Tuesday ,Wednesday,Thursday blues! :(

Another long weekend just whizzed past my bumbling self, followed by a loooooooooooong week of bleddy 4 moping-around-reminscing-about-the-weekend days.

Such a lovely weekend-and just when I was getting into the groove, the bleddy work week begins.hmmpphh! Anyhoo, what a nice relaxed weekend. With old school frnds and ex roomies and the ex known-to-be-the-bestestestest-cooks+gossip maid and the corner house and the lovely NGV park with all its machars and snarling doggies and meeting the new lou interest of a darling old frnd and getting drunk together and giggling over nothing in particular. 3 days at the old bangalore abode , just like the old times (minus all the heartaches and roomie spats ) with days ending at 5 AM and starting at a groggy puffy eyed 11 AM. With the same old hazaar 'good nights' routine only to start talking all over again and finally giving up to exhaustion at dawn.

The Tattooing plan went kapooos :( thanks to all the lounging around and talking without keeping a track of the time. The artist refused to meet us anytime after our appointed time and basically was irritated at us for not making it on time(quite naturally). Now I am so worried abt taking another appointment with him. You know my basic rule of NEVER arguing with a server/waiter has just been appended with NEVER take an appointment with a Tattoo artist you might have just got into the wrong side of.I can just SEE him swrite 'unpunctual bitch' inside a nice celtic tattoo.SIGH!! Now the search for another artist begins.

And S, I am missing you :( Thanks for coming all the way from Hyd to 'hang out' with us. I'm almost sure ki we are not gonna meet anytime in the next 2 years and it makes me so so sad :( And to think we so hated each other when we met first :D

Now I drag myself everyday to work with drooping shoulders and arms almost dragging along the ground.The thought of the weekend and the trip next week is not really helping too much (I think I am missing you tooooo much S )

And yeaaaah,I just remembered!!The pretty pretty lady with the pretty pretty earings who surprised me on sunday evening by telling me dat she regularly followed my updates(!!) - dhengyuverimuch :D

Teen Mahine baad :P

The Past 3 months have been a muddled blur of activities - shifting across continents, blissfull back-to-my-room sentiments, trying to get used to a long distance relationship yet again , swadhisht ghar ka khaana ,a new work place , getting back to driving like an auto waala in the Bangalore traffic et all. And I FINALLY realise ki I have been so busy lurking and delurking around that there has been absolutely no log of the changes that took place in the past few months.

While talking to a friend today, I stared at her in confusion for about 2 minutes-trying to recollect if my engagement was held in the month of August or November. Not good at all. The yahan wahan sightings of grey hair on my crop are definitely not just an aesthetic indictor. You'd better keep a log of significant happenings bitiya raaaani, they seem to suggest.

Anyhoo, I am absolutely overjoyed at being home in time for Ganesh Pooja. These 11 days have always been so so special - everysince the 2 footer me learnt to say 'Modak' and 'Ganpati Bappa Maurya!' with the lusty enthusiasm of a toddler. A few Maharashtrian families down south,trying their best to re-create the atmosphere back home. I guess papa-mummy did do a good job after all, considering it’s the ONLY festival I long for, in the whole year. Diwali is nice and so is Dusshera, but the entry of the lovely Elephant god into our abode promising happiness, security and peace (and not to forget the yummy delicious modaks) has always been very very special.

Things are slightly different now; we reused last year's Makhar , missed quarreling with the brother on who gets the cymbals (and he refused to come on Skype and be a part of the pooja ‘cos he was worried about getting homesick all over again) and the modaks did not disappear as fast as they used too (Especially since the hog-pot of the family is still studying far-far away). But nevertheless, I run home sooner than usual every evening eagerly anticipating the aarthi, fondly look at him everytime I pass by him as if he were a new addition to the family , lovingly decorate his surroundings and feel quite bad about the Visarjan today. SIGH!!

Next year I hope to
1) Be with family again during the 11 days of the puja
2) Make the idol all by myself

May the MangalMurthy bless us all with happiness and peace, this year and beyond.
Pudchya Varshi laukar yaa Ganapathi Bappa :)

The road trip to Yellowstone - Part 1

Its been a week since our road trip and I still havent got rid of this sad feeling ki as with all good stuff, this trip was way toooo short :( Anyways, heres part 1 of the trip!

Friday dawned bright and crisp and the alarm set off at an unearthly hour ( on a normal day this would be just a couple of mins past her bed time -which is ALWAYS in the A.M). The cheerful morning person greeted her spouse with snarls and much gritting and baring of teeth . Dumped herself un-ceremoniously into the car and promptly went

back to sleep, while the spouse went about filling the fuel tank, checking tyre pressures, re-checking the bike stand etc. Presenting the glamourous avatar that has so far been presented only to a select few.

The poor spouse drove on in silence wondering if this miniature version of the hippo, snoring softly in the navigator seat was the same hyper-excited person who went around in cartwheels and summersaults all around the house yesterday;in anticipation of the trip.After about 150 miles, her highness let out a giant yawn, stretching her little self, transformed into a pleasant smiling person allllll ready to take on the world.

A stop for coffee and a quick change of clothes, she took over the wheel and off they went - 2 happy ,excited, young people all geared up for the 12 hour drive ahead of them.

As with every young female who loves to go zoooooooom and feel the wind in her hair ; this little lady was known for frequently over speeding on the highways. But the good girl did stick on the speed limit, and how!! :)

But young blood is known for frequent display of zero commonsense and likewise, she happily ignored the fuel-meter .After about 100 miles of happy driving & loud singing & giggles & screams, the gaadi let a giant sigh and sputtered . Quick manoevouring of the car to the side of the highway was followed by the spouse trying to be the fix-it-all man and checking the oil,heat etc And when nothing seemed wrong, he peeps into the dashboard to see the needle on the fuelmeter happily resting on a big red E. ARRGGHHH!!!!!

A quick call to the roadside assistance was followed by an assuring ' dont worry, we will be there. But it might take some time since you guys are much too far from any town/city' .

'No problem!' was the cheerful response. After all, the car was fully loaded with intellectually stimulatory reads - cosmo, marie claire and the likes. And also with loads of DVDs to be played on the Mac with a nice little charger being charged by the car battery. Whats the worry, eh?!

But 'some' time dragged to 3 hours. With all the movie watching , the car battery had drained to zero leaving the car tin-hot with no battery even to keep the fan on , in the hot Idaho sun :( Stuck on the shoulder of the freeway where one isn't really supposed to even get out of the car -with all the vehicles zooming by; how much they missed the Indian highways with the roadside dhabas and chai tapris.SIGH.

As the little lady slowly but steadily melted into the pages of her book, the man was left with nothing but angry hot bubbles around his head wondering how could there possibly be people who wouldn't bother with monitoring the fuel in the car?! Isnt is as simple as making sure there is some toothpaste on your brush while brushing?!

Finally the rescuers arrived , pumped in some fuel & jump started the battery much to the relief of the flustered couple. And off they went-the tired, dehydrated,irritated couple, set back by a good 4 hours into their journey. After about 2 hours, the lady took the wheel again driving through dangerous forks in a hilly terrain and frequently changing lanes-only to be stopped by the highway cops and let off with a very understanding "oh, you look tired.You should take some rest ,ma'm!' . No ticket!! This was followed by a drunk teenager and a cowboy-hatted-ex-convict at a casino almost giving the spouse a heart attack. Some dum-dabake-bhagings happened and the couple inched their way to their destination wondering if this was an indication of a really rotten trip ahead . And how wrong were they?! :)

Yellowstone, Here I come!!

Tomorrow, we begin our road trip to Yellowstone- Just the 2 of us.

K and I have been SO looking forward to this trip–driving all the way (approx 16 hours one way) and camping 3 nights in a row. We have our bikes hitched to the car too. Did I mention we have an inflatable boat too ( are we cool or wot? :D) , but no boating this time on, so the poor little thing stays in the store room.The bags are packed, half the stuff loaded into the car trunk, utensils sorted out, ready to eats and noodles and eggs and all packed,firewood loaded, sleeping bags aired, dvds and books sorted, alllllllllll set!! we just wake up early tom morning, load the remaining stuff into the gaadi, bicker a bit about our driving turns and off we goooooooooo!! 3 days of just nature ,animals ,no internet and a nomadic life with our cute orange tent for shelter.

I have dumped in 5 pairs of shoes-chumma.A exhilarating feeling of no-restraint.Nobody can now tell me to reduce the numbers on the pretext of luggage weight or space or anything BUHUWAHA!Have also dumped in allllll my stoles,extra tshirts - all just to overutilize the liberty of a road trip involving wonly 2 people(the other person being a guy and hence supposed to shut up and be a mute spectator to this version of squatting).As always, we shall end up clicking very few snaps. Especially since bisons and deers and bears and geysers and canyons and dormant volcano and fissures are allllll in the same reserve and we would be too involved in relishing every moment. Whatever few we click, I shall upload them soon.

WOOOOOHOOOOOHH!! Aiyaamekkkkcited!! :)

P.S:
More about the park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park

The Monthly Recap

March bought with it -
1) Papa's Birthday
2) The adorable Sumo's Birthday
3) Darling Meen's first wedding Anniversary
4) The pretty Aditi's Wedding
5) Ana had a lovely, gorgeous little baby girl
6) Tough decisions for me and some revaluation of life's priorities
7) Tougher times for K with all my tantrums
8) My first ever ankle injury (hopefully the last too)
9) Good friends laid off at work
10) The SUN!! It’s officially spring! :)

And Yeah,its been 4 years since I started my stint at SAP Labs. So far, the most fun and coolest of companies I’ve ever known.

A mixed month , from the present-continuous point of view. But I guess when I look back 10 years from now , I’ll only remember Ana's joy at being a first time mommy, Papa’s delight at receiving our PAPER greeting cards (A desperate attempt at personalizing his birthday in our absence) and Aditi's excitement over her long awaited wedding.

Not bad.

Stupidity is..

..to cram your sweatshirt and jacket hurriedly into the gym bag-but forget to take out the car keys, run like a maniac some 50 meters towards your car trying to beat the cold , reach the car and realise the keys are 'somewhere' in the bag which also holds half your household furniture, blindly rummage through the bag in the dark parking lot while your ungloved fingers enjoy sensations from biting pain to numbness in the sub-zero temperature , decide between going back indoors to search or finish the search outside( we are half done anyways,arent we?), start running towards the gym and midway find the keys in the outermost pocket where you'd kept them for 'easy accessibility'.
:-/

The tale of an educated Fundamentalist.

Watching the likes of Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia , Omar Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi conduct themselves with a certain amount of dignity and hold their own amid many of the old timers is always a treat to sore eyes.

Politics, in India is bound to hold a certain amount of grime - atleast for the next few decades. But seeing young ,educated politicians in the arena holds a 'promise of promise' that things might just be getting better - a wee bit better. Maybe they might not stoop so low as to ignite crowds into demolishing holy places of worship for those winning votes, May be they might not have to keep eating their words or passing the buck depending on post/pre-election scenario , May be they might know better and rather work at disaster management than getting their snaps clicked at ground zeros and continue blaming Pakistan - Just Maybe.

Just when you think the young blood will pave way for a non-disgusting political scenario in India , this has to come along :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/19/india-politics-gandhi-racism

Watch the video too if you can and see the intensity in this young man's speech and body language. Its just sad and plain disgusting :( and hopeless :( And he is just 29 :(

Did you really have to go all the way to LSB to learn to think and talk like this, young man? Modi wouldve been glad to take you under his wings years ago..Tch Tch what a waste of time.Advaniji, Pls to plan your retirement already, you have a heir apparent - Apparently!

A Black and White Weekend

2 weeks ago, K and I went on a skiing weekend trip to this small quaint town north-east of Seattle known for its Nordic and Alpine ski-slopes. I am not sure why , but this town claims to be a 'little German town' with every other store/hotel/resto bearing pseudo German names. But anyways, the town WAS Cute ..sometimes in the suffocating desperately-trying-to-be-cute manner too. ( like the good ol' Carrie pseudo-cutesy Bradshaw) What amazed me was the total lack of colour on our way to the town. I have seen a white washed scenery, white with lovely blobs of colour scenery , but never a totally surreal black and white scenery. Here are some snaps (I am using a substitute low quality canon these days, till the Sony is back with its broken display rectified. So pls dont laugh at the picture quality :))

And what does one do when she gets all tired and cold?



..grab a counter by the window overlooking the mountains and savour a refreshing cup of cappuccino :)



And I managed to take a couple of videos from the moving car - sometimes reaching up to the sun roof and holding the camera against the freezing cold wind. The quality is even more rotten with youtube :( Pls to ignore the birdie crap on the glass panes and the overall blurr :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwAjsqGiYj0

In other news..

I am now a escatic wannabe types!! Ever since I have enrolled into a white water Rafting and Kayaking instructor/guide course, I dream of being this brave tiny little instructore guiding rafts through sharp icy waters and ravines and falls-someday I will.

Apparently we are being trained in setting up and guiding rafts and kayaks,roping techniques, commands, navigation, flipping the upturned rafts and getting them back into position, saving fellow passengers if needed etc etc. But all I seem to do is dangle around the raft like a drunk frog-scrambling to get my ground (in water?!), leaping from point x to point y in the most dignified(NOT) manner, grunting away to glory while reaching out for ropes far beyond the reach of my tiny pudgy hands and setting a perfect example of 'what not to do'.

Forget saving others lives, I can't manage to save my own skin!While learning to flip the raft with ropes at perfect angles( I never knew trignometry could spoil such a fun sport), I ended up with the raft falling bang right on top of my head pushing me into the water while the life-vest simultaneously bobbed me upwards. O.U.C.H!! The raft was air blown and huge. I never knew something with just air in it could bring such an immense impact. I guess this is the closest Ive been to a bomb blast - bleddy my head almost burst with the intense pain and the impact.Our trainer told me this has never happened in the last 3 years since he started training- bahhhh!!

Inspite of training in the protected environment of a warm pool, I seem to invent new methods of making the safest of conditions potentially unsafe.When we start off the icy cold waters in a couple of weeks time, I am sure I will be setting 'misaals' of a different kind :P

Paddling away as an one time passenger on a raft is no doubt fun. But being a guide and taking up the responsibilty of the entire raft and the passengers is a different ball game altogether. Added to this the adrenalin flow of guiding a raft through a ravine or a fall-Ah! I just cannot wait for that day :)

Very soon, I want to able to do this...



and this..



(Pics courtesy-BEWET)

Of cats and dogs..

Yes,the hype has long since died down and this is a fossilized topic of discussion. But I am still trying to figure out what was it that got Slumdog Millionaire the most coveted filmi awards in the planet.

I quite liked the movie when I'd watched it in January, but did not see anything exceptional worth remembering (Excepting the little boy Jamal) .I saw it again today-tried to see it 'in new light'. SIGH!! I did like the movie -but why don't I get the content 'what an awesome movie' feeling? And I am seething with indignation (not that it matters to anyone who really loved the movie , but still )

Agreed my lovely country has its fair share of poverty - but the slums,the underworld and the call centres arent the ONLY aspects that define India. And I am quite worried about the message this movie gives out (apart from the hope,underdog blah) to the world.I have experienced subtle racist incidents ,have heard derogatory remarks about India ( based on what some ignorant foreigner has derived from some news article/movies and the likes) and it breaks my heart that a movie which shows ONLY the underbelly of India/mumbai will make it to most homes across the world.I burn with rage when the dentist 'knows' that a simple ultrasonic dental cleaning tool is not available in poor,under-developed dirty India. Or when I read some righteous , pompous idiot telling us to ensure ' children don't drink out of gutters, eat at trash heaps, and suffer unimanagable abuse' .

And you know what makes it even worse? The knowledge that not a single scene in the movie is over-done or untrue or tries to wrongly depict the grimy side to the most glamorous Indian city. It is heart wrenching that we have children abused and underfed( and I am terribly ashamed that I have not done anything to help change this), but that is not the whole story. We also have one of the strongest primary education system in Asia, high intellectual capital ,a fast growing economy and a middle class population with all comforts a human being desires.

I really wish a more balanced movie would have made it to the oscars. I might seem shallow, but it does make me cringe when I know that some arbit ignorant foreigner (not all) thinks an Indian in America is a beggar seeking refuge - because you see, we saw it in the movie- your country is SO poor and So dirty.SIGH!!

Why is it that this movie had to make it so high up there? Especially when the story line is not too exceptional, the cinematography is decent but not awe-inspiring,the music is good -but knowing Rehman, how gifted he is and this is definitely not his best work-So why oh why?!! Have I missed out something which the whole world has easily spotted? Or is the hyper-if-the-elitist-love-it-then-so-do-I kind of chain reaction?

Dev Patel was the perfect fit for the role of Jamal, Frieda Pinto easily overshadowed by other actors , Irfan Khan with his understated,impressive presence was such a pleasure and the Kids- ahhhh the kids! Especially Ayush and Ismail as the young Jamal and Salim were adorable. As was Tanay Chheda (he was excellent in Tare Zameen par- not a one time shot, he definitely has talent)

And am SO happy for Rehman -finally he gets his due recognition worldwide.Though 'Jai ho' pales in comparison to his other extraordinarily super songs in the last decade. I wish Loveleen Tandon was given her due recognition for her casting too. Aaaaargh, and it is bledddyyyy so irritating to see Anil kapoor doing the super chance pe dance and thrusting his face into every camera available, in the most irritating manner. Resul makes you feel good in the 'hardworking , humble chap getting due respect for his talent' way.

And isnt it funny? The way we claim ownership depending on convenience? So instead of jumping out of joy for our music directors,technicians and actors being recognized worldwide for their superb job in a British movie, we go overboard claiming the whole movie is ours! But whoever takes credit, this movie is going to bring Indian talent into the global arena and this is definitely a good sign.

...And when they do, will people please get their names right?

Here I am..

...after 2 months yet again. Ain't I punctual? :)

There have been soooo many firsts in the last 2 months - the most special one being our first Wedding Anniversary. We survived each other for a year!! I know it might sound very VERY clichéd, but time does fly.Wasn't it just yesterday-when we were scouting for that perfect trousseau?

A week before the anniversary, the brother and I had this loooooonnng conversation digging up every little thing we could recollect during the hectic week of the wedding ; the same-time-last-year waale incidents .We quarreled nonstop for close to 2 hours on the phone trying to make up for the lack of physical proximity required for a good clawing and scourging out of eyes. This is our way of showing how much we love and miss each other - weird but thats how it is.

He was the official scape goat during the wedding- anything and everything that had a remote possibilty of going wrong was promptly blamed on him. Ours is a nuclear family living in the south for a good 20 years.Our well meaning relatives couldnt do too much during the wedding since they did not understand a word of Tamil. So, this meant the parents, younger bro and sis handling the entire event management-with the icing on the cake being papa not speaking decent Tamil either! Every time I tried to intervene/help out, I was given this ' Scoot! You are the bride!' line and I watched my lovely family stretching themselves trying to make my wedding as special as they could.

A wedding with >2000 guests, between a Maharashtrian and a Telegu family held in Tamil/Kannada speaking place is no joke. It is a multilingual chaos with most people communicating in weird sign languages. English/Hindi did help quite a bit, but not enough when it came to ground management.

I had wanted a quiet wedding with close family/friends in my favorite temple up the hill overlooking lush green fields and a river below. If you live in Bangalore and feel like a nice weekend drive, do take the NH7 towards Chennai and abt 7 kms past Hosur, you will see this temple up on a hill about 500 metres to your right. Its not the diety nor any religious preferences, its just the serene tranquility of the place. SIGH! Ok, no digression-Yeah, the wedding. Considering K's entire family base for upto 3 generation upwards lives in the Bangalore area,there was no chance of a small wedding. It had to be BIG and how!!

So we had this groom in his traditional attire all complete with a turban and sash, a Maharashtrian bride with 'nath' and the likes and THREE bleddy wedding ceremonies. An Aryasamaji one (which K and I so badly wanted) followed by Maharashtrian and Telegu rituals. By the end of which K and I were so exhausted that I forgot to do all the filmy drama which I had intended to do when the knot was tied. Before I knew, the priest got hyper , some aunties got excited, hands came in between K and I and flurry flurry and people were congratulating us. I saw some fav friends of mine smiling at me and mouthing some affectionate words from somewhere down the aisle and I suddenly wanted to sit with them and indulge in some bird watching and comment-e-baazi.And I suddenly felt verrrryyyyy sleepy and hungry. Starting with the Mehendi waala naach gaana 2 days ago, I had hardly slept and in my case less sleep=infinite grumpiness. And infinite grumpiness + smiling non-stop for snaps and the like = pent up irritation to be showered on my privileged brother or K (lucky buggers).

So what started with super-duper fun at the Mehendi ( with older maushis dancing with SO much passion that the younger girls' matke jhatkes were abs no competition ) and the excitement of the reception with SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many gifts (yes, I am shallow) , It was full blown physical exhaustion at the wedding. I wanted to be a glowing happy bride- but I was this grumpy sleepy woman ready to bark at anyone who would take it. I was told it was a pleasure to see such a nice conglomeration of traditions- yeah right! its always nice to sit and to watch and to be able to go pee whenever you want to.

In all this drama, the brother and I completely forgot to 'settle scores' with each other. That the poor chap single handedly managed most of the events , slept for a quarter of what I did and also ended up wearing the wrong tie for his suit will not convince me into shutting up. After all thats what brothers are for, hain na - to settle scores whenever you get the chance and emotionally blackmail them into a good Rakhi gift to make up for. I remember MM telling me how her brother was always the official event manager of the family weddings that during his own wedding someone- by force of habit told him to arrange cars for the brides party DURING the wedding :)

Well, it's been a year now and I am still trying to figure out what exactly is marraige all about. Right now,its living together with my best friend of 11 years (and BF of 3 years) with our love and respect for each other growing multi-fold with every passing day.

We celebrated our first Anniversary for almost 34 hours (to accommodate both IST and Pacific timings’ :D). A lovely gift shipped by the parents, bro and sis got me all teary eyed and emotional - especially since the fedex ka outer brown box had only K's name with the address! ARRGGGGHHHHHH!! And I know the brother would do this deliberately to bring my green-eyed, attention-seeking monster out (Which is not too difficult anyways).

We also had a lovely romantic dinner atop the revolving restaurant on the Seattle needle.And I am itching to write more about the resto as well as the needle.But, I shall keep that for another post :)