On a car ride back home..

.. anyone noticed this monstrosity at the AIIMS flyover.. these big steel blobs shooting up out of no where.. i wonder what it is?? ... a bored babu's money making scheme... a modern artist's representation of global warming.. whatever it is ... it's ugly...
and there are more of them.. many more.. smaller and uglier.. like an army of aliens had just landed to take over our land...
Please enlighten me... someone....

... "advertising has never been this close to reality" screams a billboard on the South Ex bus stop.. it advertises the "Republic of Chicken" outlet right behind ... amusing... and smart I think :)

A Happy Anniversary to us..

We turned 4 as a couple on the 20th of Oct. It has been a rock and roll ride but a fun one.

I took a quick trip to Benetton to pick up a hurriedly chosen gift. I had almost decided to skip a gift this year, I had no time or energy to plan anything thoughtful but then I just couldn't bring myself to break this tradition. I was sure this is how it all starts, first you stop surprising each other with little gifts and then you stop caring for each other..

So anyway.. here I was with my gift in place and pretty sure that P didn't have anything for me thats when the surprise came knocking on the door.. actually ringing the bell on my door.. a lovely bunch of white flowers and a bottle of champagne with a little note saying "We'll always have Paris" ... Casablanca fans would know what I'm talking about and there's a personal story behind this phrase and our trip to Paris a couple of years ago.. that will be told another time...


So I was thrilled but sure that this was it and was happily planning my day at work and maybe a dinner later. Honestly, I hate going to work on a special day like this so I was a little peeved. This was the first time in 4 years that we were in town, every other year we used to go out for a short vacation.. but this year had been really busy. I was about to enter my bath when this strange lady walked into the house with a big basket. This was P's big surprise.. a home spa treatment.. 3 blissful hours of Thai massage and scrubbing :)..

A lovely dinner at a posh hotel followed in the evening with great red wine. I finally got to wear the really low back orange top that had been lying unused for so long..


On a more serious note, I'm glad this year is over. It has been the toughest year in our married life as yet. We went through a lot. We have been furthest from each other this year and oddly enough the closest too. I'm proud of us for surviving this time. And I'm hoping against hope hopen that the worst is over... fingers crossed...

On the eve of Karva chauth

Another important day is almost here. Tomorrow I celebrate Karva Chauth, the only married-woman thing that I do. I don't wear a bindi on my forehead, or a mangalsutra around my neck. I don't wear vermilion in the parting on my hair or even bangles.. yes I mostly prefer the uncluttered look and rarely adorn myself with any kind of jewellery.. to my mother's horror, my wrists are bare most of the time (confession: I carry bangles in my bag most times to be prepared for encounters of the motherly kind).
Then comes this day once a year when I do all of this. As with Navratras and most festivals, this is more about nostalgia and preserving a family tradition than pleasing any Gods or elongating my husband's life (he will have to join a gym for that).
This day has such a dramatic, romantic feel to it. For all the years that I can remember, the preparations for this festival began a week or so before the day. Mamma started worrying about what to wear and promptly went saree shopping. So I don't know if this happens in every home but in my home, we buy a new saree every year... :)

The day before was reserved for shopping. Colorful glass bangles and puja things, applying henna on hands. Then dawned the day of Karva Chauth. It was actually one of those very few days in the year when I would see dawn. We would all wake up at 5 in the morning and join mamma to eat her morning meal. The huge spread consisted of gobhi paranthas, sweets, custard apples, almonds, sweet seviya, etc, etc.. And one of us kept running out to the balcony, straining the neck to check if the stars were still visible in the deep blue sky, for the fasting started as soon as the stars vanished and the new day began. How can I forget the final course of this grand meal.. one capsule of B complex vitamins and a paracetamol swallowed with one last glass of water.

Mamma spent most of the day in bed. When the time for the evening puja came, she adorned herself with the new saree and heavy jewellery that finally got to see the light of day. After the puja, we all collected at our grand mother's place and had glasses of fresh fruit juice. This was one respite that our grand mother offered to her daughter-in-laws. The time after the puja was the worst part of the day for my mom, the wait for the moon to rise, thirst increasing every minute. Papa would be back home from work by this time and try to pacify her foul mood and keep running to the terrace looking for the moon.

When the yellow moon finally rose, we ran up to the terrace... puja things and all.. mamma held up the sieve and saw the moon through its mesh and finally touched papa's feet. Papa always surprised her with an expensive gift.

Why this long ballad on my mother's Karva Chauth?? Well mine is quite similar too.. other than a few changes. I try not to stay home and keep active and busy so I don't think of food or water and I don't touch P's feet. I just can't. It somehow signifies a difference in status in a marriage and that's just not how it is for us. We are equals. And most important of all, P has never gotten around to getting me a gift for all the starving that I do for his sake. Maybe touching of feet has something to do with it ... :)

I'm all set for tomorrow. My hands running on the keyboard look pretty with henna, the earthy, warm fragrance gives me a high. Shopping done, the new saree is at the dry cleaners for ironing. Its a red-beige printed tussar, subtle by Karva Chauth standards so I've teemed it with a hot red zardozi choli. The jewellery is out of the bank locker.. the choices are either gold or red kundan. Any ideas?

How many times ..

do I start writing and give up half way... millions.. the number of unpublished posts in my list are so much more than the ones you get to read.. I write about something important and it reads so lame that I give up.. just like I'm about to now..

The joys of motherhood..

T finally managed to keep me home by falling sick. He was running high fever last night so obviously going to work was out of question. On days like these I realize the importance of not being in a regular job. Though I have been labeled a dukandaar by P.

I'm glad I stayed home. T is much better now after a visit to the doctor.
Isn't motherhood totally worth it when your baby spends an hour playing with your tummy. The tummy which no one else will look at and abs is just not the right word for it anymore. It is a soft, cushiony lump of fat that little T loves to sleep on and press as if kneading dough (so you can picture how much fat there is) while I make funny faces and noises much to his delight.

Then we spent half an hour looking for "meetha dai" (sweet homeopathic medicine) that T and spilt all over the bed. We scouted for every last little ball on the bed... with T chirping along.. "Meetha dai kaha gayi.. dhundu dhundu" (where is the sweet medicine.. search..).

The evening was spent at the Deer Park that T adores and then we headed out to look for "Ravanas" around town. Most of the usual places where the Ravana effigies were burnt till last year were surrounded by construction work. So the tall structures we spotted from a distance were either Delhi Metro pillars or some huge machine building a flyover. After much scouting we finally spotted the mighty Ravana with his two companions. T took some time to take it all in and was finally excited to bits.. Infact we plan to go early morning tomorrow for another look before it all burns down..

Conversation with P this morning...

Me: I am getting late for work..

P: So what is it that you really do at work?

Me: Well, I work..

P: But what work?

Me: I attend customers, make sure my staff is attending them well, solve problems, etc..

P: So you have turned into a proper Dukandaar (shop keeper)

Me: (a bolt of lightning hit me) yes I have :(
I'm not a sassy ERP consultant at a big corporate anymore.. I am a dukandaar..

I need a break...

Now I know how far I've come from the days of slogging in a corporate. Its hard to see how I could have pulled off 14-15 hour work days till barely a couple of yours ago.

A 9 hour work day kills me now. I've been very busy lately, working holidays and Sunday too. And T has been staying home with P or nani for more than a week now which means I've hardly had anytime with him and I miss him like crazy. I haven't been away from him so much other than the long American holiday.

I am with him everyday after work but its too little, I miss his entire day and I hate that. By the time I get home, he's too busy in his games with papa or with the maids and I feel like an outsider.. :( .. silly, insecure mother that I am...

I am enjoying working hard after a long time but can't wait for all this to be over so I can go back to the old routine where T is with me at work. I especially cherish the long drives to and back from work when we sing and talk and its uninterrupted T and me time..

Uhh... I miss you little T.. and here's what I keep looking at.. chotu singh.. the little brat..



I know I can't and won't ever quit work but I keep on dreaming about the long break that I would take and spend long lazy days just with T and P at home, doing nothing. Weekends are just not enough with the long lists to chores to fit in. I will definitely take a few days off after work eases out a little and just stay home with T.

Jungle Tales..

This post is due from April.. had written it immediately after the trip but somehow completely forgot to sumbit it. I found it today while going through the list.


So the short, impulsive trip took us to a national park. We left early morning and had an amazing drive. I always put together a chicken, pasta salad for such journeys. Its a filling meal and makes the pit stops short. It started off when once P and I had some people over for dinner the night before we were leaving for a holiday and I packed the left over salad to see us through breakfast. Its become a tradition now. I pack it in two or three little boxes so its easy to eat out of it in the car. And dump it in the ice box so its stays refreshingly cool.


So P drove and I ate, then I drove and he ate and we made it to our destination in record time. Since we started early and missed all the traffic, we weren't tired at all and anyway one look at our hotel shot our spirits through the roof.


As we drove through one last bend in the hills, the lush green lawns and bright blue swimming pool of the hotel beckoned. The lawns ended in the stony beach and then the beautiful river. surrounded by little hillocks. We chose to stay in a tent instead of a room since we didn't have T with us. This the funny thing about having a baby, when he's not with us, we do things that we wouldn't normally have done. What I mean is that it has made me more adventurous and impulsive. Since I know doing things a certain way is not possible with T around, I try to live to the maximum when he's not with me.


So we had lunch, then a long dip in the pool and then we set of to see this other place.

Now this was an expensive fishing resort that we wanted to stay at initially but the tariff was completely beyond us so we took the next best thing and decided to just visit the place to find out what the fuss was about. Now this place is accessible only on foot across a little hillock or in a jeep by wading through the shallow river. We thought of testing our trusty SUV through the river since P loves these adventurous off-roading drives. So we convinced one of the local hotel staff to accompany us and set off. We crossed the first stretch of the river fairly easily and then a second, by the third P was over confident and just went a bit too fast and ended up on a wrong patch and of course we got stuck. Now the SUV seems quite dependable on city roads where you park it on side walks if no parking is available but in the midst of a river was another ball game altogether. It is not a four wheel drive so we just kept going lower and lower on revving it up and finally reached the river bed. The water would enter everytime we would open a door. P and the local dude struggled to put stones under the wheels and I was driving, actually trying to move it somewhere. Nothing worked for about half an hour. It got dark. The local decided to run back to the hotel to get help and we waited. It was the scariest time of my life. We were right in the middle of the river. The engine had to be kept running, cos shutting it off would have meant risking the water entering the exhaust pipe. Thank god we had topped up the fuel. We could see forest fires on the opposite hill top. The river gushing all around us. It was spooky.

Then we saw a jeep approaching through the river on the other side. First thought was relief, then fear. P made me hide on the back seat and I took of the little jewellery i wore. The jeep approached us tentatively. We waited with bated breath. P flicked the car's light to sign the jeep to stop and help, nothing happened, then P put the window down and screamed out that we were stuck. The jeep inched forward and entered our side of the stream. We could now see a lone driver in the car, I felt better and rose from the hiding position. The jeep took a wide turn into the stream and just went through it at the farthest point possible, crossed the river and went on to solid ground and drove away with P left screaming for help. We couldn't stop laughing at the thought that we scared the poor guy probably on his way to get provisions for the other resort or something . But the weirdest thing was that the kind of distrust we have for fellow humans now. We were stranded in the middle of the river and the guy didn't even stop to ask why were we there. Or did he think it was a pleasure picnic at that hour in the middle of the river with water reaching above the foot rests of the car doors. So anyway, after a half hour's wait, the local guy got back with a jeep and six more men. They moved our car in under a minute.

The adventure did not end here though. The next morning started with an early morning jaunt to the fishing sites that were more easily accessible. P managed to catch quiet a few but of course we released them back into the water. The region is a Mahaseer conservation area and only angling is allowed with a permit and only in the presence of a government guide. P's obsession with fishing holidays suits me fine, all the time he fishes, I sit on a shady corner on the bank with cool drinks and a book and enjoy the quiet and of course the beautiful views that most such places offer. So the morning was spent this way.

The afternoon took us inside the national park. It wasn't season time so only a handful of jeeps were parked at the entrance waiting for the gates to be thrown open.We went cruising in an open jeep at 3 in the afternoon, under the scorching sun only to spot a few herds of deer and some jungle fowl. Sweaty and disappointed we were waiting to turn back when suddenly the alert jeep driver spotted a wild elephant that too a male tusker. We headed closer. P with his camera ready got all excited. As we went closer the big guy just turned around and started moving in our direction. P and the driver realized it was mast (in its mating period i think) and hence could actually charge at us. I freaked. The jeep kept going forward, P clicked away happily, the elephant closing in and I was screaming under my breath (yes its possible to scream like that when a wild animal is a few meters away). Fortunately P was happy with the pictures he took and asked the driver to turn back. Heres one of them.

So then we were finally heading back, content with the conquest. As we got close to the park exit, we saw a jeep ahead turn around and head back full throttle, the people screaming "Tiger, Tiger.. choti something something...". So we turned around as well with screeching breaks, bumping backs and baited breath.

By the time we reached there were a bunch of jeeps surrounding the said spot with screaming aunties and yelping children. The tiger had ofcourse fled into the surrounding bushes. We spotted the stripes and then as of to put an end to all the commotion, the animal got up and strode away majestically deep into the jungle, in full view of the screaming crowds.
A great performance.

Somehow seeing the tiger culminated the trip and we didn't have an appetite for anything else, just headed back to the hotel and back home the next morning.