Mom-Dad I Wish they keep smiling like that .....Always!!
Family.... A large part thereof!Tuesday, November 21, 2006
My Treasure!!
Mom-Dad I Wish they keep smiling like that .....Always!! Family.... A large part thereof!
To Mumbai and Back!!
Long time no see....I've been procrastinating a lot lately..I've been thinking of writing something on this space for ages....but that’s about where it ends. Thought not transformed into actions....Is that me?? I hope not!!
I was in Mumbai recently and happened to attend a "wedding"...The quotes tell u that it was indeed a wedding with a difference...and i mean that in the best sense of the word!! It was by far the best planned wedding I've ever attended! And this is 25 years of experience speaking in attending drab and boring wedding parties! PK/KK....if you are reading this, take a bow...I know who are the exact people who're gonna be planning things for me!!!
The flight out from Calcutta to Mumbai was at about 0930 in the morning...I, much against my usual routine, had to get up rather early to catch the flight!! Early for me = 07:00 am!! I have grown to like Air Deccan after my initial harrowing experience...It is very cheap (if you book on time) and gives u an option to eat and drink what you want to...unlike other frill-full airlines! The flight took me to Bombay in about 3 hrs. As I landed there, the excitement grew along with a strange sorta apprehension! I called dad who made me speak to the 'father of the bride' who in turn wanted me to reach their residence. My cousin was staying there as well!! The bags took an eternity to come out. I could've gone back to Calcutta and come back in that time! I took the bag and stepped out into the world called Bombay...I'd heard a lot....I was finally there. Thinking of Calcutta gave me a lot of heart....If I can survive here, I can survive anywhere!! I took an auto who weaved through traffic as bad as the traffic in Calcutta and took me to the place. It took me all of 15 mins!
Walking into the house, I wondered if anyone indeed would know who I was...Luckily I met my cousin PK even before entering. He had just come back after yet another shopping trip with his wife to be, KSK and his B-I-L. I was proud of myself for the excellent timing. Now, KK belongs to a gujju family....it was all I'd ever imagined a gujju family to be like....and more....almost seemed a family right out of one of the regular hindi Sitcoms...obviously these were the happy times for our family. Chirpy....extremely chirpy.... concerned.....and extremely friendly!! Not for a moment did I feel outta place even though I didn't understand any gujarati! I guess my interactions with the bengali speaking janta in Calcutta helped me a lot.... The food that afternoon was divine...Maybe because it was my first decent home made meal after a long time. I stopped only coz I had to not because I wanted to!! I don't remember meeting my entire family together in a long long time. This was one such occasion was so glad seeing all of them together...
I had to meet this another friend of mine that evening....it'd been a longgg time since we'd met last...Cafe mocha, the pani puri at juhu, the sea side...it was all awesome!! Had a great evening. The night was meant to be even better....Dinner at my cousin's place...KM. KM is my bua's daughter...hadn't met her in a long long time as well. I was apprehensive yet again...I took an auto rikshaw to her place. Bombay traffic in evenings is horrendous! a distance of 5 kms took me around half an hr! The evening was more of a "family getting together remembering old times" event! Now I like hearing stories about me and my childhood....but not when they get embarrassing. DO all families like doing that? Add to it the fact that I was almost the youngest ...yes, youngest at 25...(my sis wasn't there). We had some awesome chicken and divine icecream! Naturals they tell me was the name of the brand...i loved the roasted almonds!! The stories, the whiskey, the chicken and the ice cream lasted till about 12 in the night when everyone realized that tomorrow was yet another big day!! So we split.....feeling dead tired!
Day 2 began rather early for me...one of my friends was to come down n meet me at the andheri station. I reached there well in time.....in spite of the early morning bombay traffic. The sheer number of people that I saw in Andheri that morning was extremely scary! I don't think I've ever seen so many people...totally unperturbed by each others' presence! It was almost a belittling experience. Mumbaikars for one are great with directions....I asked one person and was there...more often than not!! I had to meet my cousin and Family (CKF) at the airport and travel with him to Lonavala and meet up with everyone else who'd already gone there, the same morning. The drive to lonavala is the most beautiful one...awesome roads, beautiful surroundings, the ghats...its mesmerizing! Thank God for the expressway, we'd have been there in 2 hrs but for the traffic jam! It took us almost 4 hours to reach....the party was on. CKF looked visibly tired! They went straight to the room. And I to the venue. It was awesome to meet people after ages. And I mean after ages...I was surprised that so many people actually knew me even though I didn't remember too much about them. Almost a bit of a shocker!
The night was supposed to be an ice breaker night for the 2 families with the idea being that everyone should know everyone else...and it went off well. KSK and family showed how good a dancers they were by performing awesomely well choreographed sequences and we on the other side showed that dancing need not be choreographed as long as u enjoy the music and let go of urself!! (Psst: We were pathetic though...I have a video;)!)
Day 3 started off with me getting up early to see the sunrise....It was beautiful even though I was rather late. Standing in the balcony and looking at the sun coming up behind the hill infront, I couldn't help but feel lucky to be there...The place we stayed at, Fariyas, is a resort- a weekend getaway for a lot of mumbaikars. they have an awesome pool and even though I'd forgotten to carry my swimming trunks I managed to convert one of my shorts into swim wear and enjoyed the pool for almost an hr before the sumptuous breakfast. I had made quite a good appetite for it till then. I hogged on the salamis, the sausages, the eggs, the fruits and the juices. I probably looked like a person straight outta a food starved place.
The wedding was at 11. It was an Arya Samaj Wedding with most of the rituals in Hindi. It was a small affair- ended in about 1 hr. It was the best ceremony I’d ever attended. Short, simple and understandable. I slept the rest of the afternoon and the evening was just a formal dinner. By the end of the day I was soo sleepy that keeping my eyes open was proving to be difficult.
Sunday was when we came back to Mumbai. Mom came back early and caught a flight back to Delhi whereas me and dad came back later. We were with KM and family and had lunch with them at Ruchita’s wonderfully cozy one bedroom appt. Home food after such a long time tasted divine and I had to force myself not to hog ...yet again!!! I dropped dad at the railway station and took my flight back home the same night.
The 3 days did a lot of good to me. I was a little bogged down with work or maybe the lack of it …. This acted as such a welcome break! I was looking forward to meeting people..a lot of people after a longgg time….and I wasn’t disappointed. I met long lost family members, had great grub to eat and all this at a wonderful place. I was left craving for more by the time it ended. As they say….all good things have to come to an end for them to become memories….this sure would rank tight up there!!
Looking forward to “more” memories…….Nowz not forever……is it?
I was in Mumbai recently and happened to attend a "wedding"...The quotes tell u that it was indeed a wedding with a difference...and i mean that in the best sense of the word!! It was by far the best planned wedding I've ever attended! And this is 25 years of experience speaking in attending drab and boring wedding parties! PK/KK....if you are reading this, take a bow...I know who are the exact people who're gonna be planning things for me!!!
The flight out from Calcutta to Mumbai was at about 0930 in the morning...I, much against my usual routine, had to get up rather early to catch the flight!! Early for me = 07:00 am!! I have grown to like Air Deccan after my initial harrowing experience...It is very cheap (if you book on time) and gives u an option to eat and drink what you want to...unlike other frill-full airlines! The flight took me to Bombay in about 3 hrs. As I landed there, the excitement grew along with a strange sorta apprehension! I called dad who made me speak to the 'father of the bride' who in turn wanted me to reach their residence. My cousin was staying there as well!! The bags took an eternity to come out. I could've gone back to Calcutta and come back in that time! I took the bag and stepped out into the world called Bombay...I'd heard a lot....I was finally there. Thinking of Calcutta gave me a lot of heart....If I can survive here, I can survive anywhere!! I took an auto who weaved through traffic as bad as the traffic in Calcutta and took me to the place. It took me all of 15 mins!
Walking into the house, I wondered if anyone indeed would know who I was...Luckily I met my cousin PK even before entering. He had just come back after yet another shopping trip with his wife to be, KSK and his B-I-L. I was proud of myself for the excellent timing. Now, KK belongs to a gujju family....it was all I'd ever imagined a gujju family to be like....and more....almost seemed a family right out of one of the regular hindi Sitcoms...obviously these were the happy times for our family. Chirpy....extremely chirpy.... concerned.....and extremely friendly!! Not for a moment did I feel outta place even though I didn't understand any gujarati! I guess my interactions with the bengali speaking janta in Calcutta helped me a lot.... The food that afternoon was divine...Maybe because it was my first decent home made meal after a long time. I stopped only coz I had to not because I wanted to!! I don't remember meeting my entire family together in a long long time. This was one such occasion was so glad seeing all of them together...
I had to meet this another friend of mine that evening....it'd been a longgg time since we'd met last...Cafe mocha, the pani puri at juhu, the sea side...it was all awesome!! Had a great evening. The night was meant to be even better....Dinner at my cousin's place...KM. KM is my bua's daughter...hadn't met her in a long long time as well. I was apprehensive yet again...I took an auto rikshaw to her place. Bombay traffic in evenings is horrendous! a distance of 5 kms took me around half an hr! The evening was more of a "family getting together remembering old times" event! Now I like hearing stories about me and my childhood....but not when they get embarrassing. DO all families like doing that? Add to it the fact that I was almost the youngest ...yes, youngest at 25...(my sis wasn't there). We had some awesome chicken and divine icecream! Naturals they tell me was the name of the brand...i loved the roasted almonds!! The stories, the whiskey, the chicken and the ice cream lasted till about 12 in the night when everyone realized that tomorrow was yet another big day!! So we split.....feeling dead tired!
Day 2 began rather early for me...one of my friends was to come down n meet me at the andheri station. I reached there well in time.....in spite of the early morning bombay traffic. The sheer number of people that I saw in Andheri that morning was extremely scary! I don't think I've ever seen so many people...totally unperturbed by each others' presence! It was almost a belittling experience. Mumbaikars for one are great with directions....I asked one person and was there...more often than not!! I had to meet my cousin and Family (CKF) at the airport and travel with him to Lonavala and meet up with everyone else who'd already gone there, the same morning. The drive to lonavala is the most beautiful one...awesome roads, beautiful surroundings, the ghats...its mesmerizing! Thank God for the expressway, we'd have been there in 2 hrs but for the traffic jam! It took us almost 4 hours to reach....the party was on. CKF looked visibly tired! They went straight to the room. And I to the venue. It was awesome to meet people after ages. And I mean after ages...I was surprised that so many people actually knew me even though I didn't remember too much about them. Almost a bit of a shocker!
The night was supposed to be an ice breaker night for the 2 families with the idea being that everyone should know everyone else...and it went off well. KSK and family showed how good a dancers they were by performing awesomely well choreographed sequences and we on the other side showed that dancing need not be choreographed as long as u enjoy the music and let go of urself!! (Psst: We were pathetic though...I have a video;)!)
Day 3 started off with me getting up early to see the sunrise....It was beautiful even though I was rather late. Standing in the balcony and looking at the sun coming up behind the hill infront, I couldn't help but feel lucky to be there...The place we stayed at, Fariyas, is a resort- a weekend getaway for a lot of mumbaikars. they have an awesome pool and even though I'd forgotten to carry my swimming trunks I managed to convert one of my shorts into swim wear and enjoyed the pool for almost an hr before the sumptuous breakfast. I had made quite a good appetite for it till then. I hogged on the salamis, the sausages, the eggs, the fruits and the juices. I probably looked like a person straight outta a food starved place.
The wedding was at 11. It was an Arya Samaj Wedding with most of the rituals in Hindi. It was a small affair- ended in about 1 hr. It was the best ceremony I’d ever attended. Short, simple and understandable. I slept the rest of the afternoon and the evening was just a formal dinner. By the end of the day I was soo sleepy that keeping my eyes open was proving to be difficult.
Sunday was when we came back to Mumbai. Mom came back early and caught a flight back to Delhi whereas me and dad came back later. We were with KM and family and had lunch with them at Ruchita’s wonderfully cozy one bedroom appt. Home food after such a long time tasted divine and I had to force myself not to hog ...yet again!!! I dropped dad at the railway station and took my flight back home the same night.
The 3 days did a lot of good to me. I was a little bogged down with work or maybe the lack of it …. This acted as such a welcome break! I was looking forward to meeting people..a lot of people after a longgg time….and I wasn’t disappointed. I met long lost family members, had great grub to eat and all this at a wonderful place. I was left craving for more by the time it ended. As they say….all good things have to come to an end for them to become memories….this sure would rank tight up there!!
Looking forward to “more” memories…….Nowz not forever……is it?
Friday, November 03, 2006
Problem....NO Problem!!
The past few days have been crazily hectic. I go to work at 9 and come back at 9 ( ok i'm exagerrating...i come back by 7.30-8) and still end each day with a feeling of being wasted; as though i've done nothing...achieved zero! I wonder why is that happening to me??
Was in Delhi this past week....quite an enjoyable 7 days. Home food was the best part of it all. Met a few friends of mine from back home and also some MBA days classmates. Everyone has a story to tell about their work and I have nothing....am I doing nothing for real or am I not a good story teller??
The little work that i did these past 4 months....not a whole lot of people seem to be interested in wht I did. Is it me at fault for not being able to sit up and take notice or is it them who're at fault??
Questions questions......I shouldn've been in a pensive mood, especially in the situation i am in. I am not....I am happy. I really don't care as to what future holds for me...I wanna live for the now.I wanna enjoy the friends around, the late night talks on my free cell phone, the loud poojo happening right next to my house, the whiff of fresh air, the food I eat, my sleep...I wanna enjoy it all!
Enjoyment....this reminds me of Indian cricket team loosing the match to australia recently shattering all my plans for november TV viewing. I decided to pull off TV for a while and start reading. I managed to convince myself to purchase a book on my fifth visit to a book-shop. This was in October when i was in delhi.....I still haven't picked it up and started reading it. Books have a strange effect on me.....They make my eyes close for some reason.
And then I received another mail today... which i absolutely adored...It puts a lot of things which I often end up thinking about into perspective.....here is it.its dilbert whackiness at its best!!
Some of the one-liners from Dilbert...
1. I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either.
2. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
3. Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
4. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
5. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him again.
6. I DON'T HAVE AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM, YOU HAVE A PERCEPTION PROBLEM.
7. Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky, and I thoughtto myself, "where the heck is the ceiling?"
8. My reality cheque bounced.
9. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
10. I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
11. You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter. (awesome abuse)
12. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
13. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
14. Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
15. A pat on the back is only a few inches from a kick in the butt.
16. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
17. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before. 18. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
19. You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.
20. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
21. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
22. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
23. Following the rules will not get the job done.
24. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
25. Only the mediocre are at their best all the time.
26. There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.
27. Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.
28. If at first you don't succeed......skydiving isn't for you.
29. Life is a waste of time; time is a waste of life, so get wasted all of the time and have the time of your life.
30. When everything is coming your way......you're in the wrong lane
Doesn't it all start to make sense....suddenly:). Now is not for ever..ENJOY!!!
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