Festivities and Fireworks

'....cause I am leaving on a jet plane, and I do know that I would be back on 8th again!'

Yuppie! I am going on a vacation. One whole week. "All set and raring to go" shall be my YM status today. Going to Delhi, Mathura and Dehradoon. Will be meeting my nephews, cousins and mausi's after eons. Its definitely going to be a fun week especially with Diwali round the corner.

I love this time of the year. I love the slight nip in the air and the unadultrated look of joy on people's faces. I love the beautiful multiple coloured lights. I love looking at people shop. I love being with my family, lighting diyas, making a rangoli and gorging on mithai. This time of the year gives me hope. It tells me that no matter how bad things are, they'll look up and that there really is someone up there who is looking out for us.

This year, I don't quite feel that way. Too many things are going wrong in the world. Too many natural calamities. Too many man-made tragedies. Too much sadness.

But a passing thought before I rush for the festivities: This Diwali try to light up someone's face instead of just lighting diyas and candles. Not a clique but really do something.

Our nation is a nation of extremes, rains on one side and desert on other, hot and humid on one end and cold & snowy on another. The the biggest divide is that of the rich and poor. Every Diwali while I shop for festivities I see people right outside the sweet shops begging to get some money. What does Diwali mean to them? On one end, I always see houses well lit up and on the end end I could witness small lamps symbolising Diwali in small huts. We spend exhorbitantly on the festivites, if we could just tone down a bit and make someone else happier it would be great. But I could very well be wrong, how can I say that someone who has money would be happier than someone who doesn't?

Again caught in a paradox! Better get back to work, before I leave on a Jet plane.... (actually Kingfisher!!)

A few days early, but Happy Diwali, everyone! :) Enjoy maadi!

Bangalore getting 'Bangalored'?!

Rains have been following me everywhere. First, Baroda and now Bangalore. It has been raining cats, dogs and every other animal in Bangalore and other parts of South India since the weekend.

Today, I was happily plonking away at my keyboard at work, while people around me ran helter-skelter and started leaving for home. Yeah, the rain outside seemed a tad on the heavier side, but I didn't think anyone needed to panic. It was just rain after all. Then came the announcements via smses by the Police Commissioner that "due to heavy rains/water logging, drain system is badly affected. Trees have also fallen. There are traffic jams on most roads. It was advisable to return / stay home." Hmmm. That seemed serious then.

But not to me! (I heard enough about it from Ma, so don't any of you start!!) I've survived heavy rain before, even floods in Baroda. This was not such a big deal. Ha! Most people seemed to just melt away. I was left alone with a couple of more colleagues. They lived close by and so they didn't worry about getting home. We finished up our work and at 6 PM, I was ready to go home. The rain seemed to have abated a bit, but water flowed all over the roads and umbrella in hand, I splashed my way through to the car park.

What follows was totally nightmarish! The drive back home was harrowing and what normally takes me around an hour took almost five hours. As it is, we in Bangalore are struggling with pathetic roads and bad traffic conditions and the incessant rains made things much, much worse. The roads were flooded with water, at some places around 3-4 feet of water. The water was so deep at one place that it actually entered my car. At other parts, the traffic just wasn't moving. Not an inch! Two hours wait at the Kormangala - Ring Road junction. The traffic cops just kept diverting traffic. At one point, I was so close home but the cops said that the road ahead had been closed and diverted me again. Another long wait in the traffic pile-up. At one point, I just wanted to abandon the car and walk home. Anyways, inched my way with the traffic and reached home at about 11:00 PM.

Ma was waiting with her danth (scoldings) and hot soup. Some warm food in the belly and I was as good as new. Well almost! It was time to catch with others. Almost everyone had a tough time getting home but were all safe. October 26th!! Will remember this experience for a long time.

Time to tuck in...

Nighty Night!

Guess! Its time

..... for an update. Ah well, it isn't as though anything overly interesting has been happening in my life that I need to update on a daily basis. Actually that’s true most of the times but the last 3 weeks have been crazy. Frankly, I don’t even remember where I had stopped but I shall just tell you all the things that I can recall.

For starters, I had been waiting to announce the exciting news about this new job for which I was interviewing with a NASDAQ listed product development company, where your chotu se S would have been the HR Director for the Asia-Pac region; with Japan, Singapore, China and India offices under her direct purview. How cool is that!! But…

The company in question took its own sweet time reverting back (after 6 grilling rounds of interview) with the offer. First, K (the HR Head) was traveling and then SD (honcho in India) was sick and blah blah and so they took almost 20 days to get back. By then, I had lost the enthusiam about the new job and also forgotten the reason why I was looking for a change in the first place. Plus for a host of other reasons, I refused the offer. Basically, I buckled under the pressure from my pointy-haired boss and R (our CEO) . Everyone knows the love-hate relation I share with Richard and also the fact that I cannot refuse him anything. So here I am, back to where I started.

AC, NG & RM were livid. They thought this was such a great opportunity to catapult my career to the next level. Imagine being Asia-Pac HR Director at the tender age of XX. But honestly, I am not really a career woman. I am more of a relationship person. The new job meant a lot of travel, leaving precious little time to spend with my family (and hence Ma was not very keen about the job either. Infact she didn’t even pray for me. I had a big fight with her on that) And I would have missed the friendship and fun I had with colleagues here in my current company. There was one positive outcome though. I got a BIG raise!

Then what else? I completed another year of existence on this planet on October 24. Spend the night partying crazily at Taika. I got so drunk that I had to be lugged back home. Woke up with a major hang-over. Stumbled till the mirror to find my face decorated with cake. BTW, there were 4 birthday cakes that night. Everyone was so excited about my b’day. Phone rang continuously and smses poured in the whole day but I was waiting for just one person to wish me. :o( He didn’t in person but did send me 2 e-cards. Tons of flowers, chocolates and presents along with a skirmish with AS (aka Hagar the Horrible) completed the day.

I have been so wrapped in myself and my misery of late that I failed to notice the effort and the pain everyone took to make my day extra special. Today as I reflect back, I feel extremely selfish. Thank you God for the wonderful friends and family you have given me! I know I complain perennially to / about you but I know deep inside that I am truly blessed.

There were so many presents; I just can't remember all of it... The best gifts weren't the material ones though. The ones I liked best were these -- the cake AC & RM sneaked into Taika, Rohit’s excited voice wishing me a very very happy birthday at the stroke of midnight, T’s bone-crushing hug, the way she and RT decorated my face with cake, PS phone call @ 2 am in the morning of the 24th to apologize for not wishing me happy birthday at the crack of midnight, Belly’s face when I opened her gifts, N's smile when she walked in to the house with the cake she made for me herself (it was dee..lish..ous, by the way!), the thought behind the Lillies sent by BP (he remembered that they were my favorite flowers), msg on the company board which said "Happy Birthday S", my brother's hug (he never hugs me otherwise), love in my ma’s eyes as woke me up with a hot cuppa chai, dad’s tender kiss on my forehead …… Can anyone ask for anything more?

Why?

.... do I feel homesick in just 3 days when I was itching to globe-trot and it was me who initiated this trip to Baroda?

.... does MLTR (Micheal Learns to Rock) have to come to Bangalore when I am not there?

.... does the office dabba food get worse with each passing day????? I mean, has anyone here heard of aalu-carrot's gravy subzi??? Can someone tell me which region of the country this dish comes from???

....don't the rains let up? Its been 4 continuous days (and nights) of raining.

....do the ONLY people who can make you really-truly happy have to be thousands of miles (or even kms) away from you??

....haven't I got into the holiday spirit yet? We (some 16 of us who have come down from the B'lore office) are going to Mount Abu tomorrow. I don't feel the festive spirit at all!!!!

.... does Murphy always have to act like the toe-scum, navel-lint that he is and make Art cancel her trip to Baroda cos of something hugely important at work???

.... can't I post about happy things today??

'Cuz words aren't enough...

Miss the person who hummed this to me..

Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya
Zindagii dhuup tum ghanaa saaya

Aaj phir dil ne ek tamannaakii
Aaj phir dil ko hamane samajhaaya

Tum chale jaaoge to sochenge
Humane kya khoya, hamane kyaa paaya

Hum jise gun gunaa nahin sakate
Waqt ne aisaa geet kyun gaayaa...

And I know he would be so proud of me for the translation below:

When I looked at you, this thought came to mind,
Life is heat, and you are the deep shade

Today, again, the heart has wished (for something)
Today, again I had to reason with my heart

When you leave, I will ponder
What have I caused myself to lose, and what have I found

When I am unable to hum such a tune
Why has time sung such a song...

Travel on my mind

Pangong Lake, Ladakh

That jewel of a lake in a fascinating place that mesmerised me completely around this time last year.

This year, all my travelling has been done from the straightback chair in front of the computer. There were some Goa plans for September but rains played spoil sport.

My friends are all taking off. Little bro is on an African Safari in South Africa. Arts and Belly are trekking somewhere in Coorg. Two lucky people in Germany have just come back from a picture-postcard trek. NG will be off to my favourite faraway land soon. Bips is back to work but she did have a Himalayan odyssey before that. I WANNA TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEL TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: My wish just came true! Hey! I think I could have asked for anything today and got it. My travel to Baroda for 3 weeks just got confirmed by the bossy. In the words of John Denver, "Leaving on a JET plane... my bags are packed (or will be soon), I'm ready to go".

Vadodara, Mount Abu, Bhuj, Rann of Kutch, Gir Santuary, Diu!! Here I come...

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!!