Singing in the rain...

The monsoon has finally hit this city! Such a relief from the heat and humidity of the past week, really. It’s the most gorgeous day outside and as a bonus..(self-awarded, of course!) Ranjan and I decided we’d go have chai and pakodas at the market for lunch. So here I am post, two cuttings of chai and three plates of mixed piping hot bhaji’s, in my office again all ready for a little snooze.. (imaginary, of course!) . Reminded me of college when we used to sit under this massive peepal tree at the workshop and order garam samosa-paos and cutting chai’s to an endless stream of shared ciggis. Aaaaahh the good old days! We even had this white statue that used to be black in the rains from being covered with snails trying to escape the puddles! A chai now is 6 bucks a cutting, a far cry from the buck I used to pay in college..(gawd... I sound like my grandfather, who claimed that while he was growing up, he could fill both his trouser pockets with 10 paisa worth of peanuts!). But all in all, it was lovely to get out and walk around under the cloud cover and light showers. Viva le monsoon!

..another one bites the dust..

What is it about men? Why are so many of them so wildly infuriating? Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh! Went to the gymkhana club last night.. was good… just the girls standing at our vantage point at the bar sipping our drinks and eating our sandwiches ..when we were approached by this guy and his best friend..(apparently they always hunt in packs..:P) ..this is snatches of the conversation that transpired..

Hunter : so why would you say so many women are single these days…
Varsha : we’re just getting more career oriented…
Hunter : ..and you Priya?
Pooch: Lack of men!
Hunter : ..and what about you Rush..(..another thing he insisted on was calling me rush cos another one of his friends, also a Rashmi, goes by the nick.. we Rushes tend to confirm apparently!)
Mee : Men...in general...especially the ones that ask stupid questions..
Hunter : ..why do you think so many people call you “rush”?
Mee : ..siiigh..i rest my case..

I mean…why do people call me rush? Hello!! ..he then went on to insist that he knew exactly what I wanted in a man, to elaborate on the philosophy of marriage, ask me out for coffee repeatedly..(..as if!!!!) and express MY views on the whole Delhi/Bombay which city is better in what aspect thingmibob to his friends with almost no encouragement from me whatsoever… all in the period of time that it took me to finish my glass of beer and run off to find someone...well...anyone else!

Luckily however, another one of my friends..(shall remain unnamed, of course) walked in sporting these huuuge hiccies that usually.(if not always) herald the arrival of a new man in her life! So the rest of the evening was spent with her cheerfully extolling the virtues of “grass-root” animal sex and romance at 40..(..vaguely familiar…I wonder why!) More power to you darling...go forth and copulate!(if that ain’t a commandment it sure as hell should be!)

Other than that everything seems to be well in place. Back at the office this morning taking a break from my coffee breaks to type this article so need to finish that mug before it gets too cold..

Back in business..

I’m sad this morning...in a reverie. It’s like I‘ve had what feels like the opposite of a great dream…only just about… not quite a nightmare. By definition, since it is a subconscious sadness, one that has not been brought about by any actual circumstances, shouldn’t there be a pill for it? Maybe a mood elevator? Are those things available without a prescription? But in the absence of even the mere hint of laying my hands on anything that has even a slight resemblance to one of those I did the next best thing. I tried to remember just what it was I was dreaming about, so I could break it down. Nada. Zilch. I drew an absolute blank. All I remember is that I went to sleep happy and when I woke up...bam! ..there it was, like a bubble in my chest. So in my ongoing attempts to burst this stupid bubble I figured I’d write about the past few weeks, all the good times per say...

The past few weeks have been packed with activity... catching up with old friends, making new ones, London, Spain, working at max capacity (..it’s been a frenzied ten days since I got back!) and of course massive bouts of introspection. One of my favorites was the meeting of long lost buddies. Over the past few months its been such fun receiving and sending e-mails from and to my school friends who I haven’t met since ..well... school! Duh! I met up with Aparna and Dilnaz at Indigo last month and of course caught up with the ever-elusive Anu in London. Also, I found out that Farida and Rudraksha are in Mumbai so hopefully should be able to catch up with them on my next visit. So much has changed and yet so much feels so familiar…

My holiday in Europe was also absolutely rocking! It was mostly food (..dim sum, sushi, frankfurters, pate, steaks, waffles.. oh I could go on..), alcohol (..mostly beer and wine), shopping (mostly window.. limited budgets suck!!) and barring a few run-ins with the law (..which, by the way, were also fun.. heehee) just the chill out I was looking forward to. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory really. I did, however, spend waaaay too much time and money in HMV. Brought back a grand total of 30 DVD’s and 24 CD’s!! Shameful! I ish a bad gurl.. I ish, I ish! Did manage to catch the theatre production of Footloose though as part of my cultural exploration of London..(..damn those yogurt breaks!! Brilliant! An absolute must-see!) and do one of those bus tours of Barcelona which included a tour of the Football Club. The hotel in Barcelona was something else. We stayed at the Barcelo Golf Resort, a four star property about a 25 minute drive from the heart of the city. 5 days of absolute luxury (..in one word.. ”bath tub” ..or is that two?) Did manage to extend my trip by 3 days and also saw lots of in-flight movies..(I just can’t seem to sleep on flights). Next time I’m going to make it a six week saga...ok my optimism’s certainly back!

Well other than that, work’s been frenzied since I got back...which is a good thing really cos it gives me less time to miss my ex-boss! The most effervescent Shalz quit last month so now its just me, all alone in an all too big cabin to silence..(..she was the official cabin DJ..) I miss her!

On a brighter note it’s the beginning of the weekend and there’s a whole lot of birthdays coming up this coming week.. tonight is Poochie’s big birthday bash. She turns 28 this year..(..although she doesn’t look a day older than 25! Do I get more cake?) Also it’s best-friend-in-good-standing Varsha’s big day on the 4th and Tarun’s on the 6th. Have to still figure out birthday gifts so the cash crunch promises to persevere for a while..( where’s that salary when you need it???)

Also managed to make a list of all My Movies over the weekend.. will my list of lists never end!!

Also here’s some stuff I’ve done after I got back..
……dinner at Shal’s on Tuesday.
……met up with Sam and Ritz on Saturday night.
……landed up at Pooch’s office..(..they’re just slave drivers down at India Today) at 12 on Wednesday to bring in her birthday.
……met up with Ramesh & Tarun.
……revisited the Gymkhana Club on Thursday and then Ricks, where we managed to put the first bump in Varsha’s CRV. Am on self-imposed guilt trip about that. Hmmmm... maybe that’s part of the downer..
……saw about 7 of the aforementioned DVD’s.
……rescheduled my next trip to Mumbai to the 14th of this month so really looking forward to that.

And I don’t know how it worked but I’m just feeling so much better after writing this article! Completely therapeutic this blog thing, really! I guess this means I need to get back to work.. siiiiiiiiiighh!


More when it happens people..:D