Saturday, February 27, 2010

chutti!

a beautiful sense of ease engulfs her each time she sets out to travel.. though off late she's realized she's become super comfortable in the 1 hall kitchen she happily calls home!

she's on her way to Kolkata... a wedding, a tattoo, friends and some wine! so it's a lot of reasons to celebrate!! (anyone wants to tell her what to do and where to go in call is most welcome!! she can do with all the travel advice!) Speaking of travel advice.. a newly married friend who's moved to Cal says "get yourself a tube of mosquito repellent... the damn BUGgers are everywhere!!" ;)

it's nice to have even the mere trace of a family around you (for short spurts in time) and this is a full blown big fat Bengali wedding! What's a punju babe (yes - purely self proclaimed) doing at a Bengali wedding..? Punju babe's bua married into a bengali family.. so in the interest of national integration this part of the family is Bengali!

bhai's back from Dubai and it's a joy to have him back... it just feels more comforting... as friends have started to move out of Namma Bengaluru to Aamchi Mumbai it's getting quiet... Bhai is great company and great entertainment... needless to say he loves to pamper her! ;) And so he is duly woken up at 6:30 AM.. not allowed brush and told to sit beside her as she tries to catch the airport bus in her trusted jonga! Mad dash... bus has just left the bus stop closest to home... we see it turning away from the next one and then they finally overtake it and stop it! don't kill her for it but she wants to say "life nahi hai laddoo" :P

her lifetime itch has been the excess baggage - not per what the airline allows... she's luckily kept "just" below that all her life except for a couple occasions...! But be it 2 days or 10... it continues to be an overstuffed backpack and a laptop bag bursting at the seams with stuff she couldn't fit in the backpack!! People - serious tips on travelling light needed... please do remember that she is a Virgo! ;)

Apart from the tumults of travel it's been a good week... she's learning to ignore work.. (to the extent that she's on leave during a client visit!)... she's also become fairly more impulsive! (to think that age would mellow... not likely!) A Monday night at Java city for good coffee and chicken lasagna... a Thursday night with bhai at the new Tunday Kebab's place in Koramangala! She was wrapping up work as bhai came over and then it was an experiment in apple vodka and litchi juice... (they vowed never to play around with the sanctity of litchi juice by mixing it with flavored vodka ever again!) Well they land up at the Tunday Kebab place at 10... the choices are no brainers.. the only mistake is the mutton korma which tastes like chyavanprash (but tends to grow on you after 2 bites) - and they are well fed on scrumptious food and out by 10:25!! now THAT ladies and gentlemen is FAST food!!!

so such are the joys of a beautiful life... compounded by this conversation...

Roomie from hostel: gud gud.. u will turn i guess 26 this year
atleast start thinkin abt marriage
Yours Truly: i have turned 26 last year sweetheart!
Roomie from hostel: ohhhhh
Yours Truly: but i'm totally enjoying this... friday ko i was out of office early to pack and stuff - last min shopping.. and a guy walks up to m and asks - "do u stay in jnc hostel?"
jnc is a graduation college!!!!!
Roomie from hostel: ha ha ha... gud gud
Yours Truly: and then shekhar for some vague reason thinks im just 21!!! (grinned and blushed for a second time! :P)
and now u've also set me back by a year!
:) i like this!!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Brahmaz Mistake... Really!

A long and peaceful friday of lazing around in bed and waking up only to eat had plans of culminating in a nice peaceful dinner with friends (and that too without the liquids known to make it a terror-ible saturday morning!) It was nothing more than what Dire Strait puts as..

"Stepping out Angellucci's for my coffee beans
checking out the movies and magazines.."

Apart from one tiny thing.. Granpa had to be dropped to the bus stop since he was on his way to Chennai for a jamming session with Brahmaz Mistake (who were readying to perform Live in namma Bengaluru at Kyra this coming weekend!) Whose to know whether it was the joy of a huge bowl of spinach meatball soup or the satisfaction brought forth by the chocolate shake that triggered her to insanely suggest... that lets all go. Two pounced at the idea and the one remaining was given no choice!

After making use of the washroom services provided by the cafe the next stop was a petrol pump to tank up on the gas and reserve on the petrol... And well... with one man and his backpack off went the four of them! The other three mentally resigned to using their fingers as a brush the next morning!

Take off: 10:30 PM. The joys of the elevated highway experienced as various forms of rock played on the car stereo and lo and behold they were on the Chennai highway! Yes 'when we remember we are all mad, life stands explained!' A couple of calls were made to "to be harassed hosts" with them being warned that we will touchdown by 3/4 AM to their beautiful newly wed abode!

Stops for loading up on peppermint and water and pee-ing later as conversation started to mellow (the excitement still soared) and yours truly at the wheel dodging trucks and buses as her jonga responded with wonderful ease.. the music changed to bollywood item numbers! They are after all the very sing-along-keep-you-awake numbers perfectly suited for the dance into the night! From 'Mai disco.. Tu disco.. Duniya hai ek Disco... Disco 82!' to 'A remix of Ishq tera tadpave' to 'No one so saaxy in the whole galaaxy' to 'Laila o Laila' they sung along to it all! Well the three of them sung along while Bhai's avid protests were turned a deaf ear to!

Well... in the neighbourhood of 3 AM they begin the house hunting for the beautiful home of the newly wed couple also playing host to the bride's parents (but were given no choice except to provide us shelter for the night ;) )A couple of roundabouts in jalebi town and we were where we wanted to be with full confidence exhibited by the lady navigator!

Halla Bol! ;) We tried to be as quiet as possible... as she made herself comfortable on a gadda in the living room she looked at the couple and mentioned "you guys should sleep" and pat came the reply "abey mere gadde pe baith ke bolti hai so jao!" ~ sheepish grin ~ Extra gaddas were found and the living room turned into a dorm as these 4 madhatters and the lovely couple snoozed into the night!

Whose to know when the world around woke up! She woke up when she heard her name being mentioned in pun to another newly wed couple who obviously had the decency to arrive to another fellow couple's house at a more earthly hour of say 8 / 9 AM (it's tough to be sure with the beautiful stupor of a back straightening sleep which is most welcome after a long drive!). The smells of exquisite hot coffee, the luck of cold Chennai whether and the satisfaction of a yummy warm home cooked breakfast! Kudos to the hospitality at such short notice!

Well.. it goes on to become the story of borrowed t-shirts, face washes, combs and kajals to make themselves presentable for the rest of the day! Ah yes... the plan was to drive back the same afternoon... but as the powers that be spun the web the plan became to jam along and leave on Sunday afternoon (which needless to say stretched to evening) ;) Again the protests of a pretty protesting bhai fell on deaf ears and he was silenced into a nodding agreement.

Meanwhile she was patting herself on the back for accomplishing this night driving feat (the first of its kind undertaken by her.. she's always had a qualified co driver to take over as needed on other occasions!) So well.. she takes a bow! :)

De Mello's studio beckoned and the sound of muzik was soul stirring.. a practice cum jamming session is always fun and this one even more so as the protesting bhai discovered his talent for being a 'drumductor' (akin to an orchestra conductor but with instructions being actioned out only to the drummer who had a penchant for forgetting Audioslave's Be Yourself!). As the drummer's bro decided to sit at the drums all heads turned and a conversative silence fell over the studio! His 'sound check' like drum roll matched beautifully by the Lead Guitarist was mesmerizing! Echoes of 'isko baadme layenge drums pe nahi to expectation high ho jayega' reverberated alongwith the applause! Good? He was brilliant!!

The Bass Guitarist and his beautiful professional photographer of a wife lugged around the laptops and the camera equipment to make the band look good on a poster! The moment was achieved outside a Yamaha store on it's 'perfect' steps with minor experiments in light! All this post lunch and post another session at jamming just before dinner beckoned! (yeah they're a lot who likes to eat so the penchant for food is shared apart from it being just the muzik!)

The night found the four runaways at the Lead Guitarist's abode whose lovely mum made it home for all of them! The girls were given a comfortable change of clothes and our poor guitarist went "aila! teen teen mummy" as he saw them in mommy dearest's clothes! Another restful night and a yummy breakfast of parathas, aloo, apples and awwwsum chai later they were on their way to the studio. Oh yes.. they managed to have a bath this morning however the clothes continue to be the same and the brush was still their precious index fingers!

"I am a man who walks alone
And when I'm walking a dark road
At night or strolling through the park

When the light begins to change
I sometimes feel a little strange
A little anxious when it's dark.

Fear of the dark,fear of the dark"
deserves special mention for it almost cost our vocalist his voice! ;)

A takeaway lunch of kathi rolls and delightful milkshakes found them as they practised! This she figures inspired Bhai who decided to fiddle with the guitar, the drummer (yeah the awwsum one) and the lead guitarist to take on the avatar of the vocalist as they belted out something totally amazing however unknown even to them! They hope someone's deciphered the lyrics with the recording that was made! ;) Ladies and Gentlemen... ~ Applause! ~

With this and with the sounds of blackest eyes, imagine and fear of the dark in her head it was time to drop one newly wed to the station for them to make it back to hyd and for them to tank up on gas again and head to... "Sweet Home Alabama".

Lots of hugs and "cya next weekend" later they were sad to say but they were on their way!

Thus began a frantic search for Red Bull! Several petrol pumps and tiny stores later just as they hit the highway awaiting them was a CCD! Screeching off it and stopping right behind an innova their moment of eureka had been achieved. A flask was dug out from the car boot which limitedly keeps coffee warm.. 4 energy drinks and a flask full of coffee alongwith 2 boxfulls of mint and they were set for take off! Little did they realize that there's little that replaces a red bull.. and not the least of it is something called a "Cloud 9" whose taste went from being described as rose water to rotten grape juice to water mixed with gulal! ;)

The drive back was peaceful with a large number of stops to pee providing sufficient opportunity to stare at the starry sky above, breathe in fresh air, and spray on water into tired eyes! The music continued to be variants of rock this time around! :D ~ small mercies ~

Cheers to a whirlwind surprise weekend with na rehne ka thikana, na khane peene ka thikana!

"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one"
- John Lennon

PS: Hope to see you at Kyra on Sunday where Brahmaz Mistake is performing Live!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

drops of jupiter

it's weirdly fun to drive to office at an unearthly hour of 7 AM on a saturday morning... but it's strangely pacifying that she enjoyed it coz that's what the next 4 days are like! it's a quiescence that fills her heart as she races through whatever few cars decide to be around at that time... and magically songs to stir her up also found their way on the car stereo!

the weekend has been luck since she's been able to come back by noon and crash! her body stirs sometime in the evening and an alarming look at the clock says 'hey get up and have a bath! u have a movie to catch!' lucky for her Granpa also decides to be a 'bit' late and well off they go to Lido Mall to catch Ishqiya... halfway there Granpa asks "but where are we going?" and after a moment of profound silence as the traffic scene is patently intercepted she lets out a loud and overwhelming "oh shit!"... They were headed in the udderly opposite direction of another theatre and well... luckily a couple of u-turns could salvage the situation!! That said she had botched up earlier in the AM by paying 700 bucks for tickets that come at 440 - thankfully to later realize that she had paid for the popcorn, coke combo and by some twist of luck that for a change worked in her favour she had saved 61 bucks!

This is where it had started to become 'that kind of day!' ;) So after conversation over cardamom tea they made their way into the theatre... enjoyed the movie.. saw it till the closing credits (for after all 700 bucks had to be vasoolofied!) and then decided to meet a long lost buddy on MG Road! They hit the new soup bar at Spencers "Au Bon Pain" and had a delightful experience with the varieties of soups, sandwiches and deserts! You should go - you will come back changed at the foodie experience!

Speaking of food she had tried an experiment in her kitchen which strangely (yes you could say it was a fairly strange weekend) was nice! It was a lil beet of jeera, sautéed with some palak leaves, variously colored capsicum and sprouts - mixed in with leftover rice - seasoned with soya sauce, chilli sauce, mustard sauce and an egg cracked in! Voila - Salad ala Fried Rice! ;)

Yes food has always offered her complacence and her girth does speak for it! ;) But she figures a few healthy choices (as she has now consciously started making) can keep her safe! So on a slow sunday afternoon as she OD'd on veggie shopping and made her way back home she knew something in her heart... she will leave you with two sets of lyrics to tell you the story and continue to smile mysteriously with a twinkle in her eye (she's found her twinkle after a long time.. and plans to celebrate it with chocolate pastry - a li'l chocolate here and there she maintains is still healthy! ;) )

If the question is...
"I got wiring loose inside my head
I got books that I never ever read
I got secrets in my garden shed
I got a scar where all my urges bled
I got people underneath my bed
I got a place where all my dreams are dead
Swim with me into your blackest eyes"
- Porcupine Tree

Then it was only natural for the answer to be laden with her favourite character of the english language...
"Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar
And then you missed me
While you were looking for yourself out there?
Now that she's back from that soul vacation
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey
She checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey

But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance
To dance along the light of day
And head back to the Milky Way?

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And then you missed me
While you were looking for yourself out there

Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance
Five-hour phone conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had, and me?
But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance
To dance along the light of day
And head back toward the Milky Way?"
- Drops of Jupiter