and tell me that I will be back soon.

Having a friend around

Especially a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. A friend who’s come visiting after a stint in another country. One of the things I personally feel that speaks volumes about your friendship is the ability to take things forward from where you left off last time. Like as if there was no interim period. Like you’d just concluded a conversation yesterday and picked up on it today. That feeling of coming home. Of being warm and comfortable, being yourself and acting stupid (if you can’t behave stupidly with your friends, with whom will you?). I had a super time…catching up on things, spending time and generally having fun! Thank you my friend for dropping by…thank you for saying you care. It means a lot. Appreciate it…

Anddddd I got these yummy chocolate Swiss knifes to eat…check them out, aren’t they something?

Wake me up!

The one invention that I absolutely detest is the alarm (be it an old fashinoed alarm clock, or the watch alarm or the awful mobile phone alarm). Don’t get me wrong, I love mornings. I just don’t want to be woken up before it gets all nice and bright and you have sunshine streaming in through the curtains. It’s an everyday struggle for me to wake up on time and get to work…I’m seriously working on convincing my boss to let me have flexible work timings. Get to office by 10 AM and get out by 7 PM. I’m happy, he’s happy and the work gets done. Except that it’s not easy to convince him. Not with a reason like…ummm…I just hate waking up to the alarm at 6 AM! I take my time with the newspaper, I don’t like being hurried into reading it. A refreshing bath and a well eaten breakfast…all this would make me all set to tackle the day. In contrast this is what my mornings are like…

1. Alarm rings (a shrill ring of course, are they always designed to make you jump and hate sound altogether?).

2. Alarm rings again, more loudly (now it almost sounds like a fire alarm)

3. I curse and look for it to shut it. It goes into the dreaded snooze mode (again something that wasn’t really necessary)

4. Rings again after 9 mins. I groan and shut it off again.

5. After a see-saw of about 40 mins of shutting it off and ringing, there’s no point sleeping, so I wake up. Sometimes, ‘coz I struggle to find it and shut it off, there are chances of the mobile falling down and breaking or me falling down to pick it up. Thankfully that doesn’t happen frequently. Not enough I have to wake up early, I also have to spend money on a new phone which maybe has a worse sounding alarm?? <Shudder>

6. I finally see the time. Nooooooo I’m already late by an hour. I will have to miss breakfast. Again. Or if I’m lucky I could have the same old breakfast in office (which I have been trying to avoid). And can’t read newspaper now.

7. Frantically run around like a headless chicken to get ready…oh no, shirt is not ironed…can’t find socks…my hair looks Medusa-like…spray not working…the usual drama…

8. Get out finally (hopefully haven’t forgotten any important papers or books) and wait for the bus. Why don’t I see the others? Have I missed the bus? Aaah here it is, the last bus. Get into it and in a few minutes (due to the constant breaking and moving of the bus), I get lulled into sleep. Ha! 

9. Reach office feeling groggy and irritable. I see the other women looking all prim n proper: not a hair out of place, fresh dewy look on the face, perfectly ironed clothes. How do they manage it? Do they also have the time to make fresh fruit juice and eat some 5-grain bread in the morning? Is the secret to all this, waking up early? I will scream if you say yes!

Those were the days

When we were watching good serials on TV like Wonder Years and Doogie Howser MD. I was having this conversation with a couple of my friends and we were discussing how these serials introduced us to the world of America. Long before ‘Friends’ and the like. We remembered that one of the best parts of watching Doogie Howser was the journal entry he used to make at the end of each episode (Actually he could have been one of the first bloggers, he maintained a journal on the computer after all!!). Some of those entries did hit home…like these:   

“This week I butted heads with a very stubborn, closed- minded person. I’m just glad I had the sense to realize that it was me.”

“There’s nothing better than being cool and having a lot of friends… except being uncool and having one real friend.”

Check out the rest of them here.