Finally a face to the voice

Met AS for lunch today. He is AB's bestest friend types. I have been speaking to AS (on the phone) for a while now but never met him in person. I had formed a certain perception about him based on my interactions with him and based on the narratives given by AB about him. I was bang-on! He is just as horrible in person. BTW, his personal aspiration is to be a rude and mean man! Very aptly, I have nicknamed him, HAGAR THE HORRIBLE!

We had a pleasant enough afternoon. I was swamped with calls from the office and at one point I was ready to lose my mind. Just wanted to throw the phone away but AS was nice that way. He cooled me down. Got us a nice quiet corner to have lunch. I had some fabulous fish in basil sauce from the Panda House (in Forum Transit). AS wasn't very happy with his choice. He had Thai Chicken in red sauce with Sattay and rice. Later he told me he wasn't much of a fan for rice.

Spent the rest of the afternoon chatting about him, his life and various exploits!! It was all about I, Me and Myself! Reminded me of Men Are From Mars, and Women Are From Venus ...

I wish I were God...

There are times like right now when I wish I were God. Not so I could do silly tricks like in Bruce Almighty. I would heal all the broken hearts and find all the missing souls. I’d paint a job here, a relationship there, a vacation for T, a multiplex for GetAfix. Put away all the baddies where they can only hurt themselves, turn all nukes into chocolate. Clean up the rivers and forests. And more..

Spoke to R after eons. Actually, he called a few times but I was busy and told him that I would return his call but never did. Yes! Horrible me! Today when he called, he was insistent that I speak to him. He said that he had no one who he could share this with. I was all-ears..

Poor chap has been married for only 2 weeks and he finds out that his wife is having an affair (which started before the mariage and continued after). He woke up one night and found her talking to her lover. She admitted to being in love and in a physical relationship with this other guy. WTH did she have to marry a sweetheart like R and ruin his life as well? Why God? What had poor R done? The other guy, A, had the audacity to call and tell him not to be mean to her as she has been nice enough to admit the relationship. R is an emotional nutcase right now. Not able to concentrate at work and life is hell at home.

What a sick joke!! Someone needs to tell God to get a life.

Want to Break Free (Queen ...or Me?)

NO dont even bother asking if something is new. I have nothing at all going on in my life. Same ol' crap on toast!!

The sheer inertia of my life is driving me crazy... Nothing seems to happen. Not on week-ends, not on week-days. Not ever!!! My life has become a 'routine'.

Wish I could just take off, and not care a damn!! Wish I could ride wild horses or get a tattoo or go coral hunting in Australian waters or train myself to be a motor-cycle stuntman... Or simply DO something 'different'...

Leave behind all the regular people in my life, all the regular days, all the regular places, all the regular evenings...

Awesome people...

Met some nice people today at RT’s. One guy from Cal who makes guitar tube amps. When I asked him how he started out, he said that he got the idea when his uncle made him a distortion pedal for his guitar. It consisted of old transistor parts in a soap box with an old-fashioned calling bell at the top! The only problem was that once when he was on stage during a gig, the guitar strings seemed to act as antennae or something, and right in the middle of a rock n’ roll number the “pedal” came to life and announced “Namoshkar. Ami Brishti Dotto. Vishesh Khabor…” !!

Conversation turned from here to there. Until it meandered to NP's home in Chattisgarh.

NP's home is near Bilaspur, in Chattisgarh. I churned in my brain all the high school geography I could remember, and asked, "so you are on the Chota Nagpur Plateau?" NP was rather delighted to hear that ignorant me knew anything about his locale. "Yes." He went on to tell me of the forests and the streams in the area, and about the Bastar tribes which inhabit the region.

I sat wide-eyed, and amidst chomping mouthful of kebabs every now and then, I was whisked away to the gold and diamond mines. He told me of the hills in the region, and how the soil yielded every possible ore on this planet. It was like I was hearing of another land, where people do not put doors on locks, or rather where doors were an anomalous occurrence in homes.

He told me how the making of a separate state of Chattisgarh had benefited his people. How the new government had started to give free cows to the villagers, free bicycle to the girls if they went to schools, and also how entire tribes would move from an area where a school was opened because they detested any contact with the outside world. Innocence, deprivation, sanctity of a century old way of life, development fighting it out; trying to bring balance to a fragile world.

The government has sold huge tracts of land to the Japanese, because the soil was rich in iron ore. The tribal people still hunt with bow and arrow, and also fight off the insurgent Naxalites in the region with them.

NP's father was a farmer who struggled hard to educate his children. I was amazed with the fact that NP who never knew what electricity was in his childhood is an Electrical Engineer today. NP was brilliant and made it to IIT on scholarship. There has been no looking back for him and his family after that. Well-done NP! When I look at your life and your achievements, I feel so inconsequential! Sache mein!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes you want to write, but the words just do not flow...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY AB! And thanks for the birthday treat! That was the quickest way to help me get you out of my system.

Jive Bunny

Woke up this morning with a song in my head. Lipstick, powder and paint. Shakin’ Stevens, if I’m not mistaken.

And it’s still in my head and I wanna learn to jive.

Lipstick powder and paint,
lipstick powder and paint,
lipstick powder and paint,
is you is, or is you ain't.

It looks like so much fun, so energetic. I think full skirts flying, and twirls and dips. Not just random jumping up and down, but actual steps… so much FUN.

There goes my baby up a tree,
a-giggling and a wiggling her toes at me,
Let me put my glasses on,
Haven't had such fun since she's been gone.

Fink I’m gonna sign up for the classes!!

Hound dog scratching fleas,
looking like she's in love with me.
Licks my hand everywhere I go,
I wish my baby loved me so.

Sights, Sounds and Smell

The brain is a highly complex organ, and scientists are slowly figuring out how it works. They know a little bit, not much, but they're still at it. They do know that there are nerve connections linking information whooshing in from the different senses to memory. In fact, what is memory really but a juxtaposition of all that we sensed at that moment - the smell, the taste, the feel, the sound.

I've an elephant's memory and remember things right from Age 2. My Mom is pretty amazed at the things I can remember from my Toddler days. I remember the sights, sounds and even smell. Yes smell! I have a keen sense of smell and a strong association with memory. Over the course of the day, familiar odors waft to my nose, triggering bouts of nostalgia.

The smell of Johnson & Johnson baby talcum powder reminds me of cute and cuddly Baby Naina. A curious mixture of gutkha and cologne reminds me of Grandpa. A particular odor of agarbattis takes me back to the dark, quiet prayer-room in my ancestral house.

The smell of crushed Strawberries reminds me of T and the Strawberry body shower she uses. A particular antiseptic cleaner smell transports to the bathroom in my Aunts house which all the cousins use to transform into a swimming pool during the summer vacations. The smell of Jasmine brings to mind the flower buds my Grandma placed in little katoris of water overnight, their fragrance freshening our bedrooms. A particular smell of methi chicken curry, brings back glimpses of my Dad bustling in the kitchen - no one can make chicken like he can! (This was in the days when I was a carnivore) The smell of rain-drenched earth and grass, brings to mind my beloved school - TAPs, quietly nestled in verdant Ridge Wood in the middle of bustling Delhi.

I would rather not dwell on the stinks and the negative memories they bring back. Yes, the sense of smell can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back pictures as sharp as photographs of scenes that had left the conscious mind.

And then there are the vague smells, so faint you can barely describe them. They waft wispily about, teasing and tugging at blurry memories. My heartbeat quickens and my mind sharpens as I struggle to recollect what the smell reminds me of. The struggle is often futile; and the smell just leaves me with an unexpected emotion - longing or contentment, melancholy or happiness.

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town.

Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth. ~ Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Happy Rakshabandan!

People that have a brother or sister don't realize how lucky they are. Sure, they fight a lot, but to know that there's always somebody there, somebody that's family, is very assuring.

Yes, people with siblings are lucky! I am very lucky to have A as my bro, however irritating he may be. In our country we have special festivals like Bhai dooj and Rakhito mark our day. For years, I have celebrated it like yet another festival, not reading much into it and sometimes even underestimating its importance. Its only the years apart that make me miss it. For many years now, we have been celebrating rakhi in absentia. But this year was different. It was special!

Well, for starters, we were together after a gazillion years and we decided to play rookie from work and spent it together. Anu treated me to Mangal Pandey in Gold Class at PVR, followed by a sumptous lunch at Spiga and loads of shopping..

Found this poem (from an Archies card) very fitting :-)

As kids, we lived together,
We fought, we laughed, we cried.
We did not always show the love,
that we both had inside.

We shared our dreams and plans,
and some secrets too.
All the memories we share,
Is what bonds me now to you.

We grew to find we have a love,
that is very strong today.
It’s a love shared by our family,
that will never fade away.

You are my brother not by choice,
but by the nature of our birth.
I could not have chosen a better one,
you are the BEST on earth.

Happy Rakhi, Anu!

With much love,
GG

Happy ID Day!

Independence Day always brings back childhood memories of the FORCED march past parades at school. All of us kids were made to line-up a month in advance (house-wise: I was in Cariappa "Yellow" House)and made to march (Left-Right-Left) for the D-Day, all of which used to eventually take place in the HOT SUN in the afternoon. We would hide in the loos or get fake medical certificates to escape the torture but there was no respite. The experienced teachers would search the loos and spot out the fakes. The punishment for delinquent students was an extra hour of Marching practice.

On the I-Day, after the parade, the flag would be hoisted and all of us would be sent home with some snacks or some such thing. It never made any sense to me and I was a most reluctant participant and attendee. To force patriotism is like praying because your parents say one should pray. There is no individual choice in the matter. Ironic isn’t it, that one is forced to do something like this on Independence Day?

How is one supposed to develop a sense of patriotism when all you are told about freedom and independence are read in textbooks with such monotony that they might have never happened or happened in a past so far removed from us that it no longer matters?

Independence made much more sense to me when I heard my grandpa talk to me about running on the streets with India's flag when they heard about the withdrawal of the British. Independence matters more to me when I hear of the blackouts that my mother's family used to have in the early 70's and the food packets my paternal grandma prepared with her friends and distributed to the soldiers whose trains crossed our hometown during the war with Pak. And of course the war stories my dad regaled us with, in his typical fauji style, with loud sound-effects and full-action. I felt so proud to be my dad's daughter and how he serves country with honor.

Here's wishing New India on her 59th birthday a very bright and prosperous future...

Miles to go, hurdles to cross,
May she survive all her lows!!

Vande Mataram! Jai Hind!!

"On a Monday, I am waiting...."

Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing..

One of my most favourite Shakespeare quotes ever. Its weird trying to memorise that on a Monday morning. I mean, Monday mornings are bad enough without reading how truely pointless my life is. Seriuosly!

Well! Atleast the weekend was fun and I realized that no number of good guy friends can substitute girlfriends. They are always there when you need them.They don't get distracted by other women. And there's nothing like good old chick fun!!!! From sitting outside a disco and chatting because it was too painfully boring inside, to window-shopping, awesome Thai food and just generally faffing. It was a fun weekend and alcohol-free after a long time. Thanks TK, NS, SN & AC :)

So here I am on a Monday morning, back at work after a fun and tiring weekend. Came in to office 4 hours late!! Have 78 new emails to read, but I just can't get myself to get down to work. Luckily for me, the big bad bossy is a bit busy with some clients today and hopefully won't call me. But you know who I am hoping will call me today??? Its MONDAY and there is just one person in whole wide world I wish would call.

Hmmm.. have planned a lunch rendevous with PS. Been a long time since I had a heart-to-heart talk with Missy Moi. That woman always talks sense back into my brain.

And you know what? My body is craving for some sugar (like a 8th month pregnant woman). I so desperately need chocolate but am too lazy to go get some. I'm retaining more water than the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam. I'm convinced that my newly threaded eyebrows are uneven. Just thought you'd want to know.