Back Again after Another Really Long Break

It has been over two months since I updated my blog. I changed jobs and have been extremely busy. I also seem to have settled comfortably into Gurgaon though I still crave to be back in Mumbai. I did visit Mumbai a few weekends back. It was a fairly short trip but it really made me realize how vibrant and full of life Mumbai is when compared to any other city. All I can do is hope that I can go back there at some point.

The Samosa Incident

Here’s an irrelevant incident from my child hood. :)

The post is dedicated to my brother as this is one of his favorite things to complain. He mentions it to me and anyone around me every single time we meet.

As a child, I hated food. The thought of each meal and having to eat it was my biggest nightmare. I would do anything to avoid eating food including throwing away my half eaten, half wasted lunch before my mom saw the lunch box. I used to stand on this platform in my back yard and throw my lunch in the empty plot of land behind my house. One time, my lunch box fell down along with the food and I to jump down and retrieve it J

Anyway, let me get back to the Samosa. While growing up my mother used to buy us samosas and Dilpasand (wonder what it is actually called. It is basically a puff stuffed with coconut and dry fruits) from the local Iyengar bakery. I would always ask for one samsosa, but given my aversion towards food, would not want to eat it once it was bought. So I would procrastinate and wait for ever to eat it. Finally my mother would give up and give it to my brother to finish. By this time it would be cold and soggy and given that we did not have microwaves back then, my brother had to make do with a cold extra samsosa.  While growing up this was just a trivial incident and had no effect on me. But this obviously has affected my poor brother who seems to remember it every time he sees me. J

The Quest for a New Phone

When cell phones first became affordable, I was in college doing my B’Com. It must have been around the year 2002 or 2003. Those days there were a few Nokia models which were affordable. The most popular were the Nokia 3310 and 3315 and most of us had them as our very first phones.  Heavy competition between Airtel and Hutch (the current Vodafone, was called Hutch then and used to have a nice orange logo) ensured that SMS was completely free on most basic plans. This made sure  that we used to have an absolute blast in college. We used to send each other messages sitting on the same bench. The days of writing notes to one another on pieces of paper and stealthily passing it around were long gone. We now sent an SMS to even the person sitting next to us. Of course, cell phones were banned during class hours and we had to hide them in our bags or be extremely cautious while using them. If we did get caught, which happened to me just once, we had to pay a fine of 200 bucks and write an apology letter.

Anyway, those were the simple days when phones were used to just make calls and send SMSes. Now there are umpteen things that the phone is used for. And sadly, each new feature seems to have become an absolute necessity. Internet is a must. When I was in Mumbai and used the train extensively, internet was an absolute must to keep me occupied. Even if I had to stand in an extremely crowded train, I could log on to some social networking site and amuse myself. Music and radio is the next absolute necessity. And now GPS. I need Google maps to help me find my way around the city.

Coming back to my present dilemma. My current confusion stems from whether to buy an Android phone or a Blackberry? The Android will have real cool features but it will again be a touch screen phone and I am bored of touch screen phones and the need to look at the phone even to make a call. However, the Blackberry won’t have the cool games and Aps of an Android, but it will let me chat endlessly with a nice key pad.

And my confusion continuous. Sigh! Whatever phone I chose to buy is going to be outdated as technology catches up and comes up with something new over the next six months. I really wish I could meet the guys who think of all these things. It must be so exciting to come with these new features and see them being used by millions of people.

When I got my first touch screen phone two years back, it was the coolest thing in the market.  Now it is just another outdated phone. So I guess I should not put in so much thought and just buy whatever phones takes my fancy.

Chick Lit!

I spent my entire growing up years reading chick lit. Like most other school girls I started with Sweet Valley Kids and then moved on to Sweet Valley High and whatever else was part of the series. We were allowed to pick one book ever week at the school library and I always managed to get the librarian to allot me an extra book. So, two of these books a week made my growing up years. I guess once I reached high school, or moved out of school I started reading Mills and Boons. (Can’t seem to remember when L) It was the ultimate experience to read a Mills and Boon ,flicked from my mother who always hid it under her mattress. (Did she really think no one guessed she kept them there?)  My folks never had a problem with what I read, but it was always an added pleasure to wait for them to fall asleep and then read the book in my room.

With time I got a library membership and realized that there was a world of chick lit out there waiting to be read. We had a membership at a library called Eloor near Safina Plaza. Am sure anyone who grew up in Bangalore will know of the place. They used to close for lunch at 1:30 P.M. and I used to rush there when we broke for lunch at 1:00 P.M from college.  Now when I think back, I must have read at least a book a day. J Chick Lit, historic romance, mills and boon, the list was endless.

I had moved to Mumbai at the same time Mills and Boon started selling at road side paper walas. Imagine my glee when I could get hold of a Mills and Boon just about anywhere for just 100 bucks. I think I must have spent my first year in Mumbai curled up in my small apartment reading them all the time.

I still read chick lit. But off late the books seem to be becoming really predictable and boring. I can’t stand a Mills and Boon for more than half hour. It is real sad because I spent so much of my growing up years reading them.

Random House has tried to come out with an Indian version of the Mills and Boon which is quite frankly not that appealing, I think I must be the only one to have bought and read all five of them. (I even forced my friend Neha to read them and I must get her to review one of them. Here’s a link to her blog if she ever does review them.  http://nehasbookshelf.blogspot.com/)

There is another series of Indian Romantic fiction being published by some Chennai based publisher. But they are not too great either.

Off late there appears to be a whole lot of books being written by Indian authors targeting the metro audience. But sadly, even this does not seem to hold my attention for long. They all seem to have the same theme: Small town girl, who has moved to Mumbai after an MBA from a prestigious college, who’s looking to avoid the arranged marriage market and is in search of true love!! Sigh!! Wish authors would come up with more scenarios. After all, there are people like me waiting to buy them and read.

There are so many other genres of books that I do read, but nothing gives me the comfort that Chick Lit does. Hope someone comes out with a real nice book soon.

Animal Attack!!

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I keep making these resolutions about writing at least once a week, but for whatever reason it doesn’t seem to be happen.

Anyway, I am making an effort now. At least this one post J

Last Friday was like any typical Friday. I had a deliverable and was frantically trying to finish work, and simultaneously make plans for the weekend. (No point making plans here given that I hardly know anyone. Oh Mumbai! How I miss youL)

I love Fridays. It is such a lovely feeling to know that there are just nine more hours of work left and two whole days of doing nothing after that. Anyway this Friday, I was outside my office, walking in the parking lot, talking on the phone as I do every day, when a crow swooped down and hit me hard on the head. Before I could react, the crow was back once again and attacked my colleague who was also walking and talking J

And this set the pattern for the day. Any of us who took a break and went upstairs for a short walk was attacked by the crow. Apparently, the crow had just laid eggs in a very pretty nest really high up in the tree and was being overly protective and wouldn’t allow any of us to walk under the tree!! As luck would be, my car was parked right under the nest and I had to wait till it got real dark to leave for the day L

Anyway, I assumed that this was to be my only interaction with animals but was sadly mistaken.

On Saturday morning, I was happily lounging on my sofa reading the paper, when H called me to the kitchen. There was a monkey in my kitchen. It had actually opened my fridge, taken a mango, neatly removed the skin, left it on my kitchen floor and was blissfully eating the fruit!! When H tried to shoo it away, it got aggressive and tried attacking him. What a nightmare!!  We finally got it out of the kitchen and closed all the windows. After that we the spent the weekend being prisoners in our own house cause every time we opened any windows even slightly, the monkey was back.

As I write this blog, I just realized that I can’t remember if I shut the windows today. Let’s just hope I have and there are no more interactions with crows, monkeys and god knows what other animal.

Tchsoos!!

Hopefully, I’ll be back soon

Butterflies in everyone's stomach :)

Thursday, the day we have been waiting from since last Sunday and the day we have to face Australia is finally here. I would like to think that I am still not affected by the cricket bug and I really don't care about today's result. But I know that is not true. Just like every other India, I am terribly worried about our show down with Australia today. Australia might not be at their best, but no one can predict the Indian's. We might just play one of the best matches of our lives, or millions might go to sleep today, terribly disappointed.

Many people haven't turned up at work today wanting to watch every bit of the match, and I hope taking the day off pays off for them. Am sure after this match, we will again be in this state of tension, if we have to play Pakistan. But atleast for today, Go India Go. Win this match and show the Aussies!!!

Does retail therapy really work?

I quite like having loads of beautiful clothes to wear. I am sure every does. But I am not much of a shopper. I hate the process of wading through racks of clothes, choosing something I like and then trying it on for size. The wait outside the trial room, the innumerable sizes and fits that have to be tried on before I actually find something that fits and makes me look presentable are few more tedious issues that discourage me from entering shopping malls.

Anyway I set out early yesterday morning to find myself something to wear for my birthday. I actually reached Shoppers Stop even before it opened and assumed that I would be the only one there.  (Who else gets up on a Sunday morning and reached a store at 11 A.M.??) Unfortunately, I was mistaken. There was a queue to enter the place even before the shutters were opened. When I finally did enter the place, I had to wait in another long queue to get a gate pass made to carry my Kurta, for which I needed a matching Chudhidhar, inside. In front of me was a middle aged woman with a haggard expression and a ton of clothes. She had two shirts, two pairs of shoes and a set of infant clothes that need to be exchanged. After waiting for fifteen agonizingly long minutes for the middle aged woman searched her huge bag for all her old bills, I finally got my gate pass made. It took me five minutes to realize that they did not have the Chudhidhar in the color that I wanted. I spent another five minutes trying to find something else that fit, another ten minutes standing in queue paying for my purchase, fifteen minutes returning my gate pass (This time, the guy in front of me was exchanging eight pairs of trousers. I actually counted them and was stunned that somebody actually bought so much at one go and then returned to the store to exchange them) before I could actually get out! The total time in selecting my outfit was five minutes and the remaining half an hour was spent waiting in various queues. This makes me wonder if shopping is really a fun activity. I’ve left a poll on the right. Please do let me know whether you think retail therapy works, or if it is a boring activity that just needs to be endured.

End of three months of glorious weather.. Sigh.... :(

Mumbai, rather Bombay as my parents still refer to it was synonymous with extreme weather. My mother's greatest worry when I decided to shift to this city was how I would manage the rains. I first landed in this city in the month of August when the rains were at their worst. The first time I travelled to Parel from Thane in August was when the city was experiencing one of its worst rains. The road was flooded at Lower Parel and I was actually lifted into a Pepsi van by a nice cop and dropped off outside my place of work.  The only other bad experience was after watching the movie Sarakar 2. The rains were really bad that night and it took us nearly three hours to travel from Andheri to Prabhadevi with the water level reaching the car window.

Besides these two bad experiences I have quiet enjoyed the rain, either when I am sitting in the comfort of my house, or inside a car. (I hate the muck which covers my feet, the filth at Dadar station, and the general tendencies for auto’s and cab’s to disappear from the roads once a few drops of water start falling) Earlier, when I stayed at Prabha Devi, I used to walk to Worli sea face with my flat mate Arpita and we used to sit there waiting for it to start raining. We always left the moment it started drizzling :)

Anyway, the summers in Mumbai are no better. It gets so unbearably hot that I don't think I can ever step out after ten in the morning and before six in the evening (I will now have to start reaching work earlier to avoid the heat. Sigh!! Weather woes never end)

Despite these extreme climates for most part of the year, this winter (December 2010 to February 2011) has been one of the best times I have spent in Mumbai. The weather has been absolutely perfect the last three months. (I came down with viral fever thrice over this period, but I am choosing to not blame it on the weather!) It actually got so cold that I needed to wear a sweater/ jacket few times. We made the most of this winter and went out as much as possible, especially to outdoor restaurants ( By outdoor I mean, repeated visits to Yellow Tree at Bandra and one visit to Karl Residency in Vile Parle.). I made a resolution to make most of the weather and go on walks every day. I did manage to do it a couple of times. J

March is here. And with it comes and end to three months no heat/ rain. We will now go back into the cycle of extreme heat and heavy rains. I know global warming etc. etc. is not a good thing. But its effect led us to have a peaceful three months in the otherwise hot and sultry Mumbai.

Not Yet Smitten by the Cricket Bug :(

I remember the last Cricket World Cup very very well. Am sure every cricket fan in India remembers Reliance's "Karlo Duniyaa Muthi Me" with Shewag waving his bat and mobile phone and Shewag's mother sharing with us her Kheer recipe (I only remember her talking on TV, I don’t remember the recipe)

I watched every single match; pre match and post match session with my mother and brother. My father joined us towards the evening when he got back from work. But the three of us were at home and watched every single match. That said, more than the matches, it is Mandira Bedi that I remember. Just wondering what she was going to wear the next day provided us with enough excitement. :) ( I distinctly remember her wearing a tri color saree with noodle strap blouse for one of India’s matches)

My father, as is my brother, is a great fan of the game. So, I have grown up watching the game. I knew every player in every team. I knew the World Cup schedule by heart and I knew which team was good at what. Every morning, I got up and faithfully read the Hindu to see what the cricket experts and specialists had to say about the game, and the Times of India to read the mere mortals views on the game. (My father calls the Hindu a text book. It has accurate, to the point information. Growing up I hated the paper, but with age I have realized its importance. The Hindu’s online paper is the first thing I open every morning once I get online)

Back to the last World Cup. That one month was dedicated to the game. We were excited about it for weeks before and felt sad about not having any entertainment once the season ended.

Anyway, all this was four years back, when I led a simple life in my parent’s beautiful house in Bangalore.

I now work nine hours a day with hardly enough time to speak to my husband, let alone watch a match. (Working cannot really count as an excuse because my father has been working through every World Cup and is still charged up each time) I don't seem to be excited about the World Cup at all. I tried to muster some interest and started betting with my office colleagues. But it has been a week since the World Cup has begun and I haven't watched even one match. (I have only lost money so far betting on old favorites who seem to be losing).

Sometimes I wish I never had to grow up. What fun it was to sit at home with my mother (who can never remember the score or even who's playing), my aunt (who always asked Why?? (never how) a person got out, after he got out!!), my dad (who always switched of the TV if India showed signs of losing), and my brother (the most normal person to watch the match with. He would consume loads of kaju, lassi (more "moree" to us South Indians) and onion pakoda and hope India won).

I am just hoping that this weekend’s cricket party at my house in Mumbai is a success and I am able to rekindle some of the old memories watching India thump England.