Operation Drive 2

Ever since I told BB that I plan to drive to work, he has been going around with a martyred look on his face which is intensified x2 whenever he looks at the car. Given my past history with vehicles I don't blame him. No, I have not been in any accidents or anything like that, its just that I have classic female problem when it comes to directions, judgement and speed ... and he imagines the worst. 

That said I intend to change history... rather rewrite my history so to speak and I will never get a better opportunity than now as the sole person in the house who has the licence and the will to drive. Also BB has only himself to blame for my new found resolve, the below exchange which took place last week has me determined to start driving, read on and see for yourself.

The other day we met a few friends and one of them goaded BB to let me drive the car.

Y said, "Come on BB, let her drive the car, pohoch jaayega yaar tu".

BB snorts, 'Yeah, pohoch jaayega, Powai Lake mein milega'. (we work in Powai in the vicinity of the lake).

X who was also part of this group, agreed with BB and rolled her eyes while pointing skyward indicating, "yeah, pohoch jayega... UPAR'.

A message to ya all, I shall drive... PERIOD.

Satyavachan...

FB status update...so true lah, just the perfect line to describe moi!!!

"Once you get past my charm, good looks, intelligence and sense of humour. I think it is my modesty that stands out!"

 :-p :-p :-p

Operation Drive...

So BB (baby brother) is travelling on a project and for the foreseeable future I am going to have to fend for myself travel-to-office wise. I can assure you it is not something that I look forward to. After being spoilt rotten for over a year being, ferried around in the car with nothing else to do other than get on BB’s nerves by giving him navigational support (it is a well accepted fact that I am rubbish when it comes to giving directions and can get lost in my own back yard so to speak).

This being the case when I told BB that I’m intend to drive to work and will get myself a driver who will sit next to me while I practice driving, BB gave me a significant look which had ‘I-hope-the-Optra-doesn’t-look-like-a-Zen-when-I-return’ written all over it. Now the second part of Operation Drive is to find a driver who is of the category ‘jisske-aage-peeche-na-koi-ronewala-na-koi-ronewaali’, given the fact that I am even worse when it comes to driving and will needs someone who is willing to take risks of the jaan and maal variety. Check out this space for more on the travails of a lady driver. Hopefully I’ll survive and also master the art of driving on the Mars landscapish Mumbai roads well enough to be able to go to the airport to receive BB when he returns. Cheers!!!

Pandal Hopping!!!

The ten day Ganesh Utsav that is celebrated in Mumbai is one festival that I enjoy the most. During the ten days the city is transformed and every person seems to have a spring in his/ her step and "Ganpati baghayla chala/ Ganpati dekhne chalein" is the catch phrase on every ones lips. As a rule I try and see as many idols of Lord Ganesh as possible and if all else fails, on the last day you'll find me standing on the footpath along the route taken by the Ganpatis on their journey to the sea for immersions. As kids, my friends and I would stand on the footpath and watch the huge idols as they slowly made their way towards the sea. We would keep count of the number of idols we saw and then brag about it for days thereafter to the others who did not come with us.

Every year I just have to see the below three Ganpatis as they hold a special place in my heart and my social calendar can never be complete without a visit to see them. I must mention here that I've been visiting the below three Ganpatis since the time in the very, very, distant past when I wore short frocks.

Mhatarpada, Amboli

The Mhatarpada, Amboli Ganpati and I go back a long time; this Ganpati and the below Shiv Sena Shaka Ganpati are housed in  the lanes on the route we took to school, so everyday after school us kids would go pay a visit to the elephant god, not so much out of  devotion, as for the prasad of sugar cubes and peanuts that was distributed to all!!!

Shiv Sena Shaka, Amboli

I loved going to this mandal as they had the most innovative pandal designs, usually they would create a cave and devotees has to walk on stepping stones that were placed in a make shift stream. The streams would be complete with live fish!!! 

Andhericha Raja, Azad Nagar

The Andhericha Raja (Andheri is the part of Mumbai I call home and for my international audience, I'll clarify that Andhericha Raja means 'King of Andheri'. Truth be told the Ganesh Idols at this mandal always have the most mesmerising eyes, see pic below). Every year they create a replica of some famous temple and this year they have created a replica of the Dilwara Jain Temple, Mount Abu and to say it is breath taking is an understatement. I'll let the pics speak for themselves. Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!

Mera toh vaat lag gaya!!!

Today is when I let people sing "Happy Birthday" to me and like all good girls, though technically I'm way past the shelf life of what would be a girl, but then if the Queen can be a Bond girl at 86, why can't I be one at .... hehehe, over my dead body, sister, and this is my blog and I can call myself whatever I want, so what was I saying, ah yes, like all good girls I went to the neighborhood temple. 

As I was praying for all my sins to be converted into good deeds (no harm in trying, what??), I heard the temple poojari say to the cleaner. "Saaf karneka kapda de, kal pura tel gir gaya, mera toh vaat lag gaya!". A Translation for my international audience, this means. "Hand me a cleaning cloth, yesterday I dropped oil on the floor and I was ruined/screwed'. Honestly this is the first time I've come across a poojari who speaks Bambaiya Hindi, normally the Temple  poojari can be categorised into the Mild or the Pompous types. The mild ones who do their jobs and help sinners like me to commune with the Gods...service with a smile is their motto. The pompous ones are the kind that think they own the Gods or that they are Gods themselves and treat the devotees who come to the temple with barely concealed contempt and now I've come across a third category the Bambaiya speaking kind. This one made me laugh, I'm sure he must have been the Maria of the Mutt where he trained to be a poojari. You know, Maria, Sound of Music, Captain Von Trapp...the immortal song "How do you solve a problem like Maria?"

Normally the temple environment will make you feel peaceful and calm but laugh... never... and normally I won't admit it but, I like corny... corny is good... and this year sure seems to be looking up with the corniest temple experience ever...

Caulibappa!!!

This is a post in honor of the kids who have touched my life and who with their cute antics make my mundane life bearable. 

The first story relates to my friend S's son, all of two but with enough charisma, chutzpah and energy to put a ten year old to shame. He goes to kindergarten learns to sing and dance while learning the alphabets and has enough energy left in him after school to keep his mother on her toes. I say this from experience, as when I visited them recently I spent a fair amount of time following him around and when it was time for bed, I was dead beat and died the minute my head hit the pillow, but he was still up and could have tarred and feathered me and I wouldn't know of it till I saw the videos up on YouTube. 

He is a very clever little boy and can identify a number of colours, vegetables, fruits and can also carry on a great conversation with you, if you have the capabilities of understanding the language of his people (Baby Talk). Take for instance the time he came to me with minor scrapes on both knees and did a bit of a stiff-kneed war dance, while muttering something complete with 'googoos' and 'gaagaas' and pointed in the direction of the park. His mom followed him into the room and told me that he is informing me of the fact that while I was out shopping, he fell off his bike in the park.  He is also quite an actor as all of the next day, he walked around the house like an 80 year old with stiff knees!!!

So one day his mom was getting him acquainted with vegetables from his 'Vegetable Book' and she points out to a picture Cauliflower and asks him to repeat "Cauliflower" after her and he goes "Caulibappa". The reason for this being, they have a small temple at their place and every morning she and her husband perform a small pooja and offer flowers to the idols of the Gods (which her son calls 'Bappa'). So in his mind, flowers are for 'Bappa' so a 'Cauliflower' is also "Caulibappa".

The next story relates to my friend S's nephew who is close to three years old and since his father is a Major in the Army, a lot of discipline is drilled into him at a young age itself. She tells me the boy speaks with such respect it is a joy to hear him. Now like his cousin he too is a bundle of energy and quite often does things that make his mom want to tell him off. Whenever he has been a naughty boy his mother will look him in the eye, point to his room and say "Andar Jaao", thereby grounding him to spend some quality time pondering over what he did wrong. For my international audience I will clarify that "Andar Jaao" mean "Go inside". In his mind, "Andar Jaao" means punishment and so these days, whenever anyone does anything that displeases him, he looks them in the eye and says "Andar Jaao"!!!

The third story relates to my friend SM's daughter, she is four years old and is one clever Miss. She can not only speak Chinese and English fluently she can read English words!!!. Once they went out for dinner and stopped at a juice centre. My friend asked her what she would like to drink and she goes, 'I would like to have a Strawberry Milk" and her mother goes "You are very posh, want Strawberry Milk, eh ??". Everyone laughed and then they just happened to look around and found that Strawberry Milk was mentioned on the Menu up on the wall, she had read the item off the Menu!!!

Another time her teacher pointed to the picture of a 'Cheetah' asked her what it was in English and then asked her in Chinese who was faster Lion or Cheetah and she replied with the Chinese word for "Cheetah"!!!. 

Ladakh Musings

My friend B is working hard on striking things off her bucket list and today she strikes off 'Travel to Ladakh'. She  is also big on researching the place she is visiting and all her friends benefit from her research, as she believes in sharing knowledge, so here is a impromptu lesson on Ladakh (now Ladakh has landed itself a place on my places-to-visit-before-I-die list).

I quote her "Ladakh literally means a land of high passes and through where the Indus_River runs its course. The word "India" is derived from the word Indus and that the word “Indus” comes from the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” meaning river, stream or ocean, probably from a root sidh meaning to keep off. In Tibetan it means Lion River. Geographically, Ladakh is the highest plateau of the Indian state of Kashmir with much of it being over 3,000 m (9,800 ft). It spans the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges and the upper Indus River valley. It’s also lovingly referred as  little Tibet."

The reason why she chose to go to Ladakh was the fact that she will be at the height of about ten thousand feet for a week or so, and wondered, how weird it would feel like being that close to heaven...she figures that one practical advantage of being at such a height is the improved chances of Prayers and Wishes reaching straight up there without any interruptions or delays...like reaching a place which has a hotline to GOD!!! 

She plans on visiting a number of monasteries and while planning for the trip she had a brainwave of the century. She had read somewhere "A prayer, in its simplest definition, is merely a wish turned heavenward." and as she intended to put up prayer flags herself, she kindly offer to be a carrier for any prayer or wish for any of us and put up prayer flags on our behalf. I liked the idea about writing down my prayer, as I too function better when I write things down, the following is the first prayer that came to mind,

"Dear God, I believe in you and know that you will always be with me in every situation. Please help me become a more empathetic and trusting person in all my relationships and continue to give me the strength and grace to face all the challenges and obstacles that are bound to be in my path of life"

But soon realised that I need to be more specific, this is not a wish, these are my beliefs and desires, so I started thinking what is it that I really pray for, I know the politically correct thing is that I should actually be asking for big things like world peace and international brotherhood, but I figure, I will start locally by asking for the betterment of the people around me or better still, wish for a better me, even if one life is a little better  it will contribute to world peace eventually. I confess it is not an original thought, currently reading Eat, Pray Love and the author has used a similar thought to express her logic for the decision she took at one point in life, it struck me as a good way to look at life... Not sure if you have read the book , but it is a must read, I've read it to the point where she has completed her stay in Italy and moved onto India, and I've loved it so far... 

But I digress, finally it came to me that what I really want is to know what is the purpose of my being born as a human being. I'm sure there is a plan that maybe staring me in the face but I've not yet realised it, it may not be a grand thing like starting a revolution or leading a nation, but every life has a purpose, even if it is a small task like watering the plants, I want to find out what is mine... Once I know what is my purpose, I know I will be at peace with myself and everything else will fall into place... so this is the prayer flag that I asked her to put up on my behalf...

"Dear God, help me understand my true purpose and bring me closer to the means of achieving it' 

She agreed to put up my prayer flag, and I can already see the benefits of writing down my prayer/ wish, for she shared with me a story of a Wild Rose - a desert plant that blooms once every 12 years with a sweet fragrance that spreads miles around. She asked, do you think the rose should wait for some right time to bloom, like when there are people around to admire her beauty and sing all the right praises or should the rose go right ahead and just bloom, no matter if there is someone out there admiring or not!!!

If this story is any indication I must be on the right path, for it sure mirrors my thoughts on purpose, now all I need to do is use my heart to recognise it when it lands in front of me...

Fireflies...

Yesterday we went to Kuala Selangor to see the famous fireflies. Kuala Selangor is a two hour drive from Kuala Lumpur. When we declared at office that we want to go see the fireflies, everyone said: "Yes, you got to be noble and donate blood", apparently the mosquitoes up there are really blood thirsty, so we went prepared with bug repellent, but to be fair we were not bitten even once. Once there we had to wait till it was dark, it was sometime close to eight when we finally sat in the little four seater boat.

You got to see it to believe it, the place is unreal. There wasn't much moonlight, so we were lucky to get a glimpse of nature at her best. The only sounds as we rowed in the darkness towards the bushes was the rhythmic sound of the oars hitting the water and the insects of the night calling out to one another. At first you could see nothing, then when you neared the bushes, you feel like the stars have temporarily descended from the sky and settled on the bushes along the banks. The tiny fireflies, flicker like little rice lights that are lit during Diwali. Our guide pointed out to the little bugs and to the stars in the sky and said 'See, they look the same!', to be honest they did look the same...

I read somewhere that life isn't about the breath we take, its about the moments that take our breath away, the moment when I saw the fireflies was one such moment that will be etched in my memory for ever. I could have stayed there on the banks of the river all night listening to the sounds of the forest and the gentle sound made by the river as it flowed and just watched the little flies go about the business of being alive. The whole scene had me thinking that I was so lucky to be alive and to have the good fortune to be able to enjoy these sights. Also I couldn't help but wonder that this scene has been the same since time immemorial, the only person extra was me, but the little insects let me into their world without any protest. If only we could be that understanding and learn to live the simple life, without the malice, the treachery, the plotting and greed, I guess we will help make this world a better place. If there is one thing I learned from them it is, that you just go and do what you do best, leave the rest to the supreme being who is up there looking out for you...

Disas Touch...

So I usually pride myself as something of a domestic goddess, who can manage a household whilst keeping her career. So when I had a day when everything I touched went kaput, it was disastrous for my confidence. 

Yesterday the first roadblock I hit was blowing the fuse because I was cooking at the highest heat level and apparently I should not be doing that  (Duh, who is going to tell me that, don't you think the apartment should come with instructions like... 

1) Do not use the hot plate at level 5, you will blow the fuse

2) Do not surf channels beyond no 10, the volume will reduce (yes this is what happens when you go beyond channel 10 on the TV in my colleague's room)

3) Do not empty morsels of food into the kitchen sink, you will block it  ( OK, I admit, I knew this, but was feeling too lazy to scrape the food off the plates into the bin).

So first while cooking I blow the fuse and was left standing in the darkness that was only alleviated to some extent by the emergency light near the door and the eerie red glow of the hot plate. So I called housekeeping  and they send a maintenance guy over, he takes one look at the hot plate and does something to the fuse box and the lights come back on, on further questioning him about the cause of the blackout, he points out to the hot plate as the culprit, don't use it at the top mark he advises, smiles a 1000 watt smile and leaves.

Next the biryani I was cooking resembled a very badly made khichidi and was nothing like the light and fluffy rice I normally turn out. I somehow managed to eat some parts of it and packed the rest to be eaten later... if possible.

After that when cleaning the dishes I managed to jam the blasted sink. No matter what I did the water refused to go, and I had to call housekeeping again, much to my chagrin the same guy came with the pump to make the block go away. I think the people at housekeeping will soon nickname me the Lady with the 'Disas Touch', Short for Disaster, to Rhyme with Midas touch... but being the opposite...

Sen from Heaven...

Before the rain...

And it is pouring...

After staying in a hotel for over a month and eating restaurant food for every meal, my nerves had reached screaming point. Just then someone up there in heaven took pity on me and decided that enough is enough and I need to be moved to an apartment. Lo and behold, I now live in the most divine service apartment. 

This is the view from the window of my apartment, it is on the the 22nd floor and when I look out it makes me feel like I must be close to heaven... Sen from heaven signing off...

Surviving Malaysia...

So we have completed three weeks in Malaysia and the common theme of our most serious discussions and decisions is usually ...FOOD. All this because the hotel were we are put up doesn't have a restaurant, so we really have to put a lot of thought towards where the next meal is going to come from. My colleague likens us to the daily wage workers, who will get his meals only if he works, in the same vein, we will get food only if we go to the hotel, no Moms around to shove food down out throats at regular intervals...

Every day the question that pops in our minds when we wake up is 'So where are we going to have breakfast?' Once breakfast has been consumed and the mind is free to begin it meanderings it starts worrying about where lunch is going to be and once body and soul has been fortified with lunch, the next deadline...dinner stares us in the face. 

I am quite OK with meat, poultry or seafood, but my colleague who is a strict vegetarian goes green when the smell of sea food hits him, so sea food restaurants are totally out. Breakfast is usually at a Mamak place near our hotel, and lunch happens at different locations depending on how bored we are to walk to the various food joints. Dinner is invariably at one of the food courts in the malls or the street food hawkers. Never in India did I have to worry about food as much as I have to just now...

My happening life - Part 2

 With two accidents happening around us in as many weeks that we have been in Malaysia, my colleague has branded us 'Pandharya Payache' which is marathi means unlucky, the kind that spell disaster, and whoever comes is contact with said person the forecast for him is nothing but gloom and  doom. The latest in the series of unfortunate events that seems to be dogging us is a tree collapsing on a passing car. Read on for the unfortunate details...

We left office at half past six and instead of going straight to the hotel decided to stop at our friendly neighbourhood eatery which is just across the road from our hotel to to fortify ourselves with some Teh Pasan (glorified name for tea, which is served piping hot). We had just parked ourselves at our favourite table when it happened, all of a sudden the trees in front of the eatery shook wildly and far to the south something crashed....Kaboom...

 If there is one thing I have noticed about people in Malaysia... it is that they are fond of their calories... at any time of the day if you looked around, you will find scores of people just sitting around at the numerous street food stall... eating. However the crash has such an impact that even food was forgotten and everyone ran towards the place where the noise seemed to be coming from and all that was left for people to see was a huge tree lying across the road and two cars crushed under it. The bonnet of one car was flattened and the other more unfortunate car, just happened to be passing by and took the full impact, so much so that the driver was also pinned to the steering wheel, with the tree on top of him.

I for one have no stomach for casualties and refused to go anywhere near the place (we had to pass the place to get to our hotel), even if it meant sitting at the eatery for the next hour. Some 15-20 mins, we could here the blaring of the siren signalling the arrival of the fire brigade and police. After a decent length of time has elapsed and I was fully certain that the coast was clear that I allowed myself to go near the place. At that time the fire brigade were cutting the tree to extricate the car from under the tree, the man was nowhere to be seen, my guess is he was already rushed to the hospital.

Bhai Ka Baap!!!

Apologies for the long hiatus, I have been crazy busy trying to get all the tax returns for the last year sorted. You see, being the tax literate one in my family, turns out it is my responsibility to file  the tax returns for all, yeah, yeah, I know it is well past the deadline of 31st July, but I will admit that I normally aim for the 31st March deadline, the reason for not procrastinating beyond this date is the heavy penalty of Rs.5,000 per return. I'm proud to state that again I have managed a photo finish and submitted the returns just in the nick of time.

All that I have mentioned above has nothing to do with the photograph you can see in this post, I'm just clarifying the reason for my long three week absence from my beloved blog, my life continues to remain as happening as ever, just that the chronicling had to be postponed until the returns are sorted. Now that the return are out of the way and I have managed to save Rs.20,000 in penalties, I can focus on other pressing matters, like recording the story behind the picture.

We were on our way to the office, yes, I'm one of the lucky few who get chauffeured to office (benefits of ensuring that your brother works at an office near yours). I do keep offering to drive, but he says he would rather run all the way to office in tight shoes than sit in a car driven by me, he claims that the speed at which I drive or rather the lack of it will be the death of him, but I digress, I was saying, that we were our way to office and this auto rickshaw zig zagged it way in front of us and I happened to notice the sticker at the back.

It was a picture of a village bumpkin and carried the legend "Bhai ka Baap", I read it but it did not register just then (that things don't register in my brain at once is fodder for another post and will be posted in due course), only a careful second look at the picture revealed the true meaning. It was a picture of Sunil Dutt, who was a celebrated movie star of the 50's and 60's era and the father of the Sanjay Dutt, who is well known movie star himself and very popular for his role of a Bhai in the Munna Bhai series. Bhai ka Baap indeed!!!

De-Technologification....

Yes, this is my new phone which heralds the beginning of my de-technologification, I've finally let go of my Blackberry and with it five different ways of feeling rejected. The  dialogue uttered by Mary in "He's Just Not That Into You", comes to mind "And now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting." 

A little background on this new term, today I begin my efforts towards leading a simpler life (hopefully the high thinking will follow) and spending less time on my phone checking emails, twitter updates, facebook updates, messages on my BBM, messages on WhatsApp and feeling frustrated when there is little or no traffic on them. This is really silly of me as I'm the one pushing people away, so it is but obvious that the traffic will dwindle to a trickle and eventually dry up. In keeping with my efforts to de-stress myself in this area I decided to switch to a low end model that only support incoming and outgoing calls and text messages. Something on the lines of "Na rahega baas, na bajegi baasuri", so help me God!!!

The story of how A nearly had a heart attack...

My colleague A shares my passion for shoes and is usually found wearing branded ones...only Aldo, Charles and Keith, Woodland shoes for the posh miss, if you please. So, last week when she arrived in office all smiling, I did the once over which us women will do, to find out what is new. Nope this is not like the once over that guys do to check out girls, it is a trained glance that takes in the clothes, shoes, jewellery and accessories that the person is wearing. It takes years of training to master it, not to mention the hours of practice needed to become adept at it. But I digress, where was I, oh yes, so A walks in all smiling and I notice the new Charles and Keith that she is wearing and do the mandatory "Oh" and "Ah" to show my approval. Then X walks in and notices all the fawning and adulation over the shoes and she goes "Oooh, new shoes, where did you get it from...Dmart???"

It is a saving grace A is made of sterner stuff, else we would have to rush her to the hospital after that comment. For my international audience, I'll have you know Dmart is a chain store where they sell stuff at wholesale rates and things are usually cheapy cheapy and A would not be seen dead in any clothing or accessories from there.

Honestly if A sold her shoes she could buy three months worth of household food rations from Dmart...my sympathies are with her!!!!

Trek to Tung Fort

This is a true story of how as my friend P would put it "Tung Fort in Tungi, mein baj gayi Sen ki pungi" and is precisely why I'm climbing stairs like a newborn giraffe trying to find its feet (saw it on Animal Planet, I do watch educational TV sometimes) and to be honest I absolutely emphatise with it. Every muscle in my body is screaming blue murder and my complexion (or whatever is left of it) is sulking because the SPF 30 goo (read sunscreen) that I purchased did nothing for my skin and I've returned with a brown-orange hue.

For the past six months I was like an invalid thanks to the horrible knee pain, which the doctor tells me is due to Vitamin D deficiency, and I've been reduced to limping badly, wearing flat shoes, sun bathing (with my clothes on, don't let your imagination run wild) and popping tablets that have me running low on Vitamin M. It is only in the past couple of weeks that I've been able to go back to my old life and I promptly bought myself a new pair of heels as a treat and was looking for more ways to celebrate when M a common friend mailed me the details of a trek to Tung Fort. I scanned through the details and it said it was an "easy" trek and gullible me took the bait. I registered for the trek and followed their instruction to the T on the checklist of items to carry on the trek, which was as follows:

• light cotton track pant-full /shorts – to be worn
• cotton t-shirt – to be worn 
• water bottle ( 2 ltrs) 
• glucose powder
• good trekking shoes
• walking stick - optional
• extra one pair of clothes - optional
• Napkin
• carry everything in a back pack
• camera and binoculars – optional
• sun cap
• sun goggles 
• sun screen cream – optional

By the time I had finished, my list read as follows:

• Jeans
• Two T-shirts (one for a later in the day)
• Jacket
• Shawl
• Extra pair of socks
• 2 bottles of water
• 1 bottle of soft drink
• glucose powder
• Walking shoes
• Two small towels
• 4 mini bars of chocolate
• Sunglasses
• Sun Screen
• Sanitizer
• Shower Gel
• Beautifying Body lotion
• Face Tissues
• Wet wipes
• Lipstick
• Compact powder
• Napkins
• Wallet
• Mobile phone with earphones

By the time I had finished packing the bag was quite heavy, but I told myself that the water I had packed was making it heavy and once I drink it off the bag will be light in no time. When we arrived at the base camp we were handed one lunch box each and my already overflowing bag was bursting at the seams, quite literally. It was only when I reached the base camp when the enormity of the situation hit me, the trek was to be up what looked like a sheer rock face to the top where a flag was posted and I realised this trek was no easy thing, there would be some hard core rock climbing involving some heart in mouth moments when one miss step would mean a free fall of a few hundred feet. 

I must admit the climb up was quite easy and though panting like a dog I managed to do it in good time, but the descent was anything but a disaster. My heart was somewhere in the region of the back of my mouth throughout the descent and at a few places I  said what I thought were my last prayers before I meet my maker and forgave everyone who has sinned against me. As if my shoes sliding over the rocks was not enough my backpack developed a rip and by the time I returned to base camp it was torn beyond repair. At places I was on all fours, at others my leg turned to jelly, the worst was when I was sliding ignominiously on my bum rather than walking and cursing myself for having opted to torture myself in this fashion on a Sunday afternoon, which could have been better spent lazing in front of the TV. 

In hindsight now that I have this trek behind me and I'm thinking clearly I can see a clear analogy between how I approached the trek and how I approach life. In much the same fashion as I overloaded my bag with things I might need, most of it useless (Beautifying body lotion, what was I thinking ???) I tend to clutter my life with things that I think are important. I think about event as "I'll do this when this happens" and don't realise that I'm losing out on so many things while waiting for the perfect things to happen. What I really need is to break free from my shackled way of life and give it a chance to surprise me.

P.S.: Whilst this has been an educational trek, I second the thought put forth by another girl I met on the trek, she shares my sentiments and was so moved by the experience (she had a tough time climbing up), when asked jokingly what she would do in case she were develop the rock face as a realtor, pat came the reply "One escalator by the side and one shaft going straight up the middle". She also suggested telling the organisers to have another category of treks in addition to the normal "Easy", "Moderate" and ''Hard", she wants a "JALSA" trek for other jelly legged individuals like us. For my international audience a little translation, JALSA means  "enjoyment" or "party", so the trek would be something on the lines of a luxury walk :-).

Baby Steps...

Spent the better part of yesterday with a blast from my past. I normally avoid anything that looks like a date, preferring group hangouts or going out with my gal pals, much to the chagrin of my friends who of late have turned matchmakers, the guiding principle for them being, WE ARE MARRIED, WHY SHOULD SEN GET TO ENJOY SINGLEDOM. Every time I meet them the theme is, 'Sen, your interactions are limited to us, you need to widen your circle, meet more people (read guys), allow the special someone you are destined to annoy for the rest of your life approach you, lower the barriers you have around you and open up to new possibilities, blah blah and more blah blah...' 

After years of being subjected to this pep talk, I've finally decided to check out the dating scene and test the waters as I usually find myself tongue-tied in one-on-one situations.  In the past I've had 'Mujhe dekho, conversationalist hoon aur ek tum ho, buth bani baithi ho' thrown at me. So when the opportunity presented itself I grabbed it with both hands. Though I did make a feeble attempt to turn it into a group event by inviting another friend who is as vela as yours truly, but she was working and could not make it.

It all began with a message on my BBM going 'You free today for a movie at XXX?'. I was still in zzzland and by the time I woke up at ten (I usually sleep in on weekends) there was another message 'Thinking, Yes, No, Office, Kuch toh bol '. As a rule I bat aside such invite with a 'Sorry ya, today is kinda bad, maybe some other time' but today I decided that I could just go out and see, also no harm in going out with X,  this was not a DATE, just a catch up with my college friend and gauging from the fact that we had a great lunch, discussed every topic under the sun and took in a movie (both of us agreed Players is a rubbish film) I guess it was not a total loss. 

Quite liked the change of scene and to ensure that I don't lose momentum I'm off on a trek to Tung Fort later this week and come February off on a white water rafting trip to Rishikesh...  at this rate my bucket list will have nothing on it... this year is looking good already...

Umeedonwali dhoop...

This is the new Coke commercial and I think it is lovely, it is indeed heartening that there are people who think like this...

Umeedon wali dhoop, sunshine wali asha
Rone ke wajah kam hai, hasneke bahane jyada
Zid hai muskurayenge, khush reheneka hai wada
Umeedon wali dhoop, sunshine wali asha


Tum dil se agar poochoge, woh khush rehena hi chahe
Jab sache man se maango toh khul jaati hai raahe...
Toh khulke khushi lutao, yeh kya hai aadha aadha


Umeedon wali dhoop, sunshine wali asha
Umeedon wali dhoop, sunshine wali ashaaaaa

Chase Every Dream...

I believe

Its now or never
Believe in me forever
What have we got to lose

I believe
In this journey
Become my destiny
This is what I choose
Chase every dream

I believe
Chase every dream ...

This is the new Levi's curve ID TV Ad jingle, I love it, its kind of like my personal anthem at the moment... and I'm back, I've realized blogging to me is what the rains are to the parched earth, I need my daily/weekly fix of mindless ranting and I intend to do so, i.e. till I have another of my mental attacks and delete the blog again :-)

B.B.W.

Gully Cricket with its own quirky rules is very popular all over the Indian subcontinent and my area is no different. I remember playing it with rules like, One Tappi OUT, Full Toss OUT, Sheesha Toda OUT etc. and it has just been brought to my notice that a new rule has been added... B.B.W...

My mum isn't a big fan of the game as it is an enemy of her daily soaps which she has to forego on match days. So when she came to me inquiring whether a new rule called B.B.W. has been introduced, I was intrigued.

The facts of the matter are as such....

We live on the first floor and there is a playground in front of our building, more often than not, the voices of players of various games floats in to our flat. Listening to these sometimes sublime sometimes asinine conversations makes for a very interesting way to kill time which I for one have a surfeit of. This evening my mum was at a loose end as the Cable TV had conked off and hence was standing in the balcony watching kids at play, when she heard a commotion and the following conversation...

Bowler: Howzzat, B.B.W!!!

Batsman: What is B.B.W.? I'm not out!!!

Bowler: Your bum blocked the stumps.... so you are out B.B.W....Bum Before Wicket!!!

If this is not innovative I don't know what is...