Letter on the move, Fab India and inspired

1. I'm on the station to see off Veena Maushi, talking to her through the train's window while she sits inside and we wait for the train to move. Suddenly I realise that I can send the rakhis for my cousins Gaurav and Ajikya with her. Like never before, luck is on my side - the packet of rakhis is in my purse, and so is a writing pad. I thrust the rakhis in her hand, whip out the pad, borrow her pen and start writing a letter standing on the platform... the train begins to move, and I have to hurriedly sign it, the last sentence unfinished... my cousins are definitely going to think I am crazy...
2. Fab India. No one else makes clothes like they do. They love cotton, and they understand India! I find a lovely kurta for Rohit there, and in the process, pick up a nice red cotton top for myself too...
3. Men Of Honor. While watching it, at times I forgot to blink... and I haven't yet completely recovered from its impact. Highly recommended for everyone.

Student, horoscope and cosy

1. My horoscope for the day tells me that this is a day for learning new things and acquiring knowledge. It indeed is.
2. Gauri takes the effort to scan the horoscope from today's newspaper, and photoshops it, so that his horoscope for the day reads 'Rashmi will have a crush on you today.'... then with much glee he sends it to me... All this because I keep telling him I rejected him even before he had a chance to propose... and of course, he claims it was he who rejected me first, and not vice versa! He's got to be nuts!
3. When I drive home in the evening, there's a definite chill in the air, and I'm glad to enter my cosy home and curl up in the bean bag for a while... I almost drift off to sleep, but rouse myself with some effort...

After a long time, a couple of new pics are up at Trigger Happy... Go look!

King's fare, insanity himself and well received

1. Puranpoli for breakfast! Mum has sent puranpolis with Veena Maushi. They're worthy of a king's breakfast table...
2. Stafford visits us at work, and the amount of noise he makes is unbelievable! Its good to hear his familiar laugh ringing across the room. I can't believe I've worked diligently so that I'd have free time when he comes! And i'm not disappointed - he's just as insane as ever!
3. Receiving ready help from a senior just when I most need it!

Perfect week, relative time and Blue Umbrella

1. Wednesday was a holiday. A holiday bang in the middle of the week makes the week a very easy one. Two days of work, a day off, two days of work again and then the weekend - friday feels like a tuesday, and saturday and sunday are extra special, because they are not spent in recharging in recuperating, but in having fun.
2. After much confusion (don't even bother to ask me what...) I finally get Veena Maushi home from the station. The remainder of the day, we just can't stop talking... there's so much to discuss and narrate... Pallu turns up later on and then the three of us head to Laxmi road to shop... need I say more?
3. The Blue Umbrella. A very very refreshing film, made on Ruskin Bond's story. The characters are all very interesting, the story line very simple, no masala... yet the movie touches a chord somewhere through its simplicity, and I find myself involved in little Biniya and her blue umbrella... A special mention must be made of the riveting camera-work.

Early, liberation through healing and sweet reunion

1. Finishing my day's quota of work well before 6 p.m.... I can get out of office early.
2. I get a few pending tests done, some that I should've gotten done 6 months after last year's operation... its such a liberating feeling to see normal results and to know that there's no recurrance... now, I feel truly healed. Thank heavens!
3. At one point of time, a few minutes ago, I'm chatting with with Aparna and Stafford and am on the phone with Shenoy... an unplanned reunion, no less sweet for the physical distance that separates the four of us! I'm the only one connected to everyone... so I get to be the messenger...

Lead India, chilling out and Arthur's Theme

1. Times Of India's Independence Day special edition is a treat for the readers. They publish a supplement chronicling the achievements of 60 of India's 'movers' - 60 people who, in the 60 years of India's independence, have shaped the nation to become what it is, in various walks of life - politics, science, culture, business, sports... There's plenty in there to read. TOI has also started a 'Lead India Campaign', where they want people in the age group of 25 - 40 from non-political backgrounds to come forward with project plans for a better India. Its a contest, and he that wins will be launched into a political career... Sounds interesting.
2. I have a totally chilled out day. I watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (that has to be the best Harry Potter book!), then I read Ptolemy's Gate for a couple of hours and then go for a walk in the evening... I already feel recharged.
3. Having a very elegant and sumptuous dinner at Arthur's Theme, a french restaurant in Koregaon Park. For a change I'm a vegetarian, so I go there expecting to be disappointed by the food, but I'm pleasantly surprised! The casserole I order is delicious... I'm so full when we walk out, I have to loosen my belt...

Baby steps, good to be unwell and Ptolemy's Gate

1. For the first time today, I deal with two guests on my own. I'm not sure how I did, but it does look like a step forward.
2. Because I'm not feeling well in the morning, I call up work to say that I'll be in only post-lunch. Suddenly, I have a morning to myself, and I can sleep in on a weekday. What's more, I'm at home when the cook comes and she makes me a lovely lunch. The hot, soft chapatis are an unexpected treat...
3. Ptolemy's Gate - the third and last part of the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud... This one's turning out better than the previous two, and I'm already very engrossed... Bartimaeus's witticisms and the foot notes he provides so helpfully, are an absolute delight!

In a shell, tiny looker and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

1. I'm a little low today, so I take the opportunity to draw into myself and close the world out... Thankfully, there isn't much work. Sometimes, its good to be only with yourself and to heed no one...
2. Harshal sends more pictures of his son Adi... boy! is he a cutie-pie or what! He looks like a very happy child, always smiling, and even in the pictures, I discern a twinkle in his eye... he's going to grow up to be a looker, that one!
3. SaReGaMaPa - a reality music show on Zee Marathi... all the contestants are talented and well versed in music. Today's theme is NatyaSangeet - the Marathi equivalent of Opera, you might say. All the singers carry of the extremely difficult songs with much panache and their music is sweet to my tired ears...

Begining of the weekend, light and match making

1. Waking up to a saturday....
2. The maid makes masala puris... there's so light and soft and yummy, we just polish of one after the other...
3. Teasing Shenoy. We've found the perfect match for him and we keep trying to convince him how good the girl in question will be for him... he keeps refusing, but the excitement is high...

Small gestures, aunts and funtoosh

1. Talking to Meenal and finding her basking in her new-found love. She narrates little gestures her husband makes, and I go awwwwwww.... little things like helping her out in the house and looking out for her comfort mean so much! What a truly cosy and secure feeling it must be, to have someone care so much and go the extra mile for you...
2. Having a long chat over the phone with Veena Maushi... feels great to catch up with relatives, and Veena Maushi has for long, been one of my favourite people for a chat, 'coz she's always so easy to talk to and always has so much to talk about and so much enthusiasm.
3. Reading idiotic jokes on Funtoosh.com

Sunday, Barista and juvenile behaviour

1. Its Sunday. I sleep in. And I wake up only when I'm ready to. And then I have a large mug of ginger tea. Sighhh... is there a greater luxury than that?
2. As I walk into Barista, a delicious, heady aroma of coffee hits me. I take a few deep breaths as I sink into the comfortable chair.
3. Behaving like 10 year olds... we bicker, jostle, fight, tease and are altogether quite juvenile...

Something on, lost and found and trrring trrring

1. "It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on." - Marilyn Monroe. I stumble across this and it brings an instant chuckle...
2. Getting back on track and finding something I thought I had lost.
3. My phone keeps ringing - something I had been waiting for.