Elsewhere

While I was in Bangalore, this is where S was !!!



(The venetian pavement cafes complete with the sky ... except that the sky is a painted roof!)


(... and the gondolas!)
(Warning: You may need some serious eye protection glasses in this place)


I know you can see through this. I admit, I'm being very lazy. I promise I'll be back :D

Spontaneous Joy

I write to you from Bangalore. A city I love for its sexy weather, quaint cottage houses (of course few left in older localities) and the fact that it houses some of my fav. people. I think I like it so much also because of some very wonderful times I've had here. No, never lived here but have visited numerous times :)

I have mentioned my veryyy close friend Bhavna earlier ... she's my companion from the rainy rickshaw ride . My friendship with her is the kind that makes me feel that I have earned much in this life already. The kind where you don't need to be in touch ever week or even month or whatever but every time you talk you start from where you left off, its always as much fun ... ok, before I go senti lets move on!

SO, Bhavna is expecting a baby and I did not really know that when that happens to someone who is very special to you, it can actually make you go awwww. So it did make me go awww and we talked with more and more frequency the past months and I kept wanting to see her and spend some time with her. In my three years at college while J and I stayed in a rented flat with some friends I spent many a days at Bhavna's place. It was home to me. I would land up at her place or Bhavna would drag me to stay for a few days every time ... I was unwell or I was happy or there was a match we wanted to watch together or it was a tough exam we wanted to prepare for or it was paranthas we wanted to eat or if we wanted to while a night away laughing. So I just wanted to have some of that time with her once again and we discussed many times when and how to do that. But like all great plans it was a spontaneous plan that got me here to be with her.

S was planning to go out of the country for some work and though he's always a sport when I am traveling, on the thought of a week with no S and no work and no all day calls to mom-pa (they are still in Oz) I was freaking a lil and also feeling a little weird about it too (I don't fit well into these distressed damsel roles) SO was not really showing it and being very brave. S asked me if I wanted to go meet Bhavna or Praks or anyone else and if I will be ok and keeping up with the brave front I said I would be and booked tickets for a play on Sunday, a lunch date for Saturday, a movie appointment for Friday, another dinner etc. Even got a membership of bigflicks.com ! I was all set.

And THEN the day S was to leave, Bhavna called me in the morning to chat and I told her about all this and she was like ... What?!! Why aren't you coming?! We have been wanting to meet for so long etc. etc. So I was like that's true and why am I not going and that I must. Booked the tickets, went to see S off, canceled all activity planned for, packed my bags and came to Bangalore!!! :)

Having an awesomely nice time here with Bhavna and some other friends who are dropping in to meet. Re-living some crazy past memories and creating plenty of more to keep us going for a long time. Also, this is the first time I've really met Bhavna's husband who is a lot of fun and I think it helps that we have a shared love (Bhavna of course!!). Every two hours or so Bhavna or I say ... "isn't it great you/I came?!!!!" No wonder that while joys of all kinds and shapes are welcome the spontaneous kind are the ones I am partial to.


P.S. A big thankk youuuu to J, A, Sudip, Sandy and others who are calling up with a frequency far greater than usual to 'generally' chat :) I'm doing good. Love you, guys.

While I'm Gone

Here's something that will make you people very happy. A few pictures of the place I'm going to spend the next week at ... I know you will think of me and these places while you are working away. (Evil laughter)

(The last one is a resort we'll be staying at)

I leave for the Land of the (peaceful) Thunder Dragon tomorrow. YAYYYY!!!! I have been looking forward to this trip for a longgg time now, not just because it will be an amazing place but also because the trip is planned with some of my closest friends - S, me, PK, SM and SM's sweet niece. So we are all converging from Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata and Dubai to undertake this journey together. All of us have this strange feeling that this trip will be special because we'll all be there and because life for all of us may alter in defining ways and we may not have such a time together anytime soon. Its just a feeling we have.

I will come back with many more pictures of my own and will post them too, S says that I have a Japani Aatma (Japanese spirit) because I take SO many pictures all the time. He's no less but he likes to say that ... between two of us we took about 400 pictures in ONE day at Alexandria. (I know I'm still to write/ post pictures for the Egypt and Agra trips). I promise to be less lazy :)

Lazhimbe Jon, people.

Paint it Red!

Some days back I painted my toenails RED. For the first time. Here they are, in the company of my red shoes and turquoise booties, sunning themselves outside the Itmad-ud-Daulah tomb in Agra :) In fact I have painted them an even brighter red since then

It excited me (and a few others) sooo much and they just made me feel so good that I had to report it to PK. So I set out to tell my dear friend PK about it during one of our marathon phone conversations. This is how it went :

Me : You know what? I painted my toes RED. For the first time ever in my life!Yipee!!
PK: Really?
Me: Absolutely! (more yipee etc.)
PK: So you are saying that, the only time, the very first time you colored your hair you went and got magenta highlights BUT you've never painted your toes red?
Me: Uh, ya, I guess that's what I'm saying ...


P.S. Aren't those toe rings damn nice? (Enlarge to see them) I loveeee them.

HOW ABOUT THAT!!!!

Need I say anything? :D

No big deal this

I had enough of saying I wanted a break and not doing anything about it. Also considering that my work had come to take over my life so much, I think it was about time I stepped out of that zone and looked at things with new eyes (maybe my new haircut will help)

Now, I ONLY need to get used to ...

• Getting to sleep as much as I want!! (no more waking up at unearthly hours to finish work!!!)
• NOT multi-tasking all the time. i.e. not have brekky and watch TV and check mail at the same time because I would find time to do each one of them. Right now I'm having to pace myself and tell myself this time and again. I'm behaving a lil like that kid who has been deprived of chocolates for years and has now been let out at a chocolate mountain and so is gorging away. I hope I don't end up with a tummy ache :)
• Not keeping my fav. lip balm and a 100 other things in my bag all the time. Oh no, that means I will need to find a place for them at home ...
• Not dial 0 when I pick up my land line phone to make a call :)
• Getting the time to finish reading a book in 3 days
• Not walking around with speed and purpose as if the world depends on me (to think of it ... do I really need to walk slower?)
• Not being bone tired and sleepless all the time
• Not having two laptops
• Having lazy mornings at home with S around and lazing in the sun and relaxed breakfasts and worldspace
• You know those printout of monthly calendars from Outlook? Not have every day of my next 2,3 or even 4 months planned out in different colored pens on those and pinned around me. (yeahhh, I do know how that sounds)
• Going to a multiplex and watching two movies one after another on a weekday
• Being around to call my mom dad at all times - I'm kind of cold turkeying as my parents left for a 2 month trip to Australia last week so I'm not able to make numerous calls to them in a day like I used to, at least not without accounting and planning for the time difference, them being out etc. Did I say how much I like my parents? Not just love, but 'like'? Ok, I'll soon rectify that but for now - they are adorable and much fun and I'm ... MISSING THEM TO NO END! :( :(

To be continued ... as I'm going to run some errands now but I'm sure things will keep hitting me :)

Days of the New

As I'm lying down on the cool floor of my living room, head pillowed on my crossed arms, looking out the large window with the yellow curtains towards the blue blue sky and the swaying bright wooden fish wind chimes I got from Colombo, I'm suddenly struck by the thought. I smile and stretch and say it aloud. It's been a week.

It's been a week since I quit my job, completed my notice period and then a lil bit extra, finished all the work, cleared my desk, wrote the customised farewell mails, said goodbyes, took backup of my documents, thanked my boss for the lunch, the gift and walked out of the place I have been working at for the past five years. Out of the place which was almost home(!), work I loved and people I liked - some more than others :). WOOOOHOOOOOO. It's been a week!

In the past week, I started writing many times and then didn't post as what came out didn't sound finished. I kept thinking ... what if whatever I'm thinking and feeling changes tomorrow, let me give myself time for things to sink in and so I didn't post. Now, lying on the cold floor with a week behind me, a week in which I only read, slept, spent sunny mornings with S, met people, watched movies, watched TV, cooked, chatted with people, listened to music, slept some more; I believe that while it may take me some time to get over some things - I can do this.

More than one person told me - I would love to be in your place any day! and here I am, still taking it a day at a time. Tiptoeing and worried that any moment I'm going to feel that it's too much and I need the hectic pace of work back. For once in my life I have taken a decision that is as much rational as from the heart and I'm only beginning to enjoy this emptiness I wanted and never had. It just makes me think that change is no doubt the only constant and the things that you fear changing the most are may be the ones needing it most.