The rain

As it rained through the night, I sat by my window; listening to the patter, watching the drops pierce through the darkness and spill on the ground.
Wet leaves,
A cold breeze,
A streak of lightning mocking the sputtering street lights.

A gush of wind sprays my cheek and I let the soothing drops trickle down my face. As I shut the window, a moth scurries in, seeking refuge. I curl up in bed, wrapped in my blanket; fuzzy thoughts fill my head, lulling me to sleep. The darkness of the night will gradually melt away and the first rays of sunshine will unfold the magic of the rains.

Mumbai to Bengaluru and more...

How many changes can take place in a year in one single year? A lot, apparently. 2009 has been a very very eventful year for me, involving some big and some bigger action-packed moments. Early this year I moved from Bombay to B'lore after eight years in the city that never sleeps. My 2-year stint in my Bombay firm ended as I prepared to pack my bags to settle in Namma Bengaluru. And then of course was The event of my life, my wedding with dear B. Just as I was beginning to soak in all these things, came another ‘first’ moment. My passport finally got stamped and I made my maiden international trip to sunny, sandy Thailand. And finally, my brief, (hubs will disagree on that) happy, lazy life of sitting at home came to an end (very unfortunately I must say) when I took up a new job here in B’lore. I cribbed a lot about all the restrictions in the BPO environment but the thought of finding a job in recession-rid times is a lot better than not having one at all made me shut up. Or partly. So here I am. A lot more on each of these coming up soon, hopefully.

What I'm listening to right now

Songs that soothe me, cheer me, lighten me up

Badalomein chup raha he chand kyun

Pehla nasha who doesn't like this one

Jab kissi ko kisi se pyar (Pyar to hona hi tha) love the way it begins with a dialogue, find the song insanely romantic

Jaadu teri nazar never outgrew this song from school days. It used to play all the time on that show Philips Top 10. Okay, I'm not embarassed to admit I watched the show every week without fail

Dil kya kare (Salaame Ishq)peppy, cute, and soft

So I just revealed my love for Bollywood mush. Feel free to judge me:)These are just some songs that I never tire of listening. Maybe because I don't listen to them all the time. But on days when I'm feeling low/nostalgic/romantic, or just not connecting with things around, I just have to put these and similar songs on and it transports me to a completely different world. It's crazy how music can relax you. Nothing new about this theory I know, but experiencing that feeling each time makes me smile. I'm sure everyone has their own list of 'comfort songs' and what works for one will never work for somebody else.

Strawberry land

I've heard from a lot of Mumbaikars that Mahabaleshwar is one of their favourite getaways. It's not as close to the city as Lonavala/Matheran and the likes, but now with the Mumbai-Pune expressway, it is quite a quick and comfortable journey. When opportunity presented itself a few weekends ago for a two-day trip, we packed our bags and headed to the hilly destination. It was largely the lure of the strawberries for me. I was picturing myself lying in strawberry fields, eating strawberries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The only time I almost did that (just the eating, not lying in the fields) was on a trip to Manali. We picked up a small sack of strawberries and ate them all the way from Kulu to Manali and for quite some time afterwards. I was looking forward to some similar activity here. But I’m afraid I couldn’t fulfill those ambitious plans. Why? Mostly because I wasn’t very kicked about paying Rs. 100-140 per kg of strawberries. Seemed pretty pricey and I’m sure everyone gets it cheaper hundreds of kms away from Mahabaleshwar. Sad. But I still bought two boxes, after sampling quite a few and ate them all by myself back home in Bombay because there wasn’t anybody else who fancied them much. Sometimes sharing is not all that desirable. I mean, eating something you love, all by yourself, is easily more enjoyable than having to pass the bowl around. Blissful.

By the way did I mention that half of Bombay and thousand other people had the same idea of landing up at Mahabaleshwar that same weekend? Something to do with the long weekend of 26th Jan. So we spent a lot of time in traffic jams and long queues. Ha, and we thought we left that behind in Bombay.

This was the absolute highlight of the trip—tall glasses of strawberries with cream. Actually, not just that. The glass is first lined with strawberry crush, which drips down all the way. Then there is a scoop of strawberry ice-cream, topped with cream, followed by some strawberries, some more cream, more strawberries. Yumm. And for the chocolate lovers, there was a chocolate ice-cream variant of the same, though I really recommend the full strawberry version. Here’s a picture of what it looked like. This is only a picture from the web though because we were far too busy licking our spoons to take any pictures.

All hill-stations come equipped with a lake and a few boats and so was this one. After waiting in a serpentine queue, we paddled our way up and down lake Venna.


The various hues of the evening sky captured by our faithful cameraman Aadi. In fact, most of the pictures of trips from previous posts have been taken by him. It is always nice revisiting memories of a trip through photographs, especially when they're such pretty ones. So, keep at it Aadi. I'll continue to steal them and put them up on my blog.



Oh, and apart from strawberries, Mahabaleshwar has another interesting aspect—creatively-spelled signboards. There were cures for ‘boisity’, shops selling scalvs (okay, this one is understandable, even I had to double-check the spelling for scarves); but this particular poster at a travel agent's shop left us holding our noses.



Maybe they charge extra for these seats but we didn't ask.

Presently speaking

So, it’s been a year since I posted. And in that time I’ve grown older; not the philosophical older and wiser, just literally older. But if anybody thinks I’m getting wiser, I won’t be contesting that.

The past year has been quite interesting—a roller coaster ride with a happy conclusion in the end. The coming year promises to be a lot more exciting.

And, for some reason the thought that comes to mind right now, is this simple one from the cute movie Kung Fu Panda. (It might not be originally from the movie, but I couldn’t have heard it from anybody better than the wise old Oogway).


Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is a gift;
That is why it’s called the present.


So that’s what I’d like to do. Live in the present. This does sound like a recurring theme from some previous post (yes, I know there are only some 5 odd posts) but this time it’s not meant in a bury-the-past tone. I just want to make an effort to be in the moment. Somebody who’s Not: lost in a sea of thoughts, worried about the consequences of what might never happen, brooding about what has already happened. Sure, it is fine to let your thoughts stray, dream about nothing in particular (or specifically about a ‘95% off on everything’ sale). It’s those times when you find yourself stuck to the ground, watching the world whiz by. You’re among people but not with them. (if that made sense).

I also want to be more aware of little things happening around me, like, remembering to switch off the pressure cooker, saying something when I want to, being a little more impulsive in a good way. Agreed, Oogway didn’t have pressure cookers in mind when he came up with wise thoughts, but I am no Panda either, so I’ll absorb the words in a way that’s relevant to me, at present.

Happy New Year!

The Mumbai Marathon '08

It's always fun being a part of the Mumbai marathon. Been participating in the Dream Run (6 km) the last two years and had a jolly good time. The Dream Run is not really meant for serious runners; jostling for elbow room amidst thousands of runners, you’re certainly not breaking any athletic records here. But what draws you to the event is the excitement in the air, the positive energy– the sheer carnival-like atmosphere. Some pics taken by my friend's mom.

More of the green grass and blue skies -Malshej

Just when we thought the monsoon clouds had packed their bags to let the sun out to play, the city was lashed with rains again. So we decided to squeeze in one last monsoon trip this year. More trips for sure, but the rains aren't likely. And Malshej, picked out of our usual Outlook Traveller Weekend Getaway book(well researched and written)seemed like a good choice with the promise of rains, mist and more. The drive did turn out really interesting despite the fact that it took rather long to get there. The curvy roads and the green hills looked thoroughly inviting. A particulary interesting sight was a waterfall right on the road, you just had to drive through it. What did turn out to be a disappointment was the fact that it never rained! Our usual ingredient for fun was missing. Hot though it was, the place has a serene beauty to it. Malshej is definitely worth a visit in the rains.




The drive to Malshej with the road snaking through the picturesque hills.


A hint of sunshine lends a golden hue to the surroundings.


The magnificent green stretch. Green, green, all the way!


And there we are, quite comfortable. Only till the next vehicle sent us all scampering.

If its Saturday, it must be a trek!

Monsoon mania. It's raining and what better way to soak in the rains than driving out of town, walking up the hills and exploring the greens! Strongly recommend the Mumbai-Pune belt during this time. Pick a place, pack some sandwiches and you're off.

June-Lohgad. The rains, maniacal winds that made me feel like I was space walking, a pleasant walk up the fort and finally, ending it all with a dip in a glorious waterfall. A unique experience was the gusty winds blowing heavy droplets of water from the waterfall vertically upwards! And it came lashing at us like a thousand needles. Crazy.



July- An office trip to Kondane Caves. The walk up the caves was muddy and splishy splashy; completely of the enjoyable variety. Some funny moments with people slipping along the way.






Kondane Caves-the destination of the trip but our interests were automatically diverted to the waterfalls at the mouth of the caves. Though there were waterfalls on all our trips, this was the only place where I completely let go, getting drenched from top to toe. And the best way to experience it I guess.

July- Peb Fort. This one was hardcore hiking and thrilling. We walked up the mountains and down the valley, along slippery routes with some strong winds.
Puddle splashing, pebble throwing, or just posing for pics along the railway line- had a lot of fun here.

July- Nilshi. The most activity oriented trip. Kayaking! Definitely the best activity of all the trips. That and just floating and trying to swim. Oh, pure fun. And then the rapelling and group games were interesting too. Thanks Ipshi, next time you should head for one like this.

The calm and beautiful lake Gibbs; cloaked by the green hills and cloudy skies.

August-
Fishing village at Murud. A trip where we spent more time travelling to the place than being there. An overnight trip would be better for this destination.

The Janjira fort, in the middle of the sea. Taking a boat from the shore to the fort was high on our list. Unfortunately bad weather played spoilsport. But the adventures at the 100 ft high Garambi falls almost made up for it. Another washout was sadly the oil slick at Kashid beach though we did hang around there a bit, playing games. (and had a tough time getting rid of the muck later :)


Chai time! No trip big or small is complete without a chai break- off the highway, up the mountains. And its even better with the rain droplets dripping into your cuppa.

Work Woes!

A financial company is not the most thrilling place to be, at least for a non financial person like me. What began as financial editing has now temporarily (or so they claim) shifted gear to editing transcripts.

Let me explain the process a bit. All big(for lack of a better technical sounding word) companies have a conference call every quarter to discuss its performance/lack of it and field questions from business analysts. Anybody who thinks this sounds interesting, read no further. So what some of my unfortunate collegues and I have been doing for some days now, is to put on our headphones and check such conference call transcripts for errors. Fascinating?

To keep myself from turning insane, I've taken to writing some more random verses. Most of the inspiration usually occurs at noon, post lunch when the brain starts hibernating anyway.

---

Eating too much lunch is bad,
I confess now I’m not too glad;
Feeling sleepy and ready to doze,
And you agree on that, I suppose.

But lunch is not the real cause,
It’s just the thought of picking flaws
From a transcript that interests me,
As much as a dancing flea.


---

They whisper sweet nothings into my ear,
But romantic words those aren’t I fear;
All their talk on CapEx and GAAP,
Makes me want to shut their trap.

---

O pray tell me why I’ve landed here,
Just to torture my sensitive ear?
Life’s purpose is surely not this,
Or to edit a faulty synopsis!

Random verses

Of rhymes
I’ve struck a fancy for the rhyme,
Even if only to pass some time.
A line or two,
Will simply do,
Though the bard might call it a crime.


Finance
In the world of finance I find,
Words and jargon of a funny kind;
Stocks and shares,
And business affairs,
Not ideal for one’s peace of mind!

For more on limericks, check out Aparna Ray's blog. There are some interesting ones.

Requiem

As I reach out to touch the star,
It slips away just a little far;
I step out and follow the light,
A trail of silver in the darkness of the night.

The path is dizzying,
But I skip along;
Engulfed with love... oh the feeling,
My heart is on a song.

As I reach out to feel the mist,
It escapes through the corners of my fist;
I follow the haze as it melts beyond,
A cloud of dew on the parched ground.

I smile, I dance,
As I sink into an abyss;
It draws me deeper-into a trance,
A world- where nothing seems amiss.

As I'm about to near my goal,
A riveting sight seizes my soul;
No star nor mist can I find,
But only images that numb my mind.

This is my past coming back to me,
Every memory flashing wickedly;
Those were happy, yet ridden with conflict,
A path that I chose to desert and drift.

As the images come to an end,
I spot a lone figure along the bend,
Steadily chasing the embers of what once was,
Reaching out for the tears of loss.

O what a pity it has been,
To be chasing such an empty dream.
It is now that I must deal,
To be caught in the past or live and heal.

Hiking in the Himalayas

Hello folks. Am back after a long blog break! The first half of the break was on account of a blissful two weeks in the Himalayas. The second half was sadly about coming out of the clouds and spending some endless hours at work.

But let me get back to my trip. It was a 6-day camp in the midst of the mountains in Manali. When you are cut out off civilization, living at 10,000 ft, and roll out of your sleeping bag to see the fog creep through the mountains each morning it just makes you want to Live. It’s really one of those picture perfect places. You can get an idea from these pics.


The only time I came this close to the mountains was during my trip to Sikkim two years ago. And I’d decided that nothing could beat that idyllic beauty. But Manali has all of that- snow capped mountains, little rivulets, lots of waterfalls, and the beautiful river Beas flowing down to Kullu.

Camp life was quite an experience too! Living in tents, huddled inside sleeping bags and freezing at night is what I can mostly remember. The cold was just unbelievable. And I promised the lord that I would endure many a sweaty day in Bombay if I could just live through that.

I was quite sure that the rigors of camping would translate to fitting into some of those old pairs of jeans. But no such miracles took place. Thanks to the cooks who dished out some good food, I could barely fit into my existing clothes by the end of the camp.

Of course the repercussions of camp life are that you gotta wash your own plates and spoons and god, that is miserable in the cold. It was still ok doing it during lunchtime. Try removing your hands from the comforts of a glove and showing it under a stream of icy water at night. Pure torture. And that obviously meant that we went without a bath for a good 6 days. When we got back to civilization, the happiest sight in the hotel was without doubt the bathroom.

And by the way, we were part of a bird watching group. Unfortunately, the ratio of spotting a good bird to a crow was roughly 1:200. These crows are very likely going to replace the cockroaches as the invinicble species. It is so annoying when you're squinting hard into the distance at a bird like object very professionally, only to be told that its a stupid old crow which can be seen in your backyard in the noisiest city. I wish I had pics of some of the really pretty birds though, coloured bright red and blue. But what was totally fascinating were the flying squirrels and the way they glide. Really cool. We spotted a lone fox following the trail of goats and a Himalayan Pitt viper on another occasion. But our closest brush with wildlife was when a family of eeky slimy creatures called skinks were hurriedly evacuated from their homes inside the ground as our tent was set up right on top of that. It definately took a lot of convincing to get us to spend the night in there. I'm sure those skinks never forgave us. Thankfully they didn't come back to haunt us that night but we had another visitor. A cute mountain goat had strayed from its herd earlier that evening as they were passing our camp site. All night the goat circled our tent, bleated a bit, and tried to chew our bags that were sticking out of the tent. Actually, we would have let it in and cuddled it for some warmth but for its pokey little horns.

I recommend a Himalayan holiday to all! Trust me, fresh air, sparkling water, river rafting, snow sliding, and more trees than people- it doesn't get better than that.

Mall Goody days

If Swami and his friends were to meet up these days, quite likely it would be in a mall. At least if they were in a city like Bombay. (sorry, I don’t like Mumbai that much). This city has come a long way from the time people actually had to queque up and cough some money to just enter a mall- Crossroads, to a time when you can probably sniff a mall in every neighbourhood. InOrbit remains my favourite among them. I don't care much for the shops as much for the food court. Every visit ends with a good gastronomic experience.

Recently I visited Hyper City along with my folks and relatives. It’s not exactly a mall, more like a massive super market and I was blown by the size and spread. Luckily we happened to be there at a decent time. There wasn’t too much jostling and pushing involved and I could actually swing my arms a bit without knocking down anybody’s teeth. Though we landed there solely with the intention of sight seeing, my mom promptly pulled out one of the shopping carts and wove her way around professionally. And when you have a cart, you ought to drop in some ‘essentials’ right. So I dutifully offered to assist in that task. As we ambled along the food section, I was eyeing all those exotic veggies like broccoli, red cabbage, colourful pepper, and the lot. Thought it would be a good idea to trade in our usual potato and baingan with some of that. Though I was toying with idea of picking up something for our cart I knew it would land right back on the racks thanks to my mom. She has a clear mandate for me: decide on a recipe that calls for these ingredients and make it yourself. And knowing very well that it would take a lot more than broccoli to get me into the kitchen, I gave it a miss, rather wistfully.

Not one to give up easily, I headed next to the bakery section. Now this is another favourite. Rows of freshly baked bread, neatly lined along the shelves beckoned to me. So I spent a good 4 minutes deciding on the type of bread and another good 4 minutes measuring the biggest one available for the same price. To the unsuspecting eye I must have looked quite the bread connoisseur. But greed is not always good and so I learnt later that day. Or rather all our jaws did. I had picked a type of bread that was not particularly meant to be soft. The combined chomping of five jaws, trying to push it down our throats would have put any local cow to shame.

Now any of my girl pals would validate the rules of a purposeful event like shopping. It entails that for all the time spent eyeing the goods, you need to spend some amount of time eying your co-shoppers. The stress here being on the female shopper’s attire and looks. And by the rules of the game, the eyer will also end up being the eye-ee. (Ipshi, no points for guessing where these terms came from). And though I don’t personally offer much eye-ee value considering my dressing style is oh-so-standard, I did apparently catch the fancy of a certain family. From the time I walked past an aisle, got on the escalator, and reached the top, I was being closely watched. Just as I thought that I had finally arrived on the Bombay scene, my hopes were dashed. My sister dutifully reported to me that their eyes were brimming with tears of joy on spotting someone taller than their tall daughter. Hmm, and in such ways I go about spreading happiness and cheer.

No shopping trip is complete without visiting the clothes section. While I hopped around checking stuff, my sister kept a wary distance. She’s been scarred for life after buying something off the rack from a mall and bumping into someone who was wearing the identical thing. Repeatedly traumatized by such experiences, she has the simple policy of keeping away from mass produced mall products (whew, quite a mouthful). But I just went ahead and bought a pair of capris. Besides, my aunt generously offered to sponsor it, so then there were no two ways about it.

So I shall be back to Hyper City- to eat and eye. Or maybe if I just wait some more, that empty plot in front of my apartment will turn into a mall soon.

Of dogs

We all know that the world is divided into dog people and cat people. And I definitely fall into the former category. That’s because my whole family except my mom has always favored dogs. And since she was outnumbered, we’ve managed to convert her into quite a dog person too (though she still likes cats). It’s a different story that I’ve never had a dog at home. My sister and I would have loved to have one, but my parents didn’t want us to have the liability of looking after one. So we were encouraged to try other means of getting close to a four-legged woofer. We only accompanied our parents for formal visits to people’s homes if it was a ‘dog-house’. We launched ourselves frequently at friend’s/neighbours’ places if there was a cute lil dog out there. Never mind if we had to endure boring owners. Our biggest aide was my aunt, a crazy dog lover. She knew more than half the town and definitely the ones that had dogs. The moment there was news of pups, we would be off with her to cuddle the balls of fur. And we continue to ambush friendly looking dogs being taken for a walk on the streets.

One of our doggie friends was Pepper, a hyper active black lab in my previous apartment. He used to love being in our house more than his own as we fussed over him a great deal. Besides, sitting all day long with only a servant at home must have been really boring for him. A maniac, he would run out of his house at the first opportune moment. And then the free spirit would loiter around the neighbourhood till his servant caught up with him after a good chase. That’s when we realized why his owners had a bell around his neck (my sister found this highly insulting for a respectable being like Pepper). But soon we trained our ears to the sound of the bell.

Bell=Pepper=Lets go meet him.

Many a times we would hear the bell run down the stairs and turn silent at our floor. And when we ran to check near our door, there he would be, happy and hopeful, waiting to be let in. He enjoyed chewing anything that fit in his jaws and would bolt like a gunshot if chased. I’ve yet to see a dog run faster than him. It used to terrify us that he would collide with something, running inside a cramped apartment. But he was equipped with a powerful set of air brakes and could halt from 100kph in a split second. It was funny and sad watching him throw a fit when he had to go back to his house each day. He would dig his paws in while his servant yanked and cajoled him out. He pretended as much as we did that he belonged to us at times.

And then, after some months his visits trickled down till he stopped coming completely. His folks were taking more interest in him now. We used to watch him go out for more rides and walks with the owners than servants. Our naughty little friend had gradually found true love at home. Or so we believed. At least they were keeping a better eye on him now. Besides, I bet they were a little embarrassed at us showing that much interest in him. We sulked initially and especially when we heard the sound of that tinkering bell. But we were glad for him. We didn’t have to feel that sorry for him anymore and knew the nut was having a jolly good life with his folks. Very soon we moved out of that apartment and that pretty much ended our association with him.

So hey Pepperi, hope you’re still as crazy as ever.

And here’s to all my canine friends from Robin to Rani whose mischievous eyes, warmth and wags have made life a lot of fun.
Woof!

HELLO World...

Wow!

That’s all I can say about finally getting on the blogging radar. And it’s all thanks to my buddies who infected me with the blog bug. I was always intrigued by the concept of putting up your thoughts for all to see. Seemed like a voyeuristic idea to me initially. Especially when some people put up details of their daily life up there. But I guess, I’m just going to start with random thoughts and whatever makes me write (considering I’m extremely lazy …)

So this is for myself and whoever else chances upon my blog. Hastalavista baby.