England Diaries [Bexhill-On-Sea: Wednesday, 23rd November 2011]

It has been long since I visited my blog, and the reason for that is - I have been in the UK (primarily London) for the past few months.

My stay has been very pleasurable to say the least. However, I did miss writing.  Or Did I?

Well, here’s a compilation of the emails written to my family where I have tried to capture some of my most cherished experiences during my first ever visit to  a foreign country.

4of 4 - Bexhill-On-Sea: Wednesday, 23^rd November 2011


Hey there!!

How’s everyone been? And if I had to ask you the same thing here in London, I’d say : “ You, alright?” Well, It took me a while to understand that ‘You, alright?’ is the equivalent of ‘How are you?’ In the early days I remember wondering to myself if I looked confused/lost enough to make people ask me that question.  I realized later, that it’s a way of speech. It is used to say hello to people or get the other person’s attention – say you are in a queue to pay for your grocery and you haven’t realized that the person standing before you is done and therefore it’s your turn – the person at the counter would grab your attention with this line! ‘Hey, you alright?’ :P 

Well well well, if you think you are gonna have another long email about things about London and other places in the UK – you are damn right! :P  However, I am not going to bore you with lifestyle details anymore and  shall try  (the key word is ‘try’)to keep this email short and sweet. I always used to score less marks for exceeding the word limit in school; guess old habits die hard. Or, like in my case, may be they don’t die at all, they hang onto you till the end!

Soooo, It appears that it’s been really really long since I wrote. But I hope everyone’s had a good time – considering it was the festive season (Dussera/Diwali/Bhai Dujh etc). Also, I imagine all of you had a fantastic time during Diwali! I got to hear some excerpts from Vikram – and it did sound like a lot of fun (no surprises there!). So what next? Have we started planning for the next bash yet??

Time seems to have flown pretty fast for me, with my return date and the much awaited Vikram’s visit to London, approaching rapidly. I am glad that the weather has been (surprisingly) pleasant throughout my stay so far. But secretly, I am hoping for a slight bit of snowfall, just for the sake of having a white Christmas!

I have bought a lot of winter wear but like I said , it’s been pretty pleasant and therefore I haven’t really gotten around to use most of it. While I see most of my Bangalore/Mumbai/ Hyderabad colleagues wrapping themselves up in mufflers and jackets and gloves- I am pretty ok to walk around in just an overcoat. Guess, that’s my experience of having spent time in the winters up North India speaking for itself.  The air is so fresh, I quite enjoy walking up to office (whenever I am in London) in the cold!

Hmmm, life hasn’t been much different since I wrote the last time. I am getting more and more used to the weather and the people here and it’s been pretty comfortable.

As for travelling, here are some quick updates from my side. I went to Scotland for a backpacking trip and it was a very pleasant experience.  With just a couple of pairs of clothes and bare minimum necessities, staying in a hostel and making the most of the daytime until late evening visiting places till we were bone tired was quite exhilarating . While any travel book would tell you what places to visit  in Scotland  - like the Castles, High Land tours, Loch Ness, the Whiskey making factory et all, and we did all of that! ;

What I want to share with you all is this creepy once in a life time experience that we had of a ‘midnight ghost tour’ in Edinburgh! The tour typically starts at 11.30 in the night and lasts about 90 minutes; It is a guided tour where the group is taken to the famous underground vaults of Edinburgh. I didn’t realize until I was in Edinburgh and attended this tour, what a gory history a beautiful place like Scotland has.

So we all started following this lady tour guide who was dressed in a gothic style gown and was walking very fast. My colleague, Anupama, and I literally had to run to catch up with her. And to make matters worse or may be better (cause it helped set the ambience) it was drizzling!  She would lead the entire group with scheduled stops at places like an Old Church, parking lot (which apparently was the crematorium or rather just a place to dump dead bodies when Plague hit the city) and old buildings finally making our way to the vaults.

The vaults were these building structures divided into rooms/compartments built underground (spread across the entire city of Edinburgh) by the tradesmen to store goods. But because they were made of Limestone which is porous in nature and therefore cannot stand the fury of nature like rain, which Scotland is very prone to, these places were abandoned and shut down thereby leading the old, poor, helpless and the downtrodden of the society to seek shelter in there. There were dozens of people sharing small rooms – because the vaults were not enough. Lack of proper sanitation, no air/sunshine etc lead to a lot of diseases, deaths and crime, witchcraft and ghost stories!! Some very very creepy stories :P

When we were led into the vaults it was pitch dark and just so we could get our vision adjusted our tour guide was holding the torch right under her chin for a while. And that was turned off too for these creepy stories to sound even creepier!

It was during that time when the tour guide cracked a joke – she said, apparently in one of her earlier tours when she was holding the torch under chin which illuminated her face in the dark making her appear even paler, there was this 14 year old boy who had asked her “How long have you been dead for?” :P Naive kid thought she was already dead and has turned into a ghost!!

There were some unexpected screams, laughs and experiences when we were inside the vaults which did get my heart racing, body sweating and throat drying but at the end of it all- the experience was worth it! 

Finally  towards the end of our tour we made our way out of the vaults and made our way into a pub for a Vodka shot each (sponsored by the tour) to get us back to reality! #:-s whew!

So in case you are visiting Scotland, I would highly recommend this tour. If not scared you would definitely be amused!  And if I imagine Kavita and Guru going for this tour ever – I know who will get scared and who will get amused for sure!!

The dungeon was fun too and a must visit for Arhaan and perhaps for a grown up Aarav!

As for some other  experiences – recently there were a few protests in held in London, One was by the students against the rising tuition fee – and I was returning from central London that evening when I saw of lot of police patrolling the St. Pauls’ area and boy was I surprised to see them on horses! Each horse appeared healthier than the other and all of them were made to wear the bullet proof glass! I wanted to take a picture but didn’t want to risk being mistaken for a journalist so I gave up the idea.

St. Pauls’ seems to be the place for campaigning and protesting – the recent protests about ‘the Occupy Movement’ are also held at St. Paul’s. I was there one evening and saw the tents they have put up. Everyone seemed to be in a merry mood with singing, playing musical instruments and football and smoking! But given all of that, I personally feel London is still a very nice place to live in :)

Anyway, I am at Bexhill –on –Sea for the time being, which is another beach place in the South Western part of UK.  My client, apparently, is the only employer is this entire town. So most of the people in the town either work at Hastings (my client) or have retired from Hastings and the rest of them who do not fall under either of the earlier mentioned categories are tourists/have retired from other places and bought a house near the sea.

I am living in a sea facing guest house myself, which is an old English style house converted into a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) by this very adorable Old English couple, who insist that I have a double fried egg with two super size sausages for breakfast every morning – while I am happy with one of each, mixed with cereals, hash browns and some mushrooms.

By the way the food is absolutely amazing – especially the sea food. I had my first experience of eating clams & mussels here at Bexhill. The dish is called ‘spaghetti allo scoglio’ (I looked up the name of the dish in the restaurant’s menu on google ! ;P)

Oho, also I went to an Indian restaurant (again at Bexhill) and that turned out to be run by Bangladeshis :P It was nice chatting up with them in Bengali (although their accent is quite different from what we speak). Apparently all the waiters and the owner/manager were chatting up with me except for the master chef who was busy preparing my dish! The entire restaurant was empty – the reason for their undivided attention to me.    It is a tourist place and is busy only during summers because of the beach, that’s why the emptiness!

I was quite amazed on being offered a drink (on the house) by the owner/manager, which I politely refused, – considering all of them were Bengali Muslims!   At the end of it, a lot of Bengali-Bengali and India-Bangladeshi bonding!

I am going to stay put at this place for about two weeks now and am I exciting about various restaurants that are on offer to explore. 

And oh my God, see I just cannot write a short email now, can I?

Right, so one last thing before I wrap up – the shops are flooded with Christmas gifts, I really cannot decide what to buy and what to leave. Just to make my job easier, can I please ask you to let me know in case there is anything specific you would like from London :) I have already made a note of Kavita’s, Meeta’s, Neetu’s and Purba’s requests [although. Ladies, that shouldn’t stop you from writing to me about other things that you would like]; but it is the men that I am worried about, absolutely no response!  

@Neetu: You would totally love the cosmetic range here!! And I think I am going to pick a little something in the cosmetic section for everyone. But still if you have any specific thing on your mind, don’t hesitate to let me know.

@Meeta & Kavita: I hope ‘Medium’ is your T-Shirt size, if not - then I am guessing you will write to me:P

@Purba: I shall make sure that whatever I buy for you fits me perfectly!

@Everyone: In case, anyone wants shoes – I would need the correct shoe size (as per India standards)!

Ah, so that’s all from me! I guess this probably will be the last mail that you would be receiving from London (unless something drastic happens and I can’t wait to share) cause after this I am going to be home soon!! And I shall fill you in with all the details once I am back.

Until then, have a great time and take care!!!!

Lots of love and regards,

Dee :)

The Black Diary (Short Story)

23 May

Today is my birthday. There was a big party at home. I got this diary as one of the birthday presents. It has a black cover. The cover is thick and soft. Like the sofa in our house. I turned 10 today so I made 10 wishes while blowing the candles. There was a big Harry Porter cake. Bijon kaku got it for me. He always gets the best presents for me. Everyone was very happy. We took a lot of pictures from Bijon kaku’s camera. Baba was late again. I am sleepy now. Bye……. Tintu

31 May

Today is a holiday. I don’t have to go to school. I had maggie for breakfast. We are planning to go to the zoo in the evening. Bijon kaku is taking us there. I wanted to go now itself but ma says she has to speak to kaku. They are talking now. My friend Ishaan has been to this zoo. He says I can feed the giraffes there. I am very excited. Ok I need to finish my bath. Bye……Tintu

1 June

The zoo was very nice. There were a lot of animals and birds. Some of them were stinking. The boundary wall was very high for some of the animals because they could jump over and bite. So Bijon kaku carried me on his shoulder so that I could get a good view. I think ma was a bit scared of the animals because Bijon kaku was holding her hand. I wished baba was around too but he is always so busy. We also went for a boat ride. I could see the fish swimming close to the boat. We ate ice- crème and popcorn. It was a lot of fun. Ok bye for now……Tintu

5 June

I got 98 in math. Baba said he will buy me the big bicycle. He promised he will come back early tomorrow and then we will go to get the bicycle in the evening. Bijon kaku got me my first ink pen. It has 'Parker' written on it. He showed me how to fill ink in it. I am writing with it now. It writes well but my fingers are full of ink. Bijon kaku also got a gift for ma. It was wrapped in a shiny silver colored paper. I hope baba comes early tomorrow. I have already told Ishaan and Rahul about the bicycle. I am very excited. Ok I have to go to sleep now. Bye……. Tintu

21st June

Dadun and didan are coming today. I have already cleaned my room. Didan is going to stay with me in my room. She is getting my favorite sweet and mango pickle with her. I like her very much because she never scolds me for anything. She also knows a lot of stories. Bijon kaku has bought a new mobile. He taught me how record a video from his phone. I recorded ma making luchis. Ma always makes something nice whenever Bijon kaku is home that’s why I like him so much. Ok I have to get ready now. We are going to the station to get dadun and didan. Bijon kaku is dropping us there. Bye…….Tintu

15 August

Today we went for a movie. But that was a secret. Ma said not to tell didan; Because she cannot come to watch the movie because the AC in the cinema hall is too cold for her. When didan was sleeping in the afternoon ma and I secretly left without making much noise. It was like an adventure. Bijon kaku was waiting downstairs in his car. He has a big car with a lot of speakers for music. I wanted to sit in the front seat like I do when we go in our car. But ma sat in the front. The movie was ok. I liked the caramel popcorn. I am sad didan couldn’t watch the movie. So I am going to tell her a story tonight. Goodnight……..Tintu

25 August

Ma has gone out with Chhobi Kakima. Didan is watching her serial on TV. I have nothing to do. Last night baba was very angry. He was shouting at ma. I asked didan about it. She said they are talking something important. Then I fell asleep. I hope ma comes early. Didan is going to leave tomorrow. I am going to miss her. She has packed her bag already. She has also given me some money to buy chocolates. It is my secret gift she said. I need not tell ma and baba about it. I love her a lot. I can hear ma’ s voice. I think she is back. She has got me two doughnuts and kissed me on the forehead. I think even she is sad because didan is leaving tomorrow Bye……..Tintu

27 August

Didan left yesterday. I am going to sleep all by myself from now on. Baba came back early today. But he did not speak much. I wanted to show him my new watch that Bijon kaku got yesterday. He came to our house after a long time. I wanted didan to meet kaku but he never came when didan was around. It was very quiet in the house after Bijon kaku left. Ma had made my favorite ‘maansho er jhol’ and ‘luchi’ for dinner. Then she came to my room and patted me to sleep. I think she is missing didan terribly too. I felt like crying when she was leaving but I didn’t. I am a big boy now. Ok goodnight…….Tintu

05 September

Today we had Teacher’s Day celebration in school. I participated in the choir. I was very happy to see Bijon kaku sitting next to ma in the audience. I wanted to wave at them. But they weren’t looking. Bijon kaku had left by the time I joined ma in the audience. I was given a certificate for participation. The pages are getting over in this diary. Next time Bijon kaku comes I will ask him if he could get me another one just like this one. But he has not come home for so many days. Baba came back early today. I wanted to show him the certificate but I was scared because I heard him scream again. I am sleepy…..Tintu

12 September

I showed my participation certificate to baba today. He was so happy that he hugged me. He held me for long. It was uncomfortable but I let him hold me. Baba said that he loves me a lot. I love him a lot too. But I would like it more if he came home early and spent more time with me like Bijon kaku. But for so many days even Bijon kaku has not come home. Baba was also very sad. He made me sit on his lap and started patting me. I wanted to sit longer but I felt sleepy so I came upstairs. Goodnight….Tintu.

30 September

This is the last page of this diary. I have not been able to get another one because Bijon kaku has not come home. I am a bit sad today because it was my last day at school. Tomorrow we will be leaving this city. I wish I could say bye to Bijon kaku.

Baba was angry again last night. But he was very nice in the morning. He made breakfast and got me ready for school instead of ma. Baba said we will be going to be new place to stay in. When I asked about ma, baba said that ma has already left. I was angry that she did not tell me. But baba said it was supposed to be a surprise.

I am going to miss writing in my diary. Bye till I find a new diary.

Tintu.

Moving On.... – My First Attempt at Story Telling

The alarm went off sharp at 6.30 in the morning. Monica stretched out her hand to grab the mobile from her bed to snooze it off for the third time.

She went back to sleep for another 15 minutes resolving that she would be at her feet at the next ring. She had been trying hard to get up early in the morning to devote some time for exercise. She was very serious about shedding all that extra weight that she had gained in the last nine years of her wedding. Marital bliss, her friends had called it initially and had laughed away. But it was no longer a laughing matter for her.

She got up at the next ring. But it was the doorbell this time – sharp at 7.00.

Munni, the domestic help, was holding out the morning newspaper and the milk packets as Monica opened the door. Her eyes had turned red from rubbing while she was trying to adjust her sight to the bright morning light. She sat down on the sofa with the newspaper and turned to the glossy supplementary page which had an article on ‘How to lose weight without having to diet’.

Munni moved about in the house with the kind of familiarity that comes with time. It was her fifth year at Monica’s house.

Munni remembers having been introduced to Monica exactly five years back by one of her friends who was the earlier domestic help at Monica’s place. She remembers having looked around in awe when she first set foot into the house. Everything prim and proper and new and glittering. From the cutlery to the furniture to the curtains to the walls. She had never worked in a more affluent household than Monica’s before. It was like she was promoted several levels up at once. She had not been able to hide her happiness when she had found out that she is going to get paid rupees 2500 for the house hold chores. She had been devoted to her job since then.

***************************

As the date was nearing Monica was getting more and more tensed. It was the same feeling she had experienced just before her wedding. The excitement and the nervousness of moving on to a new life and to a new place was getting too much to handle along with the thousand other things that she needed to close before they boarded the flight to New York for good.

The decision to move was not easy. She and Monish had thought it over and over again. It was a green field opportunity. The offer was good but it was a trade between what they had already built in India versus what they needed to build there from the scratch.

While Monica understood and supported Monish in every possible way to deal with the several things they needed to sort out– she had her own worries to get a grip on.

One such worry was about ‘fitting in’ to a new place all over again – quite literary in her case. For she was going bonkers over how she would manage with wearing only western clothes now on which did not quite flatter her plump profile.

She had been aware of the side talks that her Kitty party friends indulged in. She had sensed the sarcastic vibes thrown at her. She had smelt the jealousy coated with sarcasm in their interactions with her. She had taken all the humiliation with dignity but somewhere deep down she also feared the worst.

All of them were not bad- there were some who had advised her on things that really mattered, one such thing was not to disclose about their relocation to the servants until their last day, until all the precious things have been moved away; for this could be their last chance to secretly polish off things.

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It was a cloudy day. The doorbell rang sharp at 7.00 in the morning. Munni was standing at the door however she did not have any newspaper or milk packets to hand out. The moment she stepped in she gave out a loud cry in horror when she looked around. The hall looked so much bigger with all the furniture gone. Monica’s voice echoed as she spoke to her.

She handed out a thousand rupee note to her along with a packet which had one of Monica’s many saris that she couldn’t think of wearing in New York. The money given to her was more that she was entitled to for the month’s work. She told Munni that there was no need for her to come to work from the next day as they were moving to a different place.

Munni took the packet from her hand without saying anything. She stood there until they said their goodbyes to all their neighbors and friends. She stood there quietly trying to understand her own emotions. She waited until the car disappeared from her sight. Finally, she left without caring that she would get drenched, for it had started raining heavily.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – Movie Review

Cast: Asa Butterfield (as Bruno); Jack Scanlon (as Shmuel); Vera Farmiga (as Elsa, Bruno’s Mother); David Thewlis (as Ralf, Bruno’s Father)

On receiving the news of his father’s posting, Bruno, an eight year old boy, reluctantly agrees to move to the countryside with his family (Father, mother and elder sister).

Unlike Berlin, Bruno fails to make any friends at the new place because there is no one around to make friends with.  Out of boredom and with complete unawareness of the political situation in Germany and the plight of Jews in the Concentration Camps, he secretly makes friends with a Jewish boy his age, named Shmuel. Their friendship goes unnoticed as he makes sure to slip out of the house only when he is not being watched. These boys share their worlds with each other. Bruno looks forward to Shmuel’s company and Shmuel looks forward to the food that Bruno would get for him sometimes.

Surprised by the grimly tales told by Shmuel caused by the soldiers, Bruno tries to investigate to reassure himself that his father is the exceptional brave soldier that he believes he is.

When his eight year old mind tries to analyze his sister and his private tutor’s opinion about the Jews as against the documentary that he secretly watches, showcasing the fun life of Jews in the concentration camp - his mind is mystified with contradictory views. But the documentary on Jews is able to re-establish his confidence on his father’s credentials as a responsible and a brave soldier.

It is a story of innocence and of guilt ; of friendship and of animosity; of life of adults and of life of children; of humanity and of inhumanity; of love and of hatred;  of self – pride and of self –pity ; of trust and of betrayal; of helplessness and of power; of patriotism and of conspiracy;  of respect and of disrespect - all of these co-existing seamlessly in the same world, until one day when Shmuel shares the news of his father found missing with Bruno and Bruno steps on the other side of the line which leads him into the concentration camp with Shmuel to find his father.

This movie is based on the book written by “John Boyne” with the same title.

There is a popular saying that goes ‘never judge a book by its movie’; however I shall have to make an exception for this one.  I haven’t read the book as yet but I shall now – for if the movie is so beautiful I cannot imagine how fine the book would be. So Crossword – here I come.

My final take – A must-watch film!

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter – A Book Review

I was traveling by train when my eye caught a co-passenger engrossed in a novel. I fixed my gaze on her until I got the name of the book and the author and noted it down. Next thing I remember was checking reviews on Google about Kim Edwards’ work and that’s when I came across ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’. I couldn’t help but head to the nearest Crossword store and get a copy.

‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ is a story of a doctor (David) who gives away one of his twin babies (Phoebe -the daughter) right after her birth (without the knowledge of his wife, Norah) when he realizes the daughter has Down’s syndrome. David asks his nurse (Caroline, the only other witness to the unexpected birth of his second child that night) to take away his daughter to a place meant for people like Phoebe; to an institution that helps people suffering from Down’s syndrome survive for however long they can take the beatings of life. However Caroline, a single woman with no children of her own, decides to keep the baby in the hope that David would soon realize his mistake and would ask Phoebe back.

But the author had some other plans to take the story to the next level. So while presenting the other twin (their son) to his wife, David lies to her about their daughter being born dead. It is later revealed in the story how David was haunted by the memories of his own kid sister who had Down’s syndrome and died at the age of twelve leaving a void in his and his parents’ life forever. He didn’t want his wife to go through the pain of loss.

The story progresses with the twins growing up at two different places without the awareness of the existence of the other but yet connected in some strange way. The secret of Phoebe’s existence stays strictly guarded between Caroline and David. Edwards has beautifully captured the emotions of Caroline (the nurse) - the feeling that she experiences of being connected with the man she clandestinely romances, through this one secret which no other person is privy to keeps her going fighting all odds.

In this poignant tale of two families, each one raising one of the twins, the novel captures the impact of the choice made by David on everyone involved. The story touches the heart in a manner that you can feel the incongruous emptiness felt my Norah, the remorse mixed with vulnerability experienced by David and the hopefulness and fear with which Caroline raises Phoebe.

When I was reading the book I remember thinking that this story could be made into a movie for Kim Edwards has painted every frame so vividly that one can’t help but imagine the story reel by reel. It was only later I realized (Thanks to Google again!) that there is, in fact, a movie made on this book in the year 2008 with the same title as the book.

As for the writing style, Ms. Edwards has generously demonstrated her talent of capturing human emotions. She has penned down rare as well as day to day common emotions brilliantly. She has also provided the reader with a sneak peek into the world back in 1960s referring to the attitude of people towards Down syndrome, and the hardships that families had to go through to protect their children from the cruel things the world was capable of throwing at them.

Towards the end, I felt, the story drags a little when every experience and every emotion relates back to that one secret of giving Phoebe away. But I guess, that’s the author’s take on showcasing how life has a way of teaching things. And all of it gets justified in the end as you read along.

The book is high on emotional melodrama and the nuances of it and is a powerful tale of how people do things in life which need not always be right or wrong. The author has presented a 360 degree view of the prime characters as the narration keeps changing from David’s point of view to Norah’s point of view to Caroline’s point of view.

After having read the book, when I put it away – I couldn’t say whether I was happy or sad or indifferent but yeah it took me a little while to get the characters out of my mind.

There is a Kim Edwards interview at the end of the book where she talks about her experience while writing this book. Overall a good read :)

My mother’s son-in-law’s day out!!

Among the 365 days in a year (366 for leap years) which include 52 Mondays to Sundays, a Valentine’s day, a Friendship’s day, a Father’s day, a Mother’s day, a Labor day, a Woman’s Day, an Independence Day, a Children’s day, a Republic Day and so many other significant days; there is one day kept aside exclusively for the Sons–In-Law in the Bengali Calendar known as “Jamai Shosti” day.

“Jamai” refers to the ‘Son-in-Law’ and “Shosti” marks the sixth day of lunar eclipse in the month of June. This day is set aside especially for the Son –in- Law to feel the warmth of the love and affection showered on him by his in laws. Well, while I believe there are plenty of ways to show your love and affection, however, bongs know only three ways and these are Good Food, Good Food and Good Food!!
So, it shouldn’t really surprise you that the main attraction for this day is marked by the sumptuous meal prepared by the mother-in-law. The association of good food and Bengalis dates back to the time bongs landed this planet. So it can be anyone’s guess that the number of dishes that line up the traditional Bengali thali on this day is ample.

 (Courtesy - Google Images)

Some of the must-haves in the menu are: two or three varieties of fish preparations (Hilsa and Prawns are amongst the hot favorites), mutton or chicken curry (sometimes both), steaming hot ‘fulko’ luchis (puris), steaming hot rice with ghee poured over it generously, a couple of top notch vegetable curries and dal, paapod bhajja (fried papad) , begun bhajja (eggplant fry) and some other varieties of vegetable fries and finally if you are done with the main course then desserts are marked with the popular mishti doi (sweetened curd), an assortment of sweets (Sondesh and Rossogolla are the popular ones) and finally “chaal er payesh” (Kheer made of rice).

In earlier days one would picture a nicely groomed, clean shaven, “dhooti” (dhoti) clad son–in-law sitting down on the floor with folded legs to eat with his hand. And a new yellow thread (smeared in turmeric) tied to his wrist; While the mother-in-law fondly watching the son-in-law gorging over the goodies as she sits in front of him refilling his plate and fanning him with a “haath paakha” (hand fan) while he eats .

It may be worth noticing though, that all this love and affection showered over the son-in-law is often reciprocated with a bad tummy the next day. Therefore it may not harm to keep some “Pudin Haras” or “Gelucils” handy. And if you ask your mother-in-law, I am sure you will get several varieties made available to you to choose from!! It is Jamai Shosti after all.

Well apart from the meal, which is the primary focus, there are gifts exchanged between the son-in-law and the mother-in-law and blessings sought (by the son-in-law) and granted (by the mother-in-law). Now if we shift our focus to the father-daughter duo, who, if you have noticed have not been mentioned so far,they need not do anything except for enjoying the food prepared in the honor of the son-in-law.

Yeah the father might get reminded of his historic royal days at HIS in-laws’ place during Jamai shosti. And the daughter gets a chance to get away from her daily chores and witnesses herself and her husband getting pampered !

My parents had invited Vikram and I for this function this year but unfortunately we couldn’t make it this time. However, we have resolved to visit them next year for sure! As for this year, we have decided to celebrate Jamai Shosti here in town in whatever way possible.

For starters, we are going to enjoy a especially arranged lunch buffet for Jamai Shosti at one of the bengali restaurants. Although we cannot really make up for “ma er hather ranna” and the love and affection with which she would have served, but Vikram will at least get to taste some of the goodies that mark the essence of this day! (Not to mention I shall keep the Gelusils/Pudin Haras ready  - just in case:P)

And finally, like they say for all other significant days in the year, Happy Jamai Shosti to all!!

I Am - Movie Review

Star Cast: (in alphabetical order) –Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Nandita Das, Purab Kohli, Rahul Bose and Sanjay Suri

Special Appearance: Anurag Basu, Anurag Kashyap

Apart from the star cast mentioned above – there are two more actors in the movie but I cannot recollect their names. They play the ladies in Sanjay Suri’s life – one plays his ‘mum’ and the other plays the role of his ‘friend’.

I went to watch this movie without any background about the storyline or the star cast. In fact a friend pulled me in for it at the last minute. Until I saw the credits, I was under the impression that I was going to watch an English movie! But I was pleasantly surprised to find it otherwise.‘I Am’ is a cross over movie with English and Hindi used as the medium of expression interchangeably. For the benefit of the audience, the movie has subtitles in English.

The film is an interesting attempt to show four stand alone stories around Artificial Insemination, Impact of communal riots on Kashmiri Pundits, Child Molestation and Homosexuality; spanning across Kolkata, Kashmir, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Graphically represented (occupational hazard, you see! - cannot do without graphs and charts :P), this is how the arrangement of the star cast would look vis-à-vis the plot:

The movie begins with Nandita Das dealing with her desire of having a child and raising it on her own but worries about the character traits of the borrowed sperms that have a good chance to mirror in the child. The story, then, moves on with Juhi Chawla visiting her ancestral property in Kashmir only to sell it off and run away from that place but finds it hard to keep old memories at bay. Subsequently, the focus shifts to Sanjay Suri and his preferences in life; a lot of which is to do with his scarred childhood which he shares with no one until his stepfather dies. It is funny to note how Sanjay Suri’s use of Bengaluru (instead of Bangalore) comes with an effort in the movie. Finally Rahul Bose takes away the cake with his powerful performance as he tries to entice another man and lands into trouble.

All through the movie, every emotion is portrayed very subtly; and a lot of things have been left up to the audience to decipher.

I particularly liked the flow of the film as it moves from one storyline to another, seamlessly. That was possible, perhaps, because Onir (the director) has restricted the relationship between prime characters to the bare minimum and utilized it only to introduce a new character and transition into another story.

Some interesting things to note about the movie:

The story line is focused on the characters played and not on the issues they are dealing with. That is perhaps another reason why the story moves from one storyline to another effortlessly. The movie does not indulge in any sort of preaching. It does not tell the audience what is right or what is wrong or good over evil or winning and losing. The narration is good enough to hold on to the interest of the audience till the end .  But there is no concluding note on any of the stories that says  'everyone lives happily ever after' - which leaves the audience wanting for more.Onir, I feel, strategically has put Rahul’s story in the end, who again, leaves an impressionable mark in the audience’s mind through his performance. As I was coming out of the theatre my sister asked me what would I fill in after ‘I Am..’ for each of the prime characters in the movie. I couldn’t really think of any word to define their character except for their names to fill in the blank.

I feel, the movie justifies its title.

My final take on the movie –highly recommended for a watch!!

P.S: A word of caution for the faint hearted- although most of the movie follows a pattern of subtle expressionism but the climax is quite the opposite as far as use of Hindi slang is concerned. You may want to give it a second thought before watching it with people who fall beyond the radar of your comfort zone for sharing cheesy jokes! I wouldn't watch it with my dad :P

Imported Professionalism

With reference to consumer preferences, I have noted a unique thing about the Indian consumer. I am referring to our inclination towards foreign goods. The fact that any object or item that has ‘imported’ as its prefix, notionally climbs a few notches up the quality charts defined in the mind of the Indian consumer is quite typical of us. This could, perhaps, be the result of consistent better performance of imported products vis-à-vis their Indian counterparts.

By the way, for the benefit of the reader, the scope of the word ‘imported’ in this blog is restricted to developed economies (like the United States of America) and Imported ‘objects or items’ could be anything, ranging from imported chocolates to imported wine to imported fabric/dress material and so on.

I, being no different from the typical Indian Consumer, have a fetish for ‘Imported’ Professionalism.

Well how can professionalism be ‘imported’ you may ask? To which I would say, at the cost of sounding like a traitor (which is absolutely incidental), professionalism in the Indian context has always been an ‘imported’ phenomenon.
Before you raise your brows, I would like to clarify that I am not saying that we as Indians do not display professionalism (I know many of us may not agree with me on this!) but the kind of professionalism that we see in India is just the ‘customized’ (rather Indianized) version of this global trend.

Although customization is not always appalling, as a matter of fact - there are certain things (like these ERP applications) that need definite customization when imported/bought to suit the local tastes. Say for example when you try Chinese cuisine in India (which is a hot favorite amongst a lot of us) may not taste the same as authentic Chinese food in China. The Chinese food that is available in India is customized for the Indian palette. And because we are so used to the localized version, for all you know, we may not like the way it is done in China. Similarly a lot of other things have to be customized for the local crowd.

However for a universal phenomenon like professionalism, there is no need for improvisations or customizations to accommodate local requirements, because if you try to customize them – it stands a chance of losing its essence. And I am afraid to admit that I sense that loss of essence in the ‘customized’ version of professionalism prevalent in India.

Speaking of ‘Imported’ professionalism, every time I meet someone from the west, I see and feel a stark difference in their attitude and their approach to things/situations. From Communication to Commitment from Planning to Time Keeping, there is something very striking about them that always makes me wonder as to what goes behind ‘the making’ of a professional attitude like that.

Just to illustrate this with an example – there is a popular phrase used in India about punctuality. We often say ‘The problem with being early or on time is that there is no one to appreciate it’. This, I assume, is with the assumption that everyone else is expected to be late.

How true! But only in the Indian context; where 10.00 a.m. more often than not can mean anything from 10.15 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., sometimes even later.

However in a scenario when everyone turns up on time (like in the west) – the same phrase could change to : ‘The problem with reaching late is that there’s always everyone to sit up and take notice !’

This is what I refer to as ‘Imported’ Professionalism!

It is heartening to see the magic of ‘imported’ professionalism rubbing on to people when they return to India after a reasonably long stay in the west. In other words, they return customized to imbibe this quality without making any alterations to the quality itself.

Therefore, the good news is - that we have a choice! The choice is - whether to make alterations in ourselves to imbibe a quality or to (conveniently) make alterations to the quality itself to suit ourselves?

It is a difficult choice to make (like most other choices) but that is what differentiates ‘Imported Professionalism’ from ‘Customized Professionalism’ and perhaps also an evolved person from being just a creature of habit!

Pani Puri spelt with a capital ‘Pee’

The recent video of a Pani Puri wala peeing in the same vessel used for serving customers has created quite an upheaval. There are pictures and videos of the act everywhere. The article published in TOI reports that when the ‘guy in question’ was arrested; in his defense he said that there was no other place for him to relieve himself - therefore the vessel.

This incident must have grossed out a lot of people.

Some may have been grossed out to the extent of not trying Pani Puri ever from a street side vendor, or to the extent of not trying any street food ever, or even to the extent of not eating any outside food ever.

But the worry is, that apart from grossing people out, this incident has also exposed the lowest form of violation of ‘trust’ that one places on another individual.

When one buys a product or a service in exchange of money – how can one be sure that the product/service  one is buying is not adulterated or is not of low quality vis-à-vis the price one is paying for it?

How does one find the trade-off between ‘the many good things that money can buy; like food as in this case’ AND ‘the few things that money cannot buy; like Trust’

Can anyone ever equate these two factors?

The answer, after this Pani Puri incident, is NO.

The realization that the so called phenomenon as ‘honoring one’s trust’ cannot be expected by default (with or without a cost attached to it) - is shattering.

Imagine for a second, if it was possible to attach a price to 'ensuring that the trust bestowed upon another individual is honored'- even then, would there have been any way of confirming whether the trust was indeed honored unless the person in question is captured on camera conducting otherwise or owns up himself/herself?

Going back to the same Pani Puri incident, say if people decided to pay one rupee extra over and above the regular cost to the Pani Puri fellow for not peeing in the vessel used to serve customers- who could guarantee that he has indeed not peed in the vessel unless he himself claims otherwise.
If the act had not been captured on camera –the Pani Puri fellow would have continued to serve Paani Puri with some added flavor of his piss to his customers without anyone realizing it.

Well, the fact remains that there is no limit to the extent of external policing one can do to ensure everything is just the way it is supposed to be but the final responsibility always lies with the person who is supposed to act – however, the sad part is that we seem to have forgotten this responsibilty.

Anyways, my sincere sympathies are with those people who cannot do without a tangy and spicy plate of Pani Puri coming straight out of the road side vendor’s stall.

As for me, thankfully enough, I have never liked Pani Puri much. But I cannot claim the same for a lot of other things. So until the next person is caught on camera doing something as preposterous as our “Pee-ep-li Live” hero who rose to stardom overnight - I shall pretend that I am safe!!

Dork - A Book Review

Dork written by Sidin Vadukut, is a compilation of diary entries which chronicles the sequence of events in the protagonist - Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese’s life from the first day of placement in his reputed MBA College to his sudden stardom as a consultant.

Well of course the real story is the journey between the start and the end.

I finished reading up about Robert Einstein Varghese in 4 days with two hours of read every day.

Day 1
Robert Einstein Varghese (REV) is a very optimistic human being with extraordinary abilities of turning sand into gold with sheer imagination in his mind. However most of the people around him would hold a contradictory view. He never gets bogged down with anything except for intermittent outbursts of Hindi/English slangs to express his disgust for other people’s doings. He is in love with a young pretty thing in college and thinks of ways to impress her and but the young pretty thing is not really aware of his deepest feelings for her.
He settles for a decent job. Well ‘DECENT’ is what other people thought; but with REV’s optimism – the offer was no less than extraordinary and specially tailored for his grey matter!

He leaves college on a hung-over note with alcohol playing the mischief when the entire college witnesses the sight of him sitting on the divider of the road outside his college campus with his shirt ripped apart.

That was not all, when the young pretty thing attempts to help REV move into his room along with another batch mate, Mr. Einstein bathes her in puke.

Well the puke smell may not have been such a good idea for a parting gift – but it sure served the purpose of having a lasting effect on his lady love! Mr. Einstein, on the other hand however, does not remember any of this. Thank God for that! Alcohol sure has some advantages.

Day 2

REV lands in the city that never sleeps (aamchi Mumbai). I can relate to this part of the story :P

He goes through the usual grind of moving into a new city like finding a house to live in, getting used to the climatic conditions. It is in this part of the story that he gets a little carried away and manages to plant a big hole in his pocket because of his optimistic expectations from the firm. He deep dives to grab the goodies on offer at the company provided hotel accommodation only to realize that they are not covered and with this realization Mr. Varghese lands on a hard rock solid bottom without a life jacket on.

The job keeps him quite busy with plenty of things to deal with, ranging from misleading the client into believing that he is senior personnel at the firm by goofing up the conveyance that was meant for senior officials with his own; to another alcohol driven act at a party with a senior partner which makes him the talk of the firm. And it does not stop at that, the party act gets captured in a video upload on you-tube for the world at large to watch.

Day 3

Robert Einstein Varghese turns out to be a stud, who not only manages to win the girl (remember the YPT from college) he had been chasing (in his dreams) but also manages to evoke interest in another one and finds it difficult to choose between the two. Work life continues to be the regular grind of wining some and losing a few until one day when he is lost totally and loses all hope of moving up the ladder on speed as he had imagined, when the infamous you-tube video spreads its wings and lands within the client’s radar!!

Day 4

He reaches the rock bottom levels of his frustration with the job and one last time again under the influence of alcohol he does the unthinkable! He lashes out at senior officials, the firm and the client over a line which gets copied to the entire network of the firm. (This time blame it on technology along with alcohol).

The interesting thing to notice here is that on all the three occasions where alcohol plays havoc in his life – he wakes up the next day morning with an erased memory of the previous night!

So it is only the impact that guides you to the intensity of the actual act.

Nonetheless, the story ends with REV becoming the international hero and a management guru overnight. I shall leave it up to the reader to read the book and find out how.

MORAL OF THE STORY: When you are too bogged down with life; turn to Alcohol! It may not solve your existing problems but it sure gives you the ability to think through them like a King who has all the power. And while you are in power you can do whatever you want – who knows you may just do the right thing like Mr. Einstein!!

Mumbai Dairies:

March 29, 2011 – The idea of getting to work by train is quite exciting. One of my co-passengers recognized me today and said hello! She is a regular traveler.

Nothing much on the work front. Everyone at the client site is busy with year-end activities and they don’t really have time to entertain an auditor for this week at least. So that just means a lot of reading, planning and surfing the net for me.

Surprise of surprises- my firm has declared a half day off tomorrow on account of the eventful match between India and Pakistan!!!So we get to pack our bags and head home at 1.00 in the afternoon to sit in front of the TV with popcorn and cold drinks!!

Incidentally, the TV remote which had stopped working at my sister’s PG has also been replaced with a new one. So no more hitting the remote or running to the TV to increase/decrease the volume or change the channel.

My stay in Mumbai is proving to be quite exciting, touché wood!

Mumbai Dairies:

March 28th, 2011 – Today was my first day of train travel all by myself in Mumbai. Although my adorable little sister had left no stone unturned in getting me familiarized with train travel, I was nervous nonetheless.

The day before, both of us had run from pillar to post to figure out the most convenient way to get to Chembur (my place of work) from Andheri East (my sister’s place of stay).

After about half a day of running around followed by a very relaxed lunch at Kohinoor Continental where we got a chance to put together all the information that we had gathered, we managed to establish that there are only a handful of direct trains from Andheri to Chembur . However there are quite a few trains from Andheri to Wadala and from Wadala I can get on to one of the many trains going towards Chembur.

I was ready to live with the idea of changing trains at Wadala to get to Chembur.

So with this information in my mind and the train pass in my purse I reached very early at the station and managed to get into the designated train to Wadala. As planned, I was to get down at Wadala and take another train to Chembur.

However, lady luck was in my favor. When I got down from the train at Wadala and enquired about the connecting train to Chembur- I was directed towards the same train that I had gotten down from.

I was elated!! I had managed to board the direct train without realizing it. And that just meant that I need not change trains at all to get to my destination if I manage to stick to the timing.

Quite happy with the first day experience of Mumbai Local!

Speed of Mind

Light travels faster than anything else known to man. But a human mind can travel faster than light. And a fickle mind like mine can beat all records of speed whatsoever perceptible to human kind.

I was made to realize this when I was a child. Well being fickle minded isn’t really considered a virtue. If it were, then all this propaganda about keeping your mind in control would have been meaningless.

It is indeed very difficult to control your mind or your thought process. And you could test that anytime anywhere without having to do much. You just need to sit at one place with eyes closed. Eyes need to be closed to shut out all distractions. But if you are one of those who can shut out their mind to the outside world with or without eyes closed then you need not really have to keep your eyes shut.

Once you are in that position you got to try to channelize your thought process towards just one thing and try to bring your mind to a state of nothingness. Simple, right? Is it really?

Well I tried and this is what happened in my mind -

“I can see nothing. It is pitch dark around me. Of course! What else do you expect when you close your eyes so tight? Yeah, but do I really need to keep them so tightly closed. I can just normally close my eyes. After all thoughts will not enter my mind through the eyes .I need to keep my mind focused on one thing. I should be thinking only about that one thing. What should I pick? Movies are my favorite. I could perhaps think about one movie and concentrate my thought process on that. But wait no, movies shall have more than one character so my mind would still be thinking about more than one thing at a time. Ok let me concentrate on one actor. Who should I pick? Kareena Kapoor is a good choice. She always looks pretty. But how should I imagine her in my mind? What was the latest movie that she acted in? Oh boy- I cannot remember. Yeah got it – Golmaal 3 it was. But I haven’t watched the movie and neither have I seen too many promos. Don’t remember how she looks in the movie. Remember Ajay Devgan though .And he looks pretty weird with that short haircut, Guess that was just to add the humor quotient to his look. Not that he had any better hair earlier. I actually liked Farhaan Akhtar’s hair styling in Rock On. Oh what a movie. That movie reminds me of caramel popcorn, Diwali and my friend Elizabeth. I remember having gone to watch the movie with her during diwali and also we had had caramel popcorn after long. It was quite an experience. Actually caramel popcorn tastes very nice when mixed with plain salted popcorn. The sudden ‘sweet taste’ of caramel thrown in between the salted taste of popcorn just makes you want more of it. Come to think of it I am quite hungry right now. Hell with meditation, I don’t mind making some quick microwave popcorn and catching a nice movie !!!!”

And that was the end of my concentration. I forced my mind not to think any further in search of the ultimate truth rather focus on the current for now.

Julie and Julia

Feb 04, 2011: Last night I watched this movie called ‘Julie and Julia’ on TV. It is a story about a famous cookbook author (Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep) and one of her ardent fans (Julie Powel, played by Amy Adams).

Julie works with the Customer Service Department of an Insurance Company and is quite hassled by the calls that she gets from irate customers. She tries hard to solve their problems but loses a bit of herself every time she gets screamed at. Back home she has a loving husband; a cute little house and a bunch of super successful female friends.

Just when, the stress at work and the feeling of not having achieved much in life begins to break her from inside; she hits upon the idea of starting a blog. Her supportive husband encourages her to write a blog on cooking – her only stress buster in life.

Julie picks the famous cookbook by Julia Child which has 524 recipes and decides to take upon the task of trying them all in 365 days! And she also decides to maintain a daily blog of her cooking experience.

The film showcases her experience in completing the feat and the reaction within her and of the world outside to her daily blog. Not to mention the fantastic visuals that corroborate the whole cooking experience.

The interesting part is how the film goes into flash back every now and then highlighting Julia Child’s (the author of the cookbook) endeavors to get her recipes published. Now although these two characters are several years apart in time, space and circumstances- the film is successfully able to sketch some very profound similarities between their lives. Especially how they achieve what they achieved. I particularly liked Meryl Streep’s performance in the movie. She has demonstrated the ability to bring sheer joy to your cooking experience just by watching her.

There are some fascinating elements in the movie which is sure to grab your attention for example, when the movie depicts Julia Child’s quest to do something with her time; she tries everything possible from hat making to taking bridge classes before she finally discovers her real passion for cooking! On the other hand even after Julie figures out that one thing that will keep her mind off her stressful job, She never tries to quit her job in the movie, instead she shifts her focus to that one thing that brings her joy.

All I can say is that the movie is sort of going to stay with me for long. I feel I connected with the story at many levels!! That’s not all, there is some good news too. After watching the movie I feel like blogging more (good news for the readers) and cooking more often (good news for Vikram)!!

So happy reading people and happy eating Vikram!!

Relocation

Relocation is a just a 10 letter word. But the process is not that simple. There are various things that one needs to plan and execute. House hunt is one – for example. Infact one of the key factors.

Vikram and I began our house hunt journey on the 20^th of November 2010  (Saturday) at 5.30 in the morning! We had an early morning (7.20 am) flight. And we managed to miss it :P:P . We reached exactly thirty minutes before departure- which going by Kingfisher standards is EXACTLY 10 minutes late because the check in counter closes EXACTLY forty minutes before departure!!  This was clearly stated in the ticket print outs that we got but the fact remains that neither of us bothered to read it – how inexact could we have gotten there now???

Anyways, even after several sessions of begging, trying and talking they refused to let us through. So then we had no choice but to look for another flight. But luckily, or so we thought then, due to bad weather and low visibility the flight , which was due to depart at 7.20 , couldn’t take off.

Vikram received a message saying that the departure had been postponed to 9.20 am!! We were very excited and ran to the counter again – but they said that they still couldn’t let us in. So within 60 seconds of excitement  we were  upset again because we didn’t quite figure out the reason why they couldn’t let us through when we had the time, the flight was around and this time for a change we were also present well within time. We insisted on speaking with the manager and finally when we managed to speak to the Manager we couldn’t argue further when he explained that once the check in is done – there are a lot of procedures that follow to make sure that the aircraft is balanced with the given number passengers on board. All this calls for a hell lot of formalities and plenty of documentation. So any increment in the number of passengers would mean going through the entire ordeal again and that would mean pushing the landing time. 

The only way they said they could let us through was if and only if, I saw the two lettered word being spoken in CAPITALS there,  two people from the flight decided to cancel and get off the plane: P.

Now keeping ourselves in an onboard passenger’s shoe (rather two of them while keeping in mind that the summation of their weight is equivalent to  our weights put together), which we would have loved to even if that meant wearing the wrong shoe size, we couldn’t see ourselves canceling the flight and getting off the plane.

We were left with no choice but to keep shut!

But someone up there, much above the aircraft was very  kind - for the manager offered to reschedule our tickets for the 4.45 p.m. flight to Pune that very day without any extra charge!! We were relieved that at least we would make it to Pune the same day just some ..er.. may be some more than ‘just some’ hours later.

We got the rescheduled tickets done but that’s when  wisdom dawned upon us and we realized that we had some eight hours to kill at the airport because there was absolutely no point going back to the city given the distance and the cost involved .

I could imagine how Mr. Steven Spielberg  got the idea of making the movie ‘The Terminal’ . In case you are wondering- well it is the same flick where Mr. Tom Hanks gets stranded at a very fancy airport with access to all the modern amenities that one can imagine of and along with  Ms Suave, Catherine Zeta Jones, to romance with at sporadic intervals.

But don’t get any ideas because our 8 hour long wait was not even close to  the celluloid  experience that Mr. Tom Hanks had because all the book stores, shopping areas and drinking areas were beyond the security check point. So we decided to make do with whatever was available on our side of the airport and began our own eating and shopped spree. Got two books for ourselves and somehow managed to stay awake till 4.00 in those extremely uncomfortable chairs: P

During that long wait, approximately, about every two hours we did have to fight the strong urge within us to request the airport authorities to get us past  the security check in advance so that we could make better use of  time. But the thought of having driven away from the airport on account of  being strong suspects for terror , given that we had created enough uproar in the morning to get everyone’s attention to get on the plane, we kept quiet.

Finally we reached Pune at 7.00 in the evening!! Need I mention that It was quite an experience. 

Lastly, coming to the point which I had started to write about – The house hunt. While we were waiting at the airport I had managed to call up all the prospective house owners and rescheduled our appointments for late Saturday evening and the whole of Sunday.

But despite, some very good leads, or so we had thought then again, we hadn’t seen even one good house until 6.30 on Sunday evening.

Vikram, my dearest, believes that one should always have a plan. In case the first one fails there should be a backup plan. Now since things were not going the way we had planned right from the airport- he was ready with what we wanted the most – the backup plan!!!

So the backup plan was that I would stay back for a day and hunt for the house while Vikram would report to work cause he couldn’t take any leaves in his notice period.  As the day was coming to an end and we were nearing darkness with increasing reliance on our backup plan with every tick of the seconds hand in the watch-  the broker showed us one house which all of us liked!

But as luck would have it – it was quite dark when we visited the place and being a new construction they still hadn’t fixed the electrical appliances! So we had to check out the place with whatever light our mobile phones could generate  JJ 

We finalized the house in the hope that it would turn out the way it had seemed in the dark :P 

Our return flight on Monday was scheduled to depart at 7.20 in the morning again. So having been through all of this we didn’t really want to take any chances so we decided to book the cab 2 hours and 20 minutes in advance to cover a distance of about 10 k.m. that normally gets covered in 20 minutes given the traffic in Pune.

But given the luck we had with flights guess one last time!!  Well Vikram got a message at 12.30 in the night saying that the flight had been delayed to 10.20!! Thanks to my dear hubby’s insomniac attributes, he was awake until then to read the message and reschedule the cab. I got to know about it only when I got up at 4.30 a.m. and woke up Vikram reminding him of the early morning flight.   But this time around we were indeed very happy to have our sleep back!!