Sunday, December 28, 2008

Light headed, gifts I like and objection sustained

  1. A head massage. And a shoulder massage. And warm, fragrant massage oil. And the way my head feels so light afterwards.
  2. It's so difficult getting birthday gifts for guys. Finally, I find what I want to gift Sriharsha and Kris. Sriharsha gets Anurag Mathur's The Inscrutable Americans and Kris gets Miss Shumway Waves a Wand by James Hadley Chase. Both are books I have enjoyed immensely when I read them many years ago and was quite happy to find them on the book shelves at Crossword.
  3. Tanmoy has taken strong objection to the fact that his name is not in 'My People' here on this blog.

Survival food, in a jiffy and

  1. Maggi. What would I do without it?
  2. Thinking that like all tailors, this one will also be fussy and will take a long time to stitch my dress, I ask him a little apprehensively when the dress will be ready. Tuesday, he says. Have it ready by thursday, I tell him. Er... tuesday, you mean? No no... Thursday will be just fine. I can't pick it up on tuesday.
  3. I'm getting bored at home. So I call up Sriharsha and Kris and we try to plan what to do. We end up getting ourselves invited over to Kris's. Vrunda is sweet, she whips up a quick dinner for us.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Kulfi, grape juice and night air

  1. Our Kabbalat Shabbat (a Jewish ceremony to welcome Shabbat, which we follow because our company is based out of Israel, but which we have modified to suit the friday mood to eat good food and have some fun with colleagues) gets cancelled, so there are no yummy friday afternoon treats. Or so we think. Another team has plenty of kulfi left from their Kabbalat Shabbath, which they come to share. The taste of the pistachio flavoured kulfi lingers on my mouth for some time.
  2. Fresh grape juice. The sweetness is just right and the usual astringent taste is somewhat suppressed, creating a most satisfactory (and of course, healthy) drink.
  3. Finally there's enough of a nip in the air to wear a jacket while walking outside at night. The cool clean night air is the kind that makes one want to keep walking. The tip of my nose and my cheeks tingle a little.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Jingling bangles, my day and aroma

  1. There's a wedding to attend in the morning, so I get to dress up a bit in one of my better Salwar Kameezes. Its also an occassion to wear bangles - something I don't usually do, and I kind of like the way they jingle on my wrist at the slightest movement. And the best part is that I get a ride to the wedding - Suresh Kaka and Bharti Kaku pick me up and drop me home, so I don't have to worry about the traffic.
  2. There's no where to rush to and no time table to keep. I put on soft cotton socks, get under soft covers and go off to sleep in the afternoon. Its my day.
  3. Holding a steaming mug of soup in my hands, I take a deep breath.

Happy day, random gems and negotiation

  1. I feel light today. I put in 12 hours of work, but even in the 12th hour, I find myself humming a tune while sitting at my desk. I like days when it's easy to smile. People seem to irritate me not quite as much as they have done in the past week or so.
  2. Manjiri writes me a random email. It ends with: Found this today - 'the tailors measured him just for the sake of excercise these days.' Wodehouse, who else?
  3. A super tight deadline has been negotiated and I suddenly realise that I no longer need to work on Christmas... Lesson learnt - ask! negotiate! Especially when the present scenario can't get any worse. A painstakingly composed email sent last night did the trick.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

No motion sickness, rasgullas and inbox

  1. I come home from a completely uneventful bus journey. NO bus sickness at all this time! How cool is that?!
  2. Kris has brought some really soft and succulent rasgullas to office today, because it was his birthday on Sunday. I make at least 3 trips to his desk at different times of the day to pop one in my mouth. Ok, technically, one can't just 'pop' it in, it would be too messy, but I usually squeeze the excess juice out of it so that it has just the right amount of sweetness and then bite into it.
  3. For 4 days, I haven't checked my email, so I login a few minutes ago, with great expectations. I'm not let down. Apart from the usual promotional emails, there are a few personal ones from friends too.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Lower pressure, clean it up and Kaushiki

  1. After days of complicated and time consuming work, the pressure eases off a bit and the work at hand is slightly low pressure than the past whole week, so I can relax a wee bit and allow the fatigue to take over for a while instead of fighting it continuously.
  2. As the petrol pump attendant fills up the car's tank, another one cleans the windshield because it's dusty. He does this without being asked to.
  3. I remember I have Kaushiki Chakrabarty's CD in my purse as I get into the car. So today, instead of the radio, I listen to her melliflous voice singing a beautiful raaga with great pleasure. Peace slowly seeps in...

Looking nice, company and the sound of music

  1. On a day when I haven't taken any trouble to really dress up and am sub-consciously convinced that I'm looking 'just ok' and perhaps a tad fat, I get a compliment that I'm looking nice.
  2. I've slogged through the day but its been one of those days when getting even the simplest thing done requires herculean effort. Driving back home from work really really late, I'm tired and cranky. At such a time, I'm glad of Arminder's company as she joins me in cribbing about the how badly people drive in Pune. Its so much better than driving home alone when you really want to rant about stuff, but have no one to listen to you.
  3. I finally find the drivers my PC needs and install them. The sound's working now! Yay!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Entrancing music, glad and freedom

  1. Having the good fortune to listen to Ronu Majumdar play the flute and Pt. Jasraj sing at the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival. Today was the final day of the 4 day fest, and what a musical feast it has been! I've attended on all four days, and each day has been one enriching and fulfilling experience. My experience has culminated today on the high note of Pt. Jasraj's heavenly voice - one needs to be at the festival to see how his bhajans sway an audience of over 5000, all rapt in the the same emotion...
  2. Jui is happy she came all the way from Hyderabad to attend the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival.
  3. After months of driving only the car, I take the bike today. There's a strange sense of freedom as I weave my way through the traffic, slipping through spaces which are inaccessible to the car, instead of waiting patiently till there's space enough for the car to move ahead.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

To the grind, Smita and panache

  1. There's so much work, I'm having to keep my nose to the grind. I'm kinda enjoying it.
  2. After many months, Smita has been emailing. Her familiar frank style reminds me of the good long chats we used to have when she was here. Has it really been two and a half years?!
  3. Ocean's Twelve. I just love their style and panache!