Towards Christmas

'Away in a manger' gets me teary-eyed.

After the vacation

Now, I'm terribly tired. I need a vacation to get over this. Some famous retro dude (Charles Lamb I think) once said, "No man needs a vacation as much as one who has just returned from one.

5 plane rides and 9 days later, I'm a tired woman with one more plane ride to go tomorrow. KL made a shopaholic out of a non-shopper, and I think I've developed strong calf muscles following 8-10-hour-long promenades down snazzy malls and never-ending lines of stores. Contrary to public opinion though, shopping in Kuala Lumpur is pretty expensive. Pretty pretty. The cheap place is Bangkok. That's next on my list.

Expect more on the trip over the next few days. With pics and all.

And I'm very glad to get back to Indie-style meals again. Minus the Malaysian groundnut oil smell.

After the attacks: Catharsis

It's been awhile since my last post. A busy calender and a disturbed soul kept me away from GGG over the last week. The Mumbai attacks took place a little too close to home for comfort.

I spent two years in Mumbai between 2005 and 2007, and my Baba and stepmom Alpana Aunty live there. Baba's office is barely two minutes away from the Oberoi-Trident. Alpana Aunty works in a building in a lane roughly between the Taj and Cafe Leopold. My best friend Smita is in a building opposite the Oberoi.

But when gunshots began last Wednesday night, I had no clue. I was on my way to Birati for Chomu Kunda's reception (refer to earlier post for who Chomu Kunda is). It took ages to get there, saree-clad and all. And coming back was quite the rural midnight adventure, a tale I'll save for a later post. I stayed over at Roy's that night, it being too late to come home. Sleep happened only around 3 am, but watching the news was the last thing on my mind. The next thing I know, my phone rings at 7 am. Baba.

Baba: You asleep?
Poojo: Yes. Talk to you later.
Baba: Yes yes. Just wanted to tell you that we are all okay. Thought you might get scared seeing all the stuff on TV.
Poojo (half-asleep): Okay okay. I'll talk to you later.

Just another blast was what I thought.

Just. Another. Blast.

'Later' came much later, around 10 am, when I was on my way to meet Amrita (who is also hearing wedding bells) to help her shop for her January 23 wedding. That's when I called Smita, to find out if she was all right. She was, but what she said was ominous: 'It's like 9/11. The terrorists are shooting on the street. But I'm okay.' The phone signal went off then. No access to the news or to the newspaper. Time to call everybody in M'bai to see if they were all right.

Next call was Nisha. She was okay too. Gave me a full update on the situation. 'Fuck,' I went.

Then it was just a flurry of calls to see if everyone was alive. Usha, MoonMoon, Nancy, Euge, my ex-boss... They were. Thank God.

I bought my first newspaper of the day at 11.30 am from Gariahat. But apart from the highlights of the attacks, I didn't get a chance to find out more. Amrita had a wedding saree to buy. And everyone I knew in Mumbai was safe. The entire day was spent shopping, catching up, sharing laughs. But the attacks were at the back of my mind. What was happening?

It was 8 pm by the time I got home and turned on the TV to watch Mumbai burning. 'I didn't even know,' was my first reaction. I'd put off talking with my father while one of the worst ever terrorist attacks was in full swing. My reason? I wanted to sleep a little longer on my day-off.

Baba and Alpana Aunty are always near the Taj or Leopold's or Oberoi. They sometimes go into the Taj or the Oberoi to buy pastries or a birthday cake. When my sisters and I are meeting the parents and they are late, we walk down Colaba. I don't like Leopold's too much (they pander to the whites a little too much while us brown-skins are nearly ignored), but I'm often outside it - shopping, bargaining, wasting time.

The bottomline: It could've been me. Or someone I love.

While watching TV Thursday night, I blinked the tears away. I thought that once the TV was off, the tears would evaporate and I'd return to my optimistic oblivion once again. But it was a flood of anger at myself for not caring enough to find out from Baba what had happened, for not knowing when the gunshots had first begun, for waiting till later to find out if everyone was alive.

Hemant Karkare, the ATS chief, was about my Baba's age. They had the same moustache. My Baba is not a top cop. He's a consultant. But it could easily have been my Baba in Karkare's place.

I cried that day. And on the next. At work I wrote two reports on the Mumbai blasts. And then I cried again on Sunday, while telling Shreya that the attacks happened in a place that was, and still is, home.

It's been a disturbing week. One that's given me a new perspective. Irrespective of who the next home minister is, or who forms the next government, I'm not sure when I'm going to feel completely safe again. The roads, the stations, the airports, the markets... where the fuck are you safe?

Following the Mumbai attacks, I was paranoid. I stored two packs of Wai-Wai in my bag (in case 'something' happens). I made sure to charge my phone fully. I even carried the charger in my bag for a couple of days.

Sure, the paranoia is fading away gradually. But I was frightened last week. Terrified actually. When the gunfire is in your own backyard, it becomes so much more real, so much more tangible. I'm glad that everyone is safe. But my belief in 'everything will be fine' is shaky now.

Nine of the terrorists may have been shot, but this time they succeeded in their aim: instilling terror in people's hearts.

This is not one of my best posts. But it has been pending for awhile. Consider this my catharsis.

A wedding toast to chomu-giri

After days of grumbly, angry, frustrated posts, it's time to look on the bright side. My best friend is getting married.

My official best friend is Smita. But I have a bunch of other best friends that I can't do without. There's Madhurima and Roshni and Shutapa and Shreya and Amrita and MoonMoon and Nancy and Eugenia and Roy and Rocky and Kohi and Moo and a couple of more people that I suspect I've forgotten. But I've only one chaddi-buddy (even though we've been friends since only class 11) and that is Rahul, better known as Chomu Kunda. The label 'chomu-giri' is an ode to him, as is this post.

Pic of Poojo and Chomu:


Chomu Kunda is special. Very very special. He's my favourite boy ever. Even now that he's put on even more weight and looks like a man (He is 25), he's still my favourite boy. Boyfriends have come and gone, but Chomu Kunda has remained a constant. Using the most colourful cuss words when he realized my first guy was a jerk that was Rahul. Seeking consolation on hearing the tragic news of my breakup with the second, that again was Rahul. He's not the King of Good Looks, but he cleans up nice and is a total dude. How many guys do you know who get on to a bus from Lake Town to Mullickbazar, exchange numbers on bus tickets with a chick, and have a girlfriend in hand a phone call later? How many guys do you know who walk into a movie hall with a guy friend and emerge out of it three hours later with a girlfriend?

I know one of those. Rahul Chomu Kunda. And the boy is getting married. I'm so proud. The last time I was so proud of him was back in Class 11 and 12. He was the school football team's goalkeeper and we (Madz, Smita, Shutapa and I) his biggest fans. Smita and I had our respective boyfriends on the team, but Kunda was our No. 1. Even when he let go of that one easy goal between his legs... That's one embarrassing story we will never let go of.

He can't play dumb charades though. Not to save his life. But if you're ever in the mood to ride the Flying Saucer at Nicco Park, I'd recommend Chomu Kunda. He won't get pukey and if you put him on the outside, it's a nice cushiony person to fall against.

I love the guy. Did I mention it? And he loves me. He's the only non-boyfriend guy friend that I say 'I love you' to on a regular basis. Of course, he's said 'I love you' to millions and zillions of girls. Mitali, Diksha, Payel (the first), Priyanka, Esha, Pamela, me, Smita, Natasha, Payel (the second and the bride-to-be)... and these are just the ones I remember off hand. :) The guy has spirit. And fight.

I guess I've seen him through more relationships than vice versa. I've also seen him sitting on a chair on my terrace with a towel wrapped over his school shirt, while my Ma stood with scissors trying to salvage what remained of his hair after a particularly disastrous haircut. It looked better after. That was the day Shutapa's birthday party was held on my terrace and short skirts were the order of the day.

My first drink was with him. As was my first smoke. He's the one who'd wake up suddenly and realise that somebody or the other had changed. I remember the time he kept looking at me, shaking his head sadly, and muttering occasionally, 'Pooja, you have changed'. It was hilarious then, but perhaps he saw something that even I missed. I think he saw me growing up.

But I'm not sure if I noticed him grow up. He did though. Suddenly, stupid, idiotic Chomu was all adult and talking sense. Sure, he still had an eye for the ladies. Sure, given a chance, he'd still add water to the bottle of sauce to dilute the damn thing while cooking. Sure, he had a talent for finding the most Bong people in Maharashtra. Sure, he'll never lose weight. I hope he doesn't. Sure, he'd still steal the chicken off your plate if he smelt the slightest chance. But then that's Rahul. If he didn't do all those things, he wouldn't be very chomu after all, would he?

So this is my ode to Rahul Chomu Kunda. May his chomu-giri survive the tempest called marriage.

And finally, a picture of the happy couple: Payel Rani and Rahul Raja ;)


With love, Poojo

Understanding problem

I don't understand people. Most of them. Their priorities are so strange. In living for tomorrow, they forget about today. Social lives, hobbies, all fall by the wayside while fear that tomorrow might become a mess if we don't behave in such-and-such way reigns supreme. Whore-ism... that's what it is. You've just got to plan your escape from it quickly. Prison break.

I'm not as unhappy as I sound here. Just venting.

Job woes again

I need to need to leave my job. It's (a) depressing me as much as my earlier one did, and (b) making me feel trapped. The first can be dealt with. The second is the biggest no-no possible.

And strangely enough, last year, almost exactly this time, I was at pretty much the same crossroads (Refer here, here, here, and here for last year's job woes). Colleague just told me that Boss is planning to change our timings to 12 pm to 8-9pm. If that's the case, I'm quitting right away. Would make the decision a whole lot easier for me.

If you are reading between the lines or know me well enough, it's probably clear that I've already decided. The timing is still a question though. Let's see how soon I get pushed over the edge.

PS: I'd almost forgotten that I had started using new labels. :P Went straightaway to the old ones.

:D (For want of a better title)

At the end of the day, it's the human story that rules.

'At the end of the day' is also one of the most cliched phrases that one can use.

A year and a half from now, I'm embarking on a world tour. Promise.

And I'm planning to scrap my earlier set of labels for GGG. New labels starting today.

Monster.com time

I feel stuck in the wrong job.

But then again, I'm one of those people who will always feel stuck in the wrong job, 'cause the entire 'job' concept doesn't rest easy with me.

On the bright side, my writing skills have been seeing an upward curve. A little button mushroom soup wouldn't do any harm though.

I'm not looking for a new job. But I adore complaining about my current one. It's one of my favourite hobbies. :D

When words are hard to find...

Are words all that matter? And things left unsaid don't?

What can you say to a question like that. You know the answer, but interjecting between someone else's tears and saying it just right isn't easy.

Life is hard. Feelings, brittle. Friendships, a mass of interconnected wires that could shortcircuit when you least expect.

Grief arrives at the worst of times, just when someone else is preparing for a happily-ever-after. And sometimes that's enough to bring on hurtful thoughts that had remained hidden away for months, even years.

People sometimes reach out for a comforting voice that isn't coming, while the one to whom the hoped-for voice belongs goes to church to pray, but never mentions it. And the unsaid stands up like a mammoth Berlin Wall that for the time being, seems in danger of never crumbling.

But not everything is a tragedy.

Sometimes 40-somethings find long-lost best-friends-forever and giggle like jackasses across time zones and make plans to spend Christmas together. And that's when you know, life really isn't all bad.

Wedding bells (Not for me)

I have a job. I have to convince one close friend to go to the wedding of another close friend in Pune who will be paying our way (Air tickets in these times of skyrocketing air fare! Whoohoo!). The villain here is a Boss who doesn't know (which kinda reduces the charges on him) and work pressure that refuses to go away.

Sometimes I forget I'm 24. I still feel 23 somehow. And when I'm thinking 'how-old-am-I?', the reflex is '23'. Then comes 'Nyaah. That doesn't sound right.' And a quizzical look at the dude/dudette in the auto (It's happened twice), and a question, 'How old are we?'

The answer, sadly, is '24'.

But if it's all in the mind, and it's all the same to you, I still feel '23'.

I do I do.

It's been awhile

I've been avoiding the computer chair (which is in fact not a computer chair at all) because it gives me backache. Age and grey hair - the troubles they bring along. And because I've been avoiding the computer chair, the computer has been getting the royal ignore too. But today I decided to catch up with people I've been out of touch with. This included a Cousin Dadi (who I spoke to), an aunt (whose phone was busy) and Mr. Computer (who has kindly forgiven me without a word of reproach).

I've written a lot today. I've also finally submitted my latest article (this one on the Russell Peters show in Kolkata last week) at work. Here's the link: Laughing out loud with Russell Peters. This caused me a lot of insecurity while I wrote it. I constantly worried that I wasn't doing a good job, but despite all the worrying, it's turned out well enough at the end.

I've been telling everyone that I'm reading a bad book by Hemmingway (the same dude who wrote The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls). This one is called Fiesta, and I have only about 20-odd pages left, and I would like to say that it has finally turned interesting. As in, this is no thriller. That sense of chill anticipation is absent, but the last few pages have been an improvement over the first 150-odd pages. I guess, even Mr. Hemmingway had to start somewhere. Nobody's perfect.

Except my father, by his own admission.

Surprise!

Sometimes you think you know somebody inside out and then they spring a surprise trait on you that you would never have guessed they had. It's nice. Two fishy people have done the 'Surprise' routine back-to-back and I'm quite pleased about it. One lies through his teeth like a professional, the other has a fascination for green because that's the colour of the house she belonged to in school.

You think you know people... The question is, 'How much?'...

Btw... 2 latest stories:
1. A first for Bengali animation
2. Lal Kalo: Going beyond red and black

PS: Made a major goof-up on the review. A small but major one. Thanks to Coffee Stain who corrected me.

Belated Happy Birthday Parcel

My sister's happy birthday parcel is planning to get sent off today. Her birthday is on the 17th. It takes a week or so to reach. Procrastination is my middle name. Call me Poojo Procrastination C. starting today.

Pampers

Pamper Poojo spree by Poojo.C is on. It's expensive by her standards, but it keeps the stress away and brings on the smiles. A good deal I would say.

PS: The title of this post should in no way be confused with the Huggies competitor.

After a long time...

I'm whistling at work again. That's a good sign.

Colloseum Capers

A temple of gold melts in the heat of man-made flames of greed and a monument is built for generations to see. Ancient Romans make off with relics from an ancient Jewish temple, using the loot to build an entertainment complex that would later become a tourist hotspot.

One theory goes that the Collosseum was built with blood money. A temple of gold in Jerusalem was set aflame till it turned into an aureate river. The river cooled to form solid gold pieces which were carried by Roman soldiers into a Rome in ruins. A great fire a few years earlier had razed buildings that once occupied the area which is now the Collosseum.

It was time for an image revamp. Emperor Vespasian started building the amphitheatre. The work continued and was completed under his son Titus and witnessed all the blood and gore of gladiator fights, animal hunts and executions. And the wealth that had originally belonged to the Jews never returned to Jerusalem.


Now, the Collosseum is just another symbol of times gone by... and one more must-visit spot on my bucket list.

Machu Picchu Diary

Am a fan of the Incas today. They lasted a hundred years but built stone walls that lasted five hundred, and they didn't even use cement or mortar; they were simply extraordinary at jigsaws. They fit the pieces in exactly, and these refuse to budge even today.


Plus, they housed over a thousand llamas.

What more could one want?

No love lost anymore

My first job. Aaah... now that was love.

This is just a marriage of convenience.

De-stress Now. Ask Me How.

I'm looking like Jon Bon Jovi today. The pretty version. It's the hair I tell you.

From stressed to destressed... That's the wonder of bookstores and credit cards. A thousand rupees of pure joy + another 80 bucks for Blended Mint Mocha (+ tax + tip) and another 44 bucks on commuting via cab (What's the point of spending 1000+ bucks if you scrimp on commutes. Scrimp days should be separate from splurge days).

In case you didn't notice, today was a splurge day.

And it made me happy.

Book-buying is my best mood uplifter. It has always been. Beats the occasional Dairy Milks also. Whenever chocolate isn't working on my stress points, send me off to buy books. It could get a little expensive, but given that I limit myself to a 1000-odd rupees at a go, and stay away from bookstores for the rest of the month, bankruptcy is a little distance away, even in the face of a global financial crisis which threatens ICICI bank (shudders).

I bought 3 books today.

• A volume called 'The World's Greatest Short Stories' priced very reasonably considering the thickness.
• 'The Wednesday Letters'. Priced at 375/-, it was a little extravagant by my 3-digit-prices-starting-with-2 standards, but the epilogue is actually a letter (a Wednesday letter) placed in a sealed envelope on the inside of the back cover of the book. How could I ever resist.
• My favourite. A book of poems by Ogden Nash. 'Candy is Dandy'. That's the name. And it's given me my latest blog idea. Dunno how long this one will last, but for what it's worth, I'll add a Quote of the Day with every post and try to post daily like I once used to.

Today's Quote of the Day (is actually an entire poem of 2 lines):
I would live all my life in nonchalance and insouciance
Were it not for making a living, which is rather a nousiance.
-- Ogden Nash, 'Introspective Reflection'

And Happening of the Day:
I am now a fan of Mountain Dew. Having officially disliked white/colourless fizzy drinks on the whole till today (which happens to be Amitabh Bachchan's and my first cousin's birthday), I have finally tasted the champ of all white/colourless fizzy drinks. And my newest motto comes from there: Darr ke aage jeet hai. :D

And Moral of Today's Post
Books make this babe happy. Very very.

Post-Pujo post

The Pujos came, made a lot of festive noise, and it's gone already. For those whose offices were generous enough to give their Kolkatan employees four days off, "You lucky pigs!" For those whose offices didn't, "You poor things."

Surprisingly though, I didn't miss having to spend most of Durga Puja 2008 facing a computer screen. I hated having to be at work while the rest of Kolkata wore new clothes, ate chicken rolls and took photos of the heppest pujas in town... but having had two days off (Navami and Dashami ... one of which is my weekly off anyway and the other a holiday across the country), I feel light and happy and in an I-can-conquer-a-small-world-like-Pluto mood.

I read a wonderful book yesterday: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. It's the Holocaust again, but from a refreshing, childlike perspective.

ScroogeSpeak-I

Life is officially fucked up. 'Officially'.

poojo.c is officially Scrooge starting yesterday. Puja fever? Bah! Humbug!

More ScroogeSpeak posts coming up over the next few days.

Finding answers

The most unlikely people end up telling you what you most need to hear. A good thing too. For when answers come from unexpected sources, you sit up and take notice. When it comes from Mommy-Baba-Uncle-Shunkle, it just doesn't register.

I'm not in a bloggy mood somehow. I was, say half an hour back, but the entire thought flow has gone and got lost. So tonight's blog ends with this thought:

It's not the end. It's never the end.


[The following was added 5 seconds later. After the first speedy comment made it's way here...]

But as you know now, it's never the end. So here's an interesting tidbit...

Khosla Electronics' special Puja offers that let you buy 17000-rupee LCD TVs for EMIs as low as Rs.600 per month are not extended to police-folk, lawyers, and (hold-your-breath) poor, cash-starved journos. Yes. And that info's straight from the boss's mouth.

Adventure postponed

Passport adventure postponed to Monday. Hopefully, given that it's Mahalaya and all, the office will remain open then. I would appreciate some company if anyone likes standing in queue from 4.30 in the morning. :D (Notice the winning smile)

I think I'll spend the rest of the morning reading. Eye issues still persist, couldn't meet the doc yesterday. Sigh. Chaap e chaap. Will somebody exchange lives with me for a few days please?

Sigh of relief

Been stressed and worried and really really stressed and worried of late. Thankfully, I was mostly worried about a-little-more-than-nothing, and am heaving many sighs of relief just about now. The moral of the story is: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. I will probably start procrastinating once again when this sudden bout of worry disappears into the carbon monoxides of time... but for the time being, I will be a good kid, and do all my work on time. I have to stand in line at passport office really early tomorrow morning. Pray that I get my token asap.

Latest story

Here's my newest story. For a change, I'm quite happy with this one: Saved by the off-screen Bachchan


I have an eye infection so am avoiding the comp at home for a while. I wish I could avoid the one at work too :'(

Will return with a big bang once the eye issues clear up.

Boss bastion

I caught my boss watching Love Guru when he should have been working. Taking advantage of the big boss' being away and having passed most of the work to us, his poor cursed subordinates, he had happily put on his headphones and was watching Guru Pitka impart his copyrighted knowledge to all who will listen. And having seen him watching the movie, I did what I do best -- practice diplomacy by offering him a mini-review of the film.

Being a boss is a good job. You don't have to work. If you're sincere, you just make a show of doing a lot of work. And that's all you need.

Sometime ago this same boss had dozed off, with his head half under the monitor. Us giggly subordinates had tiptoed all the way to his work station to check out the scene.

And he's not the only one. Soon after this dozing off session, we spotted the big boss with his head down on his table. A colleague went over to ask him something, and he raised his head, eyes red with sleep. Of course, this boss works kinda hard, so a nap is forgivable in this case.

There's this other loudmouth senior chap in the office. Thankfully, he isn't our boss and belongs to a different department. Now this guy is something to see, and hard to miss with his protruding belly and loudspeaker-like voice. And all he does throughout the 9-hour work day is read the New York Times website, advise people on everything around the sun, ask over-worked people unnecessary general knowledge questions till they are out of polite answers just so he can show the world how much he knows, and show off the photos he has taken with his 80k-rupee DSLR and posted on his blog just so you have the wonderful opportunity to praise his creativity.

As I was saying, being a boss has many, many perks. Sometimes I feel I'm stuck in the wrong job. I should be a boss too.

Life in (not-really) Bullet Points

The other day, my auto-wala got caught by the cop for going the wrong way on a one-way street. I felt bad for the dude -- he did drop me closer to office, but then... I didn't ask him to go that way... he chose to on his own. I just sat tight for the ride.

This morning, my auto-wala dropped me still closer to office. I suspect he was hitting on me... but I can't be sure.

I saw a very ugly cat on the road today.

My office-buddy-cum-colleague is sick. Now is the right time to go tsk-tsk.

There's this bunch of movies that I want to catch:

• Rock On!!
• A Wednesaday
• Tahaan

I don't know when I'm going to get the time. Sigh. There's also an Arabic movie playing at Fame... but that's a lil outta the way.

This is another of those meaningless posts that ramble on.

Wish for the day: A trip to the zoo would be nice.

Wish for the month: Nokia N73... you are going to be mine.

Wish for the year: 120 days -- get over fast!

My latest story

http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/My-City/Soccer-Stars-from-Kolkata.html

I would've preferred a lot more editing, but what the hell, it's up finally.

My latest addiction

Wisdom.

Go figure.

Saturday night fever

is not a good thing. Especially not when you also have a runny nose and sweaty palms and a full working day to take care of. Have been feeling pretty darn sorry for myself all of today. And missing my Mommy also. It's funny how you end up missing Mommy most of all when you're sick. It's nice to be mollycoddled sometimes.

My hottest gal pal and I have decided that we've finally met a true-blue bitch... and while we don't exactly dislike her... it's exciting to finally have one of those types in our list of 'People I've Met'. (No, I haven't put that list together just yet, but it just might be time).

Being cryptic on this blog gets harder and harder every single day given that everyone seems to chatting with everyone else. It's a burden I tell you, especially for us folks who keep everyone in the loop about everything all of the time. See, I'm a quiet fellow... but even I need to do something to fill up those awkward silences. Life is tough sometimes. And complicated.

And I have a cold. And inside-inside fever. Please feel sorry for me.

Happy 201st post

Highlight No. 1 of the day: I have been called 'her smileyness'. I like it.

Highlight No. 2 of the day: The girlfriend of the guy who called me 'her smileyness' and my boyfriend bought dinner and I got to take home the doggy bag. Free food :D

Highlight No. 3: I'm being interviewed by Moo... about how I propose to tackle the troubles of the world.

No. 200 arrives

I've had a vacation. It lasted less than 24 hours but felt like 2 whole days and left me wishing I had another 24 hours so that I could enjoy a 4-day vacation for a change. I feel refreshed and exhausted all at the same time, and it's lovely.

It's raining beautifully as well.

The thought of office tomorrow is making me mentally tired, but after a well-spent 22 hours, I think I should temporarily surrender the right to complain. So even if I end up yawning a few extra yawns, I'm postponing my usual I-wish-I-didn't-have-to-work grumbles to the next post.

Btw... this post will be Happy No. 200. Congratulations, looks of awe, envy & admiration, and wolf whistles will be welcomed and appreciated.

Tyred

Another of those supremely tiring days. I wish I could have a few slices of a large Chick'n Supreme. Pizza Hut is it?

I need to go to a spa. A nice spa with chirping birds and much greenery and the sea nearby.

I also need to stop falling asleep with the light on and the book on my nose.

I wish there were monsoon vacations (and summer and winter and Puja vacations) for people who can't go back to school unless they have tonnes of money.

I'd like to buy a good pair of jeans. My existing ones look sad... one has no pocket anymore... just a hole and its been hanging like a coat from a hanger.

I wish there was chocolate in the fridge. I really need to start stocking up on snacky stuff. Starting tomorrow.

2 posts to 200th post

So Best Friend met Boyfriend, and everyone seems to have hit it off well. I re-met a dude who's a true-blue storyteller at heart. I be happy.

Everybody does seem to be getting married this year. I got another announcement from another friend. It's all kinda freaky now... the marriage card -- so many at the same time.

Am almost reaching my 200th post and this milestone has come superfast. I'm happy. Writing almost-daily has its plusses. Unlike in the case of Post No. 100, I've put no chaap on myself to write a kickass post. But I have the fight in me to get to Post No. 300 even quicker. Watch this space dearies.

Black & white and weddings

Black and white movies are really not my thing, but fairy tales are. And as far as fairy tales go, it's hard to beat a Cinderella story -- no matter which era it is set in, it touches a chord.

Audrey Hepburn was the Cinderella in this movie with Humphrey Bogart playing her Prince Charming. Personally, I think he makes a rather ugly Prince Charming. I preferred the guy playing his brother (who originally got the hots for Audrey -- the good ol' love triangle to bring in the twist).

Everybody around me seems to be on the brink of marriage these days. Chomu from school and Chandannagore from work are the latest victims. The first dude has had his parents and her parents set the date for the wedding but hasn't popped the question yet. The diamond ring is yet to be bought. The second dude has spoken to wifey-to-be over the phone over the last two days and seems very very giddy and blushy about it. It's kinda cute to see a guy go all red in the face talking about his wedding.

No wedding bells for me in the very near future, though there was this joke in office about my getting hitched that a certain much-liked intern and my boss fell for. It was all very funny till it seemed like one too many people know. But I did discover that the two ladies who sit beside me at work, love to overact when it comes to pulling the wool over other people's eyes (or spectacles). The fool-your-colleague questions I had to answer included:

• Is the boy's brother coming down from the States?
• How is the mom-in-law?
• When are you going jewellery shopping?
• Will you be buying gold? (If you don't like gold, go in for rodium-polished jewellery)

I don't have enough money or time to get married just now. And the whole shopping bonanza thing and crowds of unknown, smiling, judgemental faces gives me nausea. So I'll just go to other people's weddings and eat like a pink pig for the time being.

One reason

why I dislike having a job is because it forces me to ask other people for the use of time that is rightfully mine.

Stop signs don't exist

I have no time for people who wallow in pity. I have no sympathy for those who seek it. I don't want your sympathy, thank you very much, and don't expect me to return the unasked for favour.

There are some people who keep complaining. All the time. Every day of their lives. But the tried and tested martyr act is, at the end of the day, just that -- an act. Crocodile tears that drop off self-pity-filled eyes, seeking sympathy.

But sympathy is the most useless feeling in the world. Worthy of scorn almost. It doesn't encourage you to hope. It doesn't push you to get off your butt and find happiness. In the guise of a safety belt, it pushes you further into the danger zone, making you shed more of those false tears till the line between true and false blurs, and the false tears are mistaken for real ones.

It can always be worse. Always always. And it's never that bad. Ditches on the road can always be fixed. Or avoided.

There's no problem so big that it can't be run away from. (-- paraphrasing Richard Bach)

Keep moving. There's no such thing as a STOP sign.

Lost

Sometimes, on the way to your dreams, you get lost. Then all you have to do is find another dream.

Ally McBeal said that one. But the great thing about being lost is that you can find your way back again. There's always a wrong road and a right one. And even the wrong road could turn out to be the right one. You never know till it happens to you.

But this is not quite what I wanted to say when I started this post. I conveniently got lost in the words and now am trying to scrabble my way out of the woods. That's the thing. You needn't be lost forever. A good thing too.

There's this thing I'm trying to say, but it's just not happening. Maybe this is not the right day for saying what's on your mind. But it's started off well. Had enough sleep. Wrote a little this morning. Watched the last 40 minutes of a movie. And have some time left over to surf the net with an unsleepy-unworking mind and blog. And all this before heading to work. How have I managed all this? :D By waking up early. The body clock has been behaving itself over the last one week and working wonders for my state of mind and happiness.

I forget sometimes what I really want to do, and get entangled with routines and deadlines and rage at bosses doing no work. And then there's that "eureka!" moment, and I remember that all this is temporary -- the peasant-like existence, the office politics, the trapped feeling. This too shall pass just like the monsoon clouds outside threatening to burst the moment I get into the auto.

Life is hard and boring and supremely frustrating at times. But sometimes... I just can't help liking it.

Some days

are good days. Amnesia strikes. And the world just goes away.

Life sucks

Old but still kicking

I feel old and washed out and permanently stressed these days. The grey hair population is increasing by the minute (the silver strands actually sparkle after a shampoo) while the grey cells are getting worn out every hour of every day. I need a break from everything. I need a day when time would just stop.

STOP.

Nice word that. A pause during non-stop activity. Just press the button that looks like this:

II

And you have time to think things over, wonder, maybe just get a glass of water.

Life has suddenly become really hectic. My guitar lies unopened waiting for me to get some time to myself. And I don't mean free time to watch TV. Just time for me to be with me.

Me-time has become such a luxury. And it doesn't help that I have this huge list of things to do and feel guilty 'cause I don't end up doing most of them on any given day. I need a planner. I sure do.

I also need a computer chair. I read somewhere that 'backache is the new headache' -- and that sure seems to be the case. No matter what I do, my spine makes me feel like I belong to the paleolithic period.

I don't wish I could turn back time. Though I wouldn't mind being in a real-life Kate and Leopold thingy. But I just want a break. From everything and everyone. Almost everyone.

I'd like to see a rainbow. I'd seen one once upon a time, after a rough month while walking to the bus stop. For 15 minutes it was right there, the whole rainbow looking straight at me... end to end.

Sometimes you just know that there are angels watching over you. This was one of those sometimes.

There was another time when this star kept peeping at me through overcast skies while I stared back. This was during the height of the Mumbai monsoons, and the star kept twinkling till I felt all was right with the world again. Then it immediately pulled the disappearing act and hid behind the clouds. But my yellowish toothy smile had returned by then.

I'd like something like that one of these days. But I do feel better now -- how many people manage to walk towards a rainbow for 15 whole minutes?? And on the bright side, the internet is working today -- it had taken the day off last night.

My sister has been sitting in front of the TV and incessantly watching Disney Channel ever since she reached the US. My cats and dogs sleep, eat, take a walk, play with each other, eat, sleep, seek petting, eat, sleep all day through. My eldest cat Thomas in fact does away with most of the other activities and eats, sleeps, seeks petting, eats, sleeps all the time.

Being able to do nothing is a precious gift. If you have it, I envy and admire you. Plus, I don't know if any of that spare time will rub off... but do look at these poor lil puppy dog eyes.

Magic

It exists. In raindrops. In old diary pages. In deleted SMSes. In long-forsaken crow nests. In dreams that come alive in the most unexpected ways. In silly blogposts that aren't quite sure what they want to say.

Peter Pan isn't the only one spending time with fairies. And Santa Clauses roam the world with or without their red-nosed reindeer. Hippopotamuses may not wear pink tutus in forest reserves unlike the hip hippos in Fantasia, but who's to say they don't get jiggy with it once all the safari-loving folk have returned to their hotel rooms?

Magic lives on. Outside of Harry Potter and Mary Poppins and fairy tale witches, wizards and enchantresses, occupying unspoken words that find expression at the oddest interesections of time and place.

Cat tails

It's a cat that gets along with me. And not one of my own. With a dirty black nose and enormous potential for growth, here's a cat that is spoilt silly -- much like my Thomas, but younger, more sprightly.

I used to have a blog called 'Cat tails' for awhile till I deleted it. Cats and dogs may be the most favoured in the world of pets, but they ain't the only pet-worthy creatures around. Manu and I once had a pet caterpillar named Cappy. He wasn't the type that turned into a butterfly. He didn't live in a cap. He ate tomatoes for lunch and dinner, and had shades placed over his Chinese food plastic bowl home lined with leaves to protect him from the direct rays of the sun. There is something called "too much Vitamin D" if you happen to be a caterpillar, we assumed. He didn't live long though, our Cappy, and we still miss him, Manu and I.

I'm glad the black-nosed cat and I get along though. Yes, he's too lazy to jump. And yes, he seems to have all the ingredients to become a white-hot casanova someday -- one of those moon-faced cats that seem to only know how to make mating calls. And I can imagine him being one of those feline Hugh Hefner type people with Playboy kitties hanging all around him. Aah.. if you happen to be a house cat, could life be any better?

PS: I wrote a review of the new The Mummy movie while chatting online last night. And it turned out pretty long -- I wasn't exactly expecting that to happen. :P

Batman

He's good-looking and super-smart and very-very-very rich. He's the only super-hero whose chaddis, even if worn on the outside, aren't glaring at you all the time aflatoon style. He doesn't have any supernaturally provided superpowers. But he's as strong as superheroes come. Plus, he's got this sexy batmobile that turns into a bike in his latest movie. Did I mention that he's bagged the starring role in a bunch of movies about him beating the bad guys to pulp? In fact, he's so good at his villain bashing that the chap playing the bad guy in the recentest Batman movie actually died a mysterious death in real life. And here is a picture of Batman himself:


Did I mention that he's dating my best friend?

I love

Mamata Banerjee.

Yes. I'm a big fan. Have always been and probably always will be. I may never vote for her, may never want her to be my country's Prime Minister. Hell! Not even my state's Chief Minister, but I can't help looking up to (figuratively, not literally -- she's much shorter than me) this diminutive rabble-rouser who's Dominatrix come down to Dharmatala.

Dharmatala.

That's where her rally was held, and each trip to the office loo (for me, not her) brought the strains of her argumentative voice into my not-so-sensitive ears. She's constantly fighting losing battles, but you think that gets her down? Oh no, it sure doesn't. Every time she gets lost on the way to winning a cause, she does the next best thing -- she simply finds another one. What get up and go. What optimism.

Optimism personified.

I'd wanted that to be the title of one of the books that I will write someday. That's also two words that fit me perfectly. And I think, they fit Mamata Di just as well as her drab white sarees. Honestly though, I wouldn't want to see her turned out in a flaming red. She's too fiery on her own, even in those kaalo paar shaada shaarees that she is always seen in. It would make a prize-winning painting though. I can see it now...

'Didi in red'. By M.F. Hussain. If he ever manages to get back into the country -- barefoot or otherwise.

Why do I love her so?

She can stop traffic. One whiff of the word bandh from her lips and revved up cars stall automatically, workaholics sleep an extra two hours, and Kolkata decides to take a day off. Sadly, this has been happening less and less of late. The word bandh seems to have lost its edge. Footballs now stay home on bandh days and cars gingerly venture out of their garages and no-parking parking spaces, but the woman still can stop traffic. And she's no great shakes in the looks department either.

I think I'd like to be a politician just like her someday. Did I mention I'm a fan?
***

PS: Moo is not happy with earlier blog. So do take a trip down to the comment section of this post and see what he is all grumbly and upset about.

Happy feet

2 animation movies in one day -- Kung Fu Panda and Happy Feet -- one in theatre and one in drawing room -- one with Coffee and popcorn and one with Grandma and cat.

Momos for lunch, popcorn for dessert, coffee for tea-time, tea pre-dinner, egg curry for dinner.

I like writing about what I eat. It keeps me going.

And I went marketing today. Thankoo to Coffee who decided to be Ramu for a day and carried the basket at Big Bazaar and many of the bags at Dhaangar Bazaar. I managed to pick up all the stuff on my list, including bird seed :D

And I took a long walk as well. The feet feel happy.

Tomorrow is probably meat-buying day.

In response to comments on last post, I am 'man' of the house. I don't see the point in getting technical about gender here. I'm not feminist [mostly] and it hardly matters in this context. Man, woman -- who cares?. 'Man' of the house has a better ring to it. Kinda like saying 'actor' instead of 'actress'. Mere technicalities. Just a word. No big shit/deal (take your pick).

I think I will make a good mom to a gay child. And I wouldn't want to tag my elder child Hasmukh Bhai Patel with gay-ism given that he has a rather (yes, I'll admit it) sissy name. Instead, I will have a second son who will be gay, and whom I will name Debanuj (much to the consternation of his namesake).

I think Debanuj is a nice name for a cute gay boy. And since Debanuj Patel lacks the punch, I'll let my baby keep my maiden name 'Chakrabarty'.

Do note, however, that my son Debanuj Chakrabarty will be different from the much-loved blogger Debanuj Chakraborti (and even more much-loved :D).

Putting out the 'Welcome' mat

So I'm the man of the house now... pretty much. And I made my first purchases as man of the house:

• 6 eggs & 1 pound bread
• 100 gm butter
• 3 Metro Dairy chocolate ice-creams

Interestingly, I bought each of those items from three different shops 'cause I was scared the shop closer to home (Kaku-r dokaan) would be shut by then (It wasn't).

It isn't that I haven't bought stuff from the store before. It just felt different this time. 'Cause I knew that this time, I couldn't pass the job on to anyone else or fall back on an excuse (however much valid) like "the store was shut".

Yeah, it feels different. Just two days into the new state of being. I'm liking it so far.

I chased a story today about Yasir Arafat (not the dead Palestinian leader) being signed up by the Kolkata Knight Riders. This involved a total of 8 calls. 3 of which involved finding the Knight Riders' Kolkata office (Got lucky on the third try -- the number I called for info was the KKR office :D). Calls 4, 5, 6, and 7 involved finding someone (anyone!!) who could give me some info. Call No. 8 saw me being passed from person to person to person till I finally got a dude who didn't know about the news really... but sounded like he knew something (unlike the first guy I called and asked if the report regarding Yasir Arafat's joining KKR was true. The dude exclaimed, "Really?"... Boss, if I knew the answer, why would I be asking you?) It was lotsa fun though.

I like. I like.

Today's the first day that I feel not-so-reluctant to be a journo. :)

Fortune cookie 1

I may or may not be updating daily from now on... It's not as much fun any more when you know you have to. Only interesting tidbits will go up from now on.

• I did my first news story today (which required me to interview a beauty pageant contestant).
• My orkut fortune says: "Today you will see a fortune cookie that you have never seen before". I haven't seen any cookies today, not even biscuits, let alone biscuits that double up as fortune tellers.

Day 70

Three-fifths of immediate family off to Chicago right now. Here is a picture of one of the three that got away.


I be missing her much already, especially when I turn on Disney Channel and the ad for 'Magical Do Re Mi' appears.

Day 69

Changes all over the place. Good, not-so-good, lovely -- sometimes you wish the world would just go away.

Ma, sis, and sis are off to the US tomorrow. For good. I am whoa!-man of the house now and being made to shift upstairs to keep the cats company.

Lunch today at Tamarind was lovely. Very very nice.

Busy day tomorrow. Airport trip in the pipeline. 6+ big bags and a Tata Sumo are part of the picture.

A lil preoccupied.

Day 68

I've been nasty all evening. I can crib but I won't. Now I feel happier. Bubblier. But in no mood to post. Yes. I have become lazy. Apologies. I will be back tomorrow with a better post.

Some food thoughts:

The Electric Nimbu Kurkure Extreme is super strong, sour and intense. But too much of it will have your teeth grating. Happened to me last night.

This place near office serves amazing biriyani. That's what I had for lunch today. Shreya ordered a phirni that she didn't like coz it didn't taste like phirni. I liked the phirni for the same reason -- it tasted like mishti doi.

At the above place (Aaleya), I rattled off the order like I'd been doing it all my life -- no breaths in between, not a pause, and not a single fumble. I was impressed, as were my colleagues. An alternative career beckons this reluctant journo. Being a waiter in a good-food restaurant should fit my stomach well.

Mocambo was next on the list of eat-out places. And I not happy with it. Too little food for too much price.

Day 67

This should serve as inspiration for engineers who frequent this blog and harbour dreams of giving up corporate whore-ism.

Work has been long and hard. Almost an 11 hour day. But Ma has bought me four 10-buck packets of Kurkure -- which should last me four wonderful days. :)

And I'm happy.

I do wish that one of my two dogs would double up as a footrest, but well, you can't exactly have everything. Can you now?

Shreya is running away to get married today. Groom unknown. But at least she won't have to waste money on unnecessary relatives.

Onn wants a different post perhaps. Apologies again :P What can I say? I'm a chomu.

Day 66

A blogworthy day after ages of dullery (not a word). A good thing too since I promised to return with a virtual bang today. I find that Kunal Nayyar guy on Big Bang Theory rather cute.

Escaped early from office to rescue Madz from boredom and fall into the shopping trap. If you read my blog frequently, you probably know that shopping isn't exactly my favourite pastime. Ma, Father, Madz and Me hit Dakkhinapan during a medium-paced drizzle. Ma and Madz shopped so much that they ate into the electricity flowing through the wires. The result? Loadshedding. Power cuts getting too much in our wonderful city of joy? Blame the crazy shoppers.

Post-Dakkhinapan it was off to South City to buy sneakers for Mummy. The first one that she liked for her Thumbelina-sized feet looked like an environment-friendly car with a biggish price tag hanging from the shoelace. We walked out and in to another store where it was love at first shoebite.

Shopping is a tiring exercise. Though I did pick up an electric blue jhola from Dakkhinapan and carried it proudly even though I suspect it quite clearly did not go with my red kurta and muddy floaters. But who cares! When you have colour in your life and raindrops falling on your head, little else matters.

The cabbie that brought us back from South City was the highlight of the day. He had one of those old non-digital meters that start from 5 bucks instead of the usual 10. I asked him how old the cab was... He said, "Haan ji. The taxi is old. The meter is old. Arre.. even the driver is old." The old meter on his cab shone like a new penny, despite the famed Kolkata pollution that has turned the Victoria Memorial and now, even the Birla Mandir, more than a little grey. "It's a Japanese meter and 50 years old," volunteered the cabbie even though strands of grey were missing and the wrinkles seemed botoxed away.

"Since when did you get so chatty," asked Ma as we walked out and away from the cab and into our building gate. "Since Mumbai," was the answer that I was too tired to give voice to, "Since Mumbai where you commute all the time and end up having long conversations with auto drivers, cabbies and bus conductors. And transport talk is usually more interesting than the 'Hi, How are you?' that bored colleagues usually turn to."

Unnumbered post

Due to lack of ideas and a relatively dull life, this blogger is henceforth on a one-week blogpost sabbatical. Be back next Monday, unless something exciting comes to pass in between.

Day 65

As I was just telling Madz... I have had a very boring day, and so have nothing really to say. But daily blogging is now a habit. So here goes a short life-in-bullet-points post:

• Woke up at 7:12. Am supposed to leave the house at 7:30 every day, but I only manage to get out a little before 8:00. Today, I got later than that, so I coolly took a cab. In defence of my unpunctuality, I am rarely able to leave office before 6:00 during my 8:00 to 4:00 shift days.
• Breakfast was different from my usual porridge and boiled egg routine. From today onwards till I get fed up of it, my breakfast menu will be French toast, fruit and milk.
• Finally gave my happy budday treat at office today. Ordered too much food. Brought some leftovers home, and had for dinner.
• The lights have been coming and going all day apparently. And they decided to go just as I took dinner, and stayed away right till I had finished it. That's when it decided to come back. But I'm not complaining.

It's been a dull day. As a result, I have a non-functioning brain today. Was feeling exhausted but didn't want to cheat on my daily blogging thing by writing "Good night and God speed," even if just for today. See, such a good, conscientious girl I am. :D

Day 64

One long off-day this.

Was woken up by call from boss who wanted to send me to a movie premiere, which I agreed to go to, but later realized coming back would be a problem. So from 7 to 10 I vegged out in front of the TV and then the computer. Finished watching What happened in Vegas. It has Ashton Krutcher and Cameroon Diaz in the lead.

The day began with a hilarious dream involving Madz, me and Rishi. Here it comes:

Madz and I were going around the city in a cab in search of a loo. This was at night, and by the time we found Rishi, it was morning. Luckily, he found us a loo. Smelly, dirty, and you had to queue up to use it, but a loo is a loo is a loo after all. Funnily enough, this 50-yr-old-ish Bong lady and her husband who were obviously travelling, were trying to drag their humongous, black VIP suitcase into that tiny, smelly loo -- for fear of theft we assumed.

After our loo trip, Rishi could not be found. As it turns out, he was standing atop a concrete structure which consisted of several flights of stairs leading to nowhere. Imagine a car park in a mall where there is no place to park, just a path to go up or down. Kinda like a concrete suicide point. Of course, Rishi wasn't contemplating suicide; he was enjoying the breeze.

We were tired, Madz and me, so Rishi decided to take us to relax at his place. Importantly, 'his place' was a storeroom in the mall behind the concrete suicide point. Not high enough to stand up straight in, though Moo might just about manage. Surprisingly, the mall management had no idea that our Rishi Roy had moved in to one of their unused storerooms. Plus, it had an attached loo.

Once at Rishi's place, it was time for a movie. Madz made a movie request and headed to the loo. (The loo seems to be the star of this early morning dream) I asked, "Can't we watch Who framed Roger Rabbit?" And Rishi said, "Sure we can, except that Madz has already chosen a movie." "And which movie is this," asked I. And he flipped through some CD covers to show me our movie of the day: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

That's pretty much when I woke up, grinning.

Okay, so the dream was much funnier while I was sleeping, but the first thing I promised myself was that I'd record it here. So here you are.

Did meet Madz today. Ma, me, sis and Madz went for lunch together. New Cathay. Coke, fresh lime soda, mixed chowmein (gravy) and chilli chicken, followed by sundaes at Hobby Centre. Then there was juice and puchka (I had just one puchka though). Dinner of aloo-potol bhaja followed, with mishti doi landing up at the fag end of the day.

This is a very long post, and I will stop now, but not before announcing that I finally have my official email ID in place. Yay.

And while you're at it, read this: Oh! Kolkata takes some getting used to (It's by the new English intern at office. She writes pretty darn well if I say so myself. I'm jealous.)

Day 63

Blogging daily is practically a habit now. I feel a little incomplete... adhoora sa... if I don't blog for a day. Plus, I jet off on an instant guilt trip as well.

Today has been a long, but surprisingly, not terribly tiring day. In fact, even though Wednesdays are my Saturdays during a six-day work week, I feel like I'm on a sprightly Tuesday. (That make sense?)

Did I mention that I've been singing in the auto and while walking down the road of late? I must be happy.

My best friend bought a guitar. A Grenada. Now we are best friend-best friend with guitar-guitar and don't know how to play-play.

Ma called me single-minded the other day. Which equals to focussed. This is the second time somebody has said that about me. To think that all these days I thought I was a scattered, flakey chick who wore torn Oshos and carried a jhola everwhere. If it wasn't raining, and I wasn't headed to office, I would still wear my Oshos everywhere.

The free makeover thing seems to have sprung up several look revamp-seekers. ILK (abbreviation for ilovekolkata, if you were wondering) is planning to have a makeover feature regularly. Keep an eye on this blog for future happenings.

I had puchkas today, after ages. I will sleep till 9 a.m tomorrow morning. It's my day off.

My horoscope yesterday said that my dating life is collecting crickets. It told me to join an online dating website. I haven't and I don't intend to. I like cricket and crickets.

Now, this may seem like unnecessary promos, but ILK has 2 good stories today (neither by me). One is Colour TV Day in Kolkata 'coz June 25, 1951 was the day the world’s first commercial television programme in colour was transmitted. The other story is Remembering the World Cup glory -- the take of city cricket buffs on the historic winning of the 1983 cricket World Cup, almost exactly a year before I was born.

Tomorrow Ma, Anjali, Madz and I are going for lunch to New Cathay. Expect a report on what I ate there.

Day 62

Okay, so I'm done with the forms. Some questions left include: What major reversals have you experienced in your professional/personal life? What are your expectations from this company? Outline your ambitions, aspirations and values.

How do you answer those things??

Forms are crazy things. That's a universal truth. And don't you forget it.

An angrezi mem who is picking up Bengali joined office today. Out of the blue she asked me: Tomar baari kothaye. I was so thrown by that! Blonde, green eyes and Bong. Whattay combo.

It's hard to not write about food, but Onn threatened me with dire consequences if I do (She said she will stop being my loyal reader and commenting on every one of my posts. I'm scared).

Two of my stories got featured on the home page today. Both are rush-rush. Neither have my byline. But I wrote 'em (One on Dada and one on Lake Market) and I'm happy.

Madz has a terribly angry-looking smiley (angry smiley.. what an oxymoron) as her Gtalk display pic. I feel weird talking to her now.

Shreya and I are going for a free makeover. We are planning to start this makeover thing to feature on the website, and couldn't get people wanting makeovers, so we volunteered. It's just makeup and hair stuff. Makeup can be washed off. And hair, well even disastrous highlights grow out eventually. They may throw in a free tattoo as well. I'm wondering if I want one. Wish me luck.

Here are some lines that I came across while surfing the web. They don't go with the tone of the rest of the post, but they're beautiful:

"Everyone stands alone on the heart of the earth
transfixed by a sun ray:
and suddenly it is evening."

Day 61

I have so much to write today, but I really have to (have to have to) go to sleep early tonight. Have to fill out my contract -- I've been putting it off and putting it off, and now I can't put it off any longer. I'm not usually scared of filling out forms, but there are just too many pages and too many questions. Most of them more or less unnecessary. Some more than others.

I'm feeling too confident of my form-filling abilities right now. I need some moral support. Will get Ma to sit with me and answer my rhetorical questions about the form bright and early tomorrow morning. And I have to leave for work by 7.30 a.m. tomorrow, so unless I wake up at 5:30 or 6:00, the form submission will be postponed by yet another day.

I do have a lot to ramble on about today. But I'll keep it for tomorrow. Wish me luck with filling the forms that will make me a permanent fixture.

(Just re-read. This is THE worst post ever.)

Day 60

Another working Sunday slithers past.
Another manic Monday creeps in.
With every day, a little older.
With every day, so much more to do.

I could go on with the unhappy poem that doesn't rhyme. But I won't. What I will say is that I'd like a portable hug machine. Press a button, get a hug. Something like that. Coz invariably I feel like I need a hug when I'm squashed into a thin line in the auto, and I can't exactly ask one of those ugly men to give me a hug, though some of those perves would be happy to.

My Tilottoma story is up on the 'My City' section of the ilovekolkata website, if you feel like checking it out. It's just a report, but it would be nice if you dropped by.

A friend of mine is in 'lurve' -- he made me type out the name of his latest crush while we were chatting this evening. You are allowed to guess who this guy is. Not that tough to figure out either.

Have an 8 to 4 shift starting tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll manage to sneak away from office on time.

I've eaten too much dinner. Now I cannot move. Barely.

Day 59

Today started off well. I slept till almost nine. Ate a good breakfast. I have pinky sworn to Onn that I will not blog about food so often. So I will leave the breakfast menu for some other day.

Post breakfast, I did some writing. And listened to Banana Pancakes (the song) at least 7 times, back to back. I get obsessive about favourite songs.

Work at twelve. That's when I heard I have to go cover Dabur Gulabari Sananda Tilottama '08. And since we lost the other invite, it would have to be just me. Sigh.

I was supposed to take a lot of pictures also, but my camera conked at the last minute. Flash wouldn't come on. So no pics of the event. But that's what the photographers are there for. To click away.

On the bright side, I got to sit in the Press seats. And I got a pad, a file, and a pen. All free. :D The pen I am most happy about :D

Pageants are not for me. I don't like the clothes or the questions. The girls are mostly not half as goodlooking as you'd want them to be. Even girls like looking at pretty girls, so if a beauty pageant just has a bunch of cute girls from next door, even I end up looking at the exit and wondering if I'll get a cab home if it gets too late.

The Bombay Vikings singer was there to provide the entertainment while the babes all went to change from one sequinned outfit to another. But he messed up 'Kya soorat hai' and I was very upset with him after that. He sang a bunch of other songs, but the man from Sweden kept drinking water and going off-key a little too frequently.

The last two rounds were a breeze with no super dumb answers. I was pleasantly surprised. And then, once the winners were announced... my favourite came 2nd, Shreya's favourite came 3rd, it was time to move. The guard outside The Sonar very sweetly caught me a cab.. I suppose that's part of his job. And I came home superfast.

I have decided to not be a journo for too long. It doesn't go with the temperament. I have also decided not to participate in a beauty contest ever. Not like they are waiting with bated breath to select me, but in case they were, I would not try out.

Day 58 and August Rush

I just watched a very, very nice movie. And I don't know what to say. I feel a little bit in love. A lot bit happy. Very very fairytale-ish. This is how all movies should be :)

There's more to write about today, but I don't feel like it... Till tomorrow :)

Day 57

My day-off.

Went off well. Singaras for breakfast (Ma read blog while I was still sleeping and ordered the singaras). Then trip to bank. Then to Golden Dragon for soup-and-starters lunch. Then to Momo Plaza to meet Madz where she ate very very very hot pan fried momos and I gobbled the watery soup that comes with the momos. Gave Madz an Alpenliebe I got from the tech guy at office yesterday. She was very grateful for the same.

Then to Forum with Madz. Meet Coffee. Go for movie. Sex and the City. What fashion boss. Amazing shoes. And am in love with one hat in particular. Man next to Coffee fell asleep. Then person next to man next to Coffee kept getting calls on cell. Not on silent mode. Girls kept walking around with snacks in their hand for God-knows-what-reason. Coffee felt lost in a crowd of women. Every man's dream. Madz was super-excited at the prospect of watching the silver screen version of her favourite TV series. She's been looking forward to the movie, ever since she saw the finale of the final episode.

She loved the movie. I didn't hate it. Coffee gave it 1.5 stars immediately on account of the innumerable hot babes.

Then biriyani at six to replenish growling bellies. Wait for rain to cease, halt, desist under makeshift shelter for plastic chairs. Man runs over Coffee's foot with non-running scooter. Coffee gives me a bunch of movies to watch. Madz hopes and prays for no-rain, then gives up, catches cab, and drops me home. I have nice friends.

Day 56

Long day. Not a terrible day for the most part (I think that's wrong English), but not-so-good by the time it came to a close. Was supposed to catch a movie with Madz. It didn't happen. I got stuck at work :'( Sometimes I feel so old and gloomy, that it isn't funny anymore.

It barely rained also today, except in the morning, while I was walking from auto stand to office building. And I had to manoeuvre the umbrella so that I didn't poke anybody in the eye, or bonk somebody on the head. It happens. At the same time, I had to keep ducking to avoid being assaulted by a random umbrella. It's hard being tallish on Kolkata streets on rainy days. Coz all the umbrellas seem to be heading straight for your contact-lense-adorned eyes.

Work was hectic, in a good way. I carried a jacket today to avoid freezing over (my nails have been turning blue with alarming regularity of late) and I succeeded in avoiding the blue nails.

The guy with the big bag brought kaathaal (jackfruit for non-Bongs) from his tree (yes, he has a kaathal tree, a mango tree, and a few other random fruit trees). We had kaathal, and then the whole office was smelling of kaathal. Not a terribly welcoming fragrance if you aren't a fan of the fruit.

I think I'll have shingara for breakfast tomorrow. Am getting bored of the porridge everyday routine.

Me tired now. Enough for today. More tomorrow night.

Just misunderstood Ad Libber's tag. So deleted the misunderstood version, and don't have the enthu to redo it just now. So that's postponed to later.

Day 56

Began with memories of heavy rain early in the morning, and I snuggled under the covers and caught an extra hour of shut-eye. Few things are as wonderful as waking up in the morning on a work-day and finding that you still have some time to kill before the alarm finally rings.

I woke up 2 hours later, knowing that I would be running late again. But no hurries today. And no reason for the relaxed behaviour. Just the state of mind.

The rain in Kolkata does that to you. And rain it did. I waded through water for close to fifteen minutes in search of an auto. And then stopped one in the middle of the road. Carrying an umbrella as protection from the rain is in vain if you end up sitting in an auto rickshaw after that. The water pours in through the open side, wetting most of the sleeves. And even when you reach office sopping wet, and stand under the hand-dryer in a desperate bid to dry off before heading for the freezer that is your office, you know that you wouldn't want to commute any other way. Long live the rains, the floods, the troublesome umbrellas, and the indefatigable auto rickshaws.

Of course, the whole day spent in office has been rather cold. Even though the jeans had been rolled up, they got wet in the flood, and the floaters had also got wet, and then cold, as the office AC was in chill-pill mode. The coldness remained right till 4.30 p.m., when the jeans finally did manage to dry off.

One and a half hours later, I was back on the road, trying to beat the rain and get home. On the way, my auto stalled, then started, then stalled, then finally started again. And while crossing a road, my convex umbrella decided to concave in thanks to the wind. But I managed to set it right again.

The rest of the way home was a happy though mucky walk, and I was actually singing (humming rather) in the rain. The song in question was 'Drops of Jupiter' (kinda apt-ish for the weather, though I didn't make the connection till just now).

This was followed by Kaathi rolls for dinner (I chomped down 3) and one bhaar of mishti doi each. Blogger Onnesha thinks I eat all the time. I suppose I do.

Day 55

I have chips today... Kurkure to be precise. So I won't be looking for absent midnight snacks when midnight decides to stop by.

Today has been a surprisingly good day. I've been un-stressed and happy and just generally pleased with life. And surprised at the light-heartedness too. But it was nice to feel stress-free on a stressful day. Doesn't pan out like this too often.

Life's been more or less dull today. Sometimes there's comfort in dullness and drudgery. All in all, a good and boring day.

Day 54

I did catch up on the 120 winks that I missed out on over the past week. Yet another stressful week begins. But I'm happy. Even with all the stress and lack of sleep and xerox-copy days. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe not.

After a long time I managed to get some rest on a Saturday night. Had turned into quite the party animal over the last one month. What I need to do though is get some time off to clear out my cupboard. It's truly truly a mess. I'll take a picture of it before I get to work though. This is the messiest any of my cupboards have ever been.

The most seranade-friendly song ever is Billy Joel's "She's always a woman to me". Sigh.

This morning, the dhobi in the next para was singing the blues away. Headphone over the ears, a song in his head, and an off-key voice with a non-functioning volume button -- the song was unrecognizable for human ears, but it's nice to see people singing at the top of their voices before yet another day gets into the swing of things.

Day 53

So I'm back, from a hectic, stressful trip with a serious sleep disorder. Tonight, I'm off to sleep super early in the hope of making up on all the sleep I lost out on.

M'bai wasn't even half as rainy as the prophet-of-doom news channels had us thinking. The weather was nice. Humidity wasn't too high. And we didn't need the boats. I was in just the right frame of mind to go exploring, but sadly, there just wasn't enough time. But I did get much work done. Though much remains undone.

In bullet points, stuff I did since my last post:

• Slept on flight to B'bay (usually ami pat-pat kore takiye thaki).
• Got nostalgia attack on reaching B'bay.
• Hung out (yes, hung out, had tea) with former boss.
• Waited for 5 hours while Mom, sis and sis gave Visa interview. 5 hours. I aged much in those 300 minutes. Didn't even have a book to read. Spoke to a lady. Sat around with blank expression on face. Wondered why I had worn my lenses which banned me from grabbing a snooze. But on the bright side, they got the Visa. So yay.
• Changed e-ticket date from Friday to Saturday. Got scared about credit card fraud when the confirmation didn't come in and the call centre guy seemed the biggest stupid ever. But all's well that ends well. Ma's credit card is still untouched (touch wood). And I reached without a glitch this morning. Slept throughout the 3.5 hour flight to Kol.
• Walked all over Univ. Took a pic of a gecko.
• Met Moon at Fort. Had lunch at Mondy's (first time for both of us). Too much food. We ate till we were ready to puke. But the garlic bread rocked.
• Shopped at Colaba. Bought lotsa bangles. A skirt. A tee. Oshos. And all so cheap. I was loving it, McDonald's ishtyle.
• Hung around to meet me best friend Smita Padmanabhan. She has been privy to much juicy gossip about me courtesy chaddi buddy Chomu Kunda. I cleared it all out. Do not ask what the juicy gossip is. I will not tell.

This is just the tip of the iceberg though. More details as and when I remember. Now I'm off to get some sleep. I've been missing out on essential snores in recent times. I wouldn't mind some chocolate about now though.

Day 52

This will be a short post. I have a plane to catch tomorrow. Please pray that it is not delayed. That I get my work done. And that I have many funny stories scheduled for when I return. Shortest post this year. Please clap.

P.S.: I may or may not get a chance to blog tomorrow and day-after. Be back on the 13th.

Day 51

One of those days when you stop being human and become a machine. Very Terminator-like. Worked breathlessly almost all morning, and then, even more breathlessly after that. It is so nice to finally be home and moving at non-break-neck speed and sighing some happy peaceful sighs.

But office wasn't all work today. Got a very pink cake from the folks at office. We waited ages till a knife finally made its way to the conference room (few conferences happen there, but lotsa lunches do). They wouldn't sing though, at first. But I insisted. And they sang. And then we all ate some cake. And then they very politely (very politely) smeared my face with cake. But I tell you, washing cake off your face is very difficult, if you're trying it at the cooler (as opposed to the basin). Especially, when all the tissues you have are sheets of writing paper.

To put things in context, I work on the fourth floor which is attached to the terrace. There is no loo there. The loo is on the third floor. And walking down to the third floor with cream on your face is a no-no in office. Not that I mind walking down a road with cake on my face even. But so long as you are hoping to hold on to your job, it helps to not be terribly eccentric. Most jobs don't hire you for life. Most.

Shreya missed even this cake-cutting ceremony which is rather sad. Maybe this is just not her year to party.

I am under red ant attack. They are everywhere and biting, these villainous red ants. It's like some magic spell gone wrong somewhere.

Day 50 -- A.K.A Budday Post

So it was my budday yesterday. It was a good day overall. One of those nearly perfect days where nothing really goes wrong.

Woke up at 5:30, brushed and rushed for Chinese breakfast of meatball soup, fishballs and prawnballs. (Koto rokom-er ball ... excuse the PJ. Couldn't resist.) Came home. Went back to sleep. The night before had been a rather sleepless one. I couldn't get ready for my own budday with bags and dark circles under my eyes, could I? So off to sleep it was.

Except for one thing. It was my birthday. So the Happy Birthday calls and messages kept waking me up. Till finally I gave up. And woke up. And wore new tee from sis that said: "Crazy but cute". I like.

The Chinese breakfast had us all filled up to the gullet. So lunch would have to be light. Narrowed down on Barista Creme. It's kinda one of my favourite places to hang out at now. It is expensive though. Relatively.

But a light lunch it wasn't. The pasta was heavy. I managed only half of it. Didn't want to end up with food poisoning on my happy budday. As it is, two of my friends complained of the same.

Post-lunch, it was time for a budday shopping spree. Conquests included: black night-out top, chunky earrings that go with the messy hair, chain with heart-shaped pendant that I like very much.

Post-lunch it was rush rush rush to reach 2 of my fave girls. I was on time more or less, but somehow the chunky new earrings went missing. Missing completely. 15 minutes went by looking for 'em. They were a gift from my littlest sister, so I couldn't very well go without 'em. Somehow or the other, they had made their way to the room on the roof, well-hidden in a green plastic bag with white flowers in the centre. Of course, it hardly matters what the plastic bag looked like, for the earrings were found after many "Thakur-dada-r choshma kothaye" moments.

Then, having donned the new top, new earrings, new chain (and feeling rather over-dressed), and carrying the new bag (which is toooooooo cool!!) I headed to Barista Creme again. Second time on the same day.

So it was girl chat chat chat till Chomu Kunda (my chaddi buddy) arrived with hot, new gf in tow. I like her. She's pretty, seems smart, and Kunda's cleaned up a lot since meeting her. I'm glad.

Much after the much-in-love couple, arrived the brothers-in-arms flaunting their latest obsessions: a rat tattoo and a tree tattoo. Both were very much in pain, and convinced me to stay away from the tattoo needle forever. I might get a painted one from time to time though. Next budday maybe.

The hit of the evening was the Swiss Mocha Frappe. Everyone had it except Moo and Madz. Moo's was decent. Madz's was a watery mess-up.

Coffees over, it was time to bring on the booze. In the excitement, Madz's chappals decided to tear open. But all cobblers were out of station for a Cobblers' Convention.

So off to Old Tavern on foot. All of us with shoes intact. Madz with one shoe not-so-intact.

Reached there to see a mujra type performance. Singing ladies with potential bar-dancing capabilities. Beer and mujra is a very crazy combo. Try it sometime. But don't go there on your birthday with Madz and Shutz. They will go up to the tone-deaf man (singer?) at the microphone and request him to sing you a very filmy (that comes naturally) Happy Budday to Pooja song. As the song begins and random cheesy people start clapping for you, the best thing to do is shove your face inside the ice-box and wait for the song to cease and hope that no one will recognize you a day later. (Note: It wasn't that embarrassing once some beer slithered down the gullet, but it is nice to pretend that it was.)

The rest of the evening went in devouring beer and peanuts (I had a bowlful of that) and singing along with the off-key folk hogging the microphone and posing for pictures (this would be Madz, Shutz, and Moo) for the shutterbug (Rishi) and eating chilli chicken and rather pronographic-looking kbabes and not being able to shut the loo door despite repeated tries and contemplating a trip to the very-dirty men's loo and having the flash blind us like a million times thanks to Madz going trigger happy and then getting zonked in a very 'whee' sorta way and thankfully being dropped right to doorstep and then not being able to sleep and after much fighting with the sleep sheep and tossing and turning and more fighting, Happy Budday to Me, Part 24 came to an end.

A good year it seems to be. And it rained also. :)

I'm happy :)

Day 49

My blog turns a year old at 11.45 p.m. tonight. I turn 24 as soon as the clock touches 12:00 a.m. (though according to the birth certificate, the auspicious moment is after 1:00 p.m. sometime). So it's b'day time for GGG and PjC.

I've got lotsa gifts over this past one week -- all leading up to the happy budday. There's been a very cool-looking bag, a guitar lessons DVD, a smiley-faced clock, a night suit, a wallet, and tomorrow I'm getting clothes. 2008 is proving to be a good year.

The only problem this year is that work seems to be taking precedence over everything else. And that isn't by concious effort. In fact, Shreya said a very deep, philosophical thing today. She said that "Everyday seems a xerox copy of the other these days."

Shreya and I have been grumbling about having to go to work on bandh days when it rains cats, dogs, elephants and blue whales. Bandhs are supposed to be holidays when you sit at home and crib about the political parties that call the bandhs but not move out from home while munching on popcorn and chips for in-between meals and khichudi for lunch.

Yes. I am a lazy Bong. And I'm proud of it.

Btw... I have already been wished thrice. And it isn't my happy budday yet. One guy thought it was D-Day today and sent me a very sweet 'Many happy returns of the day' message. Then I got all happy and changed my status message to: ' Just got first budday wish'. This confused Ex-bf No. 4 who also sent a 'happy budday' IM. Both have promised to wish me tomorrow again. The third one knows my bday is tomorrow, but felt like sending greetings in advance. Plus, my school principal just Happy-Birthday-ed me on Orkut. Pretty cool in a nerdy way.

Day 47 and 48

This is to bring the blog up-to-date. Missing a day is usually not a problem unless the day is an overpoweringly happening one. And Days 45 and 46 weren't the types that you can dispense with in a paragraph or two. Thankfully, the last two days have been fairly boring. I worked so much and so hard yesterday that I was actually wondering what I did with myself last evening. The answer: I worked myself to amnesia.

Today was a bandh. This morning it rained. Normal people would have woken up in the morning, shut the window to keep out the rain, smiled in sleepy joy, then turned over and gone back to sleep for three to four hours.

I am not normal people. I woke up, shut the window to keep out the rain, smiled in sleepy joy, then turned over and slept fitfully for barely another hour. Media whore you see. I had office. The white ambassador with a press tag came to pick me up from the police station a few buildings away. And off I went. Wasted the whole day (from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.) at an air-contioned (Read: freeeeeezing) beige-painted office room with a lizard peeking out from behind Shreya's computer. Some day, a future prospective employer shall ask: "What challenges did you face in your last office?" Answer: "We had to deal with slimy reptiles of various kinds... Not all of them were human."

Day 46 (still running a day late)

Yesterday was my surprise birthday party. Organized by mother dear and attended by the following conspirators (in no particular order):
Friends: Madhurima, Shutapa, Jesica, Rishi, Debanuj
Family: Mother, 13-going-on-16 Sister,4-going-on-5 sister,13-year-old's 2 friends and one of their mothers.
Conspicuous by her absence was Shreya Shukla who got held up at work because I had to leave early. She was in effect, finishing my work and couldn't attend my party despite conspiring about it.
Also conspicuous by his absence was Rahul 'Chomu' Kunda who apparently broke his leg and was in hospital. I'm not sure I believe the story. He has a new girlfriend now. I wonder how this one came to pass.

Ploy to get me out of office belonged to the Mother: I was told that there was some legal document that I would be required to sign. I went along unsuspectingly. Late by less than a whisker, but still running late. Mother was dressed up. Surprising, considering we were going to some run-down government building. As I mentioned, we were late, but she still wanted to stop and pet this very cool-looking overweight labrador. I didn't let her: 'We're late. Come along." And then... she wanted to go inside Golden Dragon to book the place for my birthday (which, incidentally, is on June 7, Saturday). She headed for the door. I said, "No. Not now." She dragged me by the hand into that dimly-lit little restaurant, while I struggled to escape. Ma won. I was in. And before my eyes could adjust to the lack of light,

SURPRISE!!

Presenting my Surprise Happy Birthday Party.

What happened next was that a lot of food appeared on the table all of a sudden, and none of us pounced upon it, though the two boys were asked to stuff themselves silly, and they didn't stuff themselves silly. Some of the folks at the table struggled with the food, while others polished it off ASAP and refused to take any more.

My Surprise Happy Birthday Party cake was a white guitar. Apparently, Ma offered to pay for the 24 candles that were needed for my cake. How old am I???

I got a book and a bag from Anjali's friends and a card with a guitar quote that I will find and put up tomorrow. I had planned to put up some birthday pics given that Madz went clickhappy. But since I look horrible in the two that I saw, I will not put them up. If I see one nice photo of me, expect to see it in tomorrow's post.

Day 45 (a day late)

Chicken and rice for lunch. Getting drenched in the rains for tea. Meeting Shutapa for beer and dinner. Girl talk and boy issues for during-dinner conversation. Drunk waiter who takes forever to bring menu, then order, and finally, bill. But food at Silver Grill rocks. Pre-meeting with Shutapa, got wet at Chandni and kept getting wet all the way to Park Street. Shutz also decided to get wet in the rain while waiting for me. Was very nice meeting her after ages. Well, not that long -- met her in Feb this year. We drank and ate and drank and ate some more... and then she dropped me home :D

A good day overrall.

There's lots to write about today. But I'm too tired to do justice to it, so will keep it for tomorrow's post. Then I will bring blog up to date also. For now, tata and gnite.

Day 44

I’m tired. I’m sleepy. I can’t think straight. This is what happens the morning after. The morning after a night out that is.

There was chicken, and music, and booze, and many drunk people who gave rise to stories that I'm keeping aside for a later date. Like I said, I’m tired and sleepy and can’t think straight. Slept for barely thirty to forty minutes last night. That too, rather fitfully. Dreamily heard folks mentioning how hard I was trying to sleep unsuccessfully, and felt overpowered by the pressure to pull off a sleeping beauty. Couldn't take the load. Gave up, got up and stayed awake, albeit a little zombie-like, thereafter.

I look hungover. Minus the dope, the booze, the acid pills. The things lack of sleep can do to a girl.

I somehow sleepwalked (sleepsat rather) through my Sunday morning office work. Having managed somewhat, I put my head on the table and had the whole office spinning around me. Like in the song.

The ACs were non-functioning as usual. This being a Sunday. The 3rd floor loo was shut. So had to take the lift to the 2nd floor toilet. It's almost like going to another building for a loo trip.

Added at 10 p.m.: Moori having formed today's special breakfast item, I was hungry all morning, till I finally could take it no longer and stole part of Shreya's tiffin from right under her nose. Lunch happened at four with Ma. Soup and chilli pork roast. Then bag shopping for the mother -- which got over quick, quick, quick. Then juice near house. Then house. Then sleep. Then dinner. Chicken. Again.

Day 43

This started off by being not such a good day. I reached work on time, only to find that the actual work would start an hour later. Aaargh!! So I went grumble, grumble, grumble in my mind for an hour. And then... things changed.

:)

Shutapa called to say that she's going to be here for my b'day. And I went, Yay! :D Just yesterday, I was toying with the idea of ditching the Happy B'day to Me idea once and for all, just eating good food and cake and leaving it at that. But Shutapa's arrival changes things. I don't have as few friends as I thought I did. Okay, so she isn't exactly flying down for my b'day, but the timing couldn't be any better. I love that girl so much. :D Yay!

Also, Rahul 'Chomu' Kunda just messaged his new number. I was wondering where that boy had gone and gotten lost. So, that's another fellow to invite. Boyfriends may come and boyfriends may go, but Chomu Kunda is forever. Even if we talk just about once a month; sometimes less often than that.

Watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Free tickets from office. Found it kinda juvenile (though some of the dialogues are super-cool) and it was tooooooo similar to The Mummy movies. If you do want to win Indian Jones movie tickets, log on to http://www.ilovekolkata.in/content/section/47/1698. There are loadza tickets just waiting to be won.

Was introduced to this weird friend of a colleague. I was kinda distracted, so I didn't catch his name, but I smiled politely and held out my hand for a handshake, and he did a nomoshkar while my handed remained suspended mid-air (and this being a 20-something guy!!)! I kept thinking, Okay, ebaare nomoshkaarer shomoi shesh hoye jaabe, then he will shake hands. Hah! You think! I got fed up after several weird seconds and did a maha awkward nomoshkar of my own and wondered: "what the hey?!"

Day 42

And today was shopping day :D

I'm not much of a happy shopper most days of the year. Am more like a speed-shopper (y'know, like speed-racer and speed-reader) -- blitz into the store, pick up random clothes, vanish (though I usually pay the bill before pulling the vanishing act).

Today however, things were different. Ma wanted a shirt. And we went from rack to rack and from store to store in search of the ideal one which remained invisible right till 5 o'clock (we started at 2 o'clock -- though we took a coffee break in between... Swiss Mocha Frappe again... I'm so in love with that). Ma was very pleased with me for tagging along and not grumbling. She eventually found a shirt, and then it was time for window shopping (Read: trying out clothes that I would probably never end up wearing even though I look wistfully at them each time). So I tried on all kindsa party-wear that I will never buy even though I eye them. Ma offered to buy me one... but I don't want to own something that I'll never wear a second time (assuming that I do wear it the first time).

But I did try on this very pretty dress (Rs. 1500) at ColourPlus. It looked bhery preeety. But sadly, I don't get invited to cocktail parties... else I would've bought it.

After shopping and window-shopping, it was grocery shopping time. And at the billing counter at Food Bazar there was this weird man who was maha upset that the girl at the counter charged him Rs.34 instead of the MRP of Rs.36. He refused to be glad about the 2-buck discount and threatened to go to the manager. Some people are just crazy.

Have eaten a lot of chicken today and two Pepsis. Have walked like crazy. Bought contact lens solution (which always makes me feel poor). Ate chicken-and-veggies for dinner and followed it up with dahi vada for desert. Life is weird.

Day 41

So I met Dreamy, Coffee and Moolah in a very tiny blogmeet. Onn was stuck in 45-minute traffic jam in Shyambazar that jammed phone signals as well. T3 sucks when it comes to food. Don't have their chocolate cake or their pineapple juice or their chicken burger. The french fries (soggy ones) are easier to gobble up.





Yesterday, I went for the football match starring Oliver Kahn who got honoured by everyone who was anyone in Kolkata. All this during half-time. See if you can spot him in this picture:

If that doesn't work, try spotting him here:


As I was standing at Park Circus last evening, looking desperately for a share cab to Salt Lake, I saw truckloads of keora public headed for the stadium. Surprisingly, the public at the stadium were not that keora. And the goodnatured ribbing of Mohunbagan fans by East Bengal supporters was very heehee type. Plus, things like a dog running on to the field, one player kicking another, the Germans playing giants to Mohunbagan's lilliputians, chocolate bombs and pretty fireworks, dozens of men peeing in one long row, etc etc.

Kol is like a furnace today. Hot and sticky. I no like :(