Hello Again

Alright, I know I just disappeared for the last year and a half without so much as a by your leave. It’s the longest I’ve gone without blogging. And I don’t really have any valid excuses for the disappearance. Except that I just couldn’t bring myself to put pen to paper…..or finger to keypad.

And while I do have a draft explaining all that I’ve been upto in the last year and a half, you don’t want to read it. I mean, even *I* don’t want to read it. So this post, it’s just going to be about the here and now and it’s going to be all positive and sunny.

Two weeks ago, I joined my dream organization. My aunt tells me that I wanted to work here right from my undergraduate days. I don’t remember that, but this has been my dream organization for the last many years, so I am indeed very excited to be here. Every time I look at my ID card, I feel a thrill of excitement. Every morning when I come into office and see the organization logo, I can’t help but grin. I am also *this* close to sending emails to myself, just so I can see my own official email address in my inbox, but have thankfully resisted so far!

Now this is all well and good, but I am not really a full-time employee here, but only a consultant on a contract for a few months. But that’s enough for me for now – I atleast have a foot in the door –and hopefully this will eventually lead to even bigger and better things. So yes, after a string of disappointments over the last one year, I’m finally at a very happy place.

I’ve also moved to Delhi two weeks ago, to take up this new job. I was ambivalent about moving to Delhi – and the husband was downright unhappy about it – but it’s been lovely so far. We stay in a little house (little being the operative word here) in one of the loveliest areas in South Delhi. The windows look out on to the park behind the house. There’s nothing nicer than sitting down with a book in the living room couch, while looking out on to that view. Or waking up to see a lush and rain soaked park from the bedroom window.

When we step out of the main gate, we find ourselves in front of a 13^th century pillar built during the time of Alauddin Khilji. And a few more steps lead us to the park behind our house, which houses a 17^th century building from the Tuqhlaq dynasty. It’s incredible to be living in the midst of so much history! A little further is *yet* another park, this one equipped with a jogging/walking track, and sellers of fresh fruits and flowers lined along its walls. There are atleast four parks within a 50 metre radius of my house! I wanted to post pictures but I dropped my phone and cracked it, and now it needs to be repaired before I can use it *sob*

The weather is still rather nice. The city may have bid goodbye to spring, but summer is yet to arrive; so it’s actually very pleasant right now, and we’re trying to make the most of what’s probably the last of the good weather before summer bears down on us. I’m usually home by 6pm so there’s enough light to still go for a stroll in the park and enjoy the mild breeze.

We’re off to Rishikesh for the long weekend. We set out early on Friday morning, and will return by Sunday evening. We will be staying at resort owned by a friend – it looks lovely in the pictures and has been getting very good reviews, so I am quite looking forward to staying there. Nike plans to go white water rafting. I wish I could join him, but I injured my ankle a month ago and have been advised against physical activities for the next one month, so I’m going to resign myself to playing cheerleader. For my part, I’ll be carrying along a few books and doing the three things I’m best at – reading, eating and sleeping.

Have a good weekend. And while I make no promises, I hope to see you on the other side of the week! 

Quick Update

I looked at my blog after ages and realised with a pang that it’s been two whole months since I posted. June was a crazy month: my friend G’s wedding in Chennai, Nike’s birthday, endless work related travel across Karnataka, and preparation for the upcoming Ladakh trip. I spent exactly five full days in Hyderabad in June.

But June ended on a very exciting note, with nine of us setting off to Ladakh for the trip of a lifetime. We flew to Delhi, took an overnight train to Kalka and then by road to Manali. In Manali, we rented bikes and a car and set off to Ladakh. We were on the road for three days: Manali – Rohtang Pass – Darcha – Keylong – Jispa – Baralacha La – Sarchu – Gata Loops – Moore Plains – Tanglang La – Leh. We spent a fair amount of time exploring Leh and the surrounding region. We did overnight trips to Pangong Tso, Nubra Valley and Tso Moriri and day trips to Hemis and Sangam. We then headed out to Srinagar from Leh, passing by Alchi, Lamayuru, Kargil and Drass and Zoji La. After a day in Srinagar, flew to Delhi, spent some time with friends in Delhi, and finally flew back to Hyderabad.

This was the trip of a lifetime for us. Now I view the whole year from the prism of Ladakh. And suddenly, after the trip, all seems alright with the world. That’s how much the trip rejuvenated me and changed my world view.

I am in Bangalore on work and currently don’t have the time for a longer post. Hopefully, a more detailed trip report will follow, along with photographs. But for now, I will leave you with a few photographs.

Happy Happy 2012

Happy New Year Everyone!

So the last week of 2011 has been very interesting. We did a road trip along the Konkan coast in a beat up old car; and it turned out to be a trip that neither and Nike will ever forget. We experienced secluded beaches, soft golden sands, clear waters, charming little fishing villages, delicious seafood, imposing forts in the middle of the sea, and unbelievably scenic views. We also had many misadventures – getting lost, running out of fuel, car breaking down, leaving our ID cards behind and driving an extra 80kms to retrieve them, being refused a hotel room because we didn’t have proof of being married, our car engine sending out crazy fumes in the middle of a traffic ham, driving to what we thought was the hill station Khandala, only to find out it was some random little village of the same name!

We landed up in Goa two days before New Years Eve. This is my fourth NYE in Goa in 7 years – every other year, I end up there. Every time I go there, I am turned off by the crowds and the traffic jams and tell myself I won’t do this again – and promptly land up in time for NYE. Clearly, I am not growing up. Goa this year was alright – we spent our mornings lying on the beach and playing in the water, and the evenings going wild. By the end of our 3 days there, we were all bruised and battered, quite literally. I still have my battle scars from Goa.

New Years Eve itself was like any other in Goa. We went hopping from one beach to another, in search of the perfect party (hint: there is no perfect party). In the course of the night, we played Taboo, spent some time at a pick-up joint, participated in a fire ritual, passed off as a Russian from Vladivostok and fell into a ditch while running away from some hens (which were locked up in a big cage). And to top it all, we reached the car and found out it was punctured! What can I say? A crazy end to a crazy year.

2011 started on a good note. We spent all of January traveling across South East Asia. In February, I saw many of my friends and cousins get married, turned 27, and had a lovely time at home in Vizag with family and friends. In March, I went on a lovely holiday to Rajasthan, and then made the most of my last month in Bangalore. In April, I moved to Hyderabad and joined an exciting new job and fell headlong into a hectic social life. In May, I spent a lovely week in Mussoorie, started learning the ropes at my new job and continued to have a busy social life.

But things started going downhill from then on. The last 7 months of the year were quite awful. There were 6 deaths in my family. Two of my closest friends are headed for a divorce. Three other very close friends are involved in messy relationships which are causing them a lot of grief and pain. Some people very close to me have been facing health issues.

Personally too, it hasn’t been a great year for me. I took on way more than I could handle, what with the distance learning course, and my many personal projects, and ended up feeling stressed and pressurised all the time. I slipped often in the process, and then beat myself up endlessly for it. I didn’t really spend much time with family and friends either because I was just so busy all the time.  My social life came to a complete standstill – no movies, no reading, no dinners, no clubbing, nothing.

At work, things simply weren’t going the way I had planned so that was also another major source of stress. And none of the holidays helped! I was sick throughout the time we were in Siem Reap. Nike didn’t enjoy our weekend in Pondicherry. Our three days in Kerala were a massive disappointment. And our year-end road trip was not smooth sailing either.

So yes, I’m happy to see the end of 2011. And I’m really looking forward to 2012. I want this to be a year of big changes and much excitement; a year during which I work to be a better person; but also a fun and happy year. And for you and yousr too, I wish for a year filled with health, happiness, love and laughter. Happy New Year!

Finally...

    

  Finally, finally, finally I have my life back! 

   

   So here is what happened in the last one month:   

• I had a good trip to Kashmir. A very fruitful work trip. I also met some really warm, wonderful people and made new friends. And managed to do a bit of sightseeing. Kashmir, and its people, are totally enchanting, and I’m going to be back soon.

• I also went to Dehradun for two days on work. I spent most of those two days in the airport but it was a good trip work-wise.

• I finally managed to get started on one of the personal projects I was ranting about in the previous posts. It’s just a start, but it’s a good start, and it’s given me some confidence that I can do it. There is more work on that project coming up in November but now I have the confidence to handle it.

• I gave the GRE, and did pretty well, considering I had absolutely no preparation. Since it’s the new format the results won’t be out till mid-November, but at the end of the test the computer told me that the equivalent score according to the old format was in the 1500-1600 range. I understand that’s a very good score, so I am quite pleased with my performance.

• I also sat for an exam for one module of my distance learning course, and I didn’t do as badly as I expected. I think I stand a good chance of passing. So that’s over and done with. And I am not taking up the next module till January so I get some breathing time.

·         After all these trips and exams came Nike’s brothers wedding. The wedding was in Delhi but there were a lot of pre and post wedding events that kept us busy. It was a lot of fun, with people coming down from across the country to celebrate, and there were so many people and so many festivities it made me quite dizzy. But lots of fun was had, everything went off very smoothly, and the happy couple is now in Europe on their honeymoon while we continue to be disoriented and tired and suffer from the empty house syndrome.

I’m back to work, and I’m still a little disoriented from l that’s been happening, but I’m slowly getting back into the groove, and looking forward to a more relaxed life where I go to office, do my work, and relax in the evenings. Day before, after work, I met up with Srinu (who’s here from the US) for a brief while and then hung out at Gloria Jeans at Inorbit with Samee.

Yesterday, Nike and I went to a random Telugu movie – it’s called Pilla Zamindar, and while I’m loathe to call it a bad movie given its interesting concept, it’s a badly made movie with awful production values, so it’s probably much kinder to think of it as a tele-serial. We then went out for dinner; ArmyMan was supposed to join us but he ditched in the last minute (and today he calls to ask if I want to meet for lunch on a day when I’m swamped at work!!!). And after dinner, we came home and watched an episode of Dexter and I even read for a while (‘The Wish Maker’ by Ali Sethi).

It’s been so long since I’ve had such normal, relaxed days that I am truly relishing this time. Sometimes, I feel guilty about wasting my time when I should be studying/ working on my personal projects/working to meet some deadline – and then I catch myself and tell myself that I don’t have to feel guilty any longer, my time is finally mine. Life is good!

Tonight Nike and I leave for Pondicherry – I’ve been wanting to go there forever, and we’ve finally found the time and opportunity to make a quick trip. From Pondicherry to Chennai for BJ and Maggu’s wedding – I’ve been telling them how happy I am that Maggu is finally make an honest man of BJ, and that they mustn’t forget the key role I played in bringing them together, and I’d love to tell you guys the story but it isn’t fit for family forums like this, really. I will be meeting the rest of the gang in Chennai too and it’s been so long since I met them so I’m really looking forward to this.

From Chennai I am going to Bhubaneswar for two days on work. AND from Bhubaneswar I am going to Vizag for just one day, but that one day is Deepavali, and for now, I can live with that. I didn’t think I would get to go home for Deepavali, what with the festival falling bang in the middle of the week, and the travel to Chennai and all, but things somehow came together and I’m going to be in Vizag for just that day and I’m happy. It’s not that we celebrate with a lot of dhoom-dhamaka - Samee is scared of fireworks and crackers and while I really enjoy them, I’ve given up on them for the past couple of years – but I haven’t been home for a single festival this year so I am happy I am finally making it to the last but one festival.

Oh! And my poor, neglected blog turned seven this month. SEVEN years, y’all! 

Ding Dong Bell

Because that’s as good a title as any for the nonsensical post that is to follow.

So I’ve continued to be insanely busy through August too. My work has suddenly picked up pace. The distance learning course continues to be demanding – lots of readings, regular assignment submissions etc. On top of this, I have taken on two personal projects – both of which require significant investment of time, effort and money. And because we are no staying with the in-laws, we have all sorts of family obligations to fulfill. It’s a classic case of biting off way more than I can chew.

I like my days to be full and busy – but this is too much, I say. I constantly feel sleepy and exhausted. The sense of being hassled accompanies me all the time. My social life has come to a standstill. If I so much as plan to go out for dinner on a weekend, I start to feel guilty about the billion things on my to-do list. And to add salt to the wound, some of the things I have been working on fell through, and that put me in a blue funk for a while. The worst part is that this situation won’t change till November.

Alright, now I’m done with the whining.

The best part of this month was that Nike and I took a short holiday to Cambodia. Yay! So we got engaged on August 15^th two years ago – and since we just need an excuse to travel and since this August 15^th holiday gave us a long weekend, we took another 3 days off and set off for Cambodia. I wanted to go to Kerala since I had already been to Cambodia, but Nike was keen on Cambodia, and because of all his dashed birthday travel plans, I graciously gave in to his wishes. I also made it very clear that next time, I get to decide our holiday destination, mutual agreement be damned. Ahem!

So Cambodia – which was just Siem Reap, actually – was all things fun and interesting. We stayed in this lovely little boutique hotel with a nice pool, and the most marvelous staff, and a four poster bed. It was wonderful. We had a really good guide who took us around the most important temples around the Angkor Park region for the first two days. And on the third day, we got this super-sweet and super-talkative driver who took us to the temples in the outskirts, and to the floating forest.

On the last day we just got long, luxurious massages, hung out with other travelers, shopped at the local markets, and just soaked in the very touristy atmosphere of Siem Reap. It was a lovely holiday, but it was also tiring and too short. And since I had a bad cold from the time my flight from Bangalore took off, I had pretty much drugged myself throughout the holiday, so when I came back home I was rather disoriented. I’ve been saying that I need a holiday from the holiday, but nobody listens to me.

Now I must be off, for tonight we are going to the old city area to check out the Ramzan festivities, and eat Haleem. 

Such a Busy Month

So July has been a very, very busy month. I’ve spent the entire month in a constant state of exhaustion and limited sleep, and I feel very overwhelmed by all that I have on my plate. At the same time, I can’t lay claim to efficiency either – I waste most of my time surfing the internet, reading blogs, obsessively checking my mails, and taking long naps in the middle of the day. So I waste the whole day, and at night I start hating myself for wasting the day and not making the slightest dent in my list of things to do for the day, and I promise myself that I will work hard the next day and make up for it, but that tomorrow never comes. Sigh!

So yes, I’m very displeased with myself at the moment. But let me tell you what all I have been upto in this month.

•      Spent the first five days of July in Bhopal for a conference. The conference was interesting, and it was a great networking opportunity. But it was also very tiring. I managed to make time to meet up a friend in Bhopal and hang out with her, and to do a bit of shopping, but didn’t have time for sightseeing.
•    One of the main reasons why I feel constantly overwhelmed and short of time is because I have enrolled in a distance learning course which is very intense. It requires atleast 20 hours of study per week, and because of timed assignments, there is no scope for slacking. So I spent the next five days of July slogging my ass off, and putting in night outs in order to finish an assignment for the course. I ALWAYS underestimate the work involved, and overestimate my capabilities, so this last minute slogging and night out are, and always have been, an inevitable part of my life.
•    Once the assignment was over, I hightailed it off to Bangalore. My friend Amu was moving from Bangalore to Gurgaon, another friend L was moving to Chandigarh on a project, Swas had had a baby and couldn’t meet us as much as before, and I was already in Hyderabad; so this was like one last meet-up for the Bangalore gang before everyone headed off in separate paths. I had a great time in Bangalore, catching up with old friends and taking in this much-loved city but at two days, the trip was too short.
•     As soon as I got back from Bangalore, I had an important personal submission to make. So the next five days saw me putting more night-outs and slogging my ass to finish the submission. In case you are wondering why I am perpetually doing this, kindly refer above comment regarding underestimating work and overestimating myself.
•       The very day after I completed my submission, my SIL went in to labour. I spent the whole day at the hospital, awaiting the birth of my niece. Baby A was born at 14.40pm on 15^th July 2011, a tiny little thing, weighing 2.6kgs, red and wrinkled. Nike is a thoroughly smitten Mamu. The next three days after her birth saw family coming down from different parts of the country and even the world (that was her father coming from the UK) to see the little one, so that kept me busy too.
•     The baby shares her birthday with Amma. Samee and I are still not sure if that’s a good thing! So I was supposed to go to Ahmedabad that weekend to join Amma for her birthday, but the birth of Baby A saw me cancelling the tickets.
•     I finally managed to relax, watch a movie, meet up some friends, and catch up on my work – for all of FOUR days before Nike and I headed off to Vizag. We were in Vizag for four day, and the days were very hectic, though it felt very good being home. I came back just today morning to Hyderabad – I’ve left home to go to college 10 years ago, and even after all these years, every time I go to Vizag and its time for me to go back to Bangalore/Hyderabad/wherever I am living at that period, I always, always keep wishing I could stay home one more day.
•     I got back just today from Vizag, and already I am dreading the assignment submission that is due next week. I am WAY behind on my coursework, and the only way I can finish the assignment on time is if I put in double the usual time required this week to catch up on the coursework, and spend the weekend writing my assignment. Meanwhile, I have lots of work pending on the office front, and that is adding to my panic and frustration. Sigh!

So amidst all the work, the studying, the submissions and the travel, my personal commitments have taken a backseat. I am not replying to mails or calls, I have a few writing commitments which I have fulfilled, blog posts have been ignored. I really need to get my act together, stop wasting time, and be much more efficient and disciplined if I want to finish most of my pending work by this week and start off August on a fresh note.

Till then, ciao! 

Much Ado about Nothing

It’s been exactly four weeks since we moved to Hyderabad and my social life has gone from busy to incredibly hectic. In the last four weeks I have:

•  Met up with friends from my college gang thrice
•  Hung out with S, my best friend from college, about half a dozen times
•  Hung out with Gundu, my best friend from school, about half a dozen times, and     even met his friends here
•  Met KK for lunch
•  Hung out with Mahi, my cousin, quite a bit
•  Spent three Sundays at Pinni’s place, one of which was spent helping organise a suprise birthday party for Babai’s 50^th. Also spent time with cousins and Samee, who came down to Hyderabad for the party.
•  Saw five movies at the cinema – Ala Modalaindi, Rio, Teen Maar, Dum Maaro Dum and Shor in the City
•  Shopped lost – spent one day buying formal wear, another buying a desk and a bookshelf and finally a HTC Desire HD for Nike.
•  Helped the in-laws host a dinner at their place (by help I really mean I made conversation with the guests!). Also attended dinner at Nike’s Maami’s place once.
•  Went out for dinner alone with Nike twice.

Yes, all this in just four weeks. I also managed to see a couple of movies at home and read two books. Far from being tired, I thrive in the midst of so much social activity. On a day when I come home after meeting friends for coffee, I’m hyperactive. On a day when I come home directly from work, I’m all tired and need to take a short nap before I can bring myself to sit down for dinner and make conversation.

Now I have an equal number of friends, if not more, in Bangalore. But my life wasn’t a whirlwind of so much activity there, and generally, Nike and I spent a lot more time just by ourselves than we did with friends. The key difference here is that almost all my friends in Bangalore are married; in contrast I have only one married friend in Hyderabad. And in terms of ‘hanging out’ unmarried friends are much better than married friends, atleast in my experience (Like I keep telling my married friends, I’m just going to make friends only with younger, unmarried people from now on. The first question I will ask people is “Are you under 25 and unmarried”. If yes to both, only then will I consider the possibility of becoming friends with them. Of course, I’m aware that if everyone decided to use these criteria, I‘d be no one’s friend). 


I'm now ending this completely pointless post (because the rest of my posts were educative, informative and inspiring. Duh) here without even editing it because I want to put it up on the blog before midnight so that it shows that I've written TWO blog posts in April. Score!

Happy New Year

Here is wishing 2011 brings lots of happiness, love and laughter. Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know I’m late on the New Year party, but I’ve just been so so so busy the last one month. In this year, I’ve already been to Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, and I’m now at the airport waiting to board my flight to Singapore. I’ve actually thought of about a dozen New Year themed posts but I’ve not had the time to sit down and write even a single one.

So what did you do for New Years Eve? You know those people who say ‘It’s just another evening. What’s the big deal? ; well, suffice to say I’m NOT one of those people. As a child, I had the most uneventful New Years Eves – we’d all sit around and watch television, cut a cake at midnight, make a couple of calls and go to sleep. One memorable (NOT!) New Years Eve was spent on a bus from Vijaywada to Hyderabad. I’d make a fuss about having a party at home or atleast attending a party or event we had been invited to, but we stuck to the same old routine.

And so, with the dramatics that was so typical of my childhood, I vowed that when I was grown up, I would not spend New Years Eve in such a boring fashion. Yes, I actually made a vow like that. No, I can’t say anything in my defence except that I have a love of melodrama.

Anyway, I use this whole ‘boring childhood NYE’ shit as some sort of Freudian justification for the excesses of my adult New Years Eve. I’ve been in Goa for three of the last six. Enough said. Once in a ‘resort’ in the outskirts of Bangalore. Once in Vizag. And this time in Bangkok. Yeah, BANGKOK, baby!

So I flew in to Bangkok on 31^st December. We headed out to Central World Chidlom, which is supposedly Bangkok’s (supremely inadequate) response to Times Square. The street was spilling over with people – some 300,000 people filled up the street in party mode. And there were food stalls, beer gardens, concerts, and shops all over the place. It was like a crazy festival. At midnight, we saw the fireworks, and then had some street food for dinner and tottered home and hit the bed.

On New Years Day, we woke up late, had brunch at a very nice place, went to a temple (my idea! really! apparently it’s a Thai tradition to go to the temple on New Year, and I believe when in Thailand, do as the Thais do). Then some sightseeing, some shopping, met some friends for coffee and finished off with dinner at an Indian place since Nike was craving Indian food. So if the 1st day is any indication, 2011 is going to be filled with eating, sightseeing, shopping and spending time with friends. Sounds great to me!

Well, so this was just to wish anyone around here a Happy New Year, and to say, yes, I’m alive, and I’ll be back here soon!

Catching Up

So I’ve been pretty busy in the last two odd months that I’ve not posted. First, there was the exam to prepare for.  Those two months I had to prepare before the exam – they were two of the most miserable months I’ve had in recent years. The first one month was spent in a state of panic – “Oh my god! There is so much to study! I’m never going to finish this syllabus”. This state of panic led to a general sense of misery, which led to eating a lot of ice cream to cheer myself up, which led to a cold, which led to headache. It was a vicious cycle, dear reader, a very vicious cycle.

After a month of this, I told myself firmly that nothing was worth my happiness and health. And so what did I do? I more or less gave up on the preparation. No one can say I do things in half-measure, eh? But this didn’t lead to happiness and health either. Because when I told family and friends that I wasn’t preparing seriously, they would go “Yeah, we know, that’s what you always say, but you’ll get through, we believe in you”. This touching, but unfortunately misplaced, belief in my academic abilities led to guilt. So then guilt – ice cream – cold – headache.....you get the drift, right?

Anyway, those two miserable months finally got over, though I didn’t think they ever would. The weather in Bangalore was fantastic, there was just that light nip in the air to indicate that winter was starting. And oh, it was festival time too, what with Vinakaya Chaturthi and Dussera and Deepavali. And through all this I wallowed in my misery. See, my life is actually very smooth and easy and problem free – its quite the perfect life actually – and so when I come across even the slightest little bump, I make a big deal out of it and behave as if the world is coming to an end.

So anyway, the exams finally, finally got over, and brought an end to my misery. I went home to Vizag for a week after that. This time, Nike came and stayed the whole week too – this was the first time he was spending so much time at home – he’d come only once before, and then for just 2-3 days – so I was excited that he would get a taste of life at my home.

I had a lovely time at home. During the day, while Nike worked, I went out and met friends. In the evenings I pottered around the house. And dinner time and later was family time. Every time I’m home, the days just fly by. I had so many plans for this week I was going to be home, but none of them got done, and I don’t remember what I did either, because the days just pleasantly merged into one another.

Well, we went to Hyderabad from Vizag, and from there commenced our Grand Trip. What Grand Trip, you ask? I wanted to do a whole post about it, dramatically announcing the Grand Trip. Instead, I end up doing it at the end of a rambling post about nothing! Huh! Anyway. So like I said, Nike and I are now on our Grand Trip. The GT is a two and a half month trip across South East Asia. In these two and a half months, we will be spending time in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

It’s been 10 days since we set out, and right now, we are in the Philippines, where we will be till the end of the month before we head out to Thailand. We've been having a fantastic time so far. Maybe another day, I will do a post on how and why we are doing this. But for now, let me just say it’s our way of celebrating one wonderful year of being married (our first wedding anniversary is this Thursday!). 

Till then, bahala na!

So I Got Through!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I got through the preliminary exam. I am very relieved. Thank you all for your wishes and prayers.

The mains are going to start from end October. And since I was so sure I wouldn’t qualify for them, I whiled away the last three months, and didn't so much as peep into the textbooks. I have two months to cover an obscenely humongous syllabus, and am in weird state of constant panic right now. But I have a chance, and I am grateful for that, and mean to make the most of it in the next two months.

Don’t leave me out of your prayers yet!

Things You REALLY Don't Want to Know

The last two weeks have been fantastic in terms of all the things I’ve got to do. So I’m going to put it all down here to read the next time I moan about how I’m so bored, or how I want a change. Then I can be reminded of how full my life is in Bangalore.

Two weeks ago, went home for Ma’s 50^th. The day I came back to Bangalore, I fell ill. Nike very sweetly worked from home the whole week, so I would have someone to moan to about how sick I was and how I was going to just die. Of course, my impending death did not stop me from devouring the Millennium Trilogy that week.

Just as I got better, Nike’s mother was admitted to the hospital and we had to rush to Hyderabad. In a hospital, all my hitherto deeply buried masochistic tendencies come out in full force – I look at every suffering patient and try to imagine how I would feel in their position – and since I am a total wuss, the vision that emerges is far from pretty. Anyway, since this isn’t all about me (ahem!)  - Nike’s mother responded well to the medicines and was discharged.

Once back in Bangalore, we saw Udaan, a beautiful movie, with very interesting characterisation (with the exception of the Dad, who was painted all black). It is a ‘follow your dreams’ story but told with its sense of humour and light-heartedness very much intact so it never gets preachy. The movie was at PVR so we had dinner at Bombay Blues at Transit after that, and the food was AWFUL.

The next day, had lunch with the girls at Grill Room. The place is right opposite the Gurudwara on Ulsoor, and has a great lunch buffet. Do try it if you are around that area. The Friday before last we had a girl’s night out at Vids place. Lux, Eku, Vids and I. We had a blast, eating and drinking and singing and dancing and chatting.

Saturday was spent recovering from the excesses of the previous night. Girish was in Bangalore on Sunday, so went with Kat and Girish to the Chancery Pavillion for Sunday Brunch. 1200 bucks for unlimited food and drinks – fantastic spread – worth every single paisa. Go! All that eating and drinking business left us too exhausted to do anything for two days, after which we went to Inception. What. A. Movie. Stayed up all night discussing it; and started where we left off the next morning. It’s going to require some more viewings before I can decide on what I think happened.

So that was the week before last. This Friday, went to Kat’s place. We then met up with Hetro and Yola for drinks and dinner, and then went to Hetro place where we saw a marathon session of ‘Coupling’. On Saturday, we had Indu and Kumara over for lunch. But since we didn’t wake up when the cook came, rang the bell endlessly and left, Nike had to rush and buy the chicken and do the cooking himself, while I restored the house to some semblance of order. After they left, we saw ‘Body of Lies’ on television, went shopping at Lifestyle (my loots: maroon skirt, black waistcoat, blue and red checked top and two pairs of shoes), and finished with dinner at Chakum Chakum.

On Sunday, went for a haircut. Actually went in thinking of a trim, but I don’t know what got into me once I sat in the chair, but I made her chop it all off! I’m going to Hyderabad again next week, and am already dreading the reaction from the family. Anyway, Lux had invited the whole gang over for a traditional south Indian dinner at her place on Sunday night, so we all dressed up in Sarees (the women did; the men wore kurtas). Played some really weird games, laughed uproariously at Lux’s expense, thulped yummy food till I thought I would burst, and came home with gifts the girl had got us from Rajasthan.

The last  3 days have been super super busy at work. So all I’ve had the time for till now is Aisha with the girls. Maybe I went in with really low expectations, but the movie wasn’t so bad. It was actually fun watching it with the girls – oohhing over the outfits and shoes, rolling our eyes together at all the nonsense some of the characters do, aahhing over Abhay Deol – it’s great fun to watch a chick flick with your girlfriends.

Phew! That’s been the scene in my universe for the last two weeks. Tomorrow I’m off on a holiday. A girls needs time off from all this socialising. Tata.

2009: The Year that Was

Happy New Year! May 2010 be a year filled with good health, love, laughter and happiness for you.

While I am really looking forward to what this year brings for me, 2009 was an incredible year for me, and I am a little sad that it is over. Since I’ve not blogged at all in the past year (and to write more frequently was one of my resolutions!), I decided I’m going to do a brief recap of what happened through the year, so that I don’t forget what a truly momentous year this was for me.

January: The year started off with a bang, with a big family trip to Papikondalu which was…..wait for it…awesome. Soon after, my friends from Hyderabad came to Vizag for a couple of days, and much fun was had. I got to spend a lot of time with family and friends, caught on my gult movie watching, read a lot, ate a lot and in general remember how it is to live and not work.

February: February is always the most important month of the year for me. It was even more so this year because it was my 25th birthday, an important milestone, and I marked it by celebrating a birthday week, so that I did special for the whole week. We also drove down to Chennai for G3’s wedding. And most importantly, the parents fixed the wedding - though I wasn’t happy that they fixed for bang in the middle of a week.

March: March wasn’t a very good month for me. I had a massive workload, made worse by a member of my team suddenly quitting, so I was working late into the night, and on weekends. We had our annual appraisal, and while I received a good review, I didn’t get promoted. Now while I wasn’t expecting a promotion this year, I was surprised to find myself extremely hurt and disappointed and angry. To add salt to the wounds, we only got a nominal bonus and raise. The only silver lining was that we did a girl trip to Chikmagalur one weekend, and much laughter abounded.

April: The workload continued to pile up, and it was made worse by the fact that I was angry with the firm at that time, and felt very de-motivated. Things weren’t great on the personal front either - the wedding made me nervous and testy, and Nike was also peevish and short tempered as he worried about balancing between a job and his website. But I guess all that angst was good for creativity - I joined a creative writing class and wrote a couple of short stories, and Nike shot a mini-movie along with Andy.

May: I wrote the Civil Services Preliminary Exam for a lark, and later regretted it, for it was hot and uncomfortable and I was sure not to pass. Nagesh got married, and while I gained some friends at his wedding, I lost my mobile. Sw got engaged. The story writing and the movie making continued.

June: June was a quiet month when nothing much happened. Lalith visited us. We went for a day trip to Galibore fishing camp, and it was very very nice. I watched marathon sessions of HIMW and Desperate Housewives. I saw an incredible number of movies and a few plays. And I lived and thrived on Lonely Planet.

July: Shilpa finally left for the US, leaving me feeling rather bereft. Then I went on a 9 day trip to Eastern Europe with Samee. It was awesome, awesome awesomely awesome. My memory of any other event that may have happened in July is clouded by the awesomeness of this trip.

August: I got engaged. It was a lovely ceremony at home, attended only by close family and friends, followed by a fabulous lunch. We inaugurated my wedding shopping by going double over budget for the main wedding saree. We planned, booked and paid for our honeymoon. I lived in dreamland.

September: We hosted a rocking house party to celebrate the engagement. This was the first party Nike and I have hosted together, and with home cooked (by Nike) food to boot, so it made us feel all very couple-y, and it made me feel like some grand hostess. I also went on a lovely weekend trip to Hampi, which was a much needed break for me. I also took a big leap, and gave my notice at work - it was something I had been thinking of doing for a very long time, but it took me months to gather the courage and finally actually resign.

October: October was a busy month. I did a day trip to Mysore for Dasara, and had a great time. I went to Hyderabad for Bujji Anna’s engagement, and for some wedding shopping. My last day at work was October 15th. Sigh! L I left the very next day for Vizag, and spent Diwali at home, the first time in many years.

November: November was a whirlwind month. We finished the remaining wedding shopping, and I got fully involved in the wedding work. It was a heady and exciting time. Went to Hyderabad for Anna’s eventful wedding. And started off with our own wedding celebrations on 29th.

December: I got married! It was a whole week of celebrations, family, friends, sleeplessness, madness and being treated like a princess. I loved ever minute of it, even the tired, sleep deprived minutes. This was soon followed by a 2 week honeymoon on a Mediterranean cruise, and my first experience of ‘luxury travel’ - and I found out that it doesn’t come easily to me, I’m a budget traveler at heart - but it was of course a once in a lifetime experience. I returned from the honeymoon to a flurry of lunches and dinners so I can be introduced and I could introduce Nike, and then off we were to Goa, to ring in the New Year.

And that was 2009 for me. It has been a mad, busy, chaotic, fun filled, incredible, AWESOME year. I don’t think any other year in my life is going to be so eventful. I got married. MARRIED! And as if that isn’t enough, I quit my steady, satisfying job so I can figure out what I want to do and where I am headed. For someone like me, that step is enough to make me think of myself as a loose cannon! It was a big step, and a tough step for me to take, and as of now, I am extremely glad I took it.

I turned 25. I crossed an invisible threshold into adulthood. I got to travel extensively last year, both in India and abroad. Enough to keep the wanderlust in me satisfied for while, a long while. I saw a lot of movies. I caught some plays. I read a lot of books. I wrote some stories. I dreamed a lot. I did little. I made some new friends, but I also lost some old ones.

Its been a truly great year for me. Its been awesomely awesome. Thank you 2009!

Now how was 2009 for you?

Taking Stock

I noticed a few days ago that it’s been more than five months since I last posted – and even for someone as irregular as I am, this is the longest I’ve ever gone without posting on this blog. I think it’s most shameful, especially considering one of my New Year resolutions was to blog more often – to write more often actually, and to improve upon my writing skills, and the medium was to be the blog. And unsurprisingly, the day I make the resolutions, poof!

I haven’t written largely because I’ve had a terrible writer’s block (we do flatter ourselves!). It’s just that when I have had the time to sit down and write a post, absolutely nothing comes to mind. And during those times when I’m furiously writing a post in my head, I don’t have a laptop to pen it down, and by the time I can lay my hands on one, it’s too late.

However, I’ve been busy for the last five months. I’ve been on trips to Gokarna, Kuppam and Yercaud. I’ve been to Vizag on three trips – the most frequent I’ve gone home in a while. Apart from short stopovers in Hyderabad on my way to Vizag, I also made a short trip to Hyderabad once. All these trips for personal reasons. And a short work trip to Delhi. So the last couple of months have seen quite a bit of traveling.

I also got to meet quite a few friends and family in these months. Sunil came down from the US in January and I got to meet him when I went home then. Ramya came down too, and I made a short trip to Hyderabad to spend time with her, and to see her baby. Lalith came down from Ireland, and though I didn’t get to spend much time with him in Vizag, he did come down to Bangalore for a couple of days, along with the rest of the Hyderabad gang.

Shils’ move to Bangalore has also been great for all of us. Shruti came to Bangalore twice in these past couple of months so that the four of us could meet up after ages. Shrav now comes over to Bangalore almost every weekend, and we even paid her a visit at Kuppam one weekend. So my weekends are usually spent with these girls, shopping, eating and generally hanging out together and having fun. It’s been good and I’m very glad that things have worked out this way.

During the week, I end up meeting BJ and FB almost every other day, though that’s not going to last long. And Abhishek has moved to Bangalore, so there’s one more person to meet during the week. I’ve also made friends in office who I’m now close enough with to go out with. I also met up with an old friend with whom I parted ways less than amicably a few years ago (completely my fault!) – we met twice and it was good because I felt we’d put most of the ill-feeling and awkwardness behind us.

Work had been interesting and satisfying till about a month ago. Thing haven’t been so great after that but I’m trying to sort it out. I’ve also moved into a lovely new house which feels almost like a home, and I share it with two rather nice flat mates, so things are really smooth on that front (Touchwood!).

So apart from work, friends and family, I’ve also done a lot of interesting stuff in the last couple of months. I attended Savvy’s wedding – a bunch of IIIMB junta turned up and it was good fun. I also went to a paintball tournament and it was SUCH FUN! Also went bowling and watched a play. And have been watching movies atleast once a week, religiously, apart from contributing to 50% of CCD’s income. I’ve also partied hard these last few months, and tried out lots of lovely new places to eat out at.

Phew! And that is why I have been too busy and tied up to post anything all these months. With half the year past, I’m thinking it’s time I had a less hectic social schedule – I have enough time for myself, my books and my movies – but I really think I need to start moderating my lifestyle. I’m telling myself that atleast twice a week I should come home directly from work. I also need to start running/dancing/some form of exercise. So assuming that my plans for a more moderate lifestyle are actually implemented, this blog should be seeing much more of me than before.

But hey, I’m not promising myself anything!

So much to do, so little time

I don’t know if I mentioned it on my blog before but a few months ago I was working on a Big Life-changing Personal Project, henceforth called BLPP I was quite secretive about it then because I didn’t want anyone to know what I was working on in case it didn’t work out but since it did, I cant quite be stopped from announcing the news from the rooftop.

I have an offer of admission from the London School of Economics and Political Science, no less, to study the MSc Development Management. Mucho awesomeness methinks. See, when I was in college, I thought if I couldn’t make into one of the IIM’s I’d like to study at Oxford or Cambridge. There were 2 major reasons behind this – one was my fascination for England, and especially the aura these universities have, and the other was the almost exotic courses they offer.

So I did get into the IIM’s but I always thought I’d like to attend do course in one of the universities. Now that’s the flashback. Sometime last year, I went through the university websites, almost casually. I did want to study further, preferably something in international relations or development studies, but I had no intention of doing so until I had 2-3 years of work experience behind me. But what started as a casual glance at the websites quickly turned into a deeper interest so I outlined the courses that interested me, my chances of getting into them, course reputation, faculty, future opportunities etc. and finally went ahead and applied.

I applied to M.Sc Global Governance and Diplomacy in Oxford but sadly didn’t get through. I also applied to M.Sc Forced Migration in Oxford but I don’t really want to do the course – I just applied because I could use the same material as the earlier course. So Oxford is ruled out. My only other application was to LSE. I first applied for the M.Sc in Social Policy and Development and got an offer. However, my first interest lay in the M.Sc Development Management course but since it’s a very competitive course, I didn’t think I’d get through and didn’t apply.

However, LSE has this wonderful system where you can change your course after you have an offer. If you don’t get through the new course you opted for, you can always take up your original offer. I was very pleased about this of course, and applied to DevMan and actually got through. I am most most most kicked about this cause Dev Man is a very popular and competitive course – in fact, it is the 3rd course to get filled up and close applications, among the LSE masters courses, after International Relations and Global Politics.

The only nagging worry I have, though, is that I got a mail from Dev Man saying my application has been accepted but I need to decline the SPD offer first in order for them to make an offer. So now it’s been like a month since I declined the SPD offer and haven’t yet received the formal offer letter by post from Dev Man. I’ve mailed them but no response yet so I am kind of worried.
Anyhoo, while my offer is for the September 2007 entry, I won’t be joining this year because I just don’t have the money for it and LSE is VERY expensive. I didn’t apply to scholarships this year for a number of reasons and I don’t really want to take a loan unless I get atleast partial funding, especially since I don’t think I’d be living abroad after the course but coming back to India. So I’m hoping to defer my offer to September 2008 entry, apply more wisely and early to Oxford once again, and give the scholarships my best shot.

I’m also not sure if I want to take a loan and pursue the course if I don’t get any funding. I don’t mind doing it only if I think I’ll live abroad for a year or two after I complete the course. So it all boils down to whether I’m ready to live abroad for 1-2 years after the course, in case I don’t get the scholarship.

So that was the BLPP and once it was successfully completed, I was left feeling pretty aimless on that front for a while now. However, just a few weeks ago, I have started on BLPP 2. It’s taking up as much time and effort as the earlier one and promises to bring about significant changes to my life. This means that every morning I check my mail with sky high expectations for ‘the mail that will change my mail’ but it looks like that mail is going to be a long time coming - not that I really mind because the wait is part of the pleasure.

Anyways, for a number of reasons I need to keep BLPP 2 top secret but am hoping that something will materialize in a month or two. But since I’m an impatient and excitable girl, I can’t really sit around twiddling my thumbs - so I have undertaken another Small Not-so-life-changing Personal Project which shall not have any acronym. I’m going to take part in an essay writing competition with two others. Now I can hear all the sniggering and scoffing, I can, but this is no ordinary essay competition – the prizewinners from last year are all professors, senior guys in think thanks, PhD’s and whatnots – but we are 3 of us who will work on it for the next 3 months and even though we are most unlikely to win anything at all, we will pretend that we have an equally good chance because then it will give us something to do and look forward to.

So that’s how life is right now. There’s lots happening, there’s a lot more in the offing, everything is in a state of flux, I’m reveling in the endless possibilities and the uncertainty of it all. It almost makes up for the utmost rottenness of having to spend summers in Hyderabad AND miss out on munjulu. Dayymnn. But I’m going on a holiday to Darjeeling and Sikkim next week with the family, so all is right with the world – for now.