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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!
   
   

Wish me, younger, Brisingr and making way for the new

1. It's Dharana's birthday today. She keeps insisting every now and then: "wish me happy birthday!". We do. We wish her a happy year.
2. It's Stafford's birthday as well. I ask him how old he is and give a theatrical gasp when he tells me. "Yeah yeah... I may be older than you, but I look younger", he tells me. "That's just because of your juvenile behaviour," I tell him. A throaty laugh comes from the other end of the line. May you have many such laughs this coming year, Stafford! Wish you a happy birthday.
3. Come evening and I can't wait to get done with my work and the gym so that I can rush home and get immersed into Brisingr again.
4. Papa's camera has arrived and he's thrilled to bits with it. Mummy has called him up at the courts to tell him a gift has arrived for him from Delhi, and has refused to divulge any more information, so he has come home wondering what it might be and who might've sent it. He is already making plans of how and when to use it and of getting rid of his old point and shoot.

She's back, beauty treatments and 9 wins

1. The maid's back from her vacation. Yay! And she makes lovely thin and soft rotis from the dough I had kneaded yesterday, better than what I could've ever made. (Yes, my obsession with rotis continues!)
2. I completely pamper myself today. First I get a delightful haircut, then a facial, then a manicure and a pedicure... oh! and the hair stylist straightens my hair while blow drying. I adore the new look with the sleek staight hair. My hair will go back to its unruly curls by tomorrow, of course, but I like the possibilities this new hair style suggests when I am bored of my usual look.
3. Shenoy, Pallavi (his wife) and I go to attend the final round of Battle of the Bands - a local rock competition. Our friend Yayati's band "9" are one of the finalists and they are simply mindblowing. They play all original compositions, all in Hindi and are declared the unanimous winners. I'm seriously impressed!

Gym girl, dad will shoot and Gujju Thali

1. Finally! I've done it! I've gone to gym 5 days in a row for the first time in my gymming career! I'm so proud of myself.
2. I spend a good part of the day researching digicams. I have discount vouchers both from Indiaplaza and ebay, and now I really want to buy a camera for dad. I'm especially thrilled at the idea of ordering it online and having it delivered directly to him, because online shopping is still a very new concept for him.
3. Again I join Sriharsha and Sachin for dinner and we go to a Gujrati thali place. The food is just like home! Simple and tasty! And the rotis! sighhhhh... I just gobble them up! Its sheer contentment...

Waiting for the rain, all for me and company for dinner

1. As I walk in Magarpatta late in the evening, there's a smell of rain on the wind. The wind comes in gentle gusts, but there's an urgency about it which makes you want to walk briskly, though not necessarily to get to a shelter.
2. The gym is quite empty, so I don't have to wait for my turn.
3. Its too late to cook and I'm wondering what to do for dinner when I find out that Sriharsha and Tejas are going out. I join them and find that Vishal and Sachin are joining too. What might've been a hasty, lonely dinner turns into a fun meal with good food (except the paneer... that was horrid!) and much laughter.

Birthday girl, special gift and soft!

1. It's Dipti's birthday today. Last night a few of us from work landed up at her place at midnight to bring in the birthday with cake. She has loved the surprise so much that I overhear her telling anyone who calls her up to wish her about how exciting her birthday has been this year. Happy birthday girl!
2. Dipti goes out to receive the birthday gift that has arrived from her fiance and comes back radiant, holding a gift set of CK perfumes. Her eyes sparkle so much, its impossible not be drawn into her enthusiasm at the gift.
3. I manage to make soft, edible rotis today. They don't fluff up as they should when I hold them over the flame, but I suppose that's setting too high an expectation at so early a stage in my roti making career!

A common dream, epidemic and Mario Miranda

1. George calls up after a long time. He's very busy these days attending B-school and we don't get to catch up as often as we'd like to. A rescheduled exam has worked in my favour and he has a few hours free. There's much to talk about. We keep planning on how sometime in the near future we'd all like to stay in the same city, the whole gang within reach.
2. An email arrives from Sonal announcing her engagement. We all ignore it - it is after all such a common prank played on unsuspecting colleagues when they leave their PCs unattended. But this time, there's an unusual amount of buzz after this email, and it turns out it is true after all, and there are sweets to be had at her desk! It's a wedding epidemic, I tell you! A whopping 12 people I know are getting married in the next quarter. Wedding plans and fiances are the hot topic of discussion anywhere you go.
3. While in Goa, I kept searching for souvenirs with Mario Miranda's cartoons, but didn't find any. Looking him up on the net though, I did find some delightful pieces of his work. His eye for detail and his love and understanding of Goa's unique culture is evident in the pictures. He takes care to remind us that Goa not just a beach state that attracts tourists by the cartload. Its a place with its own rich cultural diversity, very different from the rest of India in that it was ruled by the Portuguese till 1961. And yet, the native Konkani people have maintained their own identity, even while assimilating the influence of their conquerors, creating an exotic and heady cocktail.