17 months, 1 month, 12 days!

     I still remember the first time we smiled at each other. It was awkward to see a uniquely pretty girl smile at me. The wavy hair, the pitch-black Kohl in her eyes and the smile extending from one side of her face, to the other! 28th of December, the date just flashed on my mobile screen. I was reminded of my pending work.. to finally give you your gift, girlie!!
     The Serene persona and the joyous charisma in you!
     Not too much said, not too much heard. Only a few hours by the phone, a few dishes down at 'Country cafe'. Loads of long conversations. Sometimes the canteen, your car, the stairway or even the corner of the lane!![remember naa;)]
     Those thousands of waves, winks and smiles! Our mature talks, girly desires, our plush dreams, ambitious thoughts and being ever ready for good food! So much in common, is enough to be friends! Our day out at Colaba was beautiful! I thank god. For, if I hadn't been there, persuading  you to buy the green stole and that top, then I would have missed out on today! Your friendship is abstract to me. I don't need to text you or call you everyday, to tell you that you, indeed have been a special friend!
     Though we never got the sufficient time to know each other thoroughly, I'd definitely want to make up for it in the vacations! All you need to know is, here I am, and will always be there! You just need to turn around when I call you!! :)

Happy Birthday Rithika S.
:)

special plannings!

      Some days, we just expect to come and go. However.. some others.. we plan very carefully...Be it a movie at a friends place.. or a shopping spree..  plans.. are always around the corner. However, the point is whether one is stubborn enough to leave at 1 pm and retreat at 6 pm.. or is one frivolous enough.. to just do everything, against the rules of planning and with that.. i am reminded of the punctual most friend I have. Pratik Shetty. The ultimate guru of 'how to depart at 12, when you ought to reach at 12'
     24th December, has become my favourite day of the year!
2010 was great with secret Santa!
while 2011 taught me that, sometimes.. its never too late or early for something!!
 
Receiving a birthday present 3 months after your birthday can be equally thrilling![the white sweatshirt.. worth the wait Madhura & Tejas!]

Having dinner at 11:45 pm is not that late!!


buying Christmas caps, geeky glasses, standing in the middle of the street at mid night.. is never too stupid!

clicking pictures from every angle, posing with everybody... is never too lame!


 In fact, happiness, lies in the little things we do!
May be the gifts secret Santas give us are expected to bring joy, but those 2 hours of photography, endless minutes of laughter and the pauses to take a deep breath... are all, as a matter of fact, the virtue of happiness!!
And that, my friends, is life... where, giggles and chuckles are all that matters, whether its my best friend, my enemy or a person I don't care much about.... doesn't really count!
 living in the moment makes memories... that will be cherished!

Maid Of Honour.

     The first thought that would seep into ones mind is the bridal maid of honour..the ones who help the bride through her nerve racking moments. In short, the girls in pretty dresses and bouquets in their hands.
     However, here, the one i am addressing, is the maid who works at our homes. The woman who works day in and day out in various houses to make it homely. Who cleans up behind us, when we run behind our importantly-unimportant chores. She leaves behind the money in our pockets, for us to get surprised when we dig in...
     She is probably the only one to get the least respect for her physically tiring and truly humiliating work, she does, so that her children can see the bright sun, raising her head high, to the respect they earn. Though this is in retrospection to the current scenario, which is rather awkward. They are paid much better these days and loved..especially by moms. They have their '21 paid holidays' plus he extras without notice. They have their "maidam gaon me maa bemar hai" [ma'am, my mother is unwell in the village]and "maidam, behen ka shadi hai" [ma'am my sister is getting married] vacations!
     When I see my mother cleaning up behind what the maid has cleaned, I find it vaguely funny!
My mom cleans up, to make the maids work easier, however, tHe maid herself is coming in, to make my mothers work easy![now typing that correctly, was quite a task!]
    How in anticipation of the nicely swept floor and the tidily kept clothes, maa waits for the maid to come. And mind you, its a VIP treatment sans body guards, that she receives with an offer of tea and biscuits and on some days, when she's fasting, fruits and coconut water are on their way!
Although, when I ask for some help here and there, be it, for a glass of water or keeping my phone for charging, maa yells, "everyone in this house thinks I am a maid! How's it going to work? you girls have to get married in a few years and take care of your own household! you ought to learn all this soon.. I wonder if you'll have maIds a decade or two from now.." and there, its not period, its an interruption by my sister and me.. because then, the panic begins, of how will things be in the future?
will the next generation experience maids?
Will the American culture of 'pick-n-drop your maid' come to India too?


Today, our maid returned after a long week. Trust me, we sister's were assigned the duty of dusting the house spic and span.. though we didn't do it! ;)
the door bell rang, and the short lady with her Saree tucked in awkwardly, entered.... to bring back the bliss and the retirement of the washing machine!
Will this phase pass??
Will the so called luxury become a respectful duty?
Will doing our own work become easier..?
Will our dependence on somebody else deduce in the near future?
DON'T KNOW!!
 

In memory of the week we spent struggling to do our chores... hope you never visit us again!

Relishintg what comes free!

You can't get a look of my pizza.. 

what if, my tummy hurt?

     Food is the one and only one thing that gives me the ultimate pleasure besides satisfaction of hunger and the pride of knocking down a platter of marvel!
     Today, my sister and I decided to eat Something appetising for lunch. What could be more pleasing than a chicken with jalapenos cheesy cheese burst pizza from Domino's? Since our budget was pretty strict with only 400 bucks, we settled down without garlic bread!
     The amazing part is, that the delivery boy was a whole 15 minutes late!!!
Free pizza alert!!! However we didn't let the boy with the blue bike go empty handed... Very "humbly", we offered him a tip!
 OOH!!!! Paying for the finest food is never a heartbreak! However, the bliss lies in the word.... FREE!
It came, it was eaten, AND IT WASN'T PAID FOR!!!
Hahaha!!! ;)

Mumbai.

The fast life
traffic
potholes
monuments
population

claustrophobia
early morningspoverty
slums
litter
local trains

pani puri
 dreams
bomb blasts
riots
HISTORY

festivals
unity
 differences 
drive
the sea
vada-pav 
the air
local trains
crowded buses
small lanes with big cars
dhobi ghat
bollywood
 opportunities
love
loath
 aggression
fashion
causeway/hill road

cricket
the question
answers
accusations
debates
views
critiques
fun
depression
Media
yoga
hangovers

agony
photographs
lust
anger
boundaries
skies
smiles
race
adventure
late nights
sweat
street food
warm winters
DON
sea link
friends
screeching fights
comedians
passion
justice?
tears
songs

voices
fame
attachment
disappointments
flirting
big money

social-network
judgements
punishments
long walks
busy days
liberal nights
breeze
mature talks
funny giggles
groups
communities
and now... i don't know how to put an end to this list!!






 

pleasure!

This evening, I called for some snacks from the departmental store across the street. nothing much, my sister and I hogged on ice-cream, chocolate, coffee, and some noodles!
     The delivery was pretty late, so much so that, the plan of gulping the noodles tomorrow was stricken out and we emptied all of it today itself.
     The amusing part is, a little 10-12 years old boy came home with the bill. I owed him a round total of Rs. 100. He expected a single 100/- note, but to his surprise, I gave his some extra coins.
 That little boy, actually said, "sau rupai" (hundred rupees) 
to which I nodded and said"pata hai" (I know)
The boy happily mumbled "EXTRA??......... YESSS!!"
 The typical expression a child has on his face, when somebody pats their back!
 He then slipped the note into his pocket, and counted how much "extra" he had earned!
Its probably the first time I realised a few coins could make one that happy!

Just like I HADN'T planned!

     Why do I so convincingly do things that I pledge on, "not" doing? Its no more disturbing, and neither does it put me in a jiffy. In fact, I find myself smiling over it!
     For instance, the sole reason, for me wearing my same old faded over-sized T-shirts is the mouth watering and appealing to my pallet food I eat! Yes, gluttony it is!

     Today, was the fourth consecutive day, when I promised,"no good food after today!" Giving it a second thought, if all the fun I had today, with my girlfriends is on stake, bring it on!! I'd rather spend quality time, getting nostalgic on how life was, 6 months back. From hoping that the "white shirt- black trousers-hot voice" looked great, to the highest amount of disappointment. Laughing on the streets, high on energy, all those petty little jokes discussing, how much we need to study to deciding on how we wont talk about studies!
     Oh!!! GIRLFRIENDS are always on a roll!!!


     In memory of the hot piece of chicken pizza (with the most amount of cheese and chicken), that Swetha dropped!

     With love and respect for the aromatic oregano & cheesy dip, that Pooja and I cleaned up!

 The loads of laughter we shed on "coldrancksss"[cold-drinks, that's how its pronounced by vendors in the train!]
     This one, to my girls!!!

When i was LITTLE!!!

     When I was little.... everything was from a different point of view.
     Nothing remained the same.... if someday a rhinoceros became a unicorn... the other day at the zoo it would become a rhino'sauces'. Kids are like that, our imaginations didn't run wild..... they're almost hilarious! I still remember the days, when the electric tower was my Eiffel Tower, and cotton came from clouds.
     When candy floss IE buddi ke baal were really a bundle of 'an old lady's hair' (in pink)
     The days when holding a boys hand didn't mean anything, other than just holding hands!
     'My Daddy the strongest'... was not just a flaunting statement.. I really meant it!!!
We kids had our own superstition!
 'Close your eyes and count one to ten' and not actually counting was CHEATING!
Having the smartest bicycle.. was indeed a status symbol.. irrespective of you being able to touch the floor or not.

A fight didn't last for more than a few minutes...
There has definitely been a day in all of our lives, when we all wish, life was as simple, innocent and jolly as it was, as a kid!
But certain things don't change... and that's exactly what counts!!