As you like it

There have been so many posts on similar lines that I left the name of the title to be decided by the reader.

Any one who has as much as put a toe nail in Chennai will surely mention this feature of the city - the auto rickshaw drivers. And I have set up my home here - how would I not pay my homage to a credo of this city.

On a working day I commute using auto rickshaws. Now for the first one month, each day was full of suspense as to which auto I would take, how would the driver be, how much would I end up eking out. There were many options available to me - namely - picking up an/any auto plying on the road after stepping out of the house. Since the drivers could read "alien" written on my forehead in Comic sans font, they would spell the most atrocious, humongous amount their brain could imagine at that moment. I would give a look of utter disgust/amusement/surprise/anger and many more depending on my frame of mind at that juncture. Then after quite a bit of haggling and waste of time, I would get the ride.

The other option was a "Call Auto"(I salute the creative and entrepreneurial genius of the person who started this!) In this format I would call the "call auto" center ( their services are available from 0700hrs to 1900hrs everyday of the week), and book an auto for the designated trip at a particular time. Now this class of auto drivers do a unique thing that NO OTHER Community of auto drivers do. They use the ELECTRONIC METER!!!! And a major service for the well being of the aam junta. But they too have a household to run, kids education to be financed, fuel to be filled, booze to be had :| , how would they manage these simple mortal chores with the paltry income. So they just charge Rs 20 extra. This works out much cheaper than the price one would reach with any degree of passionate haggling. But, But, But - who said life is all rosy dandy? There is a CATCH! They call up 30 mins before the time you want to move and confirm whether they have an auto for you or not (resource scarcity you see) This means you remain on tenterhooks till the celestial call comes. It worked fine sporadically for me. 2 days in a row I would get an auto, but then 3rd day, the auto would have its gear wire messed up. And I would have my schedule messed up big time. I endured it for quite some time. But every time why the bloody gear wire messing syndrome with me!!???? One day I took the number of the MD from the driver who used to frequently ferry me and asked him to come up with a new excuse each day. The gear wire getting damaged was getting a bit monotonous. Puncture would be another good option.

After that I severed all ties with Call Auto services.

And the knights in shining armors were the auto drivers from the local auto stand. Now they charge the normal Rs 150 drop me at office, but no other hassles. No crib session by them, no confirmation calls to make me all jittery; I have in fact started recognizing some of them :)

Now so much was for my auto rides for getting to my office. The chronicles of the return trips have a story of their own.

To get back home I use share autos - these are huge toad shaped auto rickshaws in which anything from 6-12 people can travel. Before I get into any of them I make it a point to ask the driver where is his vehicle bound to. Some times, the drivers choose not to reply. I seriously feel like slapping the buster and flinging some choicest slangs at him. Come on what about the great Indian tradition of Customer being king?? Atleast minimum courtesy the dude can reply where his auto is going right? But no. Hmm.. Whatever.

The share autos don't go till my home. So from the last stop I have to haul another auto rickshaw and reach home. Each day I get to meet a new specimen of driver. Yesterday the driver wanted to get rid of me ASAP. At every intersection he asked, Madam shall I drop you here? Madam shall I drop you here? I was like WTH!!!!!! With the rudest voice, I shot back, Mister I will tell you where you have to drop me. Look at the road and drive on.

He gave the most sulky look any mortal could muster and muttered something about the distance being too much and I paying him peanuts. (It pays not to understand the language fully :) )

Each day of travel is a travail for me in fact.

Deeps's Tag

1.Last movie you saw in a theatre?
Hmmmmmmm I think its 10,000 BC :(

2.What book are you reading?
Ice Candy Man

3.Favourite board game?
Ludo?


4.Favourite magazine?
Anything lying in the salon. I aint much of a mag fan

5.Favourite smell?
Davidoff Coolwater :) :) :)

6.Favourite sound?
Mebbe the ringtone of my cell phone :)
I also like the sound of a fan starting up when the power comes back after a cut :) It fills me with divine happiness

7.Worst feeling ever?
Uncertainty

8.What is the first thing you think when you wake up?
Damn! Its morning alraeady????

9.Favourite fast food place?
At my home town, the place called Market Building

10.Future child's name?
If its a guy Kanishka
Beti ka naam socha nehi but A se kuch rakhenge :)

11.Finish this sentence " if i had a lot of money i'd..."
Invest some spend the rest :)

12.Do you drive fast?
Nopes....

13.Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
I am allergic to fur. :|

14.Storm cool or scary?
Kewlllllllllllllllllllllll

15.What was your first car?
:(

16.Favourite drink?
Coke


17.Finish this sentence "if i had the time i would?"
Mow down alllllllllllll the books in the world

18.Do you eat the stems of broccoli?
Green veggies have protein which is good for hair, and I can do anything for good hair. So yes.

19.If you could dye you hair,which colour would it be?
Thanks but no thanks.

20.Name the different cities /town you have lived in?
Bhubaneswar, Kolkatta, Rourkela, Hyderabad, Chennai

21.Favourite sports watch?
Cricket

22.One nice thing about the person who sent you this?
:) Shes a sweet person


23.Whats under your bed?
Its a box bed. There are actually a lot of things like :-
The vacuum cleaner
Winter wear
Bed spreads
Extra pillows
Wedding gifts we wont be using for the time being
And some more stuff I am not able to remember now

24.Would you like to be reborn as yourself?
I want to try a guy s life :)

25.Morning person or night owl?
Depends on what I have to do. If its a movie night owl. If its exercise morning person :)

26.Over easy,or sunny side up?
Sunny side up

27.Favourite place to relax?
On the couch cell phone in hand

.28.Favourite pie?
I hate pies


I tooooooooooo tag everyone who visits My Blog :)

Tagged by Ashu

8 things I am passionate about...


1. Writing
2. My wardrobe
3. Cleanliness
4. Exercising
5. Books
6. My independence
7. My career
8. My education


8 things I want to do before I die...

1. Own a big independent house
2. Be self employed
3. Step on atleast all the continents of the world
4. Write a book
5. Be on the front page of the newspapers for one day atleast :D
6. Take my parents on a world tour
7. Have a library of my own
8. Die looking just the same (I know skin will be wrinkled and all but I dont want to be a fat corpse for sure :S )


8 things I say often...(Thats 8 fold version of my own tag in the 2nd blog)

1) Awesome
2) Kewl
3) What the hell
4) Morrrrrrrron
5) Argh!
6) Oye
7) Chill
8) Fine No probs


8 books I last read
(Marriage has decelerated my reading pace for sureeeeee sniff sniff)

1. The glass palace
2. The Japanese wife
3. Many lives many masters
4. For one more day
5. The memory keepers daughter
6. Water
7. How starbucks saved my life
8. The Ice candy man (Currently reading)

8 songs I could listen to over and over again...


1. Chal chalein apne ghar
2. Likhe jo khat tujhe
3. Dance with me
4. Everything I do
5. I want to spend my life time loving you
6. Naa hai yea paana
7. Tumhi dekho na
8. Shape of my heart


And many many more

4 people I think should do this tag...

Ashma
Abhishek
Deepshikha
Shallu

Some Day!

Well.. Today I just had to write this post. Morning I was feeling so strongly about this issue that I decided no matter how much the work load, no matter what the deadline, no matter what is my state of mind, I will write this post.

First of all, commuting was problem number 1 for me. Work arounds were galore. But for me, travelling comfortably is of vital importance. No matter what, I should travel in utmost comfort, at any cost. And I am shelling out some Rs 200 per day for commuting. If we consider 20 working days per month this comes to Rs 4000 only. And per year ahem ahem a wooping 48K. People might find the numbers eye popping. But I have decided to turn a deaf ear to what others have to say. For me, I dont want to reach office drenched in sweat neither to I want to reach home pissed off because of travel. So better invest this money for peace of mind.

Anyways the mathematics of my travel cost has motivated me to lay 2009 July as the milestone date for owning a car. Amen.

Now for problem number 2.

One problem that peeves me to no end in life is Water Problem. And see my destiny - Chennai has no dearth of it. On all my prior stays at Chennai, I have been blessed with a really smooth existence. I some how loved being in this city. But now I feel, they were all baits by God to lure me :S

I had heard Chennai has water problems. Hmm there is a difference between hearing things and living them! :(

Every day I literally come prepared that some new water related problem will be there.

In our house, we have lines from which saline water comes. And there is a separate tap for fresh water in which the water comes for some 10-15 mins from 0730 hours. This water is stored in drums etc for cooking and bathing purposes.

2 days before I landed here, in our apartment provisions were made for 24 hrs supply of saline as well as fresh water. My joy knew no bounds. I some how dont get that fresh feeling if i take bath in stored water. So I was very happy with the arrangements.

But 2 weeks down the line, we got a circular from the apartment management, that the supply has not been able to meet the demands and some other lame excuses, so the old sys of 24hrs saline water supply and 10 mins fresh water will be the norm. I was like Ok fine.

It would have been all rosy dandy, if this had been the state of affairs. I was slowly getting acclimatised to using water sparingly (how I hated it initially ) . It was K who complained about my using a lot of water. I asked, You expect me to use less water. He said A lot LESS. That day onwards I mended my ways to suit Chennai :)

Ever since I became a good girl, water started throwing tantrums. Some day, the fresh water would not come for the adequate duration ending in all the drums not getting filled up. I would be pissed off that day. Some day salt water wont come for some time rendering the flushes and basin taps useless. I would be pissed off that day too. And now we have a new problem - no salt water but fresh water for 24hrs - means no use of any tap/flush in the house except for the one tap. I have forgotten the joy of opening a tap and water running down, small simple things I used to take for granted.

I remember when I was in school, and we were staying in dads government quarters for some years. There water used to come from 7-10 in the morning and 5-7 in the evening. That was BIG WATER PROBLEM for us. Apart from that, I have never faced any water woes, no matter in which part of India I have resided. Here when I told the same, my sister in law said," If fresh water comes daily for 10 minutes, people in Chennai say there is no water problem." I was shell shocked.

And today, when I came back from the gym, my mother in law was standing just like that(usually shes scurrying around the house) When asked she said, no fresh water also. So many emotions ran through me like :O :S :( :(( :'(

K had to push off first. So he took crows bath and left. And I was left waiting. The last thing I want to hear when I come back all sweaty from the gym is "There is no water" But that was the first thing I got to hear today.

The watchman said at length that water would be coming in some time. We waited and waited, all we got from the tap was a hiss. Since I was getting late, I asked my mother in law, if I could borrow a bucket of water from the ground floor residents in case they were getting it. She consented and accompanied me. But see my luck, we hardly filled half a bucket, water stopped running. Mom in law told me to wash face and leave for office. I geared myself for it. But when I stepped into the bathroom and saw the precariously less quantity of water, I balked. I decided, I will go late to office, but I wont go unclean.

I read and re - read the morning newspaper as I waited for water to come. Finally at 0930 hours there was water!! I felt like a villager in the movie Swades, just like they rejoiced for Bijli I was doing a hurray when water came!! I was smiling at the sight of water for a good 5 minutes!!

Woman of the house

Its been close to a week, and I have been the woman of the house in the true sense of the term.

My mom in law has been with my sis in law in the hospital since the past 2 weeks. My sis in law delivered a cutsu baby girl on the 29th of April( A Taurean baby :D :D )

So for the past 2 weeks, the reins of the house have been in my hands.

Morning I wake up with K at 0530 hours pronto for the gym which we go from 0600 hours to 0700 hours.

After that its a scurry of activity for me once I am home. I prepare something for lunch. Usually I cook the curry the night before since in the morning I have time just to make the rotis. Stupid K leaves the house at 0810 hours pronto. That has me all huffing and panting to get his lunch ready. And simulataneously, I prepare my morning cuppa and gulp it down in intervals.

After the lunch is ready, I get on with the breaker. (Now I am getting a tad hyper by calling it making breaker.) I have been feeding poor K on bread all the while. Its some sandwich or the other every day. And K s been a sweet to eat it everyday. (On second thoughts I somehow feel, he thinks bread has lesser calories than normal Indian breakfast which makes him all the more happy to eat the bread. )

But seriously being in control of the house, is quite a pain. I have to ensure that the maid does the needful. And since she does not understand Hindi, I have to more all the more patient to explain to her with actions what needs to be done. And we get fresh water from 0730 hours to 0745 hours which has to be filled in drums et al (Chennai has water problems - information for the uninitiated). K runs around doing this, but I have to see to it sometimes in case he is tied up in something else. Evenings there are all the clothes to be folded and kept. Then the ones meant for ironing have to goto the laundry basket and when the laundry lady comes to pick the stuff, it has to be ensured that the count is proper and that she has delivered the right number of clothes.

I realise what a major help my mom in law had been all this while. Being in charge, gives you a lot of room as in what you want to eat but it brings in the additional burden of thinking what to cook to eat.

One day when I came all drenched in sweat from the kitchen, K was like ,"Hmpf so much scene for cooking dinner one day. Imagine your mom and my mom and so many other moms who do this day in and day out and have been doing for so many years." I felt like gouging the eyes of that insensitive brute.

This brief stint has made me realise the prowess of our moms for sure. Its not mean feat to manage the house. I now hail all the mother and home makers of the world. Maa tujhe Salaam.

Wrecked and Ravaged

Thursday 17th April: -
Day 1 - I started the day sneezing and wheezing. Blame it on the fact that the ac was on the whole night and me being so susceptible to cold, had to contract it. But I put on a brave front, popped a cetrizin and waddled to office. At office I was fine for some time, but then suddenly felt the ac temperature was a bit too low. And at 1400 hours a sneezathon started. Within an hour I was having a numbing pain through my body, and a tingling sensation from the roots of the hair to the tips of the toes. Thats when I realised Oh! Boy!! I was getting a fever.

I wrapped my work ASAP (That was the penultimate day for tax declaration and some more mumbo jumbo one is supposed to do in beginning of the fiscal year. How I hate the beginnings and ending of fiscals years. Grrrrrr) and scurried home. At home I had a warm cup of tea and hit the bed with my best friend (Amrutanjan :) )

That night I had a very high temperature and survived on 2 crocins.

Day 2 - Morning I did not have fever and woke at 8 to bid K goodbye as he was leaving for office. Since I had not slept well the night before I decided to take the day off. And as K was leaving Wham!!!!! I fainted and had a 5 feet 5 inches free fall. I was picked up by K, the maid and my mom in law and conciousness was restored. Then I slumped on the bed and slept off. K took the day off.

Evening, once the outside temperature was a bit bearable, we both went to see a doc.

The doctor was a well reco-ed one so my expectations were all the more from him. We went inside, he took my BP!! Peered into my throat - "Throat is very bad" He croacked. And decreed - "You have viral fever. Dolo 650, Allegra, Becosules and Azethomycin. You will be fine in 4-5 days. If any problem is there you can visit me. But I think there is no other cure but for you to bear it. "

I was so DISGUSTED. He gave scant regard to a person with some 104 degrees temperature!! And what the blooooooody hell of there is no cure and you have to bear. Why did we pay you those 100 bucks?

Anyways we came home and I tried to have some food and retired to sleep early on.

Day 3 - Saturday no let up by the fever. I spent the whole long day sleeping. K and I had plans to go for a movie the weekend :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

K starts sneezing by the evening.

And....... Night I had terribly high temperature. I shivered a lot. :( :-S

Day 4 - I called up my uncle who is a doc in Apollo Hyderabad and oldhim the symptoms and whats going on. He was like see if this is viral, started on Thursday, its already been 4 days, 2 more days and by Tuesday you should be on the move. But I would suggest you get an MP(Malaria Parasite) Test done. I was like God Blessssssssssssss You!

Day 5 - Its Monday. Poor K takes leave for me. He takes a limping me to the Malaria Centre. They draw blood. And tell the results will b out at 1500 hours. I limp back home with hubby. And fall asleep flat with a temperature that could makes chickens hatch :-S

1500 hours results come. MP Test Negative. I dunno whether to the relieved or be sad.

So we decide to pay a visit to our good old doctor.

And this time he greets us with a smile and says ," Maa listen, this is how it is. You have to be positive. Once you start thinking negative that is when things start turning bad. I dunno why there are so many cases of this fever now a days. May be something to do with our changed lifestyles and polluted environment. Do these tests and come back tomorrow."

All the while I was seething inside listening to his sermons on Art of Living. I wanted to strangle him to death with his own stethoscope. &^%&%^%

Gave a quintal more blood for some more bloody tests. (It was MP Test again and a haemoglobin count test)

That night I wear 2 sweaters, take a thick blanket, switch off the fan :-( All this in the heat of Chennai- Still my teeth clatter. A dread ful night.

Day 6 - Since I am so ravaged with fever, I called uncle again. Uncle this time asked me to take the Typhoid test (At least he makes me take some decent tests not a damn Haemoglobin count test. Btw my haemoglobin count comes as pretty low in the test and Dr Dear asks me to come with my husband and meet him in the evening. I mentally mouth profanities and keep the phone.)

Then uncle states, now a days malaria aint getting detected that easy. So if the fever does not subside by tomorrow and the typhoid test is negative, we will start the dosage of quinine. It has no side effects, but you have to take it on a full stomach else the blood sugar level might drop.

Day 7 -7 days of full blown fever. 0700 hours. Typhoid test - Negative.

I started quinine dosage at night.

And that night I felt as if I was being exorcised. I had such a high temperature that I had a cold towel over my forehead. After one hour, the temperature started coming down. Then I felt my heart beat rate increased enormously. :-S And I was hyper ventilating. I lay on my stomach to stop the pounding of my heart. All this while I was wondering if my stomach was full enough before I took the medicine. And I was thinking may be I should have asked my uncle the symptoms of dripping blood sugar, for God forbid, if this was it :-S I am done for :-S. Then after 20 minutes of absolute agony, I broke into a nice sweat. I sweated as if I was in a sauna. And I sweated and sweated and sweated and finally slept......

Day 8 - Fever was at a manageable 100 degrees. Uncle told, it should be done with by Friday. That is tomorrow. In case not - We have to get you admitted in a Biiiiiiiiig hospital with Biiiiiiiig instruments and Biiiiiiiig Doctors and Biiiiiiiiig tests :-S That is exactly how he said it. And I prayed to God fervently that I better get well sssssssssssssssssssoooonnnnnnn.

But he said, it must have been Malaria cos no other parasite responds to Quinine. So since the fever has gone down due to quinine its proved it was malaria which was not being detected.

Oh! How I adore a logical explanation!!

Day 9 - Hmm feeling much better, I was singing praises of my uncle and cursing that God forsaken Chennai doctor every moment. And one of my friends told me that day was World Malaria Day :

Day 10- I am able to get up and move around :D :D :D :D

I make the masala, K makes the dosa and we eat happily ever after :D :D :D :D

Day 11 - I make food again. And evening we even go out to the beach !!!!!!! We start from home at 1730 hours, spend some time on the beach with K 's uncles family, then we take a walk, have some tit bits @ Barista, do some shopping and come home at 2100 hours!! That was the longest duration I was off a bed and outside after eonssssssssssss.

Day 12 - I am in office. In front of a machine finally typing all this :D ;)

Why do these tears come

I had read it somewhere, "..if everything is fine, then why do these tears come?" Wish I could remember where I had read it. I would love to revisit the book to find why the writer had said so. Because that is how I feel now a days. I should thank God for many things, for so many things he has just like that bestowed on me. I am happy for them but then out of no reason - I get the tears. As I am listening to a song, I get reminded of friends, of old times, of fun with them. When I see K in splits when talking to his friends, I get reminded of how we could laugh as if there was no tomorrow. How the jokes would just keep flowing in a restaurant with the people on other tables staring at a group of raucous girls. We would give two hoots to 'what others might think'.

I am not able to figure it out that what is the real problem.

Is it because I don't have work in office that I am whimsical and cranky?

Or is it because the new life is still rattling me? Is it that I would still prefer coming back from office, enjoy a cup of tea and talk with my friends about their day in office, cool dudes that we happened to meet, pull some ones leg just for the heck of it, make a couple of phone calls and then retire for the day. Rather than having to face the numerous responsibilities that come with making a home. I am not averse to taking responsibilities for sure. I in fact love setting things right. But maybe I want the variety that comes with staying with friends.

Or is it because I have some expectations set from my better half, which I would very well get from my best friend but I am not getting from him? Raaji had rightly said in her blog that Men are not the type to take hints. (http://raajii.blogspot.com/2008/03/men.html) But then I also get tired of saying it out aloud all the time. Some times I prefer if the unsaid is given credence to. Anyways, its the thing about men and women that makes the world go round and round for sure.

And as I am in this turmoil, one thing is for sure. I miss my old life like hell. I miss being at home and being pampered to no end by my mom. I miss cracking those jokes with my sis and pulling my daddy dears legs. I miss being with my own set of friends.

All these combined together end in these tears.

And that too in the weirdest of moments. As I lie on the bed and sleep takes a tad longer to come, I suddenly feel a tear trickle down. Suddenly I am reminded of my very last night at Hyderabad, when I was thinking, how there was going to be an irreversible change from the next day, for me and for some of my friends as well.

As K the baby of the house, comes back home, has his dinner, watches Slam Dunk and retires for the day, without so much as a Question "How was your day? " which my room mate in Hyds would invariably ask, I feel a tinge of tear. I am not sure if I am being a schmalz, maybe I am being one. But I am not able to help it either. I want to be that chirpy, no holds barred girl.I want to be the Cherrie who had the opportunity to crack incessant jokes with family, the Amrita who had hellova lot of fun with her friends.