The Long weekend

Today was my first 4th of July in the US. Pity Texas is so dry they cancelled the fireworks so I couldnt really celebrate US style - since of course I am also not eating the SUPER pretty red blue and white cupcakes, pies and what nots in grocery stores. I am such a sucker for sweet things, I literally crawl pas the desert aisle at HEB looking like a homeless hungry poor person who deserves to eat a cupcake, or a red velvet cake. ARGH. clearly losing weight is going to take more willpower than I imagined.

This was also my first long weekend holiday - in school a long weekend basically meant getting beat up with more project work and/or more time to study so I never really got the feeling of having time 'off' but this really felt good. I spent saturday shopping at an outlet mall with admirable constraint on my expenditures and then went to the San Antonio riverwalk for dinner. Its such a cute, quaint place, i love it! of course the 500 degree heat adds to the charm (not)

Sunday was spent eating at what has become my sunday brunch favorite - Madras Pavillion -- the dosas, idlis and wadas there are so authentic - its like being at a kamat right in Mumbai. of course paying $15 for the buffet takes away from the Rs. 25 dosa feeling, but what the heck. What was interesting was the chaos this place was in. One manager, 2 cleaning ladies were the only staff managing about 70 people and a buffet line. of course, it was SHEER pandemonium.

There was a line of people waiting to be seated at empty tables that still needed to be cleaned and there were people who needed to pay and there were people seated who couldnt eat since the buffet line had run out of dishes. As MBA students of course, the 3 of us, Shobit, Ro and I delved into a conversation of 'bottlenecks' and 'operational inefficiency' and almost designed a business plan for reshaping the way the situation was being handled. MBA's I tell you.

I also watched Transformers 3D. Now while I am a great fan of the franchise, I fail to understand how Megan Fox in T2 and Rosie huntingdon whitley in T3 can run around in grave risk of dying around decepticons and what not LOOKING SPOTLESS and in HIGH heels. Rosie at least had a (somewhat) pivotal conversation with a decepticon but I could never understand why Megan Fox spent so much time and effort promoting her blinknmiss it role in T2. OR why she needed to be so scantily dressed. OR why she needed to be puckered up ALL the time.

Cars2 was definitely awesome, never mind the fact that I dragged Ro convincing him that there will be adults there as well.. only to find out later that all the other adults came with THEIR KIDS. still, i loved it. Mater was the star of the movie, not lightning Mcqueen, anyday. Next up, Harry Potter7! Cant wait!

Also, will be moving homes again - this time to the next years lease. NOT looking forward to the packing/unpacking mess ESPECIALLY with work and not having any time to do both and settle in. PLUS the new house will feel lonelier since it will be a 2b/2b and my roomie will move in only once school starts.. since this was a 1b/1b it felt cosy. Doing the whole routine again is so not cool.

The Airport day

Next week it will have been a year since I moved countries. This morning on my way to work as I spoke to my mom, I brought up the subject of how, this time last year I was beginning to pack and the farewell parties had begun and what not. It was also when I started 'feeling' things more.. sleeping on my own bed, luxurious hugs from mom and dad and my brother, the pitter patter of rain on my window, the friend from out of town (Scarlett) who came over who I wasnt sure when I'd see again, home cooked food - it all had an expiry date of two weeks since I left home July 17th 2010.
It was today that mom told me how she felt those first 24 hours when I was travelling and out of contact and I was teary eyed just relivign that farewell. It was my first time moving away from home and that too, to the other end of the world. My mom and I are very close and she means the world to me. I spent 3 months at home having quit my job well in advance and knowing I wanted to savour the last 3 debt free months of my life. She told me about how empty and lifeless the house felt, how some things of mine strewed around the house upset her and reminded me of her absence. It's funny how I feel as though my mom is half of me.. she completes me, she is really, my best friend. The first few months when I was here, she would ask what I was eating and when I would say junk like cereal for dinner she'd be upset - its now that she knows im cooking and eating good food that she feels truly settled and comfortable with me being so far away.
That last bye at the airport -- i remember how hard we all tried not to cry. In true Indian fashion, I had my whole group of friends of them, my mom dad, bro, and a friends mom who is very close to me... that last hug, its funny how rationale takes a side seat as holding on to a person wishing the moment dint end actually feels like it might happen if u hug hard enough. I think I hugged my mom a million times. My dad came with me till the security check since he has an airport pass... that was the hardest. When I kneeled down to touch his feet for blessings right before I left, I just couldnt hold it in, and cried as I am now, thinking of that moment, forever engraved. Dad's try to be so macho, mine more so from his defence background. That day, not so much. He was angry at me for being overweight with the bags and kept trying to use it as an excuse but couldnt manage when I said that final bye.
My mom gave me a note to read in the plane from all of them and it was a letter with a few lines from mom, dad and my brother. All wishing me luck and success and do them proud. I hope I do.
For all that I gave up, and they did, I hope I never forget what I'm here for.

Serendipity Reloaded v2.1

Wow. Fighting blogggers block sure is tough. Especially when in the last two months of not blogging, said blogger moves countries, shifts life stages and starts getting her butt busted in an academic envoirnment she's trying to keep pace with.

How do i even qualify what the past two months have been. The run up to moving here - halfway across the world away from my comfort zone was as suspected an emotional roller coaster with apiness and excitement playing ball with sadness and anxiety about what lies beyond and what I left behind. I miss home - I miss my friends. I miss having people around me who know EXACTLY what I mean, and who'll auto complete my sentences. I miss Mom and her hugs and her bugging me to use sunscreen. I miss Mumbai and the sound of the sea - the beautiful hum drum of the waves. At the same time, I love the space here, the wonderful refreshing air not reeking of pollutants. I love the dignity of the place and people who will gracefully allow a pedestrian to pass with a smile, the cashiers who will tell you to have a great day with an infectious smile. How the switches go the other way around and the cars are on the opposite ends of the street. How I still look the wrong way and still get my dimes and cents wrong. How I hate having to wait a week to do laundry and even more when that draws into two. I love how I have another shot at being mysef again - the mellowed me just wasnt quite right. How I'm like a kid in a candy shop marvelling at these new things Im seeing and doing.

I hate how I have a new life and I love it too. A dichotomous reaction to the space and time I am now ensconed in. A crossroad where I can make it or break it.
I am excited about what lies ahead- This past month settling in is a good indication of what I can expect in the future. At the same time I left a lot behind - there's a part of my heart with someone I cant get back. And I think I have a part of his. Where we'll go and what we'll be, I dont know.
Life is funny. It'll throw a pile of emotions for you to deal with at the same time - who needs an MBA when you've got god pulling at the strings of your life?! This is time management, emtions management and priority setting at the very best application Ill ever find.

Today is one of those days - when Im suddenly feeling 50,000 miles away from home. Its a strange feeling, not being able to call HOME because of logistic issues!! Hello, I want my mommie please? yeah Iknow, im an improved version and all that but I dont profess to being able to do without my mom. :-/ Bittersweet. solitary. strange. Back for more. Im not all about the hard stuff :)

The transience of infinity

Its only once we realize the finite nature of things around us, do we really value them. Name the top three things that come to your mind - time, love, life? Have we all not, at one point or another thought of something as strange as what we'd do if we had 24 hours to live? Heck, I had to write a 300 word essay for my school applications recently! What we'd say to a loved one if he had 24 hours to live? How we'd spend the last week at home before leaving the country? What we'd say if it were the last conversation we were having?

Infinity, is actually, a misnomer. Come to think of it, everything in life can be allocated ephemeral pockets of circumstantial time slots and vacant spaces in our hearts. Do you still love the person you said you'd love forever? Most likely, not. We love circumstantially and conditionally, contrary to what Bryan Adams might say. A sequence of events led us to feel what we did at that point for another person who at that time fulfilled some latent need--wanting to be loved, to feel secure, to be a couple, to count on, it varies. Which brings me to the point - infinity is actually transient. fleeting. brief. momentary.

We live in a world of paradoxes. Where change is imperative and imminent, yet faced with intense opposition. We'd stagnate without it, yet we battle any change with formidable strength.

Where love is not 'forever' but 'until you suit me'. A world moving at whirlwind speed with more efficiency than ever before, yet where's the time?

Today as I count down to a new life, in a new country, I feel a heightened perception of emotions of all kinds stewing through me. Home cooked food, Mom's hug, friends phone calls, family - suddenly I'm treating these things with enormous depth. The other day I was driving past Marine drive and I remembered all the millions of times Ive driven past hurriedly to get home, but that day, I took in each curve in the road, each contour of this beautiful coastline, absorbing the energy of lovers, joggers and urchins just infusing life into this place. I pulled down the windows and let the salty sea spray ruin my hair for once without a grumble. I ate plain rice and dal without a squeak of opposition as I know there's going to be a day, not too soon when I might be craving this - and a status on a social networking site is all Ill have to contend with.

It's not just the impending move to another country - its the repercussions thereafter too. This could possibly be the last time I live in my parents home as me. This new life and move could have its extensions in marriage, who's to say? The other day someone asked me what my plans are, and whether ill marry and settle there, or work? I simply smiled and gave my now templated answer - 'I don't have a plan, I'll deal with whatever comes my way'.

Cause hell knows, when has life gone according to plan anyway?

It was me :S

If anyone saw a woman in the front seat of a Lorry filled to the brim with the entire contents of her home with 5 men on the roof, whilst herself occupying passenger seat in the lorry, gesticulating wildly to prevent aforementioned lorry being driven into people and other vehicles, at the hands of seemingly amateur driver, It was me.

How did I land up in this predicament? We were shifting everything from our (old) house to our (new) home on Saturday, everything except ourselves i.e. Since Grihapravesh Puja Muhurat denied us our official entry until Sunday. This being a new building, there tend to be teething issues such as discovery of certain chipped tiles, a small scratch on the fresh paint(which to my oh-so-particular Dad is nothing short of a crime), water supply yet to be turned on etc hence My dad went ahead to the new house in the morning to supervise, which left me in Charge of operations at the old house (where all the action was unfolding).

Mom and Brother both were feeling sick, presumably due to all the action of the past few days. Which meant I had two additional responsibilities to take charge of. Anyway, I was supposed to accompany the movers and packers (me: cab, they:truck) when everything was loaded to the new house. Once things were done, packed and loaded, my old house bare as bare, I wrote down my new address to the head packer (?) who had NO idea where what. Now, My address is pretty simple. It has a 5 star hotel as a Landmark, the signal is well known, for a movie theatre exists there since the last 50 years I should think. All in all, anyone travelling in Mumbai will have SOME idea of the near abouts of the landmarks at least! This man had none. to which I decided it will be a safer bet to explain the directions to the driver himself, thereby eliminating the middle man and also averting possible delay due to losing the way. Driver = clueless. Packer 2= clueless. so on to packers number 3, 4, 5. All new definition to NOT knowing.

Since the last thing I really wanted was my stuff, 6 men and a Lorry getting lost (and by the looks of it, they would've) I decided Id just get into the front seat of the lorry and save myself the exasperation of sitting in a cab driving at 5-7 kmph to keep up with the truck (max speed = 12kmph).

That's NOT all. Going by the events of this journey, its safe to surmise that the driver mustve been driving for the first time since he got his license. We had to cross one flyover which he decided his truck would manage at the 4th gear. (HOW??) Much groaning and grunting of frayed truck later, (and a lot of mental 'calm down Serendipity' later) I asked him to downshift to second. Wonder of wonders, the truck picked up. (Sheesh)

Next. Heavy vehicles must (NOT) occupy right hand side of lane. Or should they? Many Many fantic 'Bhaiyaa aap left se chalaiye' 's later, I took to ferociously waving my left hand out of the window signaling our descent towards the appropriate lane, reaching which for some reason, he would move to the R.H.S. again. {Serendipity was praying HARD at this point for some patience, and asking help to shun the 'I should drive this vehicle thoughts' from her head)

It struck me at this time, How boyish I still am. I was wearing old oversized jeans (which I'm filling up fast owing to the piling on of some) and my dads oversized Blue 'How to Speak Australian' By Fosters (Australian fo Beeyah) :D t-shirt and sneakers. Waist long hair and a recent affinity towards pinks and reds and compliments inclined towards good looks (as opposed to buddy/one of the guys and the likes) has not overpowered the gate climbing, oversized jeans and shirt wearing boycut girl of yonder. Although I did cringe at EXTREMELY cute guy parked in my lobby, whose cuteness I was unaware of and walked upto his car clad in above mentioned clothes and a pony as high up on my head as can be imagined, to ask if my lorry was a bother and to tell him ill only take a few more minutes, since I had taken to hoisting chairs and furniture myself as well. He gave me a 'Don't worry, take your time' smile and a thumbs up. Id rather have sunk through the floor or even better, rushed home, showered, perfumed and reappeared in the flash of a second. {sigh} (Also, Boy Am I glad A doesn't read this blog :P else my arse would've been grass by now. And coming to the point, he should no? Are'nt all boyfriends supposed to? hmmpff. lol)

Oh it was a MAD ride. At the end of which I was very graciously told 'Madamji, aap gaadi chalati acche se chalati hongi. isliye appko sab kuch aata hai'
Needless, driver was forgotten for the monstrosity that was the ride that instant.

Too close for Comfort.

The day of moving houses i.e. And while its a conclusion we were always aware of (Living in a Company Flat) there's something about living in a house for over 10 years, that makes you both one. At the risk of sounding silly, my home was my friend. My room, although shared with my brother, felt cosy and comfortable since it was liberally sprinkled with my favorite things - Books, DVD's, Photo Frames, A Large Window overlooking the sea and bright fluorescent stars on the ceiling.

The Familiar walls, winds wafting in through a familiar sequence of strategically opened windows and doors to best allow the cross ventilation through, the shade of the paint on the walls, the small Black and white of my Parents when they were 25... irreplaceable, invaluable and unforgettable.
We're better off than most Mumbaikars grappling with the insane property rates, since We're shifting not so far from where we lived before (Into our own house this time), and I can still qualify to be a Sobo (South Mumbai)'ite if I stretch the Boundaries a bit =) so I've got little to complain.

Yet, As i walked in home from work yesterday, the disappearance of all the antiques in the living room, the lamps on various corners and a few paintings left me startled. I'm not used to seeing my house naked like this. Walls bare. A few remaining paintings, presumably too large to fit into boxes dad was using then, hang in solitude, trying to infuse some cheer into a fast emptying home.
An antique Rose wood cupboard, redolent of liquors, spirits and daddy's collection of Decanters and glasses for every drink, stands bereft of its contents, with scotch tape and other wrapping/packing material strewn about carelessly. This Cupboard is not used to disordered contents. Each Decanter, Glass and Bottle were arranged with paternal care.

My room misses a bed. It got shipped away. Strange how I wouldn't trade the familiar juxtaposition of furniture for the extra walking space I apparently always craved. Suddenly all those things Ive wanted to change seem insignificant, ridiculous even to be considered a shortcoming. The view was the best though. I'm lucky in that respect, Ive lived by the sea for 20 of my 25 years. And when I say By the sea, I mean it literally. Until now. Luxury could afford us a house in this side of town, but asking for a sea view would be stretching it.

Its going to be SO hard. Today as I go home, I shudder to think of what else will be missing, which other parts of my home will lie in a box, and how we're one day closer.

Coupled with the sadness of leaving this house, comes the excitement of the other house - bigger, nicer, and finally OUR OWN. Last evening I went and bought a Northwest Fan Regulator 400 W, the example of which I quote to signify the detail in which we are involved in the making of this house. Kudos Dad.