A Prosaic Ode to Bangalore!

I finally finished reading Hari Kunzru’s Transmission a few weeks back and started devoting all my attention to Kavita Watsa’s “Brahmins and Bungalows – Travels through South Indian History” (2004). One of the chapters deals with Bangalore – though I would love to post excerpts from every chapter, for I found something worth sharing in each chapter, I have to restrain myself to one chapter. I picked this city, since I know so many people who stay there or have visited the city – all of whom are charmed by this cantonment city! I think after reading these excerpt you will want to head for the nearest store and pick up a copy of the book :

The residential areas that developed within the cantonment (which was also called “Laskar” Town) were called “towns” and even today bear British names such as Langford, Fraser, Richmond and Benson. Their large bungalows were set in generous gardens, and the townscape was dotted with tastefully designed parks, churches, clubs, schools and shopping areas. One of these establishments, the Bangalore United Services Club, still functions as the ‘Bangalore Club’, and its pillars, verandas and simple but elegant proportions constitute an excellent example of the architecture that was popular in the mid-nineteenth century. It was this originally white male preserve that Churchill left an unpaid ‘due’ of thirteen rupees, which the club eventually wrote off as irrecoverable.

-Not to mention the sign at the entrance that prohibited entry of Dogs and Indians! I believe, it is still difficult to get membership at this club – some things never change, eh?

In recent years, if one can forgive the senseless attrition of heritage architecture, it is possible to appreciate the stable urban identity hat has developed after a period of careless growth, an identity that borrows much from the character of the old cantonment in its leaning towards the West and its taste for the good life. Today’s Bangalore owes much to the liberalism that was in vogue here long before the Indian economic revolution of the early nineties. Here, globalization was not contrived; it was merely a matter of re-packaging an old tradition in twenty-first century wrapping, and allowing Westernisation to spread out of the cantonment and into suburbs once known for their orthodoxy. People who move to the city, even the freshest of settlers, now tend to discard their prior identities and become Bangalorean with ease. Although there is a tendency for new Bangaloreans to behave as if they invented the city – and who can blame them, for so little is left to remind anyone of the old days- it is a pleasant and sought-after place, and people who live here for a time often find it hard to adjust to city life anywhere else in India.

-Don’t I know that! I know more than one Bangalorean who’s sung praises of the city so often, its almost a refrain! :-)

The one restaurant I dearly loved, and to which I would have directed any traveler without wasting a second, no longer exists: it was appropriately called The Only Place, and was situated in a dreary compound at the bottom of Brigade Road, sandwiched between a guest house so liberal that it allowed only one lady to love there with a dozen pet snakes, and Snaize Brothers, the local undertaker’s. None of the existing restaurants, sophisticated though they are, could ever rustle up enough savoir-faire to serve beef-steak followed by peach pie in a tiny bougainvillea-clad bower, even as carpenters hammered nails slowly into half-finished coffins strewn about within view. The people who frequented The Only Place were characters all, from long-boned socialites with diamond earrings who fished insects gingerly out of their wine, to sad-faced Americans who lingered in the cantonment for months or even years in search of the meaning of life. There is no OP’s now; yet another shopping mall has been erected in the old compound. The restaurant did resume its activities briefly in one of the mall’s boring corridors, but in this new location, and with its new clientele, we all agreed it might as well have been called Pizza Hut.

-And to think I was so charmed by its “Pizza Hut” avatar – makes me want to travel back in time, to experience The Only Place in its hey-days…

Much as the desecration of its architecture and the congestion of its streets bewilder me, there is always a sense of homecoming when I return to Bangalore, for wherever my interest in travel has subsequently taken me, I have found no other city in the world to match its particular charms, and no other such concentration of like-minded people. Some aspects of the city come to mind at the oddest times, bludgeoning me in some unfamiliar place where nothing but a map connects me to reality, and all of a sudden my heart fills with a great desire to go home again: to sip a lime juice at Koshy’s and listen to the conversation of college students and journalists; to watch the low, violet clouds of the monsoon roll in across the plateau in early June, transforming the hot weather overnight to something akin to Scotland in summer, and reminding me that the British used to call Bangalore a hill station; to catch my breath while driving past a park in full bloom with jacaranda and frangipani. As long as there is still a high bank of flowers on one side of South Parade, and a few bungalows left to uphold a gracious aesthetic; as long as there are old-timers to mourn the passing of the old days, yet accept the new with lightness of heart; as long as I can walk into a restaurant and order a beefsteak without batting an eyelid; and as long as the night train still pulls into a little grey and grey station in the chill of a Bangalore dawn, there will be reason for me, and hundreds like me, to return to the vanishing cantonment for a few decades yet.

The last paragraph in the chapter on Bangalore – perhaps the most touching – paraphrases beautifully her love for the city. I know quite a few Bangaloreans who would echo these sentiments…Bangalore to them is their Mecca!

While I’m on the subject, I’ll make a small concession to my dearest jijaji (a self-confessed Banglo-phile!) that apart from Bombay, I think, Bangalore is the only city in India where I could be happy…ouch I can see the onslaught coming again! ;-)

Her passion for the city shines through every word - now if someone could write something on similar lines about Bombay!!!

P.S - You can find my review of "Brahmins and Bungalows" on Literary Mosaic

Paradise In Pune!

Yesterday, we visited Nala Park a.k.a Osho Teerth Park. Nestled in a by-lane of Koregaon park, it is the most idyllic place in Pune. Unlike the commune which is open only to members, the park is open to public as well. I’m glad, for I’d have missed a divine spot if it had restricted entry. They’ve made the park over a “Nala” which has been cleaned up and winds its way through the park like a stream, its waters flowing smoothly over certain regions and gushing down or bubbling over some rocks in others. Narrow winding lanes lead you through the cleverly landscaped park – the dense green foliage has an appearance of natural growth. No space for artificiality there…words really can’t describe the sheer beauty of the park. It’s a most serene experience to walk though the park early in the morning, with the sun-rays filtering through the leaves of the tall trees, the only sounds being the birds chirping in the distance and the water murmuring to you as it makes its way through the park…
As Kunal says :
“At the very end of the park, nestled amongst these “rainforest-like” trees rests this serene statue of the Buddha, which is where I would like to take Milton (twisting his ear all along till I get him to this spot). I will sternly reprimand him for his pessimism- now that you have regained paradise…sagla bara aahay na?”
Truly, paradise in Pune! :-)

My Love Affair With Bombay Continues...

Last week’s trip to Bombay was almost disappointing – the saving grace being my friends and FabIndia (Kala Ghoda).

Met Amisha for dinner the very first evening, bumping into Aditi at the restaurant and later over coffee at Barista. That was a Bonus!

The seminar I had gone for, though organized by one of the most brilliant ladies I know (my MA prof Dr.Bharucha), was disappointing. Not so much because of the speakers, as their lack of oratory skills and the bad acoustics of the room. If they weren’t mumbling to themselves, then their voices got lost in the room. As a result, what could have been a very interesting seminar ended up being an exercise in straining my ears to catch what they were talking about. I did run into a college teacher at the seminar, which was a great pleasure. Mrs Subramanium was one of our best teachers, though also the most demanding. Her insistence on perfection hadn’t endeared her to me during the first two years of college. However, by TYBA I grew to respect her and realised how much I could gain from her as a student. Till date I maintain that when it came to studying the parts of the syllabus that she taught us, I had to put in minimum efforts!

We escaped before the last session…and then the fun started…
FabIndia at Kala Ghoda is a most divine experience – even if you don’t want to shop, the place is a must-visit, for its lay-out. The wooden ceiling, flooring and steps, the distinctive units, the amazing graphics, not-to-mention the spacious aisles! Add to all this their fabulous stock…bliss!
Mondegar – it’s got to be one of my favourite places in Bombay…Mondegar with its hybrid fan following, with its dimly-lit smoke-filled interiors, with its caricature-painted walls, with its Juke Box, with its pastas…

The next day, apart from work, I managed to catch up with another friend Sherry – Pop Tate’s it was this time…the Gnocchi was excellent – so was the company!
After seeing her off from the bus-stop, I headed to the beach…a long walk down 7 bungalows to the beach…rolled up my jeans, took off my sandals and set off down the beach. The timing was perfect – the evening crowd had not yet come in, so I had the beach almost to myself, except for some kids playing and the numerous couples hiding in the rocks! The sea-breeze felt wonderful on my face and in my hair…after while I clambered onto a relatively empty rock cluster and sat there observing the kids mess around in the mud, enjoying that scene and observing the people slowly drift onto the beach, marveling at the changes in the area and feeling the pinch of nostalgia…

I so, so, so love Bombay!!!! :-)

Mirror Mirror On The Wall...

Well I don't want to know who's the fairest of them all, coudn't care a flying fig about that - just tell me, why is it that the things one wants to most in life are the ones that are most unattainable? The ones that you keep reaching out for, but keep slipping out your grasp?

What Do The Signs Say About You?

Never followed the zodiac signs and what they say about personalities - mine, your's or Tom's - but I had to work on this subject recently...so I browsed alot...and quite liked this very concise presentation of what the Zodiac signs say about your personality:

ARIES - " I am "
TAURUS - " I have "
GEMINI - " I think "
CANCER - " I feel "
LEO - " I will "
VIRGO -" I analyze "
LIBRA - " I balance "
SCORPIO - " I desire "
SAGITTARIUS- " I perceive "
CAPRICORN - " I use "
AQUARIUS - " I know "
PISCES - " I believe "

(Courtesy Bejan Daruwalla )

Of Dogs and Cats...and Reptiles and Buffaloes!

I would like to be an animal-lover…when I say animal-lover I mean one who likes and finds fascinating and beautiful ALL animals. I don’t.

I adore dogs – well established fact, considering I have always had a pet-dog. Let's not forget that I’ve been known to talk to street dogs, pick up fights with people whom I’ve observed mistreating a street dog, go over to strangers’ homes to meet their dogs and walk away without finding out the owner’s name or giving them mine…:-)

I’m OK with cats – I have argued incessantly over the virtues of dogs v/s cats with Amit, but frankly, I find them quite cute…I must admit, though, I’m not too high on the idea of having a cat as a pet…but wild cats are a completely different matter with their feline grace. If it wasn’t dangerous to keep one, I would have loved having a tiger as a pet. With every step that animal takes it inspires in me a feeling of awe at the sheer grace of movement and the power in that muscular body. And to see them hunt – oh yes, definitely awe-inspiring! Still haven’t figured out why the Lion is the king of the jungle – dirty scraggy creature that it is!

Anyways…I find most other domestic and wild animals beautiful. Reptiles are an exception – lizards, snakes, crocodiles – I am really not sure why we must have creatures like them to maintain the ecological balance. Creeps – yes that’s what they give me…absolutely creeps.

Yet another animal I’m not too fond of seeing is the Indian buffalo. Ironic considering I drink buffalo’s milk and prefer it over cow’s milk- even though the latter is healthier, having lower cholesterol quantities. But drinking the milk is one thing, and seeing the animal is another. The sight of a horde of big bulky black buffaloes disgusts me no end – with their fondness of wallowing in dirty waters, and keeping themselves caked in dung…I am most tempted to give up milk when I see where it comes from…and I’m not even talking about the condition of the sheds…

Anyways fate has been perverse, for there are, like, thousands of buffaloes in Pune…over a hundred very close to where I stay – the sight of a huge ugly buffalo sauntering along a busy main road, swaying its dung infested back-side at your windscreen is way too common for my liking. Not to mention the often enough incidences of having to sit in your vehicle for 15-20 minutes in the middle of a street, waiting for the herd to pass…

Nopes…sorry boss but I don’t think I’m that much of an animal lover to find beauty there…buffaloes are good animals. Gentle too (I think much more than the famed “gau-mata” who is known to chase people – I know, I’ve been chased once, but that’s another story!)…and useful as well. But I’d rather they stayed where they should be – in fields and meadows grazing peacefully, or in their sheds, not really gracing the streets of a busy city that is also supposed to be the next IT destination of the nation!

Saatchya Aat Gharat

Now, this is one movie I would like to see! Alas my comprehension of the language and lack of company shall prevent me from doing so...

Final Judgements

I used to be quite a television addict at one time – puberty definitely wasn’t easy for me, and television was my refuge…anyways right from the age of 11, it’s been the crime-based shows and legal dramas that held my attention and appealed to my intelligence, atleast what little there is of it! ;-) So apart from my share of Beverly Hills-90210, Doogie Howser, Wonder Years (I can still watch this with the same fascination as I first did) and Remington Steele (this too, just for that hottie Brosnan!) – I devoured a load of legal dramas, to the point that I’d contemplated a career in law at one time. I dropped the idea because of 2 reasons – I knew I’d never be able to memorise the laws and I had serious doubts about my capacity to argue my case with Tom, Dick and Harry and come out the winner.

Anyways as usual I’ve digressed from the main point that I wanted to make (Yep I’d definitely not make a good lawyer!)…over the years I’ve followed L.A.Law, Street Legal, and some others…off late I’ve been following only 2 shows religiously –Law and Order and The Practice . This week’s episode of The Practice was one of their most thought-provoking episodes.

Ellen, one of the leading lawyers in the firm, is fighting the case of a murderer on death-row. The perpetrator was suffering from schizophrenia at the time she murdered 2 young boys. She was diagnosed as mentally sane at the time of trial but later it was discovered that she was schizophrenic, and when given adequate medication she not only reformed, she turned into a role model. The point, thus being, that she was not mentally fit at the time of crime, thus can not be held responsible for her actions and shouldn’t be punished so severely for it. In U.S.A you can not execute an insane person, so Ellen makes her temporarily go off her medication – the judge rules that the State can not “force-medicate” her and that she won’t be executed as long as she is “insane.” Ellen returns with an argument that execution is reserved for the “most” heinous and evil of crimes, and this crime was not one of those. So why the death penalty? She goes on to argue that violence should not be paid back with violence. And that mercy was one of the greatest virtues of mankind – and that is what should be promoted. Everybody, deserves mercy, even murderers.

Do they? Is it really possible to forgive someone who has raped and/or murdered someone you love? Do they deserve to be pardoned for their crimes? Don’t the family members of victims deserve closure of some kind? Or is the desire to see the perpetrator punished/executed an aspect of the blood-thirstiness of mankind? Frankly I couldn’t come up with any satisfactory answers.

The episode ended with the defendant’s death penalty being stayed, on the grounds of mental instability at the time of crime…

On a different note, I saw Yuva last night. An excellent movie, with great acting by each of the leading actors. You note, I say "actors" – the absolute marginalization of actresses and their use as mere decorative objects disappointed me. The movie would have been much more satisfying had even one of the 3 actresses been given centre-stage. It was like saying that the responsibility of turning things around in Indian Politics lies in the hands of the male youth of the country, and all that the women can do, is support their man, provide good food for him when he returns at the end of the day, tired and disgusted with the system, not to mention good sex! Behind every successful man is a woman – and that’s where she is to stay – behind the scenes?

Justifying Murder

On Monday I blogged about the murder of Akku Yadav.

Last night, I saw on NDTV, that apart from the 5 women who have been arrested for murdering him, 400 women of the Kastuba Basti are ready to surrender if the women are convicted for their action.

I couldn't find an article reporting this new development in the TOI - not sensational enough for them, I guess. Anyways I hope the court does have the sense not to convict the women - on one hand it would be like saying it's Ok to murder someone who's oppressing you. Murder shouldn't be justified in anyway - in my opinion doing that would just abet crimes even more. But the women definitely should not be punished for taking the step that the Courts of Law should have - he was, after all, wanted for several cases of rape, dacoit and murder. Hardly reprehensible that the women lost hope in a system, that took over a decade to hang another rapist, and took things into their own hands.

God Help The Students of University of Mumbai...

A friend just gave me this shocker of a news - so I hit the archives of Asian Age and came up with this :

"Kaun banega VC? The game begins - By Shweta Shertukde

Mumbai, Aug. 14: The University of Mumbai is likely to have a new vice-chancellor before August 20. Sources in the university disclosed that it will be a hurried appointment as the university will have to follow the code of conduct implemented by the state for the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The race for the post of a new VC, with nearly 30 contenders, has already begun. According to sources, several city-based college principals and vice-chancellors from the neighbouring universities have already started lobbying for the coveted post.

Some of the major players in the race are from the Mumbai university — acting VC Dr Vijay Khole, dean of the arts faculty Dr Abhay Pethe, head of the English department R.G. Bongle, former head of the civics and politics department Nawaz Modi and former registrar Dr A.M. Murudkar. Others in the race are chairman of Principals’ Association Naresh Chandra, principal of Ruia College R.T. Sane, principal of Ruparel College P.M. Sule, VC of SNDT Women’s University Ms Rupa Shah and H.R. College principal, Indu Sahani.Some of these contenders have recently met the Congress party president Mrs Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to lobby for the post, said a source. To meet the August 20 deadline, a five-member team on the selection panel is almost ready.

..."

There's a reason why I've highlighted the name of our ex-HOD, Dr.Bhongle - if he is the next to step into the chair - it won't be unfair to say that the University of Mumbai is going to the dogs! God Save the Students!!!

"Trust Me, I Know Where This Road Goes.." Ahem...

They say men NEVER accept it when they are lost and almost never ask for directions. They also say that women are TERRIBLE at giving directions and can lead you around in circles. Stereotypes. Balderdash. Bullshit. I can narrate several instances to prove such statements wrong. But I can also narrate these 2 incidents:

Last Saturday we had gone for pizza dinner. On our way back my brother missed the turn that would lead us to our “village” – I was a bit surprised and made some noise from my back-seat, only to be firmly silenced by the men of the house. They knew what they were doing and where they were going. I figured that since they do go out daily with their respective cars, Papa and Bhaiyya might have found a shorter route…

10 minutes later we crossed the Race course and I knew they were DEFINITELY lost! Bhaiyya admitted that – but Papa still felt he knew where we were headed. "Ah well – men are always right," I told myself. "Sit quietly – there is another way we could get home, only it’s definitely not shorter, but almost twice as long as the usual route." So we drove on…and on…and on…I made some more noise and asked some more questions. “Will you please stop acting smart, young lady?” “Ok sir…you are in the driving seat!”

I waited patiently for 20 minutes for a landmark, which falls just outside Pune limits – and then calmly announced that we’d just crossed Manjari Meadows and were on our way to Solapur! “Oh is that so? Well then I guess we missed the turn somewhere!”

Ah - the pleasure it gave me to direct us back home! Muhahaha – I quite relished the experience of hearing them admit they were very lost and that they should have listened to me the first time I made noise!

I guess sometimes, it is true then – that men never accept it when they are lost and almost never ask for directions.

Now that I’ve related that -

I must admit that 75% of the time, my directions could lead you in the completely opposite direction. If I’m sitting next to you, I’ll immediately rectify my mistake, but if the directions were given to you on the phone…hehe God help you, coz I often mix up between right and left. If I’m not looking down at my hands then I’m almost certain to ask you to turn right, when I mean left!

I did this yesterday, telling Papa that he has to turn right at Café Canada to get to Kasba Peth, and getting very annoyed with him when he said there is no right there! So he drew a map for me – much to my embarrassment I’d meant left! Needless to say, that ended up being a source of amusement for my brother and father for the rest of the day!

Touché!

So sometimes it’s also true that women are terrible at giving directions and can lead you around in circles.

;-)

Eh?

Yesterday was Independance Day - I hate to admit that it was just another day. Just another Sunday when we went house-hunting yet again... and returned home exhausted, having had both meals out ....no flag-hoisting ceremony at all this year, for perhaps the first time in my life. Last time I reached late, but atleast I paid my respects to the tricolour. This year - Na Da :-(

One thing that hit me yesterday was this headline : Women proud of lynching goon in court. Its hardly shocking, keeping in mind all the things we read in the paper these days. Dunno - it just wasn't what I wanted to read about on Independance Day. Call me naive, but I'm horrified each time I read about such demons...to think that millions still live in the fear of such tyranny and we are more bothered about whether India is ready for legal Pornography or not - gimme a break, could we focus on some real issues for a change?

The Infidelity Track

Been meaning to blog on this every since my last blog – actually I had to restrain myself from publishing this last time, because I didn’t want it to seem like a deluge. Ironically I’ve not blogged for days since then – was very phased out and couldn’t get my thoughts organized. Why? Partly the same old bug of loneliness that makes me downright miserable and yearn to turn to clock back to nicer days. Add to that, what seems like viral fever – nursed mind-numbing headaches, weakness and throat-ache, battled against fever, and had sinus and this awful taste in my mouth through-out. With my whole “anti-medicines” attitude I took longer to get back on track – any other person would have popped a few antibiotics and been hopping around in 2 days. Me? Heheh – I prolong the torture by resisting medication! Stubborn mule? Yeps I know I’m one :-)

Anyways as usual I’ve digressed – damn I could give Thomas Hardy a run for his money in the art of digressing – muhahaha!

Earlier this week when I blogged about the whole issue of women being raped/molested, a related subject was burning in my mind. It came up in a conversation and got me thinking –

We were talking in general about friendships between opposite sexes. I’m fortunate enough to share some great friendships like that; infact one of my closest friends is a guy, and I’ve never ever felt remotely uncomfortable in the presence of any of my male friends. Not everybody has that luck, it seems.

Anyways we drifted into a different aspect of male-female relationships. Here’s a hint – it’s a hot favourite with our Hindi soap-operas! The much discussed, dreaded extra-marital affair! Unacceptable, was my take on it. How could you possibly accept infidelity in your partner? Knowing he’s been with another woman even while he has taken the vows to be yours and your alone, not just in this lifetime, but in the next few lifetimes as well. How is it possible to trust that person ever again and continue to love him? For me, the question of straying just doesn’t arise. I know, I can’t even think of another man – I don’t need to be married to him to feel this way. Love is not something that happens with just anyone. When it does happen, it’s for a lifetime. I know some people say that sometimes love dies – well if it does, you should break it off immediately. Why lie and seek love behind your spouse’s back?

The person I was talking to felt that you have to give him a second chance – marriage is for keeps, and she felt that you have to try and fix things that could go wrong. She did – and she used her experience to show how things that look bad can turn around completely. That you can build a relationship again. That weak foundations can be strengthened. That you can’t just give up so easily. If you love the person, you should want to fight for him – what I don’t get is – why should you have to “fight” for him? Shouldn’t he “be” yours? I mean for chrissake, doesn’t the fact that you’ve chosen each other mean something?

God forbid I ever have to face such a situation – knowing me, I’d be devastated. The thought of it sends chill down my spine – *shudder* Give me any amount of travails otherwise, but not infidelity in the man I love. Amen.

Murky Waters

One can’t avoid the reports on cases of rapes and other types of assaults against women on News channels these days. I seem to have rather mixed feelings on this whole issue. On one hand, I agree with those who say that it’s a heinous crime that simply can not be pardoned and/or excused. (Thank God our President didn’t agree to the mercy plea made by Dhanandjay Chatterjee) This is one trait in men (not all of them, I accept) that I abhor – the need to subjugate those who are inferior to them, weaker than them or unable to fight back. If they do stand up to any mistreatment, they must be “punished” and “reminded who holds the reins” – despicable and beyond pardon. As for cases of sexual violence – I think a person couldn’t get more be more depraved and screwed up to actually get off that kind of an action. No amount of argument that “the woman asked for it” can ever be sufficient to excuse molestation and/or rape.

But then I think of those incredibly credulous (read DUMB) women who blindly walk into a situation that flashes DANGER in red from a mile off. I totally fail to comprehend why so many women willingly allow themselves to be exploited – who gets to decide what level of exploitation is acceptable – and if the level you perceive in your mind as acceptable doesn’t match with the other person, is it really fair to scream “exploitation” later? Why put yourself on a terrain that is not firm and shows signs of turning into a slimy quicksand? God hasn’t blessed us with grey cells and an intuition for nothing – they are meant to be used, not left to rust. And if you argue that we shouldn’t have to look over our shoulder with every step we take, I agree. We shouldn’t. But let’s face it – this isn’t Utopia. We don’t live in Arcadia. If we are sensible and cautious in a jungle where predatory carnivores reside, then why not otherwise? I mean, in a sense, we do live in a vast jungle of sorts, don’t we? We have to be on red alert at work, for there is always someone waiting to pounce on your smallest mistake, and turn it into their advantage – the same rules apply elsewhere.

I’m not acquitting the men from their blame – I whole-heartedly support capital punishment in 9o% of these cases – no point letting those monsters live and that too on government money, which in a sense is our money. All I’m saying is that sometimes things can’t be classified as Black and White. Things aren’t as simple as that. They never are. Think about it.

Henri Cartier Bresson

Wondering why I’ve not blogged for so long – its not like the opportunity didn’t present itself, or there was lack of topic (there never can be with someone like me, who just loves to talk – if there is no interlocutor, then I can even talk to myself - LOL!)...but somehow I never got around to blogging – about Ma’s problem with vertigo…or how that damned aquarium, my bro has got, broke this Tuesday, and how bhabhi and I spent the entire morning mopping up coz half the water had leaked out, under the cupboards and half-way across the room…or how my damned wisdom tooth gave me so much grief this week...or how miserable I was coz of the wretched cold weather in this bloody hamlet!

Ok – I think I have an inkling as to why I didn’t blog – coz I didn’t want to publish a jeremiad of complaints! LOL! Hit the nail on the spot, didn’t you Sherlock?

Well anyways now that I’ve solved that grand mystery in life, I guess I might as well blog about something more substantial and less introspective and/or floozy!

This morning I read about the death of Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004), a photojournalist and co-founder of Magnum Photos. Ok gyan time – Magnum Photos is an international photographic co-operative founded by Robert Cappa, David Seymour, William Vandivert, George Rodger and Bresson in Paris, 1947. Basically Cappa, Seymour and Bresson had been friends before the World War II and when they reunited unexpectedly after the war, they came up with this idea of forming an organisation that would be a kind of forum for photographers and a training ground for new talent. They later opened an office in New York (small surprise – the Big Bully definitely was the place to head even back then, especially when you wanted to sell anything!); today they have offices in London and Tokyo as well and around 50 members. A “miniature United Nations” each member of the organization took on responsibility of covering a geographic area.

So coming back to Bresson – he took on India and the Far-east. Reason I got interested in the fellow was because I’d read somewhere (now don’t ask me where and when – I so totally fail to remember!) that he had taken a photograph of Gandhi, as he lay on his death bed. Apparently another photographer, was unsuccessful and ended up having her reel destroyed because of her insensitivity to the situation, while Bresson succeeded by being discrete and subtle and staying behind the scenes. I thought to myself, creativity coupled with a keen sense of sensitivity and intelligence. Great combination! So I went ahead and read up more about him – it helped that he was a French man! ;-) Anyways some of his work that I saw online fascinated me and managed to snag my attention...

The one below seems to be a favourite, but I lean towards the one above. Something about the old man, surrounded by flowers, absorbed in his solitary activity touched me.



The name stuck in my memory and this morning when I read about his death – I decided I so totally must blog about this. I think I would like to own one of those books he has published. Probably “Decisive Moments” which is touted as his chef d’oeuvre...

Hehe...just went through this and it struck me that the last line stinks of a hint for a gift. Terribly expensive gift, eh? LOL – worry not, there’s no hint there. Just a thought to myself – more like a note for the future. (Read when I have a decent enough salary to be able to afford all those books I harbour a perennial hunger for!)

Linguistic thought for the day :- Often seen and often used “specially” instead of “especially” – wonder how and why this habit came to be?

Specially, adv. 1. In a special manner; particularly.
2. For a particular purpose; as, a meeting of the legislature is specially summoned.

Especially, adv. In an especial manner; chiefly; particularly; peculiarly; in an uncommon degree.

Eh? Difference?

Ick – so need to improve that vocabulary of mine. Too mediocre for my satisfaction – double ick. Must bookmark the Online Dictionary and must leaf through my pocket Oxford more often. Bit late for a New Year Resolution...anyways I don’t hold much faith in them that were made as you say good-bye to a dying year and are drunk with happiness welcoming one more catastrophic year that brings you closer to the apocalyptic end...but I guess one can always resolve to improve anytime of the year, eh?

Grumpy Bear

QUESTION FOR THE DAY :-
Why is it that NONE of my friends, apart from Kunaal, have made any attempts to visit me in Pune?

I mean, some of them actually act like it's just me who should get to experience the "wonderfully short drive on the Mumbai-Pune expressway" - the least they could do is stay in touch, which ain't difficult in this day and age of SMS, emails and 952 facility!

ICK!

A Note of Thanks

Dear God,
Yesterday evening Girish uncle, a family friend, who has had a heart attack and Angioplasty, was admitted to the hospital after feeling some discomfort in the chest. We rushed to the hospital obviously, since they are as close as family and we are practically the only people they know here in Pune - I had little to do, as my parents were with Uncle and Aunty and Bhaiyya was taking care of other stuff. As I sat there in the waiting room, for news, taking in all the details of the Cardiology center, overhearing snippets of conversations doctors/nurses/attendants were having with family members of patients – I got cold inside. Despite the fact that I had on a pullover I felt downright chilly inside – not so much because of the temperatures, as because of the memories it roused.

Circumstances were different yes, but I couldn’t help but remember the fear that had gripped me when my mother had a heart-attack in Jan 2002 . The Angiogram confirmed our worst fears – she had multiple blockages, one going up to 98%. She had a by-pass soon after – and those were some of the most terrifying and trying days of my life. Coming face-to-face with my mother’s mortality shook me deeply. I think I grew up the most in that one month – especially since I dealt with more than my mother’s illness. It was a crucial time for me, with my final year BA exams round the corner, and in those few months I realized who my true friends are… funny how you have to go through some kind of difficulty in order to see through farces and understand who truly is your friend and who’s there only while the good times last!

Luckily for me I do have some really great friends and they’ve seen me through each and every one of those trying phases in life – I hope I’ve been at least half as good a friend to them, as they have been to me. Sitting there in that waiting room last night, I thanked you for all that I’ve been blessed with. Just last week I was complaining of how life sucks – but let’s face it, life hasn’t been a series of hurdles for me. I have a great, supporting family, a fabulous set of friends…hell you have even blessed me with a heart bigger than most people! As for what’s missing, it’s up to me to ensure that the void is filled, right? After all, we make our own destinies, don’t we?

Yours gratefully,

Geetanjali

P.S Struck with wonder and horror at how some people don’t realize the gravity of a heart-attack – it’s almost like “just” another topic to discuss for them. Hell comparing a by-pass to an appendicitis operation – for Chrissake! People like that truly try my patience!

Brrrrrrr

It’s cold in Pune! LOL! Ok coming from me you’d think that’s a gross exaggeration and it’s probably just pleasant , but I like to believe that my resistance to the cold has improved a bit after having spent 3 months in Europe during winter and surviving sub-zero temperatures! Anyways I think I detest the cold winds the most – and Pune is VERY windy. Specially where we stay – when we shut our windows they sometimes rattle with the pressure of the wind outside! Up until now it hasn’t rained “properly” here – remember I’m accustomed to Bombay rains (read non-stop rains lashing the streets for days at end, flooded roads, over-flowing sewers, gusty winds, wet clothes, broken umbrellas et al) – but for the past few days it’s rained “a little” – i.e it drizzles all day. Add to this the wind and it gets quite cold. My classmates have actually come to class wearing sweaters and jackets! I resisted till yesterday when I finally pulled out my sleeveless sweater and thick Khadi jacket – cozier once I’m encased in either one of them! It feels funny – roaming around in jackets and sleeping with double covering, hardly ever switching the fan on! Hehe…guess I’ll really get to use my “winter-wear” in this city!

Word of the Day :

e·pis·te·mol·o·gy , n. The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of knowledge, its presuppositions and foundations, and its extent and validity.

Aslo see Epistmelogy, an Introduction for better understanding!

PS – Friends have expressed concern due to my last blog – just a small note – I’m not as bad as it sounds. It’s a phase that will pass – guess I just need to sort out some issues which will take me time. I might get low and as a result moody and rude at time – hope you’ll will bear with me! Thanks for all the support and offers to beat up the person concerned! :-)

Ick

Today should go down in the book as one of my worst days possible. I could hardly believe it as I slipped back into the vortex of negativity today. It’s been ages since I had no control over my rage – and today I sure did lose control. Black rage would be putting it mildly. It’s a different matter that once the rage inside me subsided, it was replaced by a melancholic mania of sorts. Thoughts I really don’t want to entertain surfaced to torment me – realizations that I’ve given too much once again and have only myself to blame. Doubts – about myself, my capabilities, what I’m worth. Questions – why don’t I learn to ask for what I want? Why do I stay silent when no one understands what it is that I am asking for? Especially when I ask so rarely? Why I take so much crap and don’t ever open my mouth when I’m being hurt? Not to the person inflicting the pain anyways. Why I swallow all that pain, never letting the person know the effect on me? Why? Why me?
Wallowing in narcissistic despair? Yeah that’s what it feels like – putting myself at the center of everything. But then I’m doing it inside me – or atleast I was till I wrote this blog. Well to hell with it – I need to get atleast some of this angst out…
Am I feeling better? Well not really – but then I know that’s not one thing that will change for the next few months. Been there, Done it once before…

From the Kitchen ;-)

Phew…

Am so exhausted today. And I’ve done nothing much. Being my day-off from class et al, I chilled out all day. Even managed to get an nice long nap in the afternoon. And then…

I entered the kitchen!
 
LOL! Man oh man, it may have been fun, and the labour definitely paid off, but am I bushed. Started chopping at 4pm and then the cooking – preparing the layers for my “Wholesome Spaghetti” meal, not to mention preparing the salad, soup and dessert. I finished at 7.40pm. Chop chop, mix, add a dash of this and that, taste..re-think, add some more of this, move onto neighbouring bowl, stir…what makes people opt for a career in cooking? It’s so incredibly tiring and back-breaking…bending over that chopping board, and then the stove! Well atleast my labours paid off and the food was totally appreciated. :-)
 
Need to focus on work again – haven’t been doing much of that in the past few days. Hmm..the wonders of freelancing – no need to sit daily to work! Ah ofcourse you still have to deliver, specially when you’re freelancing for an old acquaintance and can’t lose face! Double-edged sword eh?

Been doing some reading up on one of my favourite subjects – can’t wait to blog about it. LOL – I’m actually excited about a bloody blog! How happening could I get? *Sarcasm dripping from my fangs* Man oh man – am I diverting my energies elsewhere or am I? Ok Geets baby I see through your strategy, but I’m gonna let you follow it up, coz it will keep me sane! ;-)

PS Appu is in B’bay and I couldn’t go meet her…BOOHOO! Why? C’est pas juste!  

The Republic of Love

Last night my tummy was giving me “major traas” (read: I had a mild tummy ache) – now I’m not used to tummy troubles; normally my stomach is very stable and I rarely have any problems with it. So when I do, I’m perplexed, flummoxed and irritated – and can’t sleep. Since sleep eluded me, I figured I’d finish reading Carol Shield’s The Republic of Love which I’ve been at for around 10 days now. It’s my bus-time reading; I’ve not been devoting “quality-time” to books off-late, much to my dismay, shame, exasperation and frustration! Anyways this was my second Carol Shields novel and I think I quite like her style and content. For one, she is a women author (I’ve realized I tend to finish women’s novels faster and also relate to them more – obviously – and enjoy them more.) plus I like her style. Short chapters. Separate units that tie up neatly at the end of the novel. And she has a way of saying things – you know these things, but she says them for you. I’ve reviewed both novels, that I’ve read, on Literary Mosaic – in addition to that, here are some quotes from that caught my attention and had me marking the pages so I could note them down later:

“Well, I’ve finally figured out that being male is the same thing, more or less, as being born with a personality disorder”
 
-I salute the lady for this one! Priceless isn’t it?

“He’s never been to Europe; nothing there has ever seemed compelling enough to compensate for what he imagines to be an assault of massive stone monuments and continuous drenching rain. He fears, more than damp feet, the narrow Continental streets full of toxic haze, and unreadable European maps whose rivers, roads, railway lines and national boundaries wrinkle and shrink the eyesight of travelers and strip them clean of volition, of identity. Europe with its sneering face. Europe the mercenary uncle”
 
-The reason this caught my attention is because, seen in isolation, this paragraph reads very American – and Carol Shields is not American, but Canadian. A tad bit surprising –
1) Canada has had strong links with Europe (reference to their colonial history with Britain and France)
2) Hadn’t realized the Americans had such a strong impact on their psyche.
It’s funny that Europe has been equated to the “mercenary uncle” when Canada is struggling to assert it’s identity against, or rather despite, its muscular neighbour, the Big Bully Uncle Sam!
(Quickly checking her brief biography on the first page, I understand. Born and brought up in Chicago, she has lived in Canada only since 1957. Interesting. I’d love to compare this with other Canadian novelists.)

“They say Love makes angels of the wicked. That people in love are kinder in their ways, stronger in their resolve and lit from within by an incandescence so generous, impulsive, and willing, so mild, too, and almost innocent, that other people, observing them are reminded of young children – the good, stalwart, focused children of fairy tales.
They say love affects the blood-sugar level and that, all other things being equal, lovers will win Olympic medals, score higher on examinations, donate more generously to charities, ward off the most potent flu germs, and kindle the kind of rare happiness that deflects the envy of others.
They say love distorts judgements, so that the most morally robust can drift into evil, and the evil into goodness.
Another thing people say is that love quickens the sensory organs. Fingertips grow more sensitive and more eager. Hearing becomes acute, sometimes painfully so. The olfactory organs crackle and swell and make themselves known. And vision grows more precise, more penetrating…”
 
-Lets just say that it appealed to my romantic notions.

“It is impossible for us to live outside the culture we’re born into. Our communities claim us from the start, extending a thousand tentacles of possession, and Fay, a reasonable intelligent woman, has long recognised that reverence for individualism is one of the prime perversions of contemporary society. It is illogical and foolish. Oh, yes. We are bound to each other biologically and socially, intellectually and spiritually, and to abrogate our supporting network is to destroy ourselves.”
 
-What can I say? The lady knows how to say it!

“We’ve got to get back to neighbourliness. We’ve lost it. Saying good morning to each other? Saying how do you do, how are you feeling, how’s the world treating you? Recycling plastic bags is peanuts, ditto with phosphate-free detergent. We’re always hollering these days about the infrastructure of our cities, but love’s got an infrastructure, too. Love your neighbour, let him love you back a little. Love’s the greenest stuff going. Let’s hear it for love.”
 
-Amen!

La France m'appelle?

Today I saw a very nice movie based on the holocaust. Indirectly, but the inspiration was from that and we all know how fascinated I am with that subject. “La Passante du Sans Souci”. Filmed partly in Berlin and partly in France, it deals with the life of Max Baumstein, who murders a politician of Paraguay.
 
Max Baumstein is a well-known human rights activist and avowed pacifist who, to the shock and puzzlement of many, murders a politician from South America. As Baumstein goes to trial, it is revealed that his victim was in fact a Nazi war criminal who ordered the deaths of thousands of people -- including Baumstein's parents. In flashback, Max recalls the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France, and he remembers Elsa Weiner, a woman who helped save his life and struggled to free her husband Michel from a concentration camp after he was condemned for publishing anti-fascist literature.
 
Definitely a recommendation – oh did I forget to mention? It’s in French, but well…WATCH IT IF YOU CAN!!!
 
What else? Ah oui, my friend Patricia, spoke about me to a lady who I met at Dr.Bharucha’s place for dinner in Jan 2003. She trains people to teach French to foreigners and was in BBay with the French Embassy at that time. Anyways Pat meets her regularly and has enquired if I could spend a summer in France to aid my studies and how to go about it. So much so that the lady said she could make a few phone calls too, if I’m interested! Now talk about cool…
 
Seriously though, this means its time to get serious about all this now…sigh. How I hate planning for the future, things were supposed to just fall into place naturally…but one has to do a lot of thinking and planning, I guess, when one comes to this crossroad of life. Hmmm… 

Un Clou Chasse L'autre...

Haven’t blogged in ages – and have no clue why. I come online, chat, email and leave…hell I’ve even logged into Blogger several times, only to log out in a few minutes… 

Ok the changes in Blogger are damn cool - I can now change font size, colour et al without resorting to finding out the appropriate HTML code from more gayni friends! Ah merci Blogger for finally thinking about us non-techie janta, us simple folk! LOL! Ofcourse we could also do with some emoticons!! ;-)  Anyways I'm kicked with these new amenities (if I may use that word!) and so I'm going to launch into a loooooong blog!

My mind has been elsewhere these days. Un clou chasse l’autre – Life goes on. And it does. But those tiny niggling thoughts in your head prevent life from running smoothly, n’est ce pas ? Those tiny, annoying little fragments of thought that blow-up into monstrosities and make you act in ways you are later embarrassed about? Huh – I’ve had a fair share of those moments in the past fortnight. Frankly, I’m appalled and quite exasperated at the chain of events. But then what use lamenting now? Milk has been spilt already – time to rectify mistakes and ensure they don’t recur. And ensure that those thoughts do not interfere in my much fought for equilibrium. Balance – yeps that’s important in life. As I recently said, we must strive for a balance in life, coz the world is anyways quite crazily topsy-turvy. It’s upto us to create a balance and make sense of life as it is served to us.
 
Ha – enough of my contemplation. So I was in Bbay this weekend – finished off my convocation work. And spent time with Mansi – which was more important dunno, so don’t ask. LOL! It’s going to be funny going to Bbay once Mansi is gone – Amit has already gone. So has Appu….ok Kunu baba, I need you find work in Bbay! Do that and I’ll definitely fulfill your demand of finding myself a guy in Bbay! (Not that I need much urging to do that anyways! LOL!)
 
On the whole the trip was exhausting - I took an early morng bus from Pune and was in Dadar at 11am – after walking to the station, crossing over to the West , I went and sat in a train – a few minutes later I started wondering why the train wouldn’t move! It turned out that signals at Bandra weren’t working, so all trains were terribly slow and even more late…anyways I noticed that fast trains were atleast crawling, so I crossed platforms again and got into a Fast – upto Bandra, from where I switched to a slow upto Scruz. Under normal circumstances the whole journey from Dadar to the Univ shouldn’t have taken me more than 40 minutes  - I reached the Univ at 1.15 pm!
 
Kalina was one big lake of muck…and the office staff had but obviously gone on an extended lunch break! So anyways after waiting impatiently in a queue for nearly an hour I got my convocation form. Met Madhavi and Deepa on my way out  - had lunch with Madhavi– I was famished by the time we got our food! Got to Gayatri at 4.30!!! (I had hoped to be there by 1.30 -2 pm) Obviously I didn’t do a thing after that – the only exercise I got after that was that of the tongue. LOL – talked nineteen to a dozen with Mansi.
 
Caught “Laws of Attraction” on Sunday morng – the 10 am show again! LOL! Not with Hrishit though, this time with Mansi, a fellow Piercey fan!  Pierce Brosnan is HOT MAAL. I think for him, I’d happily give up someone else – LOL! After the movie I managed to pick up a collection of short stories by Russian Masters. Then home for lunch…and siesta! In the evening I was at Mocha - Bandra for a rendezvous with Amisha.
 
The next day I finished my convocation submission – went to meet Jackie to talk about the work I’m doing for him, and back to Gayatri for lunch. And then off to Dadar – call me bizarre but as I crossed the platforms with my rucksack on my back, I got nostalgic and remembered the days I crossed platforms in Europe! LOL – jerked back to reality when I saw a man stare at my chest and then got uncomfortably aware of how my tee-shirt was sticking to me!!! Muhaha – yeah reality sure hits you in the face eh?
 
Pretty much slept all the way back – sad coz the expressway is beautiful right now. Hardly an inch of ground is uncovered by some kind of foliage. To say it in French, toute est verdante. (Everything is green) – it leaves you spellbound and makes you itch for a camera. Puts all kinds of romantic notions of trekking in your head and generally makes you feel upbeat about life!
 
Now I’m back here – back to reality. This place has a tendency of making me pensive and depressive. Ick.
*Shudder*
 
Need some action in life – guess studies and work will have to provide that! Exciting prospect eh?  

Blissfully Unemployed?

One of my bestest buddies got gainfully employed last week. Hell she’s now working at a very impressive place and will draw a good salary. Apart from her, I seem to have an increasing number of friends who have free-lanced or worked their way through studies, not to mention those who’ve taken up jobs after graduation and post-graduation. I seem to be this oddity who’s still utterly vella and dithering between her options. Ick.

Sometimes I don’t think I’m doing any crime by taking my time – I want to be sure of my decision and not blunder my way into a wrong profession. Plus I want to be able to do my best at whatever I take up eventually – with studies I got away with good grades even though I put in just half the effort required – definitely half my capability. But I definitely don’t want to do that when it comes to my career.

As of now Alliance Francaise is my priority and any free-lancing I do would come second. Plus there are other things I want to make sense of, before plunging head-first into the big bad world of work-politics, commitments, responsibilities and taxes!

Someone once told me that being confused doesn’t mean I’m a loser. And then I'm continuously told that I show all signs of succeeding at whatever I take up.

Time shall tell I guess?

Bombay Rocks

Bombay Rocks.

Wish I could leave this blog at that. Coz that’s what I want to say – just that. Bombay Rocks. It’s THE place to be in India. I don’t think I’ll ever question the wide-scale exode to Mumbai ever again.

Was in Bombay this weekend – to meet my firang friends! Aditi, from L.A and Mansi, from Muscat both arrived last weekend. Apart from the fact that I’ve not met them in ages, and one of them is a bum-chum chaddi pal who has been my guardian angel ever since life got complicated, I needed an excuse to go to Bombay. So there I was – reached on Friday afternoon. Spent a fun weekend there – have gone to so many places in one day been up early, slept late, hardly slept – been exhausted to the core and yet been ready for more! The lazy lump I’d become in Pune just vanished into thin air! The city breathes life into me – what can I say? ;-)

Friday was completely spent with Mansi – there were other plans in my mind, but I can’t obviously always have my way. So well they didn’t work out – I was upset, very upset, but then reminded myself the rules of the game and forced myself back into maturity! LOL – yeah I can be mature occasionally. Mansi and I were talking till 2 am – and I got into bed at 3 am – though I hardly slept that night. Yeps – the same old problem of a myriad thoughts cluttering my mind and robbing my sleep. Ick. Gick.

Saturday – met up with Aditi and Amrita (from college) at Mocha. Mocha was divine comme d’hab. The incredible ambience, awesome music, Satay Chicken Panini and a Berry Blast. Divine. Cotton World, Adi’d place and Ashirwaad for softy – compelted my day-out. Evening was with Mansi again – yet another late night. Sat at the window of Suku’s 6th floor flat, where I was staying, and soaked in a rainy night. Nothing like watching the world from up there – looking down on a tree-lined avenue. Rain-drops ceaselessly pattering on the roofs, forcing the heavy branches to droop down further, lending a glossy sheen to the street below – very very nice. Conversation flowed easily and digressed all over, as it always does when I’m with Mansi.

I got several calls on Sat – why don’t people call me when I’m in Pune and not paying roaming charges on incoming? LOL – anyways Hrishit was one of them – and he fixed a Sunday morning date with me. Movie at 10 am – yeps, I asked him if he takes all women out at 10 am. 10 pm is more the time guys would aim for, right? Hahaha…so obviously I was up early on Sunday morning as well. Caught Monster at Fame Adlabs. Great movie. Great performances. Very convincing. Very disturbing. Defi not a movie to watch on a Sunday anoon. Good company. Lotsa obnoxious comments on my behalf. Laughs too.

Followed it up with lunch at Pop Tate’s with Madhavi and a quick visit to Lokhandwala. Next time I’m in Bombay I’m going with permission to shop. I so want to pick up a pair of capris from Cotton Cottage and mayhaps a skirt from Reeth. I’ll try and curtail my urges at that! Muhahahaha! :)

Evening plans with Amisha didn’t work out – but that got me more time with Mansi. Yeps I talked MORE! Walked upto Yari road and back – shit I miss those walks of ours. The crazy conversations, the exasperation when Mansi will ceaselessly shoot questions et al...

Came back today anoon, having caught a bus in the morning. Sigh – am already trying to plan another visit. Couldn’t catch Amit this time. Ick. Gick. Guess I’ll make it up next time, provided those plans of mine fall in place. I need divine intervention here – someone up there hearing me? ;-)
Shall stop now..think I’ve rambled on long enough, haven’t I?

Coming Up – Blog on Monster and Lakshya. Need to post my review on those movies!

Chocoholics Unite!

From one chocolate lover to the zillions out there - Just wanted to share these quotable quotes I found in the India Today Travel Plus issue, June 2004. (The magazine by the way is worth browsing through!)

-Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies. – John Q. Tullius

-There are four basic food groups – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and chocolate truffles. – Anonymous

-I never met a chocolate I didn’t like. – Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation

-Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don’t need an appointment. – Anonymous

-Las cosas claras y el chocolate espeso. (Ideas should be clear and chocolate thick.) – Spanish Proverb

-Biochemically, love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate. – John Milton

-I have this theory that chocolate slows down the ageing process…It may not be true, but do I dare take the risk? – Anonymous

-The 12-step chocoholics programme : NEVER BE MORE THAN 12 STEPS AWAY FROM CHOCOLATE! – Terry Moore

-Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces. – Judith Viorst

Couch Potato

Alliance Francaise Diplome classes begin today – well not really. Today is the meeting to decide the days and timings – the AF-Pune has this rather weird system for Diplome. Since they don’t have too many students by this level, they feel it’s better to have a meeting and go with the days and timings that suit the majority of the students. Nice of them to think of the students – only I don’t like the uncertainty. :( Well I guess that will get sorted out today, won’t it?

Apart from that...hmmm. Been so vella this past one month it’s not funny. All I do is eat, sleep, watch TV, eat some more and sleep. Seriously I’ve gotten so lazy it’s not funny anymore. Apart from putting on weight in unwanted areas (I NEVER thought the day would come when I’d fear weight troubles, but it has come – and too soon for my liking!), I’ve started tiring easy. Now that I truly don’t like – I mean how happening is it, that I’ve gone from a person who loved walking and used it as a form of therapy and exercise to someone who complains of leg ache after a 15 min walk? EEEEKS – I do need to start getting out of the house and active again – a sedentary life would do me remarkable harm! *Shudder*

One good thing that has come out of all the TV watching is that I’ve discovered these slots on TV5-Asie (French channel targeted at Asian audiences) when they have French subtitles along with the show. Since my comprehension skills in French are not as good as the rest of the areas, I had problems following the shows. I didn’t get TV5 in Bombay so I couldn’t practice this earlier – now not only can I get a daily dose of French parlance, I get subtitles to aid me till I’m confident. It helps that they screen small films and detective programmes during this slot – interesting stuff. There is the Journal (NEWS) too – but I’ve still not started that on a regular basis. Soon soon – it shall all happen soon! :)

Naughty Ideas ;-)

Rainy days always put me in a romantic mood, so here’s what I think are some of the sexiest things you can do with your guy :

1.Crawl into his bed and wake him up with a kiss (Trust me - Nothing beats seeing those eyes open with that warm sexy smile and what follows!)
2.A long drive on a rainy day – somewhere in the ghats preferably so you’re driving through the clouds!
3.Make out with him in a car on a rainy night in a secluded spot (a la Monsoon Wedding!) – will be difficult to escape the moral policemen, but tell me what could be sexier than that?
4.Curl up in a comfy rug and watch a movie with him, entwined in his arms...umm...most romantic...
5.Sip a mug of steaming hot coffee, somewhere by the sea-side, watching the waves break on the shore – who needs conversation , but if you get that as well, it couldn’t get any more idyllic!

Now all I need is a fairy godmother to wave her wand and make each one of those a reality! ;-)

Hallelujah - My Own Bedroom At Long Last! :-)

One advantage of moving to Pune is that I finally get my own bedroom here, since it is a 4-bedroom flat, and we intend to buy an equally big, if not bigger place of our own. Finally my own space to do as I wish…it’s still very much “mix-n-match, make-do-with-what-you-have-for-now” since none of us thought it makes sense to invest in new furniture etc till we move into our house. I’ve got my cupboards, my dressing table where I can spread my numerous perfumes (my weakness) and other junk, my writing desk (which I love so much my brother calls it my dowry!), my gaddas which double as a bed, a warm and inviting carpet, book shelves, music – I’ve even “maroed” a brass kettle from Ma which I have put next to my desk – very cozy, very nice! Used unopened cartons with planks of wood placed on top to create a bedside table and a small diwan for friends when they visit. Got a cute little lamp, all my assorted junk I’ve collected over the years spread out all over the place - I’m content. There’s just one other thing I need to stay in that room 24/7 and emerge from it only for food! ;-) Keep guessing folks!

I'm Back...

Gonna be a short little blog since I'm doing this in a hurry and haven't even thought of what I am planning to spew out onto the world ;-) But blog I must coz my baby's been ignored for too long! Anyways so obviously I'm in Pune...haven't been able to blog coz I didn't have internet connection at home till now. Still don't - papa (he's a darling) got home his Reliance Wireless and we logged into his office account. I did check my email once at a CC but we all know how much I hate those cubicles - no way was I gonna spend much time in there! LOL!

Took us a week to settle in - first few days we were at my chacha's place till we got syuff functioning in the house...moved in last Tuesday. Still doesn't feel completely like "home" and won't coz I know it's just a temporary resting place till we get our own place. Anyways it was kinda fun - working our butts off from morning to night shifting funiture around till we liked its position, opening boxes, setting stuff, repacking stuff we don't need for now...and yeps we had our house looking "dhaasu" within a record 4 days...polished off the remaining work by the weekend.

And then before you can think of it, I was back where my heart belongs - in BOMBAY!!! Hehehehe...went there for a short trip with the excuse of getting some work done...did get some work done (picked up my DELF certificate: 15.17 out of 20 - am I cool or what?) but the real reason was something else totally. And yeps mission accomplished!:) OK I'm looking like that cat who just polished off her bowl of cream- LOL! Seventh heaven is a heavenly place to be in...

More soon...gradually once things get smoother here...

Ladies and Gentlemen I'm Addicted

Got a new addition and wondering how I'll handle the withdrawal symptoms, when I'm already suffering from withdrawal symptoms of my addiction to this city! ;-) On the other hand, I've been waiting for this new addiction so I really can't complain about the repercussions, right? LOL - not making much sense I guess! Muhahaha...fun happened!!! Not slept properly since Friday night - its either coz my sleep is fraught with dreams, or that my mattress is uncomfortable and then I start thinking, or my dear little dog is up to his nocturnal activities and wakes me up. I think I'm gonna sleep like a dog (not like mine though) when we finally settle into our new house in Pune...

Been inviting my friends to come visit me in Pune - Appu, Kunu, Amit, Mansi, Aditi, Amisha, Madhavi Sherry - hehehe we will be busy if they all live up to their promises of visiting me! :)

Appu is coming over tonight one last time - doubt we'll sleep till the wee hours of the morning. Hope she comes early so we can hit the beach...hmmm...what else? Guess this is it. Wonder when I'll blog after this...Packers n Movers shall come on Friday and then I'm on the mercy of a cyber cafe till we get internet connection of some sort at home. Hope we get it soon. Amen to that!

Oscillating Emotions...

Could feel my iron control over my emotions sliping yesterday - the enormity of this shift to Pune sank in Sunday morning. And shook me to the core...the very idea that I'm leaving behind friends (yes even those who don't reside in Bombay and just visit it once a year - I won't be here when they come down - and short trips to meet them just aint the same are they?), a lifetime of memories, dreams for the future based on this city - holy shit, but I hate it! Literally jumped at the task of going to the bank, so I could get out of the house and get the angst outta my system. Nearly got myself run over on the way to the bank, so lost was I in my thoughts...Gotta be strong, can't afford to be weak right now. But I so desperately want to be pampered silly.

Yesterday I packed away some more of my stuff. My kiddie stuff that I refuse to throw away/donate, my favourite fat German doll that I insist my kids will play with, my painting paraphernelia, my albums, my MA and French notes - and as I taped the boxes shut, one thought raced through my mind "Fuck but I just put the lid on my life" - over-the-top reaction huh? But totally how I was feeling yesterday - pretty much going outta my mind. Freaking out. Don't wanna go anywhere, except to meet you-know-who, at the same time the four walls seemed to cave in on me during the evening. I am so used to be being busy and not being at home in the evening, that when I'm home (specially under these circumstances) I'm one major bitch - snapping at everyone and just waiting to sink my claws into someone. Ain't helping that my hormones seem to be in an overdrive right now! I definitely need to enroll myself at AF Pune the very first day I reach - I so can not sit at home vella!!!

Fervent Prayer - Let me not lose the sense of control and balance that I fought for all of 2002 - I definitely don't wanna slip back into that mess I was.

Hmm...went to the Univ to pick up my marksheet yesterday and bumped into my classmates - Suhan, Deepa, Nazia, Deba and Madhavi - nearly went up the wall when Deba kept questioning me about how much I got in which paper (I ofcourse didn't remember since I care a shit about marks anyways!), how many sides I wrote for my answers, what I wrote in my answers, whether I got second or third highest in some paper...Like who cares dude? I did well. Am Happy. Comme d'hab. End of story....HELP!!!!! Was so tempted to give him my mantra on exams, but I doubted he'd take it calmly, so I refrained from chanting it out to him :

"EXAM is a FOUR letter word. So are FUCK and LIFE - both are far more important!" ;-)

Am rocking to Genesis' "Jesus He Knows Me" at the moment "No Son of Mine" is lined up next on Windows Media Player - been listening to my MP3s all morning - hell they keep my mood rocking! :)

*Shudder*

Read about this in TOI yesterday, and it sure shook me out of my sleepy state...despite repeatedly saying that nothing shocks me in this world anymore, this did. I mean just how crazy can we get?

Murder, he typed in chatroom

La Vie Est Belle!

28.05.2004 - Ha. I like this mode of blogging...short n sweet. Precise. Saves me time when I'm in a hurry,but the itch to blog must be taken care of. Blogging - another addiction.

Packed my second box of books yesterday. Still have to pack my painting paraphernelia, MA notes and clothes/jewellery/shoes. A day's work. Struggling to digest it!

Ecstatic - Rhapsodic - Delirious Delightment...

If I was happy in the morning, by night the happiness threatened to engulf all around me. Yeps I'm damn pleased with the way things are going - go ahead and read between the lines! :)

Happy as a Free Bird

I don't know if that analogy is right, but happy I am. Extremely so - not just content with the way things are going, but happy. the kind of happiness that makes your steps lighter, your smile brighter, makes you feel like sunshine has spread in every pore of your skin, every nook and corner of your body.

Spent a lazy afternoon at Amisha's doing the usual gossip-gyan routine that we women are experts at! Odd how despite our differences in opinions, ideas, lifestyles, we've stayed in touch and been friends since 5th grade!!! Amen to that and touchwood!!!

Clocked over an hour on the phone with Mr.Balani in the night - so despite the fact that he stood me up for a second time this week, I'm over the moon. (He was pardoned this time coz he was staying home with his dadi - even made Maggi for her!!So cute na? Another tick in his favour!)

OK enough...more when I sound more intelligent! ;-)

Notes From My Appointment Dairy

26.05.2004: Lunch with Kunal and his friend Arghya. Black lungi and yellow kurta - taxi or arty belle? Al fredo for pizza - yummy chicken pizza. Nice lazy afternoon. Very lazy.
Evening - lazier. Trip to Lo Price to purchase essentials needed in first few days in Pune, to be sent with Papa on his next factory-progress inspection trip.
Lots of TV...
Early Night - but one filled with dreams of all kinds...

27.05.2004: Lunch date with Amisha. Mayhaps something else in the eveg. What should I wear? Lets See...

Schindler's List

Saw Schindler's List yesterday - now for those of you who have not been subjected to this, I think it's a movie EVERYONE must watch - OK, every adult, coz bacchas shouldn't be made aware of the brutalities of life that early. Makes them lose their innocence and become these mini-adult horror thingies that I abhorr! You know the types that are 9 going on 19? Anyways I'm digressing...

So yeah Schindler's List(1993) - phenomenal movie. I just realised I've NEVER blogged about it. Horror of horrors! I've seen the movie atleast 5 times if not more - and it never fails to move me! The movie is based on the life of Oscar Schindler, a Czech Catholic who set out to make money by exploiting the Jews and ended up saving the lives of over 1100 Jews. But that's not all the movie is about, for Spielberg has used the platform to depict the horrors of the Holocaust, the brutality of the Nazis and the inhumanity of their actions against the community. It makes you realise what the hunger for power can do to a human mind. Last but not the least, the actors have done a wonderful job - be it Liam Neeson(Schindler), Ben Kingsley(his accountant Itzhak Stern), Ralph Fiennes(Nazi officer Amon Goethe) or one of the actors in the smaller roles - each one them has portrayed his/her part to perfection moving the audience to horror, pity, fear, hatred, disgust or anger by their mind-blowing and true-to-life performances!

Please go see it if you haven't already!

Erudite Ms Shrivastava

Cheeky, eh? Well ever since yesterday I've been my cheekiest best - happy and pretty much floating in 7th heaven or as close to it as it gets...

MA results were announced yesterday - the Class obtained was out by Friday evening, but I hadn't bothered to go find that out, since I was sure I'd get a First Class! Confidence bubbles over doesn't it? Anyways yesterday our marks were revealed to us - and I got 66% (528/800) aggregate for 2 years of the M.A (Eng Lit) programme. It seems I'm 4th (definitely in the top 5) so I'm generally going about telling people that I am! Got 72/100 in Postcolonial Lit (optional paper) so I'm even more proud of myself - considering that if I do decide to pursue a PhD, it would be in that field! Yeps its kinda tough to burst that bubble right now! LOL!!!

Plus I spent the evening with one of my favourite men - Amit! So yeah generally the happiness doubled because I had such a fabulous time!! I sooooooo adore that man!!! :)

OK I'm gonna stop now coz I'm gushing and I know it! ;-)

Blabbing Comme d'hab

Had a good weekend - met my college friends on Saturday (atleast those who weren't too busy) at Pizza hut. Caught up with news and spent a nice chilled out few hours with them...Kunu dropped by in the evening for a bit. After that it was time to go to my mausi's place for dinner. That wasn't too happening - BAD BAD Dhansaak made by her Parsi daughter-in-law, my cousin generally ended up annoying me big time with her highly unwanted advice on how I should conduct my social life...I was glad to get back home and sleep. Cracked a few sad jokes about how they must be glad to see the last of us, meaning much the inverse actually.

Shit am I bitchy or am I Bitchy? Just living upto my new MSN nickname actually - Sexy, Naughty Bitchy ME!!! ;-)

Met up some more cousins on Sunday morning. In the evening we went back to the Old Furniture Market and picked up a nice old writing desk for my room, plus a folding table and 2 chairs to go with it for our "sit-out"! Most nice...I'm most happy about our purchases!

And oh must blab on this - so for 2 days last week I was sporting a swollen cheekbone and split lower lip - most oft asked questions were - "Were you involved in a beer-bar brawl?" or "Since when did you start having a violent boyfriend?"

Real reason - I was playing with my dog and he bumped his thick boney skull into my face! Sheesh - what a glamourous reason for looking beat-up!

LOL! Ain't my life just one happening turn of events! Hehehehehehe....

"We Bid You Farewell and Hope You Fare Well..."

And so the process officially started today...what process? That of the farewell rendezvous that shall be lined up for the next 2 weeks or so. Today was Shashi aunty (our oldest neighbour - though she moved away from our building some 15 years back, she remains a close friend of my mother and dear friend to the family!)...had a fabulously sumptuous buffet lunch - I'm still full! ;-)

Feels odd though when people wanna meet you "One last time" and say stuff like "We are gonna miss you" or "It will be difficult adjusting - how will you manage?" And ofcourse lets not forget our Indian obssession with marriages - "Poor Geetanjali will have to adjust twice - now and then a few years later when she marries!" LOL - like I'm bothered about that right now!

Appu was here last night and we were up till 4 am talking, discussing everything under the sun - and it hit me how much I'll miss these sleep-overs and all that talking and soul-baring goes with it. We also got talking about the path our future is gonna take - our respective "love-lives", career confusions, families and how things have changed at both our places etc etc etc...Damn but I'm gonna miss her!!!!

Shopping, Chopping et al...

Yesterday I shopped literally till I dropped - or almost - by the time Madhavi and I caught the train back home, we were so exhausted our feet wouldn't have done much else than head home, to the shower and into bed! But what a day - both of us accomplished all that we had in mind! Got exactly what we wanted, plus some more! Good bargains, good stuff, no fights with irritating vendors, no bad moods - weather too wasn't bad. We walked the whole length of Colaba Causeway and back - picking up earrings, scarves & stoles. I picked up 4 pairs of earrings, 2 scarves/stoles and 1 bangle - all within Rs.250/- Now if that wasn't a good bargain I don't know what is! :)

Chopped my hair today - went for a trim. Stopped the coiffeur and thought for a bit. Then changed my instructions and asked her to cut off more than my mandatory 1 inch - so now instead of waist-length, it's now just half-way down my back. Won't seem drastic to most who are habituated to shorter hair and keep trying to convince me to throw caution to the winds and get my hair-style changed, cropped etc etc.
Amma nearly fainted!
And me?
I'm...
Kicked...
Feeling ridiculously light-headed (literally and metaphorically)...
Generally being vain and silly and playing with my hair...
Hell I have just one vanity! ;-)

Dhagala Lagli Kada, Pani Thim thim Padla...

Yeps it rained here this morning - buckets and buckets full of water - thunder and lightning. The works - good old Bombay ishtyle! Boy Oh Boy! Nothing like Bombay monsoons is there? Days and days of non-stop rains - gutters, roads, parks, housing complexes overflowing with water, high-tides, waves lashing at rocky sea-faces, grey skies, rays of sunshine struggling to break through that dense covering of clouds, new leaves sprouting everywhere, the delicious smell of bhutta, pakodas, bhajiyas, masala chai and coffee filtering through the air and mingling with that of wet clothes...the bed and a softly glowing lamp beckoning me to get lost in a nice thick novel, or burrow beneath a nice comfy razaai and slip into a dreamy and blissful oblivion! Ah... :)

Feeling quite nice right now (as is obvious by the text above!;-)) - but I do hope that this pre-monsoon shower doesn't wreak further havoc with the already crazy levels of humidity which have left everyone quite sticky and hot and grumpy with the weather! I'm quite looking forward to a few days of pleasant weather, cool breezes wafting through the terrace doors of our living room, walking down to the beach to enjoy the sunset and the salty, fishy breeze...

Planning to go Colaba causeway today with Maddy Mata and looking forward to picking up some good junk jewellery...and then there's more. Appu might come over for a sleep-over. Got lunch dates sprinkled over the next few days, got to plan a good-bye rendezvous with my college mates.

Yesterday we went to the Old Furniture Market to check out if they have any good deals happening. And boy oh boy do they have some really sexy furniture! Teak, rosewood, Mahogany - chest of drawers, writing desks, cupboards etc etc...all to kill for! Atleast worth paying for! Considering my room is gonna have that old world charm look, I'm generally pataoing Papa to pick up some stuff from there for his dear little sweet daughter! ;-)

What say am I not the sweetest thing around? Just the most adorable little babe - the goody-2-shoes angelic mademoiselle? ;-)

Bombay-Pune

Hot and Humid, sweltering, sweating, grimy, dirty, slums abound, trees don't, esacalting property prices, as does the population, not to mention the pollution - yet there's no other place like my good ol' Bombay. Not Mumbai, mind you - but Bombay - of Churchgate, Marine drive a.k.a Queen's Necklace, Cuffe Parade, Colaba Causeway, Gateway of India, Malabar Hill, Worli Sea-face, Bandra Bandstand, Hill road, Pali hill, Juhu, 7 Bungalows, Versova - hell even claustrophobic Lokhandwala, and the far-flung very Guju suburbs of Kandivili and Borivili, or the next-to-impossible-to-reach suburbs of Mira Road and beyond! No city in India can compete with the sheer energy, diversity and electric vibrance that drives this city - no city rocks like this city - no city is more happening...

But go I must, bid adieu to the land where I was born, the terrain where I have walked for over 22 years of my life. Move on to a new city, a new way of life, seek new horizons, learn new habits...

Just back from that city - Pune. Spent a long weekend with my cousins. That was fun. Chatting, getting pakaoed by my jijas, late nights, early mornings, one meal blending into the next, some booze - yeah it was definitely a cool weekend! Apart from that I discovered a few cool places in Pune (obviously near and around the much famed Koregaon Park of Pune), saw my cousin's flat where we will be staying till we find our own "home" and its ready for occupation. I'll FINALLY be getting my own room in Pune - that's one advantage of moving there. Already planning how I want it to look (ofcourse alot will be decided by my talented designer Kunal Shah) - been picking up stuff for the room for quite a while now, starting from Paris! :)

Another good thing about Pune is the weather - days weren't too bad, and evenings were most pleasant and breezy, thanks to the still vast open spaces. Most upcoming residential areas are away from the main city and are approached through villages and fields of cabbage, cauliflower, corn, sugarcane etc - that's gonna take some getting used to - as well as encountering herds of cows/buffaloes, sheep/goats crossing the tiny winding roads, the odd donkey standing in the middle of the road refusing to budge depite fervent furious honking by the much agitated drivers!

Oh yeah it's gonna be a completely different life altogether!

P.S My dear friend Kunal Shah a.k.a Kunu Baba just started blogging - I'm shamelessly promoting it!

Bonne Weekend Mes Amis

Going for a play today at Alliance Francaise - La Poutain Respecteuse (The Respectable Prostitute)by Jean Paul Sartre, the famous French Literary Critic, Philosopher, Dramatist and Novelist. It's being performed by the Manna Makers. I've seen their performances when they started off doing coffee-shop theatre, a unique concept in Mumbai. A friend was a part of the troupe, but he isn't performing this time, because of upcoming CA exams. That isn't the reason I'm going for the play - after La Nuit de Publivores, I'd decided to go for more AF programmes, so I'm just following through with that decision of mine!

Aur kya..oh yeah heading off to Pune tomm - Tripti didi & co, and Shubhra didi & co are there for holidays. Sandeep jijaji (my mostest favourite jija) got only a week off so one has lesser time to meet him. And since I MUST meet him - as everyone said when I called up, you've not called to talk to us, you've called to talk to Sandeep - I'm going a few days in advance, the rest of the family shall reach Pune for the weekend. Guess this is it then, till Monday...bonne weekend and au revoir!

Let 'em comments flow in my absence...;-)

Patati Patata

AF results are out! Yippeeeeee!!! And I can't resist announcing my marks out loud, bhopu that I am! ;-) Earned a neat little 16/20, which rounds upto 80%...so am I cool or am I cool? Actually not very, considering the highest is 19, and considering that I could have done better had I studied before my exam instead of taking off for a holiday as I did, but well we all know how allergic I am to studying feverishly for exams! So I'm content, comme d'hab!

Spent a lazy day yesterday after getting back from Appu's place...same so for today. My only activity centred around sleeping, sleeping and sleeping some more! Oh yeah I did hem the bottom of my new PJs - awful untidy hemming - who'd guess that my mom does such sexy hemming that it could pass off as embroidery, and that her embroidery is so delicate that people often mistake it as a painting on first sight! Sheesh Geetanjali, go find your chullu bhar pani and take a dupki!

Met Amit for a brain-chabaoing session - wonder why all the men I love are such experts at driving me up the wall! Must say something about my personality I guess - what say people?

Comments

Ok - I figured my Haloscan comments link looks kinda ugly with this new avataar my blog has, so I've gotten rid of it for now...But please do make full use of the new comments link, dear Blogger has provided us with! I want more comments people!!!

I shall try and see if I can just put that comments link somewhere, so that I still have my old comments to my previous blogs...lessee...

Exams, Rendezvous et al

Phew I'm finally done with the round of exams that I had to face - for now - post-October I shall be looking at a fresh set of exams! AF exam was OK...pas mal - comme d'hab, the comprehension orale was a bouncer and the epreuve orale depends whole and sole on what the Prof thought of my level. On the whole I'm content. Same goes for the DELF A3 exam that I appeared for yesterday afternoon. That was a bit boring, what with going there all alone on a Sunday anoon, sitting for an exam with just 4 other students...but yeah theek tha. Same comments as above! ;-)

What else? Met up with Tasu and Aranyak after my AF exam - went for a nice meal at Da Vinci. And after yesterday's exam I went over to Appu's place for the night - been ages since I'd gone over. Got a bit confused about roads etc...had a nice time, even though we were both rather tired and slept pretty early. Normally we would have been up till the wee hours of the morning just talking about everything under the sun! We did that this morning instead! LOL! Amit's in town again and comme d'hab turned my whole life upside-down. Incorrigible!

Bas I guess...

From Venice to Mumbai...

Back from my short little trip to the Land of the Deserts and the Hot winds...and despite that blistering heat I can say I had a great time! For one thing nothing beats Kunal ki khatirdari... secondly we went to some of the most idyllic places, which added to the charm of the trip.

Ahemdabad was awfully hot - the dry heat saps energy, so we didn't do much. Met Kunal's friend for dinner on Saturday and the next morning we visited the Stepwells of Adalaj. Stepwells are a very typical Indian feature and a unique contribution to architecture. the tradition of building these stepwells started with the Hindus in the harappan towns, but was developed later during the Muslim rule of India.

The step-wells of Gujarat consist of two parts: a vertical shaft from which water is drawn and the surrounding inclined subterranean passageways, chambers and steps which provide access to the well. The galleries and chambers surrounding these wells were often carved profusely with elaborate detail and became cool, quiet retreats during the hot summers. The stepwells of Adalaj, built by Queen Rudabai in 1499 AD is 12 miles north of Ahmedabad. As the long flight of steps descend, columns and connecting beams create open structures of increasing complexity - one finds intricate carvings and motifs of erotica, dancing maidens, musicians, animals and images of Shiva, stone elephants, horses and mythical animals along the columns, cornices, wall-niches and eaves....

We reached there very early - around 6.20 am, so it was quiet and peaceful and we could soak in the beauty and charm of the place. The palce has been maintained well, with surrounding lawns full of champa trees, dozens of squirrels scampering about, quite a few peacocks and peahens (which even spread out their beautiful feathers for us), Cuckoos and Mayenahs...definitely worth being dragged out of bed at 5.30 am on a holiday!



(I discovered this Weblog about the StepWells of Adalaj as I was trying to find some photographs to push that imagination along - check it out!)

The rest of sunday was spent with relatives, lounging about etc. We caught the bus to Udaipur at 8.30 pm - me wishing I'd insisted on an A/C bus despite Kunal's intolerance of airconditioning, which wreaks havoc on his asthma. It was hot and well the rowd wasn't exactly very "happening" - but as Kunu said there's a different fun in travelling this way. Sure, he's right - we reached Udaipur at 3.30 am! LOL! Got to our hotel, which is a charming haveli (Ganghaur Ghat Hotel)converted into a heritage hotel, and collapsed onto the bed. Daylight and the sights beckoned, so we didn't stay in too long. breakfast was on a charming roof-top restaurant that overlooked the City-palace & Lake palace (which I shall not deign to talk of, so disappointed was I by its appearance).

Kunu had to do case-study of Devigadh - its a fort that has been restored and converted into an exclusive hotel. Exclusive it was - and sinfully luxurious from its mulitple gate entrances, to its landscaping, to the suites done in marble and the best of materials available, each having its own theme, design and lay-out, from the restaurant overlooking the entire valley to the fancy bar....if i wanted to stay there before, when I'd just seen photographs, I'm quite hell-bent on making it there in this life. Preferably soon, while I'm still young - ofcourse if I could get to spend my honeymoon there - I could just agree to be my husband's humble slave for the rest of my life! LOL!! ;-) I must add that the tariff for the "BASIC" suite is 175 US$ - hits you doesn't it?







The rest of our time in Udaipur was spent exploring the labyrinth of streets lined with colourful bazaars - you can buy amazing leather-bound and cloth-bound albums, and diaries at pretty decent prices off the innumerable little shops that line the streets.

Visited the Bagor ki Haveli and explored the City Palace.

Ate at charming restaurants overlooking the city - the best was Ameth, which is situated by the lake shore and overlooks all the palaces of Udaipur. It's the most charming place to eat at night - one can watch as the moon rises over the city palace, soft glowing lights come on to wash the Palace in their warmth, eat on candle-lit tables under mango trees with quaint lanterns hanging off the branches, relax as the soft sounds of the lake wash over your senses - romantic isn't it? And imagine I'm smitten despite having been there in the blistering summer - Post October Udaipur would more than live upto its reputation of being the Venice of the East!

Only down-side of the whole trip was getting into clothes that felt like they were freshly ironed (including my undergarments) - horror of horrors - so terribly is the heat in gujurat and Rajasthan in summers. Take my advice - head there, but not this vacation, just wait for October! :)