Chayya bina jiya jaaye naa :(

Thats what people in Chennai call a cup of tea - chayya. Its one of the beverages I love and can have any quantity at any time. My love affair with tea began since I was very young under the tutelage of my father. Yes you read it correct - my father. My mom makes a tea which is close to in-consumable for me. Its bitter. She makes a real hard drink of the poor tea leaves :( While my dad savors the tasty version - you know the one with lots of milk, just right sugar, some cardamom and ginger for sure. That is what he asked me to make one day, since mom was not around. I happened to taste my own creation just for the heck of it (My mom rues the fact that she is such a hard core addict of tea. Its the petrol she needs at least thrice a day; earlier it used to be five times! She always wanted to keep her children out of this dreaded addiction). But that day, when I tasted that divinely aromatic drink - I fell in love with it. Till date, its one thing I never ever say no to. Though kudos to my mom, she so fervently wished that we should nt be tea addicts, that till date neither my sister nor I am addicted to tea.

Now, why on earth am I blabbering all this? Well, it is cos, this very thing I love- has been made a paid thingy in my office!!!!! Imagine no more free tea. We got to buy it! I would not mind spending 4 odd rupees and getting a good cuppa. But the tea that is being dished out is so lame, it barely fills a paper cup and the tea bags seem to have lost all aroma. I do reiterate that I am no addict to tea. In spite of it, tea drinking is like a ritual. An excuse to move from the desk, some time to relax and give those sore neck and legs some motion, and on cold rainy days like Chennai is having right now, it feels divine to sip that warm cup. But sadly, that cup is now where :(

When the email was first sent out that there would be no more free tea from SRK's birthday onward, the mango people thought "Oh! come on this won t be possible to implement. Anyways everyone will go to have tea outside office which will result in man hours wasted which would in turn force the non mango people to roll back the idea." There was a seething of a revolt, the jitne bhi tu kar le sitam hans hans ke sahenge hum types attitude. I felt as if I was part of a an andolan, an important satyagraha. There were some emails floated to garner support and the public forums were replete with messages with some employees becoming demi Gods with their innovative ideas. But then, nothing moved the bade logs.

Finally the day came, one cold rainy chill morning here. The day sans tea. Ideas were afloat again. Black tea, hot water, getting tea from homes in thermos flasks, going to the houses of folks staying near office and having tea (ready to pay them also if they were insistent) and many many more. But then black tea is not equal to tea. Hot water is OF Course not equal to tea. Getting tea from homes - thoda zyaada ho gaya. Going to folks staying near office - not that besharam :( So Day1 we decided to go out and have tea and check the turn around time. Day1 it was 35 minutes. Day 2 new shop - it was 55 minutes. Day 3 - It rained so hard, we had to buy the tea at office. But then how long can this continue? Slowly I see some satyagrahis succumbing and yes, in the long run I wonder how I can hold on. So though sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil main hai not much zor will power main hai :'(

PS. Did not have the patience to translate the Hindi text - apologies if it is majorly incomprehensible to many.

This and that

Has been quite some time since I updated my blog. There was nothing of importance which made me think or pen down my thoughts. But there sure were some or other stuff happening. All the time I used to think, I have to write this in my blog, I have to write that in my blog. And so here are the thiss' and thats' :)

• We got a car. Yea finally. Its an Indica vista gala red hottie :) It was the end of a long drawn search. I don't think there was any brand we left in the small car segment. There was a lot of perusal of online reviews, motoring sites and consultation with people with experience. Ultimately we settled down for this make which promises to "change everything" - cos this is the one which fitted K's obnoxiously long legs. It had everything we wanted - more or less a 5 seater, with steering height adjustment, enough space so that even after K has pushed the driver's seat, there is enough space for people in the rear, good stable structure and decent mileage. Yea we were advised against the buy with the most heard suggestion being - its more of a taxi car. But then our counter was - if something is so popular for commercial use, it should be a more than safe bet for personal use. And yea - I did look longingly at the tubby Maruti Swift (it did not give much driver space for K), K did wish i10 was a bit bigger (it more or less a 4 seater car) and we both gave a Chevy Spark a miss for the same reason (it being a 4 seater). But now this thing is for the keeps, while we both are on fine tuning our driving in traffic.
• My sister made a trip to Chennai and boy was it great. She was here for a day, but the girls day out with her was simply amazing. One full day was spent in shopping and loitering around. When we both get together we don't just shop, we splurge. That's what we did this time around too. We scouted the entire Spencer Plaza and enhanced our wardrobe as well as shoe rack :) Ah! The joys of spending :D
  
• A friend of mine made a monumental move in her life, a move to move on to family mode. She did it after a lot of struggle and strife. But end of day her determination prevailed and she moved on. She and I share the same sun sign, so inherently we have somehow understood each other. And I completely understood the step she took, for the one she loved and I wish the best of all for her new life ahead. But with her being gone, one of my tightest bonds with one of the cities I love the most, has been severed :(
  
• Just 2 more months to go for the year to end, I am kind of in a reminiscent as well as planning mode. Hope everything I know and wish as well as everything unknown but destined happens for the good.
  

The thing about Diwali

There is something about Diwali (and Dussera too). It does something to the atmosphere around. The changes are so palpable. The weather takes a turn towards chillness. People are nostalgic about home, people take vacations no matter what ( my sisters colleagues have no leaves since they are in training period and they don't earn very high bucks either. But just for one day to be with family on Diwali, they have taken flights spending nearly half their monthly salaries and gone home! )It makes you want to be with your loved ones. It makes people scoot from office early. It makes you feel like cooking something special in spite of having slogged at office for good 9 hours. Everyone wishing the other person a happy Diwali just spreads the cheer magically. I am not sure if thats the case with everyone, but I feel so festively happy! As they say we should search for excuses to be happy - I do so oh so often.

Last year Diwali was my first one after marriage. The first Diwali after wedding is a very highlighted affair in TamilNadu. But I must confess, it started off on a very bad note for the lack of education. I had no idea, how differently it is celebrated in TamilNadu compared to back at my paternal place in Orissa. At my parents place, the whole day is spent in decorating the house and keeping things ready for the big bang in the evening. We spend the day fishing for diyas, counting the number of them still preserved from the past years, asking dad to scurry and get some more, deciding on which design to put the diyas and the rangoli in, helping mom in cooking the yummiliciuos breakfast, lunch and dinner. I always remember the night before Diwali we all deciding on the elaborate menus. We sisters were never of much help, but we used to keep talking around the kitchen and generally giving my mom company while she sweated over the dishes. Food and talks in the morning and evening would be spent on the veranda and terrace placing the diyas and then it would be cracker time! See...... this is what Diwali does.... makes you feel so nostalgic.

But last year, since I was not aware, how Diwali starts in TamilNadu before the break of dawn, there was a bit of upset emotions at home. And morning does show the day, so there was nothing to write home about for the entire day. There were forced smiles and uneasy reconciliations. But then, people learn. Last year I was a newbie, still adjusting to the symphony played here( I had read this analogy in some other blog and borrowed it :) ) This year, I was ready with my own composition apart from being ready to do my part for the original orchestra. I took my own time and space and got ready in the morning. We were invited for lunch to K's aunt's house. On the way back, I bought diyas (its not a tradition out here to light diyas on Diwali - they do so on another day called Karthik Deepam I guess ) . But then, a little extra celebration does not hurt at all. So all armed with the diyas and rangoli colors, I set forth in the evening to celebrate Diwali as I know it. Made some patterns on the balcony and the front door and places those lovely diyas. It is really heartening to see the diyas fight out the winds and stay aflame - it fills me with a very positive vibe. The words tamasoma jyotir gamaya (from darkness let us move to light) subconsciously keeps reverberating in my mind. The icing on the cake came when one neighbor aunty came and said "Perfect blend of north and south, only this apartment is lighted with all these small diyas and looks very cute from a distance." I had an ear to ear grin :D

Decorations done, I caught up with friends and family. What if we are not together, we should use technology to the max. For that matter since early morning K and I were making lots of calls. Evening I spoke with some very close friends and my mom and sister for hours on end. Dinner was parathas with curd and I made some extra coconut laddus to carry to office. (Diwali makes you put in that extra effort right?)An early end to the spirited day gave me the most rested feeling. Next year, I plan a bigger better evening. More sweets, more intricate designs, more savories, more time with my family.

It was a good Diwali, touchwood. And people I cared for had a good Diwali. I was concerned for a friend of mine who was all alone. But then, when I called and checked up with her, she had surprise company. My sister who was away from home for the first time, was also doing fine. The world does hold a mirror to ones own thoughts.

I hope all my readers had a wonderful Diwali. And here s wishing you all lots of good times ahead.

Different experience same nostalgia

Last year I had written this* about how difficult it was to get back to normal pace of life after the Dussera vacations last year.

I would be holding a hazy mirror to the same scenario with this post of mine.
This time my parents made a trip to Chennai - not so much for me but for my darling sis who was coping with work and who has no vacations for 8 long months. The day they reached, ironically again, I had a major career move's decision date. I was anticipating the worst, the thing to go haywire, the whole plan to fall like a pack of cards and all my preparations to go in utter waste, and that - is exactly what happened. (Again just like last year when I had planned something important one day before the date of travel)This time, I was the least bit disappointed. I was rather thrilled, as I hopped into the auto rickshaw from office to scurry home at 1130. I could barely control my eagerness. When I reached home my mom squealed in delight. When mil asked about the result and I said "failed" with the biggest smile on earth, she was so puzzled :) But then who gave a darn to darn work when family was around.

K also had taken leave on the day just to be with everyone. It was a very pleasant day with all of us sitting and chatting and having loads and loads of coffee. Papa loves the Chennai brand filter coffee and will never say no when offered one. When he has a cup it takes a lot of will power to resist having a cup for others. So all of us ended up having nearly 4 cups of coffee each day and those too at very weird moments. One time we had at 1430 in the afternoon! Evening was full of sporadic visits to neighbors and then a trip to the temple. Mom and dad started off the night to Mysore to be with kiddo sis.

I could barely wait for the 4 days to get over when they would be back from Mysore. Since mom had a conference at Cochin the very next week they had planned to be at Chennai. Dad was to proceed to BBSR from here and mom to Cochin. Those 4 days when they were at Mysore passed at snail's pace for me. My sister felt they went away too soon - hmm relativity of time always works. Finally on one fine Wednesday morning they were back :) Mil was supposed to start on that day on a 15 day pilgrimage. So it more like my parents and us. It felt as if I was at my paternal home at BBSR rather than being in Chennai. My mom took complete control of the cooking just like she does back at her home. She did not allow me to step in (though I did to show off my culinary prowess to my dad :) ) It was really endearing to be taken care of by my mommy. My dad built up his own routine out here. They were to stay for 5 days with us - so he took to walking on the beach, he would fetch the vegetables and any immediate groceries, he would run itsy bitsy errands. In fact in a kid like fashion he used to ask if anything was over in the house so that he could make a quick trip to the nearby shops. Mom and I used to think, the shopkeepers were going to miss Papa once he left for BBSR.

To be with my parents as much as I can, I stopped going to they gym and being there for an hour. And to add fuel to the fire, my mom got preparing authentic Oriya delicacies. I did not intend to curtail myself at all to the awesome treat. I gave two hoots to weight, to my struggling dietitian (shes completely puzzled at the resilience of the fat content of my body) and to my gym instructor ( she still dreads the day she took me under her wing - I am a black mark on her appraisal document :( )I let my tongue have a ball and made my stomach work the hardest digesting all the food :) Ah! It does feel very very good to break all the rules :D :D

All the days I felt enveloped in a warmth which only and only parents can give. One day we 3 went out for shopping and it seriously felt like old times at BBSR. My parents paying up for everything, mom and I insistent of having road side food, dad barring us from having them, us still having them inspite of his objections, buying junk jewelery, marauding sarees at the famous stores around T.Nagar - we filled an entire evening with togetherness. My mom and I many a times used to venture out just like that for a long walk and street side shopping (Dad was too busy with cricket matches to care for a walk). All the while I did have a heckling thought though - I was going to be miserable when they leave. But till they were here, I postponed feeling sad.

And when they did leave, it felt no different. Felt no different from the way I had felt when I had left BBSR last year after the puja vacations. This time the tables were just a bit turned - it was my turn to come back to an empty house after seeing off my parent. My turn to see no more luggages on the room. My turn to see no extra clothes on the clothes wire. My turn to be alone in the kitchen, to be alone reading the paper and also having the coffee. Everything seemed purposeless and so insubstantial. I miss you both......


*( Ironically in the post, I had used the word 'home' for my parent's place in Bhubaneswar and used the word 'house' for our place in Chennai. I am not a person to make such mistakes, but then sometimes the sub conscious is more powerful I suppose. Last year, since I was a novice at married life, I was yet to cut the umbilical I guess)

Enough adventure for a day - Hampi Day1 Episode 2

We started screaming and scooting towards the parked ferry. The ferry driver acknowledged our pleas and did say something in return. But still we were not sure if what he said was "Ok I am waiting for you guys. Thank God K is blessed with long legs :) He was able to cover a lot of ground quickly and make it to the ferry first. He was followed by Sam. Wearing a pair of slippers which were breathing their last, I was the last one to be scurrying towards the shores. A little before the ferry was parked, was 3 metres of sludge and mud. K was totally in touch with the elements and gleefully waded through it. In fact seeing him from a distance, I never gauged, the mud was so slippery and well .. so muddy :) I was also fine, just concerned about my track pants which were getting dirty ( We had shoe string supply of clothes :) ) But the funniest sight was poor Sam whose precious Lee Coopers were getting a savage treatment.

Somehow we reached the ferry (the ordeal of those 3 metres seemed NEVER ending to me honestly) Once there, I blissfully remarked "Phew! Enough adventure for a day I think"

Once we reached the banks of the river, we got an auto and asked him to take us to any of the guest houses there. We had heard of Rahul guest house being a decent one and decided to check that out first. It ended up being fully occupied. We checked out a couple more and the good ones were taken (always happens be it guest houses or men :D ). Guest houses in Hampi have a strange way of working. Mostly they are houses with some of the rooms being converted to guest rooms. Most of the common space might even be shared with the original inmates of the house. All of these guest houses are located within a close circumference of the river banks. Since the guest houses were not so palatable for us, we asked the auto rickshaw driver to take us to some hotel. He said the hotel there was a government recognised hotel. We travelled nearly 8 kms to reach hote Mayura Bhubaneswari which looked more like a ruin in itself. The front desk person was a typical goverment memsaab. When asked if there were any rooms free, she first vehemently denied. When we urged her if there is ANYthing at all, any sort of room, she showed us a 4 seater. I felt pretty suffocated in there. There was absolutely no ventilation and since there was no electricity as well, it seemed more like a dungeon. We went up to the lady and said, the room was not good enough. Then she said, the presidential suite was there - 5600 bucks!! K was so worn out with the whole affair of searching for a hotel room, that he was game for taking it up. Seeing his enthusiasm, Sam and I were also inching towards taking it up. Then we asked, if we could be shown that room. And that room was a wow!! It was toooo plush. It was very very tempting. But 2 things hit us back - it was exhorbitantly priced - the acco charge was not even what we had spent entirely on the trip till now - and, there would be power cuts in that room also. Come on if we were paying that kind of money, the least we could expect was electricity. So we left the whole idea and went up to the auto driver and asked him to take us to some other hotel.

And wonder of wonders, he said that was the only hotel!! Sam was getting ballistic by this time and was very edgy. She insisted to the auto driver to take us to a nice guest house, which would be having electricity supply. The auto driver promised he would take us to a good place. Driving the entire 8 kms back, we came to the same guest house zone. There the auto driver took us through the most dingy by lanes and brought us to a guest house. The owner here seemed very very snobbish. We had a hell of a lot of heckling to do to get a room with one extra mattress. It was already 1900 by then. He was insistent that we check out at 0900 the next morning. ( This is a standard norm in Hampi. All the hotels and guest houses insist on checking out at 9 in the morning) Paying 1k for a stay of hardly a night was not something we were not willing to buy. But beggars cannot be choosers so reluctantly we agreed. As we were settling in the room, suddenly he came up with the form. The form kinda had a declaration of what all we were possessing and that we would take responsibility of whatever was with us. Till then it was fine, the next thing the hotel owner stated that we had to get the declaration signed at the nearest police station. Now that made us loose it. We were simply not ready to go to the police station of all the places. We started yelling at the hotel owner( God only knows what all we yelled in which language :) ) Then we stomped out of the place and threateningly requested the auto rickshaw driver to take us to a 'decent' place. I don't know why we were venting it all on him, poor thing, he did not have the divine responsibility to take care of us. But then the poor man brought us out from the dingy lanes where he had initially placed us. Once out in broader roads, we happened to see yet another guest house. We decided might as well check this out.

The owner of this guest house happened to be a very courteous man. He was also insistent on the check out at 0900hours timing and getting the declaration stuff signed at the police station, but he said that with a smile, with humility and with hospitality which was endearing. We agreed to his conditions (strangely I think he completely missed getting the declaration signed from us.) and ended up paying for 2 days stay. But we were happy with the place. It was a strange place to be honest. Pity I do not have any pictures of the place. It was located some 50 meters from the river banks and had a pleasant wind wafting through it. The room we took was the very first room of the guest house, it was just 4 steps away from the street. As an afterthought Sam and I felt, how accessible it was to an outsider if the good for nothing grill gates were not closed. But since it was so close to the street the room had the lion's share of the wind. The room was very cornily painted in a strawberry pink color and had some clumsy stuffed toys and a broken clay parrot for decoration :D There were shops selling funky wares around it and there were quite a few coffee joints and eateries around.

Once we had our luggage nicely parked, we went went ahead in search of dinner. We placed ourselves at the dinner lounge at 1930hours and trust me we came out at 2230hours. Yep, thats true, 3 solid hours. Thats the pace at which things proceed in Hampi. The problem what I felt was the cuisine is too exotic for any preparations to be made ahead of time. One may have absolutely no idea what the customer might order when the menu hosts things from pasta to pancakes to parathas to puddings to pizza and plethora of things. It ranges from continental to oriental to mexican and american. All of the items are available at all the times and the restaurants are grossly understaffed at times. Hence things are bound to take a verrrry slow pace. But while we had 3 hours, we chatted a lot. It was nice to see Sam and K bonding. They are both a number 7 (born on the 7th day of a month) and somehow I had felt, their innate similarity had repelled them from each other initially. Never had they been able to establish a rapport with each other. During this trip somehow, the time they had, gave them a chance to see beyond the initial judgmental attitude to delve into how alike they were from a point. Neither of them is a person who can make another comfortable in their company easily. So with time, they grew comfortable with each other. I was a mere listener to their conversations and thoroughly enjoyed their increasing friendship.

As soon as we reached our rooms, we retired, since we had opted for an early morning tour in the same auto rickshaw driver who had droven us around.