Adventures of Venom - 6!!!

Day 6 – 17th November
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We wake up at 1230 PM. Breakfast is at 130 PM, so we call it lunch!!! Start drinking at 200 PM. Meanwhile someone suggests that we should play carrom, so the board was set, and guys get a chance to show off!!!

Nothing of any mentionable importance happens; we drink till 800 PM. Then VS wants to meet up a friend, so we spend some time getting dressed (me more than him) and then leave. Catch up with his fren at 32nd Milestone, a pub at Gurgaon (actually calling it a pub will be an insult – it’s a huge place with everything – pub, bowling alley, garden restaurant, family restaurant and what have you). We decide that this is not the place we want to be, so we park our bike there and go with the fren (in his car) to a pub (now this is what I call a pub – dark with half naked girls and music so loud that you can’t talk!!). I don’t remember the name of the pub, but I it was a great place.

We drink (I drink while VS sips an orange juice); VS and MJ (not me, his fren) catch up on their old times – VS narrating how their college has changed in all these years (we had just been there 5 days ago, so VS wanted to tell it all). I am busy looking at the girls around and trying to figure out which ones are available for pick up!!!!! (OK I AM very bitchy, I know it).

Suddenly the music stops and someone interrupts – “Gurrls and guys, if you want to have sexy tattoos done, it’s on the house”.

TATTOOS – and why not!! I run and queue up before VS can realize what happened. This is a temporary tattoo – I don’t have the guts to get a permanent one done!! I patiently await my turn. Finally the patience pays – I am sitting on the stool examining the designs. I choose plain and simple “Om” to be tattooed on my back (not the word OM, but the symbol). I remove my jacket, and turn my back towards the guy. He paints it on my bare back – shows me the tattoo in the mirror, and says with a smile – “you have a nice back, and that’s a nice top. You should remove the jacket”. I have no idea if that was a compliment or what!!! I smile, say thanks and sprint away.

I walk to VS and show off my new asset (the tattoo!!!!!!) he says I should get one done on my neck too!! Cool! So I go back again. He smiles at me, and I get a preference over others!!! (Wow man, I like that!). I jump the queue and tell him "I want a snake on my neck."
"You should go for a butterfly."
"OK. If you say so!"
"And instead of the neck, you should get it done on the collar bone!!!!"
"Amhuh!!!OK. I agree."

He patiently paints the butterfly on my “collar bone” (I thought it was a little lower than that.. but what the heck – it was a nice tattoo!). I wait till he has finished.
Then I turn and tell him – “Thanks. I am sure my husband will love it!!!” and I walk away while he stares at me in disbelief. Good fun, I like doing this to people who are over smart!

We drink till 1130 PM, have food and then head back. On the way back, I get into some stupid argument with MJ, I don't even remember the topic now. But at the end of the day, it was a good evening.

We reach home (Gurgaon) at about 1200 midnight. VS is dying to sleep but carom is calling!! And for me, booze is calling!!

We drink till 200 AM again and snore off to sleep.

Day 6 ends. No trip to talk about. But loads of fun time with friends.

Adventures of Venom - 5!!!

Day 5 – 16th November
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The day starts late. We wake up at 930 AM. And then the rush begins. What about the Taj Mahal plan!! Weren’t we supposed to leave at 600 AM. Everyone conveniently blame me for being a lazy bum! Oh yeah rite, so I am the one who over slept! And what about you all? As if you are ready to leave!

I forgot to mention that my brother was also at my friend’s place in Delhi (Gurgaon). And whenever VS and my bro are together, their favorite pass time is to bitch about me and how lazy I am and how VS is a gentleman coz he copes up with me …. and …. and ….. and…...

We finally manage to leave at around 1200 noon. By the time we are on our way, its already 1230, thanks to some shopping on the way – essentials you see – you have to be prepared for that if you are traveling with a 10-month old baby!!!! (Friend’s dumbo, not mine)…

Getting on the highway takes us a lot more time than was expected. That happens when you don’t know the way, and think that you do, and you claim that you do, and try bragging about a short-cut!!!! No, I wasn’t driving, it was my friend. Actually my fren’s hubby, but since he has become so close to us that he is also counted as one of our frens! And what makes it interesting is that he is as crazy as I am!! (And my fren is as sane as VS is, so it’s a purrrrfect jodi!!!)

As everyone had predicted, I doze off to sleep as soon as we leave home (actually I manage to keep awake for good 15 minutes). I don’t know of what happened while I was sleeping so I shall skip it – VS can narrate it better! I am shaken awake at around 4.00 when we stop for lunch at a Dhaba on the highway. The break is much needed. We have good food – that’s one thing I really miss in Mumbai. Though I am a Maharashtrian by birth, I have been born and brought up in north of India, and that explains my liking for north-Indian food!

We reach Agra at around 600 PM. We head straight to the Taj Mahal. We notice that it was unusually less crowded. “It’s the evening chill” VS tells me. I am surely excited at the thought of watching Taj Mahal at near moon-light and having a good view in absence of the maddening crowd. We quickly park our car in the lot, and jump out.

An annoying shrill sound hits our ear-drums – “Kahan jaana hai?”
What a funny question – “Ab yahan aaye hain to Taj Mahal hi jaana hia”.
I am sure I saw a smirk on that fat face. “Aaj Friday hai”.
“Haan maloom hai ki aaj Friday hai”. Now, what’s THAT got to do with this? I am losing cool now!!!
“Haan to Friday ko Taj Mahal band rehta hai”

WHAT!!!!! SAY THAT AGAIN. Says who? I want to know. We stand there for the next 10 minutes, not knowing what to do.... But there nothing that anyone can do about it
We are all hysterical by now.. Giggling and laughing at ourselves – driving down 220 Kms to figure out that we cant see the Taj Mahal!!!!

We paid 50 bucks to a Tangawala to take us some place from where we can get a glimpse of Taj Mahal. We stand at the roof of a 2 storyed building looking at the monument hidden behind trees.

We just click some snaps of this disaster…. Buy a small marbel Taj Mahal souvenir and head back.
I sleep all the way back. We stop by at McDonalds for a quick meal. We reach home at around 1130 – way back is much faster.

We drink till 200 AM and doze off to sleep.

Day 5 ends… nothing achieved at the end of the day.

Adventures of Venom - 4!!!

Day 4: 15th November 2007
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The day starts late – as usual. This time for a change, I am in bad shape. The dust has caused my sinus to aggravate and I can’t breathe. I have a running nose and am cranky. (I usually am, but when I am unwell I can be intolerable).
We have breakfast at the Hotel and then push off, of course after clicking a picture of where we were staying. We needed to know right? it was too dark at night to realize how shady the place was. Ajmer is still almost 70-80 kms away. We again realize that someone has been playing with the trip meter, and it is again set to zero. Damn!!!!

We have enough time at hand, and we cruise away. Nothing of mentionable importance happens on our way, except for my insistence of having an ice cream, which we never managed to get.

We reach Ajmer – our 1st stop being the “Ajmer Sharif” dargah. It is said that this is a very holy place and that whatever you ask for here, is always granted. We are asking for directions every 2 minutes – it is in the old city, and we all know how congested and confusing can that be. The lanes are extremely narrow – to the extent that 2 bikes cannot pass each other in parallel. It’s amazingly crowded and it feels like sunlight never touches these lanes. We have trouble finding ourselves any parking. Suddenly we hear someone creaming “yahan aao”. We obviously do not know anyone there and this is very surprising. We turn around to find out that one extra helpful gentleman is calling us out to follow him. Not knowing what to do, we stand there, while he insists that we come with him. Having no other choice, we follow him deeper into the intricate lanes. Finally he helps us park in front of an over crowded food shop and points towards a gate which reads “khwaja Garib Nawaz Guest House”. We are asked to deposit our bags there, as no bags are allowed inside the dargah. We reach the cloak room – a fat lazy guy looks at us from head to toe and says “Isme kya hai”.
I am amused by this question and say “Kapde hain, aur kya hoga?” He clearly takes offence to that and says, “Check karana padega”
OK. If you say so! VS promptly emptied the handbag. Then he turns towards the saddle bag and wants us to empty that as well. I am annoyed by now.
I tell him “Packing kya aap kar ke doge wapas”. This is too much for him and he goes on a tangent. “I can check all bags, I am a defense personnel”.
OK. “Show me your I-card” (That was of course me, while VS is banging his head on the wall, literally). He promptly takes out his card which reads “police constable”. I am almost laughing at this!!!!
Needless to say that after all this story, the ‘defense personnel’ insisted on us taking out each and every piece of clothing. VS, by now, has lost his patience and refuses to keep the bags there. He picks up (more like throws it over his shoulder) the bag and walks out. I run after him.

The guy who had taken us there in the 1st place, now offers to let us keep our bags in his shop. “Why is he being so helpful?” is what VS wants to know, but I tell him “Learn to trust people, Bhagwaan to darwaze pe khade ho”. We accompany this character to his shop, and he lets us keep the bags. Now its time to buy flowers – 350 bucks for a Chadar & some flowers. OK now I know why he was being so helpful!!!! LOL

The Dargah is crowded and like most other places of worship, there are people at every step trying to fleece you! Thanks to VS’s bad mood, we manage to get out of there without paying too much.

Then we head towards Taragarh Fort. I am insisting on it as I am a sucker for Forts / Palaces. The way to Taragarh is very cool. It is steep and the turns make it sexy. After a strenuous ride, we reach the top, only to find that the fort has been demolished (long long ago, by some invader) and all that remains is a Mosque which was built after demolition of the fort!!!!!!! Enough of worship for the day, so we decide not to go in.

We just click some snaps and push off. On our way back, the inevitable search for loo starts!!! LOL!!! We stop by “Prthviraj Smarak” hoping to find something interesting (monuments AND the loo), but all that we see is some couples seeking privacy. Again, we are unwelcome, so we push off.

We enquire about Pushkar, but people tell us that its no fun going there now. The world famous Pushkar Mela is due to start on 18th and that is the time we should visit it. OK. We will do it on our way back then.
We plan to take a night halt at Kishangarh. Again, for the fort. The plan is that we will see the fort in the morning and then push off to Jaipur.

Somewhere down the line we have already ditched the Jaisalmer plan, and I am cribbing about it. Jaisalmer has amazing sand dunes I am told. So that’s a regret I have – traveling all the way to Rajasthan and not seeing the sand dunes!!! Some other time, maybe!

Its already 330 PM and it will get dark before we realize. So we are on our way. By this time, my running nose has made my life miserable and I am unable to enjoy anything. We decide to skip Kishangarh and head straight towards Jaipur. By 400 PM it is clear that I am in a bad shape and could do with some rest. So we decide to head to Delhi (Gurgaon) to our friends place, and do Jaipur on our way back. I can’t keep my eyes open, have a terrible headache and am claiming high fever (which VS does agree to). I cling to him like a monkey and try and get some sleep. (Remember, I told u that I sleep on any moving vehicle unless I am the one diving /riding it!). It is getting dark and cold. The Ajmer – Kishangarh road is bad and takes maximum time for us to cover. Once we cross Kishangarh, the road to Jaipur is just beautiful. It’s a 4 lane highway nicely planned and better constructed. It is chilling on the highway. But we decide to cover as much distance as possible before it gets dark. At around 700 PM, after riding for 3 hours non-stop, VS’s fingers are numb coz of the cold; he can’t see a thing, coz he is wearing shades; and there is no fuel in the bike.
We search for a petrol pump and with each km I feel that I will have to push the bike any minute now. Finally just after crossing Jaipur (on the highway), we spot an IOC petrol pump. We take the opportunity to wear warm clothes, gloves, fuel up and change glasses. Back on the road again.

At around 800 PM, I create a ruckus. Just coz I haven’t asked for a break, VS is not giving me one!!!! I need food! We stop by at some dhaba for Kadhi-Chawal – yummy!!! Hit the road again, hoping that the next stop will be Gurgaon. But we need to stop at 930PM again – we need a coffee to thaw ourselves. VS is wearing all his T-shirts one over the other by now (he is looking funny and fat, but I will skip that!!). I am not that cold, coz I am clinging to him and avoiding the wind all along!! LOL!

The last 20 kms were most killing. Just when you feel that you have reached now, you hit a traffic jam – just outside Gurgaon. The jam took us 30 mins and a lot of off-roading to clear.
We finally reach the friend’s place at 1030 PM. Want to hit the bed right away, but as soon as I reach home, I am already feeling better.
We chit chat till 200 AM, planning about the next day and the trip to Agra. VS has never seen the Taj Mahal and I think that it’s a crime to come all the way here and not see it.
I finally doze off around 230, not realizing that people are still probably talking to me.
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Day 4 ends. Trip meter reads apprx 475 or something.. I am losing track of kms

Adventures of Venom - 3!!!

Day 3: 14th November 2007
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Two days of biking and the enthusiasm is at its peak, but our bodies are not. Given that we went to sleep very late the night before, we have an excuse to start the day late.

We wake up at 800 AM, and laze around for a while. Finally we are ready to leave at 930 AM. A good Idli Dosa breakfast is filling. And it’s lovely to have a sambhar which does not taste ‘sweet’. Now that we are out of Maharashtra and Gujarat, the food is no longer sweet and that feels nice.

The ride is good and boring – nothing much is happening. And then suddenly we see something!!! By the time we realize what it is, we have already crossed it. But we turn and go back to have a good look at it. And we have a good laugh as well!!!
“Talk about competition” – this one is an ad painted on a huge rock, and says “Reliance se sasta Diesel”. If only Reliance was to ever see this! LOL! While I am trying to climb up, I see an ugly looking red and green huge chameleon, waiting to pounce on me, obviously hating that I am trespassing in its territory! I am shit scared but also want to act brave!!! Well the snap comes out really funny!

The next stop is Jodhpur which is still a good 250 Kms away. I insist on purchasing some singharas. For those who don’t know what it is – it is a triangular thorny fruit (or is it a vegetable, not sure) which is peeled and the sweet pulp is eaten. NO - It’s not as bad as it sounds here, it’s actually nice. So there I am – peeling and eating singharas on the pillion seat. Also trying to put some in VS’s mouth – sometimes missing the mouth and getting the nose!! Some way down the road, we get stopped by the police (I had been thinking since long – we look like terrorists, how come we haven’t been stopped as yet). Didn’t I tell you I have a black tongue?

So back to the police story – the policemen want us to show them all the bike papers. They seem disappointed at not finding anything suspicious. Then they want us to tell them all about the 2 of us and where we are off to. They are more disappointed. And then they finally come to the point – “Chalo Diwali karte jaao” Simply translated, that would mean they want money. This annoyed me and I asked them “Hum acche bhale jaa rahe the, hume roka kyu?” So one of them grins and says, “Namaste karne ke liye”. Translated again, that would mean, ‘we stopped you for money’. VS has no intentions of dragging this issue, and he promptly pays them and we walk towards the bike. I hear one of them calling, “kya kha rahe hian madam?” Translated to - we want to eat it too. So gave my packet of singharas to them and we rode off (sob sob)

Today is the day of detours – so we take a deviation – don’t know where, but follow the signs to a Jain temple. It’s worth the extra 60 kms. The temple, like all other Jain temples, is pure marble and is almost 900 years old. It’s the “parshwanth temple”. The pujari doesn’t seem to like the way I am dressed and makes a face, but he doesn’t have a choice. The temple is quiet and serene, and a Jain family (a very large one I must say) is performing some sort of rituals. We are clearly unwelcome and so we take leave after spending good 20 minutes over there.

We reach Jodhpur at around 400 PM. The trip meter reads 1110. We are pleased with ourselves.

Our 1st destination is the Mehrangarh fort. The entrance is grand and standing at the gate, I am thinking about how cool it would be to be living in this, in those days. Shit! Why wasn’t I born a princess!!! VS parks the bike and we can't find a place to keep the bags. So VS has to carry it in his shoulders. He promptly decides that he wants to take the lift to the top (the fort is very well managed. The tour starts from the top and ends at the ground floor. You have an option of climbing to the top or taking the lift – the top is 12 floors high, though the fort only has 4 floors!!). We finally manage to get a place to keep our bags, now its better!

Each room in the fort has its own story and the history is fascinating. My “wow, imagine” is driving VS nuts.The fort took us a good 2 hours to complete. And it was beautiful. I have no words to describe it here. The glass rooms are out of this world. They apparently were the bedroom! Wow man, imagine waking up in the morning to such a beautiful room! There I go again!
There is the dining room, the children’s room, the kitchen, the meeting room, the entertainment room, the guest room and what have you. I almost had a debate with VS on whether I would marry him if I were a princess… maybe if he agreed to come and live with me in the palace. He promptly refused. And that was the end of the discussion.

It is now that we realize that all the forts / museums close at 500 PM. It’s a miracle that we were allowed till 600 inside Mehrangarh. We have loads of places to see and no time at hand. We compromise on just visiting the places – the thought of being a part of it is enough. We are just short of running towards our bikes, but then it’s of no use – it’s already 615 PM.

It’s now that we notice that some a%&^hole has reset our trip meter to zero. Can you believe that!!!! We are pissed, we are upset, but there’s nothing we can do. So we move on.

We visit the “Jaswant thada” which is just outside the ‘Mehrangarh’ fort. This used to be the Royal crematorium – it still is. We tried to click a picture of the actual monument, but bad light and no access didn't do any good! We had to come back without one. Next we tried to visit the "Umedh Bhavan Palace". We were not even allowed entrance, leave aside getting any snaps. The watchman (or should I say the royal guard), shooed us away. . We then tried the “Mahamandir” – which as the name suggests, is a HUGE temple. It has now been converted to a school (a good thing to do, but has taken away the historical value of the monument)

We now started worrying about the night halt. It was only 800 PM and it didn’t make sense for us to stay back in Jodhpur. We should proceed towards Ajmer. But Ajmer is another 250 Kms from Jodhpur and there is no way we can make it all the way. We decide to take a night halt at Byawar. It’s a small town almost 70 Kms before Ajmer and is a decent place to stay. We reach Byawar at around 1200 mid-night. Dead tired and sleepy - looking around for a hotel. We tried Raj Darbar, but no rooms available. Then we tried Vinod, still no luck. Damn the wedding season!!! Raj Darbar and Vinod were the only 2 big hotels that we had done a ref check on – now what to do?? The receptionist at Vinod helped us out by telling us of another one – Hotel Vikrant. He said it is small, but a place where families live and you could stay with your wife. That’s all we need dude, give us the directions. Finally we managed to check in a room at around 1230 AM.

The only room available was a single room - means, we have to sleep on a single bed now… well well I don’t mind ;) The room was one of its kind, it had a basin in the room!!!!! Yes you heard it right. But we didn’t have any choice, nor the enthu to go and find some other place!
So we sleep like logs again.
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Day 3 ends. Trip meter reads 165 (remember that a%$^hole who set it to zero)….. 10 more days to go

Adventures of Venom - 2!!!

Day 2: 13th November 2007
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We wake up at 6.00 AM to leave. But VS is unwell – has a stomach infection. Already!!!! And someone talks about me being dainty darling!!!
VS is in a bad shape and no medicine seems to be working! Finally the Gharelu Ilaaj & Dadi ma ke nuskhe come to his rescue. After having a horrible tasting kaadhaa & some heeng (eeeks!!!), he seems fine (or at least claims to be).

We leave home at 1100 AM. Still debating whether he is fit to ride for such a long distance.
My bums are stiff and I have come up with a brilliant idea. Remember the hot water bottle that I had packed for back aches? Well, it’s now being used for bum aches. I use the bottle as a water bed. :D – fill it to half, press it to push the air out and close it. Your water-bed is ready; and trust you me – it is SO VERY helpful ;) Don’t forget the hot water bottle if you are planning a bike ride!!!!

The next stop is scheduled to be Mt. Abu. We ride smoothly and having ball of a time (It’s on the highways that you realize that India is REALLY changing). I am busy hogging sitting in the pillion seat. And then, as is inevitable and expected (Suruchi can vouch for this), I need to use the loo. VS is pissed, and gives me “I told u not to hog like a pig, but you wouldn’t listen to me” expressions!!!

Then the search begins. I am getting anxious by the minute and he is getting annoyed. Finally we spot a “highway authorities” office. It looks like it’s been closed for ages. But fortunately the loo isn’t locked. But there’s another challenge – the way to the loo is covered with thick bushes and thorny ones at that!!!! Well, desperation is the mother of all adventures – so I decide to tread the path. 5 minutes and I am back – relieved, but wailing like a baby – I have thorns all over my body, jeans and some of them have been daring enough to be found inside my jeans (how, is a mystery). Then the mission begins, to pick each one of them. And VS is doing a good job at it. It takes 30 minutes for me to be back to normal and for him to pick out all visible thorns.

We are already late – it’s almost 200 PM. We rush off on our journey. I am too scared to talk about lunch now so we have to skip it!

We are on our way to Abu road (it’s a small town which is the “flats” for Mt. Abu). There is a steep climb to Mt. Abu from Abu Road. The road to Abu Road is quite bad – ‘Four-laning’ in progress and practically half the road is closed down. The truck drivers in this part of India are crazy – they take sharp turns and cut from tiny spaces; they will drive on the wrong side of the road (there is no divider to mark change of direction) and while you are cruising away, you will suddenly see a truck right in front of you, who will not budge nor respond to your light indication. Finally, if you don’t want yourself crushed, you will have to get off the road on the mud (if you are lucky) or in the fields (there is no shoulder) and stop by till the truck is gone.

We reach Abu road by 430 PM. The stretch between Abu Road and Mt. Abu is beautiful and steep. We manage to reach Mt. Abu at around 5.30 PM. Our aim is to get to the famous ‘Dilwara Temples’ before 600 PM. (It closes at 600). We reach at our destination at 5.55 PM, and I run to queue up, while VS searches for a parking space. We have to leave our luggage on the bike (no place to keep your bags). We are amongst the last batch that was allowed to enter (thank God!). The ‘Dilwara Temples’ live up to their reputation and only when you are inside do you realize why they are famous the world over. The marble carvings are out of the world and the temples are more than 1200 years old. It’s a pity that what has lasted for 1200 years is damaged in 100 years – thanks to the pollution that our comfortable lives result in!!

Sorry, no snaps – no camera allowed!!!!!

By 630 PM we are thrown out of the temple, though I couldn’t get enough of it! The next stop is the lake. It is a sure disappointment – too commercialized and artificial (maybe honeymooners will enjoy it!!!). Didn’t even spend 15 minutes there, and are already on our way back. By the time we reach Abu road, its dark and cold and we are hungry. We stop by in a small dhaba for food. Either the food is just too good or we are too hungry, I can’t decide – so I concentrate on food. Now the important question – where should we spend the night? There are no hotels available in Abu road (the entire Gujarat is in Mt Abu - they have 5 days vacation after Diwali). We decide to push off towards Jodhpur and stay in some motel on the highway wherever we find one.

The journey is chilling! Its cold, visibility is bad and the truck drivers in this part are worse at night!!!! We ride on for what seems like eternity – no motel in sight. Finally at around 1145 PM we spot a restaurant (more like a dhaba). We walk in to ask for directions. We are told that there is a motel around 5 kms down the road.
Those 5 KMs took us 15 minutes but the anticipation made it much longer. We finally stay in a motel called “Arbuda” (what a weird name!!!). The name is bad, but the motel was decent. It turns out that the motel was the official guest house for many a JK cement employees. We thank god that the factory is closed for Diwali vacations and that there rooms available. We don’t even know the name of the place – guess it was Sirohi if my memory serves me right!
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Day 2 ends. Trip Meter reads 857.. 11 more days to go..

Adventures of Venom!!!

For those of whom wondering where have I been: there was long break. The post explains half of it!

This post comes in a little late – actually a lot late – but that’s what happens when you are back to work after a 15 day break!!!!!!

I had truck loads of thoughts running in my head, but I had vowed that I will not write about anything else, till the time I have finished the post on my trip!!!!

Venom, VS and me! The three of us set out for some adventure. And before you ask – who’s Venom? Let me tell you, Venom is the new love in VS’s life. Venom is the bike – a beautiful silver-coloured Royale Enfield.

OK, so now the trip – the biking trip! Yes, we did it, finally! After months of planning and anticipation, it’s already over and it feels great. Though it leaves us with a desire for another longer one and NOW, but I guess the 2nd trip will have to wait for sometime.
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THE PREPARATION:
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There was a lot of thinking and preparation put to this plan. It started from choosing the route. We knew we had to start from Mumbai, coz that’s where we live. But where to go and how, needed route planning. The 1st thought was to do Himachal via Rajasthan and Delhi and it spanned for 3 weeks. But then the “cool” boss butted in and shortened the leave to 2 weeks.
The plan had to change. Himachal had to be struck out of the plan.

Finally we agreed on

Mumbai – Anand – Ahmedabad – Mt. Abu – Jodhpur – Jaisalmer – Jaipur – Delhi – Agra – Delhi – Jaipur – Ajmer - Pushkar – Udaipur – Vadodara – Mumbai.

Then the work began

1. Buying helmets (while you are in the city the pillion rider doesn’t wear a helmet, but it surely is needed on the highway)
2. The “how to carry luggage on the bike” discussion, which led to the purchase of a saddle bag (I had never even heard of such a thing’s existence before this day)
3. “How to carry my clothes in that saddle bag? It’s so small” – such questions are almost always met with VS’s icy stare, which means – “Shut Up”. And so, I knew all I could carry was 3 bottoms and 7 tops.
4. Then came the spare parts for the bike – including the extra tyre tubes!!!! Needless to say that the spares took up almost half the available space. OK, I am down to 2 bottoms and 5 tops now.
5. Purchase of glucose and Tang, and a small First Aid box (very essential)
6. Collection of my skin care products – let me tell you – nothing's more important for you (if you are a girl) than sunscreen on such a trip!!!!!
7. Getting glares done for VS with power, so that he can wear them while riding during the day (he wears spectacles, remember!!)
8. Remembering to keep the hot water (rubber) bottle for back aches.

THE TRIP BEGINS:
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Day 1: 12th November 2007


We started at 6.00 am. This was an achievement in itself, considering that we had partied till 2.00 am the night before.

Trip meter set to Zero.

The 1st break came almost immediately – around 9.00 am for breakfast - at Kamat’s on way to Surat. The 1st day of riding can be tough. My bums were already hurting and I was begging for a break.


At around 2.00 pm I was tired and dozing off (yeah on the bike). I ate VS’s brains out till he stopped by at a road side tapri for a break. I promptly lay down at one of the benches, much to VS’s embarrassment.

I had to drag myself up to the bike within 15 minutes, coz VS threatened me (with a straight face) that he was going ahead with the trip and I could catch the 1st flight back! (And I was like – yeah rite, this tapri is the swankiest of the airports, rite!!!!)

At around 3 PM we were nearing Anand. OK…for the curious ones who are wondering ‘Why Anand??’ … Anand is a small town in Gujarat famous for AMUL MILK. And as to why we were visiting it, VS has graduated from BVM engineering college in Anand. SO I wanted to relive his memories with him.


By now I had created a ruckus about VS not letting me ride the bike. Finally I succeeded and VS handed over Venom’s control to me. (Thats an achievement, and those who know what a control freak VS is, will agree)

We reached Anand by 400 PM. It was a beautiful experience watching VS in full action around his campus. Telling me stories related to every nook and corner of the building, showing around the hostels, the canteen, the mess, the dhaba, the shady theatre where they spent hours watching porn movies – all of it. Lovely!!!! Worth the back breaking ride.

At about 600 PM, we proceeded towards Ahemedabad. It was getting dark and riding on the highway after dusk can be dangerous. I was obviously scared. I wish to spend many more years with VS and have kids by the dozen!!!

It was complete darkness all around us by 645 pm - 1st realization of "Shit man! We should have gotten the headlight replaced by the Halogen one”. We almost had a disaster when VS tried to get on the shoulder of the road to let a speeding car pass. Before we could realize the shoulder had metamorphosed into a pavement!!!!! We missed it a fraction of an inch!!!!! Heart beats pacing and with a sinking feeling of what could have happened – there was silence for the next 15 minutes. We didn’t speak with each other for what seemed like ages.

We got to Ahemedabad at around 800 PM, safely and decided to take a night halt at a friends place. My shoes had given way by then – thanks to the silencer! Once in the city, we were fairly relaxed (though the bums were emphasising on every muscle they had - if they have any under all that fat!!). We spent some time looking around for shoe shops. Couldn’t manage to buy any shoes – I either didn’t like them or they didn’t have my size!!!!

930 PM we were at Mitul’s place happily chit chatting about our 1st day and the plans for the remaining days. Had nice home cooked food and dozed off like logs.
----------------------------------
Day 1 ends. Trip Meter reads 573... 12 more days to go....

Radio: Music vs Ads

Coming to work is a pain... driving to work is a pain in the a$%e.
My drive to and from work is 2 hours each way - WOW! I spend one-sixth of my day driving!!!!

Now, don't get me wrong - I LOVE driving. It's just the traffic that kills me. And what better way to kill time than listen to music. Talking of music, I am still an ardent radio fan as opposed to the CDs. I love the feel of not knowing which song will play next and the random mix of moods.

And I switch stations everytime there is an ad playing. And I always wonder if everyone does the same.

I tune in to a particular station coz I like the kind of music they play. And when more people tune in, the station becomes popular. And when the station becomes popular, they get more ads. And given the limited time, more ads = less music. So people like me start to leave.
And then the station becomes unpopular = less ads = more music. Then I
tune in again!!!

OK I am confused - Will someone please explain it to me
How does this whole thing work???????

Random...

Random Thanks:

1. That I don’t have a strong (and unpleasant) body odour (I know of people who do, and every time I talk to them, I feel truly thankful)

2. That I don’t stammer! That I can walk and drive and dance!

3. That I am married to a man, who accepts me as I am, even if he doesn’t like a few (ok.. ok.. a lot many) of my idiotic characteristics; That I have a mother-in-law who doesn’t behave like a typical stereotyped MIL. (You got to meet her to realize how lucky I have been to land up with her.. and how unlucky she must have been to land up with me!!)

4. That I am not fat or ugly looking!

5. That my mom didn’t meet with an accident when she was carrying me – and I had the privilege to be born with no defects!! (OK.. SHUT UP)

Random Questions:

1. How are you supposed to behave when you meet your boss in the loo? (Thankfully I haven’t had female bosses till date, so I haven’t had a chance to experiment!!)

2. If you had 2 dying men – one who has met with an accident and the other who has tried to commit suicide – and you could save only one of them; which one would it be?

3. Why can’t the office AC be just right? Why is it either too cold, or too hot?

4. Why do I have to work? Why can’t I be paid for doing nothing?

5. Why does the house maid need a day off, exactly when you are expecting lots of guests?

Random Facts:

1. If you give me attitude, you either are already insignificant to me, or will soon become so.

2. The best thoughts will occur to you just when you won’t have anything to note them down on

3. I have realized over years that you don’t have to be with people to love them. You can just love them.

4. I never have enough money

5. I don’t know what makes me happy
===============================================================

Ray thinks I rock!!!!

Thanks Ray!!! (Resh as most people would call her, but I prefer to stick to Ray)
Well, I had no clue on how to accept this pink 'Rocking-girl-blogger' award, and hence the delay in this post. Finally Ray enlightened me on the process and here I am.

Thank you, Thank you. (Bowing)

Had an amazing week - in the negative sense - and this compliment does bring a smile to my so stressed face.(after all not many people think that I rock!! Most of them think I AM a rock!)

Won't go into the details of what happened, but broadly

1. Managed to get my laptop stolen, and hence lost ALL data. (Don't even ask me how it happened)

2. Lost a cheque of approx 11,000 bucks. (Thankfully not a bearer cheque)

3. Managed to get bad bad rashes and sun burns on my face - and now with the skin peeling off, I can pass off as a horror film star. (I am truely upset!)

4. Found out that my ideal job would be a 'top-gun-fighter-pilot' (whatever that means).. and wondering what the f%^& am I doing here.

5. Realized that I have gained 2 Kgs. (sob sob)

The list is really long, but since Ray would come back to me and scream for making it more than '5', I shall shut my trap for now!!

And for the fact that this post is about accepting the "Pink" (and so lovely) award and not about my escapades.

Quantifying the craziness…

Picking up the tag from Rayshma, I sit down to perform one of the very few things that I find difficult to do – list down my insanity.

The difficulty is attributed to 3 main reasons:

1. I like to believe I am perfect, and so there isn’t anything that I don’t love about me, including the insanity
2. My arrogance makes it difficult to accept my madness on a public forum
3. Ray asked me to limit it to ONLY 5, which is a mammoth task – includes a lot of thinking and organizing and reorganizing the list (anybody who knows me will vouch for it)

But, I am told that if someone tags you, it’s rude NOT to pick it up, so here I am. The quirkiness below follows no ranking; it is purely listed in the order of realization and I have tried to touch a different trait with each one...

1. It is eerie how Rayshma and I are SO similar – ref to the ‘meow’ and 'clawing' and ‘coriander’ reference on her post. Never seen so much similarity between two very different individuals. Almost ALL the restaurants that I frequent will not put coriander in my food, by default; and my ‘meow’ depends on (and also shows) the mood I am in… the ‘meow’ can range from purring to roaring, accompanied by clawing!!

2. I am 29 years of age, and yet whenever I am in a hypermarket or store, I spent maximum time in the stationary section. I just LOVE to be surrounded by pens, erasers, notebooks, pencils, crayons, post-its and what have you. I still use a pencil at work, and that too, the one painted with Disney characters.. Shhhhhhhh….. and I am VERY possessive about it (Thanks to Suruchi, she gifted it to me)

3. If I am hitching a ride with someone, I will NEVER put my laptop in the rear seat of the car – I will cling to it, even if I am sitting in front. Opening the rear door, dumping your laptop bag, and then sitting in the front seat, is a VERY personal gesture to me, and reserved to a very few cars (and car-walas)

4. This is my 4th job in 6 years. And unlike ALL others whom I have known, I NEVER find a new job and then quit. I always quit and then find a new job.

5. I can’t keep my eyes open in a moving vehicle IF I am not driving it; I ALWAYS fall asleep as if I was drugged. I don’t know what this is called – a distorted version of motion sickness – maybe. But when I am driving, I can go on without a break (and without blinking) for as long as 10 hours. I don't know how to explain this. Needless to say, I love driving, but my husband is paranoid of my so-called-motion-sickness.

I can go on and on and on, but since Ray (and many others) wanted me to limit myself to ONLY 5, I shall sign off!!!!

Baby Talk

Time: 8:15 in the morning
Mood: morning panick, again-late-for-office mood
Background: Radio is on, the song playing - "Suraj hai tu, mera chanda hai tu, haan meri aankho ka taara hia tu"
VS is busy shaving and complaining as to how men have a tough life, having to shave EVERYDAY (this is probably the only thing that I think he should do more often, and he wishes he could do it once a week.)

I am filling up warm water in the bucket to go in for a bath.
Suddenly I say - "I want a baby"
VS almost cut himself with the razor at this unexpected shock.

"Why?" he asks.

MJ: So that I can sing him this song, when u ditch me. (The song under consideration is the "suraj hai tu...")
VS: What? U want a baby so that u can sing to him?
MJ: (with a straight face) Yes, I will sing this song to him after you ditch me.
VS: But why will I ditch you?
MJ: YOU have to answer that!!!!
VS: But why do u think I will ditch you?
MJ: I just know you will.
VS: I have nothing to say to you..
MJ: See, now you don't even want to talk to me. That's why I believe you will ditch me.
VS: Whatever.... I don't want to talk about it.
MJ: So get me a baby, then I won't bother you.
VS: I Can't ruin some baby's life, just because you want to sing to him.
MJ: (Puppy face) You don't get me anything that I ask for..
VS: (The puppy face is working) Baby, what I am saying is that THIS isn't a good enough reason to have a baby.
MJ: (Eyes rolling) There is another reason as well....
VS: Which is???
MJ: When I hug you, you feel claustrophobic, he won't have an option!!!! I can hug him as much as I want.
VS: (Hugging me) I have my baby to take care of... you worry about yours.

By this time we are already late for office, so the conversation ends abrupty and both of us rush off, blaming each other for the delay!!!!

I m loving it...

18th Sep:
- Running with my luggage to the airport to catch a midnight flight. (I have always hated these odd hour flights, but somehow I always end up with those - its the cost I guess)

- I usually travel very lite and carry just one cabin bag. This time, due to the odd hours, and the transit time, the lazy me decides to check in my one-n-only bag, carrying nothing but just a laptop with me.

19th Sep:
- Land at Dubai airport at 3.00 AM (yeah!! you heard it rite, 3 in the morning). Mentally preparing myself for a 10 hour long layover time at the airport. (Again, its the cost I assume).

- Trying to catch up on some sleep, bundling up on a cramped chair. Sprain my neck in the effort.

- at 8.00 am, I decide to buy some booze for myself. For the 1st time I spend $70 on booze (OK, OK ... not for the 1st time) and also buy some chocolates.

- At around 9.00 AM, Maalik decides that I should take a halt at Dubai, and hence I am "requested" to take a transit visa and get out at Dubai.

- From 9.00 am to 12.30 pm, I am running around the entire airport shuttling between arrivals and departure, trying to get myself a Transit visa and get my bag off-loaded from the Mumbai flight. For the 1st time (and maybe the last), I thanked God for the crappy size of Mumbai airport.

- At around 12.30 pm, my booze and chocolates are confiscated at the security counter. I still don't know why!!!!! My best guess - I was stepping out of the security counter, and the duty free is meant for departure. (OK I know this reason sucks, but I haven't a clue)

- Emirates tells me that my bag will take 3 hours to come out. I decide to go to the office and make use of the time.

- 9.00 PM and I am still without my bag, wearing the same clothes for the past 30 + hours. Emirates says I will get my bag in the morning

- 9.30 PM, I go to shop for something to wear the next day. And I have to buy every single piece of clothing for the next day. EVERY, if you know what I mean.

20th Sep:
- I call up Emirates every 2 hours to check on the status of my bag.

- 7.00 PM, Emirates said, I may get my bag tomorrow. If not, I have to report it missing, which means they will take their own sweet time finding it.

- 7.30 pm, I am still in office planning to go shopping for something to wear the next day.

The comments I received from people
- AAH says "sorry" (which is sweet of him given that it's not his fault - he only does what Maalik wants him to do - and there's nothing he can do about it)
- Maalik thinks I got a reason to shop for new clothes, and I should be happy.
- VS thinks I am an arse that I agreed to Maalik's idea in the 1st place. And that he has no sympathy for me coz its my fault. He also refuses to pay for ANY of my shopping.
- SR thinks I am an absolute idiot coz I agree to anything and everything. But SR also offers to send me money, which is very nice of him. He also calls up twice a day to check up on how I am coping up. Thanks for being there, dude .

I am absolutely clueless, helpless, with limited amount of resources to keep buying clothes, tired, angry, frustrated, annoyed, in a could-kill-anyone mood, pissed-with-myself ....

I M loving every single moment of this.....

The analysis continues

This gentleman called RD – I place him in category 3. (and I make sure that I let him know). He does not seem to pick up subtle hints, so I have the below to say to him.

This post is a draft of email which will go out to him very soon.
The only reason this is here and not on its way to him as yet, is coz I am waiting for the “right” time and of course, still improvising it, so that the message is EXTREMELY clear.

Dear RD,
It pains me to add ‘dear’ to your name, but I have to, coz unlike you, I actually have some corporate communication etiquettes.

Below are a few of my observations. You may want to work on them (or maybe not, I couldn’t care less – either ways I have no respect for you).

1. You don’t know how to write corporate emails, nor do you have the brains to learn.

2. Multiple ‘requests’ made to you to add PLEASE in your email, have been in vain.

3. Your mails are more like “1st prize winner in an essay writing competition”,

4. You have a knack for digging out 1 year old emails, which run into 4 pages, and pointing out something which was written on line no 214 of your email.

5. You believe that the CEO and COO of the organization are your “best” buddies coz they happened to pat you on your back some god forsaken time.

6. You also believe that the COO has no other work to do, but to read your ‘essays’ and its his prime duty attend to you within the next 4 hours.

7. You strongly feel that copying the CEO on ALL your mails makes you important in the organization.

8. Your limited vocabulary does not let you differentiate between “support” and “subordination”.

9. I admire your confidence when you believe that you have added quantifiable value to the entire system, and it’s not your problem that the quantum stands at ZERO.

10. You have so brilliantly managed to leave an impact on my entire team – ONE email from you, and they are unable to concentrate on work for the next 30 minutes!!!!!! That’s some achievement!

11. EVERY team member assigned to you, requests to shift to some other team – within 2 months of working with you!!

12. I just love your responses, when you say – “I don’t have the time to do that kind of thing”. And BTW may I remind you that “that-kind-of-thing” is exactly what your job is?

I wish you all the luck that you may have, for your future (coz you really need lady luck on your side - you haven’t anything else with you).

How things change…

A few people have the ability to change / influence your decisions, without the intention or the knowledge of it….

Every time I make up my mind on this one particular thing, this man comes in, throws a few words around and changes everything for me – and he doesn’t even know that I am listening to him. And whatever he says has nothing to do with what I have in my mind. He doesn’t know and couldn’t care less about what I think, and I am not even sure he knows that I exist.

The charisma around him and the way he talks makes me begin to wonder if I should not trust my gut feel at all, and just believe every word he utters. Its like… when he is talking, everyone around him is non-existent, he believes in every word he says and lives every moment, he is so passionate about his work and ideas that you start believing in him from the moment his words fall on your (deaf) ears. When he says he will change things, you buy it almost before he completes his sentence, and then wait patiently as if he could change the world at the snap of his fingers. He can weave visions and goals out of nothing at all; and has the amazing ability to make you visualize those dreams almost as passionately as him.

I put him under (1) (expect that I will never let him know) and almost nothing will ever change my respect for him, in spite of all the stuff that he did or did not do.

And then he is gone, just as abruptly as he came. And leaves you as confused as ever.

I have done this before, but not again. This time I will trust my gut feel.

……….. I will leave a few dots here, and leave it to people to ‘connect the dots’.

Food for thought!!

I receive a lot of those viral forwards that can irritate you to death, but this one just caught my eye, and I couldn't help posting it here.

Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there

What am I?

Someone once said to me:

"The principled are easy to break; it's the unscrupulous you need to worry about"

Honestly, I haven't gotten over it till date.
Either I will break down soon, or I am someone I hate to be.

Frogs

I am a complete nature lover, would love to be left alone in a jungle… well… OK, maybe not alone!
I love animals, all of them; and I hate reptiles, all of them.
And I hate frogs.

But this post is not about animals or frogs… it’s about people.

I meet many people. And I remember each one of them, even the bartender who served me that extra Tequila shot (on the house) in a particular pub, when I was already 7 down. And the scary part is – he remembers me too. I smiled at him when I visited the same night club the following week, and he smiled back and said, “how you doing, Mridula?” I never went back again.

Back to the original plot – I remember each one of those I meet or see. And I love to observe them. I can broadly classify people into 4 categories:

1. Those I love / admire / respect (and I let them know)
2. Those I hate (and I let them know too)
3. Those who are too insignificant for me to make a mental note
4. Those whom I write off completely from my life (while still making a mental note to pretend that they fall under 3)

Now various people will fall under various categories and I do not claim to be the best judge of people; but my observations have seldom proven me wrong. And I cautiously choose the word ‘seldom’. There have been times, when I have made mistakes and learnt the bitter way, and then shifted someone from 1 to 2 to 4. We all make mistakes and grow wiser.

This post is about this “someone” that I have known for quite sometime now, but still haven’t managed to decide whether to put him under 1 or 2 or 4. The fact that I am thinking about where to place him, automatically rules out 3.

So this someone - lets call him Mr. X for now (he is THAT mysterious!!)
After knowing him for more than 6 months, I still can’t claim to know him. And whatever I know of him scares me!
Mr. X reminds me of a ‘frog’. No, he is not ugly looking. He doesn’t LOOK like a frog, but he still reminds me of one.

- I am told that frogs were hopping around, even when the planet was ruled by dinosaurs. They have survived millions of years. Mr. X seems to be around for ages.
- Frogs can adapt themselves to any environment. Mr. X can, to ANY environment.
- Frogs use camouflage as a defence mechanism. Mr. X sure changes colours before you know it.
- Frogs pop up from anywhere and everywhere, when it’s their season. Mr. X pops up out of nowhere, and when he is around, you know it’s for a reason.
- Frogs have a skeleton, but still appear spineless. Mr. X IS spineless.
- Frogs are slimy. Mr X is, too.
- Frogs croak louder than their sizes. Mr. X talks bigger than he can do.
- Frogs scare the shit of me. Knowing Mr. X scares me equally.
I try to ensure that my interaction with Mr. X is only limited to absolute necessity, but it’s not the case always. And as long as he is talking, he seems to be making sense, ONLY if you don’t read between the lines.

I don’t know whether I like Mr. X or I hate him. But the fact remains that he drove me to dedicate a post to him – an honour limited to a few men!!!

I think the bitchy ‘myself’ is slowly and steadily taking over the good ‘me’ (ref: me, myself and MJS). And I am not imagining things. Lately I have been feeling very strongly about this. Not that I was the “nice” nice ever (I was born the mean bitch); but I always felt that there was something in me that wasn’t so hopeless after all (whatever little goodness I could manage to pretend all this while).

I still can’t decide where Mr. X belongs – 1, 2 or 4. Any suggestions???

Happy Independence Day

Desh ke liye marna zaroori nahi hai, desh ke liye jeena zaroori hai.

You don't have to die for your country, you have to live for her.

Thot of the day!

95% of the people don't quit their jobs, they quit their bosses!!!!!

So in the light of the above, you should do a little retrospective exercise, specially when your employees start leaving before you realize that they had joined!

Dumb and dumber

Below is the result for an IQ test that I took at Tickle.com




You're a Visual Mathematician!


Congratulations!
Your IQ score is 136
This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results.
The Classic IQ Test


Well, i remember the last time took an IQ test (some other test, not tickle), the score was 145...Now it's down to 136...
Am wondering if it's coz the tests are different, or am I genuinely become dumber!!!!
Does it have anything to do with the company I keep?????

Quit playing games…..

I love sports. I love sportsmanship.

I hate games. I hate indoor games – the ones that are played inside cubicles and across cubicles and inside cabins and outside and all over the place… I hate all of those.. Each one of them…
But it is interesting; interesting to see the games; to observe; to understand; to laugh; to be hassled; to learn something new each time. It is fun to be dragged into it. It’s even better when they think that you don’t understand it. Its better that way - You know it, but they don’t know that you know; and you know that they don’t know that you know!!! Brilliant!

But then again – I hate games. I hate everyone who plays games. Each one of them. I have no respect for such people. If you don’t have the balls to be straightforward, sorry!!

I hate myself when I am a part of it – willingly or dragged - even when I am having fun. That’s not what I am. That’s not what I want to be. That’s not what I will let myself be. I prefer being in my FIC zone. I am better that way – coz that's what I am.

"NO WATER"

There will be a few who will instantly relate to the title of this post; others will need to go through the trouble of reading this entire post.

There is this thing, very unique to my current office (actually there are many, but this one tops the list). The AC will never work in some parts of the building, suffocating you to death. At times, it can get so uncomfortable that I feel like I am sitting inside the boss’s cabin and its appraisal time. And mind you, the AC works just fine, at places (read ‘cabins’) where it matters!!
The heat forces you to gulp gallons of water (is that a polite way of letting me know that my skin doesn’t look radiant anymore and I need to start the ‘water therapy’????!!!!)

AND after you have stored enough water in your belly, to embarrass a camel; you will encounter the “no water” sign-board outside the loo!

I sometimes feel that the McDanolds outside the office bribes our house-keeping to ensure that there are regular visitors to their outlet. (More often than not, you will end up buying something out of courtesy, if you visit them for reasons stated above!!).

I often wonder if this is a trait unique to my office building, or does it have anything to do with the global problem of depleting natural resources!

Need I say anything about my current mood / state???

I am pink!!

I came across Rayshma's post My dil goes bluu..
Needless to say, I follow her blog very very closely. The post tempted me to take a test myself! And I must admit that I cannot deny the below findings.

Your Heart Is Pink

In relationships, you like to play innocent - even though you aren't. Each time you fall in love, it's like falling for the first time. Your flirting style: Coy Your lucky first date: Picnic in the park Your dream lover: Is both caring and dominant What you bring to relationships: Romance

I would especially agree to the last statement - what I bring to the relationship - ROMANCE. I just hope that the right people are reading this post!!!

Thats MY money!!!!

This is a picture of the pavement outside mahalaxmi station.

This pavement is built by the Mumbai goverment using MY tax money, for MY convenience so that I walk on it and can avoid the risk of being run-over by speeding traffic.

I take this road every day to and from office, and it KILLS me EVERYTIME to see my hard earned money being put to this use. The slums are coming up on this pavement growing like wild fire adding new inhabitants with each hour, while I still have to walk on the road and dodge the vehicles who speed up the moment they see someone walking down the road - as if to emphasize that roads are meant for vehicles and pavements are for pedestrians!!!!

Decisions...

Would you call a decision a 'decision' if you change it???? I mean how does it qualify for a decision if it actually isn't decided??

I don't know what it will lead to.. But for the 1st time, I have changed my mind after I had taken the decision. I don't know if it's for the better or worse.. only time will tell.. and I haven't much of it on hand!!!!

Wish me luck.

To be or not to be!

Remember how Dad always used to say – “you shouldn’t do something you don’t think you should”.
OK the question is this - Should you continue writing when you start thinking – “Should I write this?” Does it count for ‘free thought’? Is anything that is written with manipulated thought, worth writing? Are you being true to your self with that?

Well, I was in midst of writing something, and then I stopped, read what I had written, and for the first time, I thought - "I think I should rephrase it, this makes me sound arrogant". And that is when it struck me - since when have I started worrying about how will anyone react to what I have to say? I post on this blog bacause I want to - NOT because anyone else wants to read it - I honestly don't (and shouldn't) care!!!
I guess it's easier to write when you don't know who is reading it!!

Maybe I should stop writing for a while. I will. I will come back when I have the balls to write what I want to.

Living through a nightmare

What do you do, when you are stuck in an alien country amongst monster aliens who seem to be born with the sole purpose of breaking you down? Do you take the easy (and obviously the wrong) way out, or do you fight it out? Well, if under any other circumstance somebody asked me this question, I would have said – fight it out, ALWAYS, because that’s what will let you sleep peacefully at night.
But it’s hard to be so objective when it’s your own life which seems to be in a mess.

I landed at Jakarta airport on 26th of April. In spite of my absolute reluctance to travel and repeated & desperate efforts, I couldn’t cancel the Indonesia trip. I have been paranoid about travelling to Indonesia ever since I heard (on news channels in Australia, in 2005) about the trial of a 22 year old Australian girl who was charged of Drug trafficking (and handed 20 years rigorous imprisonment) at the Bali airport – she claimed that she didn’t even know how that packet got there – her only fault was that she checked in her luggage without locking it). Needless to say, I had double locked my check-in baggage!!!

So I land at the airport and proceed towards the ‘visa on arrival’ counter. After a 20 min wait, I handed over my passport to the lady on the other side of the counter. And then it all began – she stared at my passport for a good while, before turning it upside down and pulling it in all directions. For a while I was scared that she might tear it – so I said, ‘Ma’am, please be careful’. (Mistake 1)
With offended looks, she asked me to wait aside, while she phoned her supervisor. I stood by the side, while every passer by gave me the ‘awww-poor-you’ looks.

A police officer appeared after a generous while, and said “Purpose”. In the best of my brains, I tried to decipher, and all that I could come up with was Business”. He said something which I could understand, so I said ‘sorry?’ and THAT offended him. Ok. Ok. I accept. I said it in my typical FIC tone. (Mistake 2)

Well, apparently they get offended at everything you say, so the best thing to do is to keep shut I guess.

Officer: ^%$$R^%$ (screaming at the top of his voice in an incomprehensible language)
Me: Can you please get me someone who speaks English? (Mistake 3)
Officer: Follow me (so you do speak English, you a***hole)

I followed him to a room, where I saw 5 more of those. This is when I showed first signs of panic (Mistake 4).

Me: Why should I get in that room?
Officer 1: Come in. We need to ask you some questions.
Me: Ok. (I sit down on a chair, while the 6 of them stand surrounding me)
Officer 1: So why are you here?
Me: I came here for business
Officer 2: Everyone says that... What business?
Me: I work for a Mobile company and am here for a meeting.
Officer 1: Which company? Show your company id.
Me: I am not carrying my company id. Will a business card do? (Why would I carry my access card to Jakarta!!!!)
Officer 1: No good.
Me: Ok.
Officer 1: Why does your passport have no pages?
Me: Because unfortunately (On any other occasion I would have thought that it was fortunate, but this was clearly unfortunate) my job requires me to travel quite a lot. But I do have half a page left. You can stamp the visa on that one!
Officer 3: Did you not know that you need one full page?
Me: No I did not. I have never been to Indonesia before. I thought you can stamp on half a page. Officer: What visa can be stamped on half page?
Me: Well, Malaysia does it!!! (Mistake 5)
Officer 1: WE ARE NOT MALAYSIA (you didn’t have to scream like that, you bas^%&d, I can hear you perfectly clear)
Officer 3: What business is this that takes you to so many countries?
Me: Like I said, I work for a mobile company, and I need to travel for business
Officer 1: And what do you carry on your trips?
Me: My clothes and a laptop!!! (What’s with you f%^&ers, do you travel in your underwear or what!!!)
Officer 2: Not clothes. Anything else?
Me: What else?
Officer 1: That’s what we are asking you.
Me: (more signs of panic) What are you trying to say?
Officer 2: We are not trying to say anything. We just want the truth.
Me: BUT THIS IS THE TRUTH (Mistake 6)
Officer 1: Watch your tongue Lady!!!
Me: Can you please let me talk to someone in India?
Officer 4: NO (Ok, so you can speak too!)
Me: But why not?
Officer 4: Because we are not finished with our questions?
Me: And why are you asking me so many questions? WHAT DO YOU WANT? (Tears in my eyes - almost - Well, I did do a good job of putting a brave front till now)
Officer 1: There is an easy way out and a hard one. Which one do you want?
Me: ???? (Puzzled look on my face – too shocked and too scared to speak)
Officer 1: You have seen the hard way. If you don’t cooperate, we might have to keep you here longer. (You have already kept me in this interrogation room for almost an hour, you F&^%$er!!!)
Me: No you can't keep me here. I need to talk to the Indian embassy, please?
Officer 1: Sorry Ma'am.
Me: *sigh* OK. What’s the easy way?
Officer 1: You give $300 and we let you go.
Me: WHAT???? $300?? But I don’t have that money!! (So all this shit was just about money, what F*&^%ers!!)
Officer 1: Then I am sorry ma’am. You will have to be here till you are deported.
Me: And how long will that be?
Officer 1: 1 or 2 days. May be longer. I am not sure.
Me: But there HAS to be another way
Officer 1: We already told you. (Panic releases - OK so it’s not that bad. I can get out of this shit with some bribe)

Strongly against drugs as I am, for the first time I ever thought, maybe the Australian really WAS innocent, but we will never know!!!!

Yeah, I did survive this nightmare and I must admit that I had a guardian angel by my side that they didn’t choose to charge me of some insane crime.

I emptied my wallet, begged, pleaded, screamed, cried, swore, cursed – managed to get out for $150.

I hate myself for being a part of the bribing exercise. Because I gave in, they will try the same thing on someone else some other time.

But like I said, it’s hard to be objective when it’s your own life. Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to live up to my own principles.

Is it too much...

1. To expect that people should have a minimum level of IQ (and common sense) before you can talk to them?

2. To expect that you would come to work because you are passionate about what you are doing, and not because there was nothing better to do in life?

3. To believe that an office is a place where you would come to prove YOUR worth, and NOT to disprove anyone else's?

4. To think that games are to be played at playing fields, and NOT at work places?

Just thinking aloud .......

Good Friday

6th was a “Good Friday” and literally so!
The day began with a lazy morning; followed by a sumptuous breakfast – Gobhi ka paratha – and better still, self-cooked!!! Dunno about others (at least they didn’t complain of stomach aches), but I just loved it!!!
Went for a nice and a warm face and body message. It can be so refreshing – for the body AND the soul!!!

What came as the biggest surprise (and pleasure) was a 10 min long conversation with someone. It’s a strange feeling when you unknowingly and unwillingly get into a conversation with someone (who you thought was the last person on earth to get into a casual conversation with) about something (that you thought this person could NEVER relate to).

Well, maybe I am not making a lot of sense… but then that’s the way it is. Some things in life are NOT supposed to make any sense.
And the love of the life is this – moments that don’t make any sense, turn out to be the most sensible moments in your life.

There aren't any stupid questions.....

Only stupid people.....

It's the beginning of an end

and I feel it!

It’s a question of a question..

It’s a question of a question,
Ek sawal ka sawal hai,
Aisa sawal jo zindagi badal de!!!

This is a song featuring Shahrukh khan, released for advertising KBC-2. I am sure most of you would have heard it, and a few would have loved it too!
I love it and it’s not coz it has Shahruk, looking really cool and delicious (Yummmm); but coz every time I listen to the song, I wonder if there can be any one question important enough to change a life?
And I always wonder – Am I insane if I have multiple questions which can decide the course of my life? Are the questions too complicated to find answers to? Or am I too dumb to answer those questions?
Or is it better that I do not have the answers? It would change my life, but do I want it changed?
And if I do not wish to face it, then why do I ask myself those questions?

Why????

The Barcelona trip,Feb 2007

I have been meaning to write for a long time, but haven’t had a chance, owing to the lack of time; or should I say lack of ‘me-time’.
I have been busy with a lot of things, a quick trip to Barcelona for the 3GSM congress, being just one of them. And the trip has compelled me to write this piece – at the cost of suspending the other post that I was so engrossed in.

So in effect, while you may get to read this post before the other one, the latter was conceived much before.

Back to the point – this post is about the Barcelona trip. No, this is not a travelogue – for various reasons. For one, it misses the description of (beautiful / scenic) places that form the essential ingredient of any travelogue. Why? – Just because we didn’t see any places!!!!
I will tell you what this is – this is about keeping your spirits alive when you are at your all-time low. This is about how life changes your attitude in a matter of 4 days. It’s about being locked in the same house with someone you thought you couldn’t stand, only to discover that life isn’t so bad after all! This is the transition from not seeing eye-to-eye, to knowing each other a little better; about accepting to yourself that there always is another side to everything – what matters is, which side you are on!

Fact- 1:
The trip started with a 2 hour wait at the airport, only to realize that we have to shell out 72K for excess baggage (this is when we weren’t even carrying enough clothes to keep us warm!). What a beginning! I offer no comments regarding the flight, save one – “given an option, I would never fly Alitalia again!” We landed in Barcelona with 280Kgs of luggage amongst the 5 of us! Spent 4 hours on the roads, while an apartment was arranged; Skipped lunch on 4 out of 5 days; carried more luggage on our backs than the weight of all us combined; did the dishes (I am sure my husband was a part of the conspiracy, just to ensure that I learn some household manners!!); vacuumed the carpet, and the list is endless (& useless).

In short – after spending 70% of my corporate-life travelling, this was the worst trip I have had.

Fact - 2:
Even when we were dazed, tired, sleepy and hungry, smiles never left our faces. While, I firmly believe that individually we would have lost it, collectively we laughed it off!! I still smile when I think of the time we spent discussing our misery and standing up for each other.

Things I won’t forget in a hurry:

- The “toilet in-out register”: We had to sing while using the loo, to avoid double-occupancy.
- The 5.00 am loo encounter! Also the R & A loo encounter!

- “Shant Gadadhari Bheem, Shant” was the most commonly used phrase, almost always followed by a deafening laughter!!!!!!

- The M “dangling” S, and her loo preferences
- Especially the “10-champagnes-down” M!!! And how M almost “froze to death”!!!!

- AH refused to come home at nights, for reasons best known to him (and to all of us!) The rare nights when he WAS home, his phone battery would drain out!!! And we enjoyed the way his face would light up when he received “the” calls, and he would sneak out of the room, while we tried to eavesdrop.
- The “Oil Vs Gel” and the absolute necessity to use them (it’s for his hair!! Not your fault if you thought otherwise; if you know AH, you are bound to think that way!)
- We learnt that the sky can be grey, blue and even scattered with berries on some days!

- “Ek sookhi nahi hia” I won’t elaborate on this one, lest AJ kill me.
- The superman T-shirt and the superman song!- “dheden, dheden”
- AJ scared the shit out of me, when he walked in drunk, and almost collapsed (on me)! And he still refuses to accept that he was "tipsy".

- How the yellow paper folder was ‘heavier’ than the 42” plasma TV!!!
- Not to forget the “Maria shots”

- “Big brother” was almost always the big bro, keeping the group together, and trying to sort out the tiffs. And how there was “1 ka 5 big-bro”

In short – after spending 70% of my corporate-life travelling, this was the best trip I have had.

Lesson Learnt:

Two hours with the ones you like to be with, can relieve you of the day's stress and recharge your soul!
We are a team, we work as a team and we live as a team!!!!!!