Friday, December 29, 2006

Miss you, pleasure ride and gossip

  1. While cleaning up, the maid suddenly says, "I'm feeling so bad that you're going away... I've worked for you for so long, I feel sad." Her words were so unexpected and so heartfelt, that they touched my heart... she's served me well and taken good care of me through the last year or so, and I think I'll always compare any other maid I ever get with her.
  2. Dadu drives me home at night. The roads are smooth and there is no traffic so to speak of. And the car runs as smooth as butter. Its a pleasure.
  3. Rashmi, a colleague and a name-sake, who's currently in the US, comes online to chat with me when she hears that I've resigned. And we exchange plenty of gossip... the way we used to when she was still at offshore...

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Accomplishment, rebuilding ties and grown-up little ones

  1. It takes a lot of effort and planning, but I get a lot of clearing up done and feel kinda proud of myself, for the planning I've been able to do for the next 20 days or so. There's still much ground left to be covered, but I've set the ball rollling in the right direction.
  2. I have a long chat with my cousin Babbu over the phone. A few years ago, a strain had developed between us, and we had gradually drifted apart. But that seems to be disappearing now, and its good to be able to talk easily with her. Also, it was great to know that she's started working at a school for special children and is enjoying it.
  3. Babbu's son Atharva, who's just 5 answers the telephone, and talks like a grown-up. Says to me "Rashu maushi, ek minute hold karna haan... main abhi mamma ko bulata hoon"! I'm quite impressed and am reminded of the fact that I haven't seen the kids (Atharva and his younger sister) for a very long time, but I'm glad that they haven't yet removed me from their little kiddie memories...

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Customer care, don't fall and stretch

  1. An agent not only remembers me when I call him up for some bills I need, but also agrees to get them for me by evening because I'm in such a hurry. And true to his word, he has them ready for me.
  2. I walk up to a shop, not really looking where I'm going, lost in thought and feeling very tired. I hear a "Are you alright? Why're you looking so tired?" and I look up to see Prasanna, a junior guy from work standing a couple of feet away and looking very concerned. "Please don't fall" he says!!
  3. The day has tired me out so badly that it feels great to stretch my back on the bed.

Weighty address, Blue Nile and best time

Flashback: Monday, 25th Dec

  1. I finalise the deal on the flat. Come mid-jan, and my address will be heavier with "Koregaon Park" in it! The broker has agreed to have the flat repainted before I move in, and I'm looking forward to staying in a fresh apartment.
  2. Chicken Biryani at Blue Nile in Pune Camp. The place has an old world charm to it. You don't feel as if you're sitting in a restaurent when you're there. You get the feeling that you're at a feast at one of those old, chandeliered, high ceilinged mansions. There's nothing modern about it at all, and it feels so homely. And of course, the biryani is just too good. Come to think of it, I've never really had anything else there, but I'm told that the other items on the menu are just as good!
  3. Its been one of those days when you feel just happy and content with life. I've smiled a lot through the day, and have been filled with a warm glow throughout. Its as if life's telling me - now's the best time to be alive...

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Unexpected guest, ice cream and late night

Flashback: Monday, 24th Dec

  1. Sharma calls up unexpectedly to say he's in town and meets up with me. Its such a lovely surprise.
  2. Honey Nut Crunch icecream at Baskin Robbins. Its yummilicious!
  3. We stay up late in the night chatting away. Its been a long time since Sharma and I have been able to spend time together, and its great bringing up old memories.

Strengthened hope, tips and shooting spree

Flashback: Sunday, 24th December

  1. We go to KP - Koregaon Park, to check out a flat and it looks really nice and spacious. Its right on the main road, close to my new office, and the housing society is clean and well maintained. Plus, the rent's manageable. My hopes of finally being able to live in KP are strengthened.
  2. I meet a guy who actually owns a camera similar to mine, and he gives me some handy tips on using the SLR...
  3. I go on a shooting spree, and anything and everything is captured in my camera's lens. Everyone else thinks I've gone crazy, but they don't know the high of having a new camera! They look at me with the kind amusement that one has, for a kid who's excited about a new toy... :-)

Friday, December 22, 2006

Jingle Bells, thrift and belated birthdays

  1. Santa Claus comes to our module in office, accompanied by carol singers. Santa looks like he's been on a diet, but he does give out chocolates to all those who've gathered around. The carol singers strike a merry note with Jingle Bells... Walnut cake follows. There's a huge, prettily decorated christmas tree at the entrance of the building - the Christmas season is finally here!
  2. I go grocery shopping just because Spencer's Daily is offering a 10 Rs. discount on the purchase of three packets of Knorr soups... and then I go pay my mobile bill, because if I pay it immediately, I get 50 sms free!
  3. I call up Sharma 3 days late to wish him for his birthday which was earlier in the week. Before I can say 'hello', he's already said 'thank you!'... My 'I swear I hadn't forgotten your birthday, I just couldn't get the call through' is greeted with a 'yeah yeah... who remembers old friends!'... Of course, we argue over that, and only after evidence has been presented and accepted, is a truce finally called... :-)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Office banter, hope not and shock value

  1. As I walk by where my old team sits, someone makes a remark, and I stop to chat. Soon, others have joined in and a very-familiar-but-much-missed-in-the-recent-past banter ensues and everyone's laughing.
  2. While looking through the classifieds, I see a lady has advertised that she needs a 1BHK flat. I call up on the number she has provided to ask if she's also looking for a room-mate. But her husband receives the call, and I tell him "I'd called up to ask if she needs a roomie, but I'm presuming she doesn't!" He laughs, and agrees with a "I hope not!"
  3. There's a certain pleasure in telling people that I have resigned and watching the expressions on their faces...

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Dream land, cheese cake and sour grapes

  1. Koregaon Park - I just love the vibes I get when I'm in KP. Everything's so pretty and interesting - the houses, the eateries, the people, shops and boutiques, the gardens.... The thought that I might actually be staying here one day fills me with a very pleasant sensation.
  2. As I sit down to a sandwich in Sweet Chariot, the waiter places a thick slice of Blackcurrant Cheese cake in front of me. While I'm protesting that I hadn't ordered for it at all, I'm told that it's from the couple sitting a few tables away. Turns out, they're celebrating their first wedding anniversary, and want to share their joy. The gesture is so unexpected and so lovely. They make a very handsome couple, I notice. Pleasantries are exchanged, and I wish them happiness... oh, and the cake is absolutely yummy! Not a flavour I'd have ever ordered myself, so I'm kinda glad that they did, 'coz the next time I go to Sweet Chariot, I'm definitely having Blackcurrant Cheese cake...
  3. I meet Pallavi in the evening and as I tell her about the cake episode, she moans "Why don't I ever meet such people?" She then consoles herself with a "Oh alright... go on, eat cake... I'll be so happy when you're fatter than me..."

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Veggie delight, Nach Baliye and blooms

  1. I go shopping for vegetables, and the market is a happy place, bustling with activity. Its winter, so vegetables are cheap, because harvests are just in, and there are myriad varieties available. And since this is the natural season for most of the available vegetables, they are a lot juicier and taste much better than in any other season. The fruit stalls are loaded too. There's so much to choose from, I take a lot of time planning my meals for the next few days, and stock up on veggies...
  2. Its the Mega Final on Nach Baliye and the normally hour long show stretches to 3 1/2 hours. There's a lot of celebration and the episode's very cleverly drafted. Malaika Arora gives a sizzling performance, and Saroj Khan dances too. Despite her girth and age, she's surprisingly agile and graceful (what else would you expect from a master choreographer?!). There's plently of leg pulling, and i stay glued to the TV through the hours. And in the end, my favourite pair - Tina and Hussain win the contest...
  3. Lots of flowers are in bloom in the office garden and I think its finally time for me to bring the camera to office...

Monday, December 18, 2006

Luxury bath, preparation and surprising journey

  1. A hot bath, which makes me feel squeaky clean, and warm and fragrant... winter means I can really enjoy luxurious baths, and then apply lovely smelling cold creams, and feel all nice and feminine... after the bath I want to just curl up in bed and drift of to sleep...
  2. We go and buy a case for the camera, and a plug pin for the charger, so that I can finally start using the camera, and I can hardly wait to take my first shot! I wonder what my first frame will be.... Will have to think of something good...
  3. When Soumitra is dropping me home on his bike after dinner, we're both expecting it to be *very* cold, and we bundle ourselves up in jackets/scraves/helmets and brace ourselves for the attack of cold... and to our pleasant surprise, we find that it really isn't that bad afterall! In fact, it turns out that the neighborhood we had dinner in was a lot colder than our route! Also, we discover that the road has been freshly made and is smooth, so what would have been a gruelling ride a month ago, is now an awesome drive!

Party goes on, camera shy and 1000 oaks

Flashback: Sunday, December 17th

  1. George is in no mood to end the party (and neither is anyone else...), so even though he has to go to office on Sunday and has initially planned to leave for Mumbai by saturday evening, he rearranges plans, and stays back on saturday too, albeit with the condition that the party doesn't stop! And it doesn't..!
  2. We spend a quiet evening getting acquainted with my new camera - a Nikon D40 that Shreerang got for me. And we plan what accessories need to be bought for the camera...
  3. Come night, and we head to 1000 Oaks... the music there is awesome and spirits are high. Pallavi has joined us, and is in such high spirits, that she's singing loudly throughout! And Gullu has stayed back too, and when the clock strikes 12, we celebrate his birthday... Its a happy night for all of us!

Planning the party, birthday gift and birthday bumps...

Flashback: Saturday, December 16th

  1. Chain mails keep going back and forth between all of us, trying to plan for the night's reunion... as is to be expected, there's plenty of confusion, suppressed excitement and wise-cracks. None of us can wait for the day to end, so that we'll all meet up in the evening. We're all meeting Shreerang after a gap of a year and a half, and its also his birthday. Lots of reasons to celebrate!
  2. I finally get a long overdue birthday gift, exactly 9 months late, one that I've been behaving like a baby about! I've shamelessly hankered after it through the months, and I must admit I've quite enjoyed doing that! :-P Its a very nice white and red full sleeved TShirt, and I can't wait to get into it! And I also feel a little sad, because now I have to stop making a fuss about it :-D !!
  3. Its almost 10 p.m. by the time we all finally meet up, and yet everyone's in a jolly mood. Shreerang is 'critically examined' with plenty of "oh my god! how could you have become so fat!" and "why didn't you get the liquor chocolates?" and "Where's my camera?"... and then he gets birthday bumps - there's lots of running around the house and covering the butt from certain-to-land kicks involved for the guys, and everyone's laughing!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Pampering, double treat and family

  1. Its good to be pampered (even if you have to pay for it!).... I go to the parlor and get a facial done... its just awesome to lie down, close your eyes and let someone give you a facial massage... The beautician's deft fingers know precisely how much pressure to apply and what points to press. Today, my skin feels so fresh and taken care of...
  2. As a treat to myself, I indulge in a bit of unplanned shopping and end up buying a couple of really nice cardigans (one is plain black and the other olive green with rhomboid designs on the breast) - and I get them dirt cheap! That's like a double treat!
  3. As the news spreads (shhh... its a secret yet, so I'm not stating it online), congratulations start pouring in. My family and relatives have always been very supportive and I can tell from their voices over the phone, that they are very thrilled for me! And since we don't get to talk so much over the phone, all phonecalls go on for more than 20 mins... there are lots of things to be discussed, news to be exchanged and appreciation and satisfaction to be expressed. One moment that particularly touches me is my mami telling me that they've all missed me at my cousin's birthday party, and that he'd liked a particular book that I had gifted him so much, that they'd turned all bookshops upside down before they found another in the same series! :-)

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Sign, Cousin & greedy

  1. Signing my name on a much-awaited document...
  2. Meeting my cousin Pallavi and her crazy room-mates... they definitely seem to be having fun together.
  3. Rohit messages, saying - "I can expect a bike from you now"... and it brings a smile to my face. He's been like this, and he's going to remain like this - asking for a gift or a treat from his elder sisters at the slightest excuse

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Regular customer, warm feet, and nothing

  1. I walk towards the Express Coffee Day counter in the office cafetaria, and the guy behind the counter sees me approach. Before I've reached, my coffee is already brewing. I don't have to tell him which coffee I'll have, he knows already... I like being a regular customer..
  2. The way my cold feet slowly get warm when I get into my blankets at night... I have this habit of washing my feet before I go to bed, and sometimes, it can take a very long time for my feet to get warm again...

(I'm sorry, I've been staring at the screen for half an hour now, and just can't come up with one more)

Monday, December 11, 2006

Together, lost & found and siesta...

Ok, I've been a little lax in posting for the last 3 days, but that's only because I've been really really busy. Have been attending the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival for the past 4 days, and its taken up most of my time. The experience has been amazing, it has been a musical feast that has lasted for 4 days and I've had an awesome time. My entire 3BT blog can be filled up with moments at the fest, but I'm going to refrain from doing that! Lets look at more mudane, non-musical things... am not really in the mood for a flashback, so I guess I'll just write about sunday, but the past 4 days have been literally brimming with moments worth remembering... here goes!

  1. Calling up mom and dad when Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's Sarod recital is going on, so that they can hear it too... and they both do, and are very happy... mom says, 'it sounds so good, and I feel like I'm there with you' :-)
  2. An old friend resurfaces on saturday, and accompanies us to the fest. It feels good to have him back among us, even though he helps the others pull my leg, and I throw a little tantrum later on because they've vexed me too much...
  3. Siesta... after lunch, I'm reading the newspaper, propped up in bed, and my neck seems unable to hold up my head, and my eyes seem unable to stay open... I slide down further into the bed and am fast asleep before I know it... there's something very nice about naps on sunday afternoons in the winter, especially if you sleep by the window and can feel the reflected warmth of the sun on the window panes...

Thursday, December 07, 2006

3 Years, unplanned party and grocery shopping..

  1. Yesterday was my 3rd anniversary with the IT industry... It seems almost strange that I've survived here for that long. And now if anyone asks me how long I've been working, I don't have to say 'almost 3 years'... Looking back over the 3 years, I see how I have changed - have gained more patience, become a little more mature, and confident, acquired dark circles and gained some weight, apart from some prosperity... :-)
  2. Unplanned party - Gullu dropped in and we went to Chhaya, and then Tanmoy dropped in and we headed to Golden Palms... And then Dadu came along too... It was like the old times when everyone lived nearby, and we'd just decide on the spur of the moment, that we needed to go out for dinner, and be among the last ones to leave the restaurant..
  3. Grocery shopping - Dragged Gullu to Tru Mart, and while my original list contained only flour and cooking oil, we ended up roaming thru all the aisles and picking up a lot of unnecessary stuff too!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Love on the dance floor, warmth and gossip

Silver Jubilee post today - also coincides with my completing 3 years in the IT industry... reason enough for celebration!

  1. Love on the dance floor... On Nach Baliye, a participating couple danced a slow dance to 'Baahon ke darmiyaan..' from Khamoshi... I swear I couldn't take my eyes off them... They were almost making love on stage! And I watched, mesmerised by the emotion they stirred... pure, unadulterated romance... sighhhhhhhhhhhhhh (yes, I know... I'm an incurable romantic!)
  2. The way the afternoon sun streaming in through the glass windows feels on my back, when I walk out of the cold air-conditioned office, into the passage and wait for the lift... I sit on the broad window ledge - the sun has warmed the stone deliciously, and my bum feels happy... I can feel the warmth seeping through me, and its as if the blood starts flowing freely again in my veins...
  3. An impromptu phonecall to Meenal made while standing outside a shop, and which lasts for half an hour... the shopkeeper keeps wondering if I'm ever going to stop yapping and get into the shop at all! And we just keep on chattering, gossiping and guffawing... :-D

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Gluttony, small expectations and reunion

  1. When I met Manjiri in the evening, we were both hungry, so we headed straight into the nearest McDonalds (which, very conveniently, was where we had planned to meet). After gobbling down a burger apeice, I looked at her and said, "I'm still hungry"... AND Manjiri says, "Thank God! So am I!"... so we headed to a sandwich and pasta place called Peppinos... where I had a corn sandwich and she had pasta... all amid giggles at our gluttony :-)
  2. Got a mail from a friend in the afternoon, telling me that he was going in to take an unplanned session, and wouldn't be available on phone for a while... Was quite amused to realise that he'd been expecting my call in the afternoon, and knew I'd fuss when he didn't answer it...
  3. Another school friend Anagha, who's actually been in Pune for quite a while now, but who I hadn't been able to meet yet, caught up with us while Manjiri and I were still at Peppinos... It was awesome meeting the girls. Both of them have been married for a year or so now, and I've only met them for the first time since they got married... It was quite interesting to note the changes in them... and we laughed a lot, happy to have met!

Monday, December 04, 2006

Old friends, Bond and aaaaah...

  1. Meeting Manjiri... We've been friends since school, which seems like forever now. What started as a love-hate relationship, with plenty of squabbles, misunderstandings, fall outs and make-ups, has now matured into a steady friendship... She's just back from the US, and we met after a gap of one year... And I'm now looking forward to seeing her on a regular basis, if she manages to find a job in Pune...
  2. Bond, James Bond... Watched Casino Royale (finally!)... One hell of a kick-ass movie! Yeah baby! The characterization of 007 is a lot more believable - he's human, and meaaaaan! Just loved it!
  3. Stretching out in bed, after a looong tiring day... aaaaah...

Shisha, moombagoomba encore and coochi-coo

Flashback: Saturday, 2nd Dec '06

  1. Candle-light dinner with friends - Shisha Cafe is a beautiful place, with artistic lighting and soothing music, mostly jazz... you can choose to sit at a table, or kick off your shoes and sit on a comfy charpoy, legs folded (which is just what we did)... the perfect place to unwind on a weekend... (and if you have a girlfriend, perfect place to impress her... so guys, please note!)
  2. Chicken moombagoomba.... ok, it had some complicated name, the kind that restaurants with fancy menus like to have, but which no one can pronounce, let alone remember... but it was mouth-wateringly delicious... we ordered it once, and then ordered it once again... :-)
  3. Had gone along with friends, one of whom had brought his girlfriend along... it was kinda amusing watching the two of them coochi-coo-ing...

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Captured beauty, porridge and call

  1. Seeing a gorgeous sunset and actually having a camera at hand to capture it...
  2. Oat porridge - one of those meals that kinda grow on you. When I first had it, I hated it... now I actually look forward to my daily bowl of porridge for breakfast
  3. A phone call that I had been waiting for, for days... can't tell you who called, but let it suffice to say that it made my day...

Friday, December 01, 2006

Movie, Georgie and chutney

  1. Watching a funny, feel-good movie - Kisi Se Na Kehna by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Deepti Naval is sooooo adorable...
  2. A loooooong chat with George.... talking to him is always entertaining.. :-)
  3. Tomato Chutney - the cook decided on her own that there were altogether too many tomatoes in the fridge (I over-bought) and made a delicious chutney. I've been having it for every meal since last morning!