CHEERS

A picture from my photoblog,and the most common thing served in Bangalore restaurants!!!

If you are amongst the lucky few for whom a glass full of spirits can elevate spirits and induce happiness,then why not,go ahead and capture the elusive happiness,in your glass.Except,when the glasses are empty,you should know where to go,and where your car was parked.Yes….but it is what you are the ‘morning after’ ,which is the test of a real man……(err woman)It's not whether you are able to stand your drinks , but ,whether you can still stand after you had your drinks…..whether you are 'man' enough to decide that you are not fit to drive back home…And can still remember the name of that pretty girl/cute guy, you met in the party last night, depends entirely on ‘how spirited you are’ in the true sense….”

Don't drink like there's no tomorrow,because there always is a tomorrow, and a hangover,especially when you have to go to work the next day(and if you don't remember anything,there's always your wife to narrate the gory details......)

and if you are gifted like me,who can get drunk and feel on top of the world with just a glass of water,stay that way because who needs a glass full of spirits….when we're already high on life......


cheers..burp...hic

happy 2008

P AND ME

Unarguably,this picture is one of my favourites,(Although I have managed to look a little more presentable in a lot of others).At six in the morning,with a rumbling tummy,threatening to rumble loud enough for everyone to hear,being held back and not allowed to go into the sea,(even though i convinced my friends that i could swim) ,the mangalore humidity giving your sweat glands a spin,a ton of sand in my hair and a huge tear running down my 3/4's,I certainly look anything but presentable!!!!!!!

the reason being ,it manges to capture me when I'm just me,no other designations like a mother or a wife,and that happens when you are with the friends(a friend) you love.It isn't easy to find many instances where you can be yourself(much as we argue) and there aren't too many pictures which can capture you,when you smile,into the camera, because you are happy.

But,what it also captures is the chemistry between MATHS AND ENGLISH.

well,words and numbers always didn't share this chemistry and history and Vidya Valley school has been a witness to sparks that flew,when words clashed with numbers.

Five years back,here i was thrown into the middle of the (sharks)school session,into a class full of kids who were sour at their previous teacher having left them mid way,and to top it all, the friendly colleague,Padma(the lady in question),was anything but friendly,trying desperately to COVER the syllabus,and fighting tooth and nail with the P.ED teacher,who had done the heinous crime of taking her class for games,when the exams were literally hanging over the entire school.Although,she spoke Marathi ,hindi and english with equal ease,she chose to torture me by (mis)communicating in marathi and in spite of reminding her several times,that MARATHI YEIT NAHIN(I can't speak marathi),she couninued to do so,till the time she turned around to tell me blatantly,' go and learn the language'.

I was mighty impressed with her dedication and her stamina to fight though,fight for the fact that Marie biscuits are lunch,Richard Gere is the most handsome man alive,how to stay silent and still fight and be stubborn,teachers are not boring,especially maths and biology teachers,and fight and lose and still be a winner in life,when life gangs up against you.

the rest they say is history,and although people say it isn't a coincidence that i chose to come to Bangalore,when padma was in mangalore,i choose to call it destiny.There aren't too many times,and too many people,being with whom, you don't have to be told 'Say cheese',to capture your smile and happiness.

REACHING ACROSS

If anyone in Bangalore gives you directions in terms of distance i.e kms, then either they are new or possess a sadist streak in them (as they don’t want you to reach your destination).

In Bangalore, distances in kms have lost their value and time taken has become a more valid tool for measurement. In fact travel directions acquire theatrical dimensions (timings).Between 8-10, you would reach in 2 hrs (anything below 2 hrs is not considered TRAVEL in Bangalore) 12-2(1 hr...and this is fast diminishing, because the myth of traffic easing out in the afternoons is now a thing of the past, coz the only ones who nap in the afternoons are the friendly cowboy policeman and the traffic lights themselves)and between 6-8 ,you should believe in an old Chinese saying…"It's not the finishing point, but the act of travelling which is important" (there’s no one who can predict when you will reach during this time).

The diminishing gardens are sad reminders of the city which was once known as a garden city, and is now as infamous for its traffic snarls as it is for its’ humongous IT giants. Travelling still petrifies me, thanks to the maze of one ways that pop up weekly at one place and miraculously disappear the other. At such times the humble auto comes to your rescue and it’s a relief to be driven, than drive. It’s easy to remain fit if you are a regular traveler, as the emission from the vehicles serves as an appetite suppressant, chocking you at every red light and leaving you with a queasy feeling at the end of it.

And under such conditions, you learn to forgive (but not forget) your friends, who you know are reeling under the pressure and the grind, and when you meet…. ice cream before dinner and movies just become an excuse, rather a means to reach across. In Bangalore, if you can find the time to catch your friends and catch up with them, its nothing short of a miracle.

13 isn't that odd

On a cold foggy winter morning ,13 years back,I played the biggest gamble of my life.At 20 1/2,I had no stakes to choose..... nothing to lose,no high profile job and gorgeous salary to lure me,no burning ambition of hitting the best educational institutions,no pushy parents to taunt and torture me(sometimes though they did) about studying hard and harder.Actually,I wasn't thinking straight,but was wondering,why this handsome man who sat beside me, had asked me to marry him,when we were as different and apart in personalities as probably,one and zero. Skeptics on both sides of the family gave it 'not more than six months' and they probably gave up speculating after that .....

So ,you think (like everyone else),that it's love that makes you want to write your whole life off ,change your name,leave your family,friends,city,roots and get set to live a life which demands a change of place every few months(i have moved a total of 12 places,in 13 years)
Well,if you are still single and happy,then you would attribute it to the phenomenon called LOVE,but those who have been through the ire and fire,will agree,that love is too light a word ,when one thinks of what keeps people going and keeps them happy in a marriage.A lot of fuss is made about anniversaries, especially,thanks to the numerous ads that crop up,fortunately anniversaries are(NOT) about being perched atop a luxury liner,with a candle lit dinner and a huge diamond......(they should censor such ads,for they cause severe domestic violence and irreparable damage to a woman's heart and mind) ,instead they are about celebrating love and togetherness,something which perhaps we tend to replace by gifting a diamond.Love changes and evolves as we grow old and I realized its a beautiful evolution.

love is, celebrating birthdays,with a candle perched on a pastry,because the salary never arrived that month,and one was too proud to ask for help!!!!


love is, when you tell him,it's O.K..we have no job...and will have no job and salary for the next eight months and though the bills will keep coming, we still have each other.

love is forgetting your wife's birthday,and being forgiven for that.


love is to think with your heart and tell your head,for love is irrational and illogical and cruel and angry,especially when you are having an argument.


whoever said love is, never having to say sorry,probably was a divorce lawyer.......because it's about saying sorry,to the people who matter, its better to be sorry than feel sorry later!!!


The (bitter) truth is something I said 15 yrs ago,to my husband( sitting on the steps of Nirulas,in Chanakya Puri),love is being in a room with someone and feeling that love is in the air,marriage is being in the same room,and watching love fly out from the window(he was probably impressed at the wisdom I possessed at 18!!!)and asked me to marry him..... but sadly that was the last time I displayed any sign of wisdom!!!!),love doesn't fly out,I realized, it just acquires a new meaning,with time.Love is blind and foolish,but even after 13 years ,it still makes my world go round.