The Mumbai Trip (Finally!!!)

Ever since I got back from Mumbai (my first trip ever there)…a lot of people ask me about my impression of Mumbai and I do end up talking a lot about it!! I guess the city does leave a lasting impression…ummm…good and bad both. Part of the reason why I didn’t write about my trip to Mumbai earlier was coz I was making up my mind about whether I liked the place or not! And to put down the negative aspects would mean another serious fight with Suchi (my best friend!)…she completely loves the city…!!!

My first impression of Mumbai is it’s crowded…so sooo sooooo crowded!! Everywhere u go there are people…people…and more people. It’s overwhelming to say the least. Yes I know the statistics…and I know people who live in the city love it despite the sheer number of people on the streets. The second thing that struck me is that unlike Delhi localities didn’t seem much defined…dunno when one ended and the other began…the whole city looks the same?! Ummm…though u can’t miss the difference between what one in Mumbai calls town and suburbs! And yeah new Bombay….hmmm!

Then there was the horrific experience of the local train! Less said the better…though I knowww when I talk about it, it amuses people around me a whole lot. I’d just quote my cousin on this “You asked for it!!” (Coz I kept cribbing ek baar toh jaana chahiye!)…. it was truly scary and I’m sure I’m never gonna get on one of them ever again! But I do feel mighty brave for attempting to be on one during peak hours! Esp. since I’m the type who never gets on to a bus in Delhi…well not since I finished college anyway!! And for all the people who told me that “trains are crowded in Mumbai but men are decent”…..now I know for a fact u never went on a train ever (for the women) and for the guys…u’d never know!!

There was this funny experience with ATM’s…every time we looked for a particular bank ATM we’d never seem to find it and when we did finally and got the desired amount out, we’d see ATM’s of the same bank in every damn place!!!!

I think my most fun moment was when I was cribbing away about not seeing a single movie personality…or for that matter a TV personality…ya ya…u may say u don’t give a shit but I know u expect to at least see them in a normal state somewhere in the city! Sooo Suchi, Rajiv and I were having ice creams at naturals…I forget the name of the place…hill road I think…and ohh yes i must say... another big positive the ice cream there is yummmm:-) (Though I’ve always maintained…mother dairy ice creams r the best!! But then I’ve always been very pro dilli!)… Anyway back to what I was saying. So I cribbed and r says ishi turn around…u got your wish…& I’m like no way who is it??? I had serious doubts okkk…coz I know that grin of his ok…evil to the core…lolzz….and I turn around and see … oh hell… u know that guy in govinda flicks…the really funny guy…long face…sparse but long hair! I didn’t even know the guy’s name….well till r told me right then…pappu kanghi…I’m like…oh good lord! All these days in Mumbai and I get to c is this guy!!! Suchi & r had the time of their lives looking at my expression… (No offense to Mr. Pappu Kanghi … I think his comic timing is gr8! But…I was quite obviously looking forward to seeing someone more happening!)

It’s fun being a tourist in Mumbai…but better still when u have people to stay with and to show u around…coz that’s the best way to experience the city. And most of the people I came across in Mumbai were friendly and helpful and people there aren’t inquisitive about you…they let u be. And now to what I liked best about Mumbai…the autos and the cabs! In Delhi I don’t take cabs unless I’m going to the station or to the airport! They’re way too expensive here for regular rides. And people know what autos here (in Delhi) are like. In Mumbai an autowala would never refuse to take u and I didn’t come across any autowala who argued about the fare or didn’t go without the meter. In fact if u suggested that, they looked at u like “what r u talking about?!” .which left me with the look “are u for real?”… And I remember the cab driver who took us to Worli from Andheri east…he really did show us around…all he had to know was we were from out of town. We kinda got to know his life history by the time we reached Worli!! And at the end of it all he says…arrey aap log kitna baat karte hai…mai raasta bhool jaata toh?!...lolzz!!

I enjoyed three car trips around Mumbai. The first one was courtesy a cousin of r’s who took us from our relative’s place in Panvel to Linking Road…aahh:-)…what a place… I luvvv shoes u know…sandals…shoes…u name it….and this place is definitely a shoe lovers paradise!! I luvvd linking road and I shopped there too…not on that very day but I was there later again with Suchi. Anyway next our cousin drove us to bandstand and of course we got a look at Shahrukh’s house…and Salman’s too. Had sum bhel…took sum pics. That was the day we moved to Suchi’s place after having spent two days at r’s relatives at Panvel.

My second car trip was the best…a friend took us around in his new car. I was excited all through this trip because we went to gateway, marine drive, Haji Ali, drove past Hanging Gardens, Mount Mary church and saw sum nice spots…markets…business centers…and yeah Amitabh’s houses! Oh yes Juhu beach too. Mumbai’s really very different from Delhi…Delhi’s all spread out. And there are parts of Delhi where traffic is kind of decent like around India gate and the embassy areas…and Delhi has green spaces…no high rises. So for someone like me, Mumbai was all cluttered….bustling with activity…people, people, people! And the traffic really got crazy at times! If you’re wondering if I’ve been to Chandni Chowk or Karol Bagh…I have like maybe twice!!

At Haji Ali, we had lunch at Café Noorani and the food was simply scrumpilicious :-)...followed by lip smacking Fruit Cream at the Haji Ali Fruit Center. I’d recommend this as a must have to people who love desserts and are not calorie conscious. That same day rather evening, I enjoyed sipping my tea as I watched the sun go down at marine drive.

My third car trip was with my cousins. We were all from out of Mumbai and were actually there for yet another cousin’s wedding. A day after the main ceremony, the whole lot of us hired a quails and did the same trip all over again. This time I got to play the guide! And oh yes lunch was at Café Noorani and fruit cream was a must!

What I long to go back and do in my next trip is drive down to Pune (heard a lot about the expressway) and also visit places like Lonavla, Panchgini, Mahabaleshwar, etc. I’ve been told the drive to Goa is fun too and if time is a constraint, then Alibaug is a nice place to be in. I was in Goa for around 4-5 days before I got to Mumbai. I guess next year I’ll go back around Christmas / New Years. I talked to a cousin yesterday in Mumbai and he said they don’t need woolens yet! And I’m sitting here with three layers of clothes and still shivering!

Before I end, I must mention that off late when cousins visit us here in Delhi, they insist that all they want is to go shopping or visit the malls! There are a lot of places to see here in Delhi and as a child I remember going to places like Red Fort (esp. the sound and light show), Qutub Minar, India Gate, Jantar Mantar, Lodi Gardens, Humayun’s tomb, Purana quila, and the Delhi zoo, etc…Shopping would be limited to CP, SN or Karol Bagh / Lajpat Nagar. Going around Mumbai during this trip and seeing places there, made me long to do a similar trip back home…in Delhi. Maybe I will sometime when I take my son around…skip the malls and the Cineplex’s…just like before….

There’s a lot more things I did in Mumbai…a lot of it pertaining to the wedding and therefore quite personal…which is why there’s no mention of it here. Phew…this is a rather long post. I wonder if anyone’s gonna read it all :-)… But hey I quite enjoyed writing. I haven’t written so much in a veryyyy long time!

Take Care & God Bless…

Ps: btw since I mentioned malls and my son. Welll every time we take him to play at the play pen at EDM … he yells all the way in the car “chalo chalo ‘mere mall’ mei chalo!!” And if we’re taking him to Metropolitan in Gurgaon (where my in laws are), he yells “chalo chalo siddhu ke mall chalo!!” (Sid is his cousin there!) …Lolzz… I wish malls sahi mei apne hotey!

And oh yess…this space has been lucky for me coz it helped me get in touch with a long lost friend…if u read my blog on my days in Assam, u’ll see I’ve mentioned him… Mohit. I just talked to him like an hour back…and I’m just really happy and excited about this!

And lastly, I saw Bluffmaster recently and I was quite excitedly pointing out places I’d been to in Mumbai…he he he…I did some thing like that last when I watched “while you were sleeping” (the one with Sandra bullock)…after a trip to Chicago!

Did you know?

Did you know that the three most difficult things to say are...

I love you, Sorry and help me

The people who say these are those that actually need them or really feel them, and they are the ones you really need to treasure, because they have said them :-)...

For the Bongs...Half Bongs & the Non Bongs!!

"I've been caught up with Christmas celebrations...that's my sole excuse for not updating! I was also writing a bit...which needless to say is incomplete. But today in my inbox was this forward from a friend:-)...it made me laugh aloud. And I'm hoping others will appreciate the humor in it...no offense to the bongs:-)...wellll, I'm half bong too u know!....Enjoyy:-)!! ... "

Dedicated to my parents (for obvious reasons...!)

One phrase every Bengali worth his sweater has grown up with is thanda lege jabey. It is the ultimate warning of impending doom, an unadulterated form of existentialist advice. Thanda lege jabey. Thou shalt 'catch the cold'.

'Catching the cold' comes easy to Bengalis. It's a skill that's acquired almost immediately after birth. Watch a Bengali baby and you would know. Wrapped inlayers of warm clothing even if the sun is boiling the mercury, the baby learns quickly that his chances of survival in a Bengali household depend on how tightly he can wrap himself in cotton, linen and wool. Bengalis have almost romanticised warm clothing, so much so that Bengali art has found eloquent __expression in a form of quilt-stitchwork called kantha.

I'm sure wool-shearers even in faraway Australia say a silent prayer to Bengalis before the shearing season (if there's any such season). I'm also sure the verythought of Bengalis sends a chill down the spine of many a sheep.

In winter, the quintessential Bengali's outfit puts the polar bear to shame.

Packaged in at least seven layers of cloth ing and the head snugly packed inside the queerest headgear, the monkey cap, he takes the chill head on. Easy lies the head that wears the monkey cap. With a pom-pom at the top, it's not just a fashion statement; it's a complete fashion paragraph.

I remember strolling down the Walk of Fame in Hollywood on a pleasant May evening. My eyes scanned the glittering stars on the asphalt - each an ode to a Hollywood heavyweight. Suddenly, my ears caught the unmistakable Doomsday warning - 'thanda lege jabey'. I stood transfixed. The Hollywood Walk of Fame isprobably the last place one would like to get caught 'catching the cold'. I turned around. There was this Bengali family braving the American chill. The young brat of the family was adamant that he didn't want any more clothing but mom wouldn't have any of it - "sweater porey nao, thanda lege jabey." I need not translate that. Mom won, and the family - sweaters et al - posed for a photograph.

For a race that is perpetually running scared of cold weather, Bengalis have a surprising affinity for hill stations.

Probably, warmth of heart is best preserved in shawls, pullovers and cardigans. In an age when you are judged by how cool or uncool you are,the warmth that the kakus, jethus and mashimas exude can melt icebergs. I wouldn't trade that warmth for any amount of cool. However, the monkeycap may look cool without the pom-pom.

Ps: i wish i knew who wrote this!

Note: Thanks to Mr. Anonymous who left this valuable info in comments...This piece is originally written by Mr. Subir Ghosh for The Hindustan Times. Have a look at this link http://www.sagnik.in/mybloggie/index.php where Mr Ghosh himself has left a comment.

A Dream within a Dream

A Dream within a Dream
By Edgar Allen Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet, if Hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it, therefore, the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of golden sand-
How few! Yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp...
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! Can I not save...
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Let your child be a child

“I think I’ve got what shady (in his comment) calls "bloggers block"!! And I think I got it just coz he mentioned it!!! No…seriously it's more to do with lack of interest and my minds pre-occupied now. Then again this weekend will see the beginning of the countdown to Christmas…lots to do. Cakes to bake, party to plan…in-laws to visit! And then my son will be home for 2 weeks …winter vacations! But I wanted to put this in my blog … a speech by Azim H Premji on children. I agree with and I feel people could learn from, what he has to say.”

“Let your child be a child” - Azim H Premji

If you are a parent, you have many aspirations for your child that may include him or her becoming a doctor, an engineer, scientist or another kind of successful professional. I believe these aspirations are driven by your thinking about your child's future, and her centrality in your life.

Since good education is often the passport to a good future, I presume it leads you to getting your child admitted to a good school. Then you encourage your child to study hard and do well in school exams. To bolster this, you send him or her for tuition classes. This would have primed your child for board exams and entrance exams, thereby leading to admission into a good professional course. Doing well at college increases the probability of landing a good job. And a good job means the child's future is ensured.

I am neither a psychologist nor an educationist, and what I will now state may seem counter-intuitive. I think that these aspirations and actions might be doing more harm than good to your child. To understand why, we need to re-examine some of our fundamental assumptions.

In the first place, I have seen time and again that living: for some distant future goal also means you do not live in the present. The distant goal will always translate into an external measure of success, such as exams. And most exam-focused children start forgetting what it means to be a child, to be curious, mischievous, exploring, falling, getting up, relating, discovering, inventing, doing, playing.

Childhood is very precious; precious enough not be wasted by the artificial pressures of contrived competition, by too many hours of bookish study; and by school report cards that simplistically wrap up an entire human being in numbers.

The second assumption is that education is merely a ticket to socio-economic success. Given the state of our country; this reality cannot be ignored. But restricting education to only this aspect is, I think, a very limiting notion of the aim of good education. The primary purpose of a school is to guide the child in her discovery of herself and her world, and to identify and nurture the child's talents. Just as every seed contains the future tree, each child is born with infinite potential. Imagine a school which sees children as seeds to be nurtured - here the teacher is a gardener who helps to bring out the potential already present in the child.

This is very different from the current view which sees the child as clay to be molded -where the teacher and parents are potters deciding what shape the clay should take. There is an old (and forgotten) Chinese saying: "Give a seed to a potter, and you will get a bonsai".

Even in a commercial organization, to make profits we do not have to chase profits. Rather, we need to build an institution that gives every employee an opportunity to do meaningful and fulfilling work.

Create an organization driven by values of innovation, integrity, customer centricity and care. And as you practice these values everyday and moment, you will see that the profits take care of themselves.

Similarly; dear parent, this is my request to you. Do not give up your child's present to secure his or her future. Give your child the freedom to truly explore life with abandon. In doing this, you will see your child flower into a creative and sensitive human being. And when this happens, everything else -money; social success, security -I will fall into place automatically.

Let your child be a child.

Memories :-) ...

Its 10:30...I've been waiting for the sun to shine bright outside! It's so cold...so...so..colddd! Well the sun's there but weak...dull.... a lot like what I'm feeling right now. I took to writing because of all these long hours I get to myself. I told a friend I was talking to last night that although I start writing with a lot of enthusiasm, I find my interest dwindles somewhere along the way. More often than not it's because I end up thinking many things...a whole lot of thoughts keep coming and going in my head....I kind of lose focus. Anyway, in my last post I'd asked that question "Is blogging addictive?"...and I know the answer is apparent in the way I just put in post after post and in the hours I spend reading blogs.

Okk… can’t keep waiting for the sun to shine. Have to go out. Putting in a post and rushing off. This one was written sometime back and in a much better frame of mind!

“This blog is dedicated to old friends…from my days in Assam :-)”

My days in the Railway colony there were undoubtedly my best days…I have very vivid and happy memories of my time spent there. Be it home… school… the club… parties… picnics… those long walks to the hills behind the colony… all of these I remember…and when I do, I can’t help but smile and think of the people who made my days there so special and fun.

Roopa, my best friend….and the rest of the gang (too many names to mention here…but I miss u all sooo much). The sad thing about rly life was that there was always sum one moving away…and the best thing was there was always sum one moving in!! And the place was always happening… fun filled activities… social dos, etc. And ironically, the best parties were the farewell parties!!! I spent a total of 10 years in Assam … in parts coz I spent nursery to class 2 first and then in between we moved to Delhi for 4 years (hmmm…that’s another phase which was interesting…Maybe sum time I could write about that and time spent at DPS)….anyway, then dad got a posting back in Assam. I’m talking about this part…from class 7 to 10th.

I remember how I luvvd to bake chocolate cakes and all my friends would come over and we’d share cake and spend our time playing games, listening to music (crazy about sum bands which have long disappeared!!)…talking….and we never seemed to tire of doing the same things over & over again! I remember secret crushes….and heartbreaks…and I rem long fone calls…lonely walks…crazy bicycle rides…

Okk…there was this one time when we’d gone for a walk to the hills and it started pouring heavily. We’d split up into two groups. The group I was in took shelter in a small temple (more a shack with a local deity) and the priest there was kind enough to offer us sum tea. We sat there worried about the others coz for what seemed like ages there was no sign of them! When they did get back…they were all drenched and in a total mess :-) …but poor Smita had the worst of it…her foot had leaches…all over…eekks!! I rem all of us sitting there rubbing salt to get those leaches off her foot. Poor Mohit (Smita’s brother and one of my closest frenz) was all worked up!!....hmmm…those were lil adventures we had… I miss all this living in Delhi…no hills to walk to beyond my colony here! ...no lonely paths :-(

And roopsie if u ever read this blog, do u rem the time the guys formed that stupid “doodle club”??? Omg… it was like a NO GIRLS allowed club!! Duhhh!! And what did these guys do? They spent long boring afternoons organizing quizzes??!! I rem just to get back at them we girls (grossly outnumbered) formed a group of our own! We called ourselves the GRIN gang…lolzz… (G for Gayatri…R for Roopa….I for Ishita….N for Nilanjana) and nooo…we had no purpose for making this group. All we wanted was to just irritate these guys…every time any of these guys passed by, we’d be grinning like hell….!!! I was a step ahead, I’d just gate crash their so called quizzes (owing to my excellent social skills with all the mom’s) and sit there ploink in their midst…digging into all the goodies their mom’s supplied for their get together! ...lolzz…

Or the time we kids were asked to help renovate the club library…that was a brilliant way to keep us occupied coz we ended up reading like hell…and it was fun…hmmm…sum cute romances blossoming around that time… hmmmm… rly romances…sigh!:-)

Yes...I do miss those days. I guess most of us have some nice growing up stories. I could go on & on … describing endless such stories… those were fun days. I skipped the school stories…that would take up too much space here! And now I must get back to the kid I got growing up here :-) … been a nice trip back in time…

So tell me...?

Two things have been on my mind lately. It’s been more than a year since I got into the world of chatting and needless to say, it does get u hooked. Though over time, the fascination does wane. I would chat using a pseudonym…like I think many of us do. What I found very interesting is when I signed onto a popular friend’s network and just for some fun I had signed in through both my regular, true id and through my alias. In the former I put in all facts and in the other of course I was considerably vague in revealing any definite identity. Most of the requests I get are for the faceless id…so I asked a question to a good friend of mine as to why people were keener on getting to know my pseudonym and not someone real! And let me just state here that I kept some things honest and ditto for both…I mean the fact that I’m married with a kid blah blah blah! And the answer he gave me was quite interesting…he said that in the true id I came across as a finite person…people could see this is what she’s about and she’s real…as real as it can get. Whereas the pseudonym could be anybody…she’s infinite…there’s an element of mystery…which gets people curious. And people would see her using their own imagination and that could be …. So vivid! Hmmmm!!... Well, that was the first thing on my mind and I think he helped me understand it.

The second one is a question someone else asked me a couple of days back. He asked me is Blogging addictive??? And this question I’d prefer to throw open to people who care to visit my space…esp. the serious and regular bloggers there. I just got here…u guys have been at this for a longer time and it would be interesting to watch the answers to this one….

Summer Stories...

Weekends are always so hectic. Yesterday I'd gone to my son's annual day. It was fun and it just makes me feel so proud watching him perform on stage :-). Today's going to be a quiet day...intentionally so!....and since rajiv's taken our son out to play outside, I have time here to write a bit. hmmm...I'd actually written a few days back but never got around to posting it here. But before I do that I must make a mention here of some of the new blogs I had a look at. The reason why I'm doing that is because...some people do write so very well and pick up some very interesting topics and subjects to write and raise a debate about. And I can't help but wonder why I can't do the same?! But each one to his/her own.... this space is about writing what I feel and that comes from within me... and has everything to do with my life, my personal experiences and what affects me...good and bad. And I certainly don't want to apologise for any boring dull post!:-)....but I felt I need to do this little bit of explaining ( to anyone whoe cares to spend time here and actually read what i write!!) before I move on....

Dated: 9th Dec' 2005

Summer Stories....

Today morning I was thinking of nani (my maternal grandma)…and of exciting summer hols spent at my grandma’s plc…a part of me longed to be a child again…to be back there…young, carefree…not a care in the world!!! What I remember most is being with all my cousins and visiting mom’s ancestral home…which was some distance from the town where nani now lives. I luvvd the car ride…and the house (they called it the palace but to me it looks more like a one of those filmi havelis….huge, sprawling and parts of it falling into ruins). I remember us cousins chatting through the night…telling wild scary ghost stories…being frightened of every lil’ sound...and never venturing around the place alone!!

There was one story which I particularly remember and always share it when I’m with friends…

Way back when my mom was a child and her 4th sister (I think 4th…they’re seven in total!)…was born, my nani decided to get a new nanny to take care of the baby. Nani hadn’t decided where this new nanny would be sleeping on the first night, at this very same haveli, so she put her up in one of the spare rooms telling her that this arrangement was for a night only. The woman made her bed on the floor and fell asleep. Next morning when nani went to check on her, she found the nanny scared out of her wits and insisting she wanted to go back home right away. Nani kept asking her to at least tell…what had happened. And she came up with the following narration…..she said she woke up late night and finding it cold on the floor she decided to sleep on the bed in the room. No sooner had she settled into a comfortable sleep…she was woken with a rude nudge. On opening her eyes, she saw a very pretty woman all decked up in jewels staring angrily at her and demanding that she get out of her bed…and her room!! Frightened the nanny got of the bed and kept saying sorry…she fell at this lady’s feet. When she looked up, the pretty lady had vanished….gone…like she was never there! …..

My nani didn’t really believe her story…thought one of the girls might have played a prank on her, so she asked her to describe this pretty woman. Hearing the details….she was very taken aback because…she got a strange feeling that she knew who this nanny was talking about….the description matched a member of the family. So she took this lady to her room and showed her a photograph. Seeing the photo, the nanny said…yess…this is that woman….who is she? And my nani looked at her in total disbelief saying, “This is my husband’s great great grandmother….she died years ago! She was very beautiful and very vain…proud of her looks and her room was filled with mirrors coz she loved to see herself. How could you have possibly seen her?” The nanny, of course, left the job after this…

And yes, the room still exists, in that very same haveli and nope; I’ve never been in it ;-)!!

Remembering friends & people who care....

How often have u been so caught up with ur life tht u've missed many a chance to talk to or meet up with an old friend?? Here's a poem i read tdy which made me think of all my friends and yes pick up d fone & make that call i shud've made long before....

Around the corner I have a friend,
In this great city that has no end,
Yet the days go by and weeks rush on,
And before I know it, a year is gone.
And I never see my old friends face,
For life is a swift and terrible race,
He knows I like him just as well,
As in the days when I rang his bell
And he rang mine if, we were younger then,
And now we are busy, tired men.
Tired of playing a foolish game,
Tired of trying to make a name
"Tomorrow" I say! "I will call on Jim"
"Just to show that I'm thinking of him"
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes,
And distance between us grows and grows
Around the corner! Yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram sir, Jim died today"
And that's what we get and deserve in the end.
Around the corner, a vanished friend
Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love or like someone, tell them.
Don't be afraid to express yourself
Reach out and tell someone what they mean to you.
Because when you decide that it
Is the right time it might be too late.
Seize the day.
Never have regrets.
And most importantly,
Stay close to your friends and family,
For they have helped make you
The person that you are today

Today's quote :-)

Can miles truly separate you from friends.... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?

Tantrums!!

helpppp!.......no way can i write in the midst of a tantrum throwing 4 yr old!....refusing to do his home work! and can anyone tell me where they pick up these .... these threats!! omg...lollll...."mai tumka bachha kabhi nahi banoonga"...huh!! oh d poor kid...trying so hard to cry....."tum kitni bashman mummy ho!!" :-)).... hell, i feel heartless watchin dis! But... hmmm... yes we mummy's have these days too. And why does my mom's voice keep echoing in my head .."wait till u have one of ur own!" ... welllll, i do have one of my own mom:-) and if it makes u feel any better... he's 3 of us put together (3 wld be both my bro's and urs truly)....

and i dunno y they say let them cry thru it....and let them get thru dis tantrum throwin bout... my hearts melting already. And i don want to hold myself back!

ohh...pin drop silence!!.... nowww i have to chk on him...

backkk... kids!! would u believe it?? he's got himself a cheese cube out of the refrigerator and merrily chompin it!!! no tears...nuthin! hmmmm... and here i wz fretting away!! ... so much fr gettin a new fridge wid a lock (he finds d key no matter whre i hide it!)... well, now that he's calm (or so i wish!)... m gonna try gettin him to tackle his HW!! .... and i have a thing or two to say abt school work but lets save that for a non tantrum day:-)...

another afternoon....drifts by...

did i say i'd be writing every afternoon?!...tdy i spent sumtime goin thru blogs...nope not new ones...just d one's i'd been thru before. curiosity again...jst wanted to c what's new etc etc etc. a couple of them i can't resist going back to and re-reading. it's just fun to read abt ppl...their lives . i mean i cld spend the same time reading a book or watchin tv or....well...writing in my own space! But no...it's others who fascinate me. infact now i find my own blog sooooooooo boring...ahaa..no one's disagreeing i can c! lol....who cares:-)...still my space and m still here...writing...for myself! sumtimes i leave comments in the blogs i visit....but i luv to be the silent observer. one such blog i got to by sheer chance...hmmm..u can call me self-centered but i did a search on my name...and got to this guy's site where he makes fun of the name "ishita"...(he has a fren by that name btw! )loll...he had me laughing away...ohh incidently, i got to another blog thru his...and that i've mentioned in an earlier post (the one abt FOB's). y do i like reading what dis guy has to say? well...coz besides d fact that he can write well...i luvv his cynicism and the way he rips apart his so called frenz in his blog. And why does that amuse me? wellllll...have u seen me say one nasty thing about anyone ever?! that's just me...even wen i get reallyyy mad at sumone..i dunno y i care to spare a thot abt what he/she may feel if i said what's on my mind at that point of time!! hmmm! anyway coming back to...to what? there's nuthin specific m writing abt today...i'll be back again tmrw..i seriously do want to write about the cab driver who tuk us around during our trip...he's another guy i will remember from this trip... that's it for now:-)

Karen & Gerry

This is the first afternoon I have to myself after a long long time. I've abandoned the whole idea of writing a travelogue...I could change my mind though. This is such an annoying thing about me...I keep changing my mind way too often. But I could share sum nice incidents..memories of the trip. The places I visited were fascinating yes..but along with that I have fond memories of people I met while traveling...people I met while on the train, at the resort we stayed in...the local people. hmmm...and not to forget my cousins who I met up with after a long time:-).

The most interesting of all the people I met was an american couple who were on a world tour post retirement...Karen and Gerry. Karen was celebrating her birthday the night we met at the resort's restaurant. I'd spotted them earlier dancing while the band played out in the lawns of the resort and later they sat at the table next to us during dinner. Gerry had planned a lovely surprise for her...buying her a piece of jewellery she had seen n luvvd during their stay in Jaipur and then having the resort arrange for a birthday cake...it was a delight to watch them. It had me smiling and yes the luv they had for each other was evident to all....we got talking when they shared the cake with us and with everyone at the restaurant. I sat listening fascinated by the stories of all the places they'd visited and all the friends they made all over the world. I didn't realize how time just passed while talking and getting to know them...in the following days we shared b'fast couple of times with them...we gave karen a gift too which she liked a lot (a beaded picture frame to put pictures of her grandchildren) and they very kindly invited us to visit and stay with them in their home. we spent a lovely morning together at the beach. That's where I got my tatoo (noo not a permanent one!) and Gerry enjoyed a massage by the local masseur...we watched little street kids do sum amazing stunts. We had our last b'fast at the resort with them and I'm glad we met them...they made my trip all the more memorable and just getting to know them and about their lives was a learning experience for me...I honestly want to age like them...doing the things I like most and sharing it with the person I luv. This is why I remember them most of all the people I met. And I hope where ever they are now....ummm...Australia if I remember right...after Thailand…I wish them luck and happiness always.

Hmmm…I’m hoping that bit by bit I will write more about this last vacation coz I do have a lot of afternoons to myself in the following weeks:-) . For now I have to rushhh…

Easy vs. Difficult

Haven’t had the time or inclination to write anything…but at the same time I hate neglecting my space! Welll…this is yet another forward I got…I only put in things I realllyyyy like…or else I’d just trash it!

EASY vs. Difficult (hmmm…think about it!)

Easy is to judge the mistakes of others . . . Difficult is to recognize our own mistakes
Easy is to talk without thinking . . . Difficult is to refrain the tongue
Easy is to hurt someone who loves us . . . Difficult is to heal the wound
Easy is to forgive others . . . Difficult is to ask for forgiveness
Easy is to set rules . . . Difficult is to follow them
Easy is to dream every night . . . Difficult is to fight for a dream
Easy is to show victory . . . Difficult is to assume defeat with dignity
Easy is to admire a full moon . . . Difficult to see the other side
Easy is to stumble with a stone . . . Difficult is to get up
Easy is to enjoy life every day . . . Difficult to give its real value
Easy is to promise something to someone . . . Difficult is to fulfill that promise
Easy is to say we love . . . Difficult is to show it every day
Easy is to criticize others . . . Difficult is to improve oneself
Easy is to make mistakes . . . Difficult is to learn from them
Easy is to weep for a lost love . . . Difficult is to take care of it so not to lose it
Easy is to think about improving . . . Difficult is to stop thinking it and put it into action
Easy is to think bad of others . . . Difficult is to give them the benefit of the doubt
Easy is to receive . . . Difficult is to give
Easy is keep the friendship with words . . . Difficult is to keep it with meanings
Easy to read this . . . Difficult to follow