Life these past few days....

I come back from a safari in Tanzania in Oct...cause though our objective is Kili we're not going to waste our ticket money by not going on the safari. WHO knows when we next get an opportunity to see the African Safari right?

Whaddya know... Nov (25 days later) I get sent to Kenya on work... AND it coincides so beautifully with 4 days of Eid holidays.. perfect for a safari... Someone's laughing at me right now!

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I've not gone for a run in 20 days ... back ache is back ...and i'm kicking myself for not doing something about it.. :(

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S enters the restrooms @ one of the cinemas in Dxb...a girl in an abaya comes out of nowhere and asks S how old S thinks she is... S is thinking 15 but says 17.. (still havent figured out why?! must ask her) ...the girl looks reasonably happy...Apparently she was 13 and wanted to appear 18 to get into one of the movies...

on another note...we were the only over 30's in a cinema hall full of under 15's watching New Moon...

While we cried over how horrid it was...they applauded .... we have grown up.. YAY??

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i cleaned my cupboard... after ages.. feel like a load has been lifted from my shoulders... think in a weird way how i feel is directly linked to my cupboard...there is some truth to that... and not in a "stretched" way...

I could put clothes into 3 piles --- aspirational (3 sizes smaller than me ... at the very least), dowdy...and kartik's

and i'm still happy...

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Finally uploaded the Kili snaps...overwhelmed by the responses and comments... I love my peeps!

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went on 2 photo expeditions... i'd call both a failure...but the pics on top are what came out of it anyway...

The stars come down to earth....

"I live in Bombay now..." tweets KSS to a long lost friend who seems to have tracked down KSS on twitter.....incredible that KSS has to say this after having starred in over 10 famous bollywood movies

What bothers (perhaps not the right word, but i can't seem to find one that quite describes what i'm feeling) me is not that the friend doesnt know that KSS is famous... simply that KSS is having a "normal" conversation with a friend in a public space. The concept that she too is like any one of us..

I like stars being stars... out of reach... sparkling... i dont want to know that they get up and check fb just like me ...that they read books that i might read...that they watch movies just like me...

Now I'm not star crossed but (for me) the aura of stars diminishes by their performance of such mundane everyday acts... they're beyond this... not GOD's - simply special, chosen....even extraordinary
something i can't be ... (and perhaps dont want to be for this reason)

Strangely though it doesnt bother me when a foreign (non Indian) public figure does this...perhaps because they've always had as much a normal (well as normal as they can get in their abnormal world) public life as on celluloid...

I was however heartbroken reading the snippet from Andre Agassi's book 'open' in which he ruthlessly opens up about his addictions and deliberate losses etc etc....now why did he have to do that... thought they could all afford and in fact almost certainly have shrinks they can open up to... why did they have to tell us?! why?!

Sports stars especially (for me) are extra special...they are near machines with unbelievable talent...they can do anything if they put their mind to it.... they are about "focus" , "tenacity", "control", "endurance"....they are about inspiring me....how dare they take that away!

Currently immersed in...

I read somewhere recently that over the years women have become more egotistical or have bigger egos (not sure if thats the same thing) with the result that more women (than men) think they are unique or special in some way ....

Well i used to be one of those women but am proud to say that's one bad habit i no longer support. I have stopped living under the illusion that i'm unique or different... not even other peoples fb updates can drive me into thinking that... I've reconciled with the knowledge that i'm just an ordinary person in an ordinary world living an ordinary life ...and i may not love that fact... but i've come to terms with it....i introduce something extraordinary once in a while but to tell you the truth... few things are extraordinary to me these days...

What sparked this?
what i'm currently immersed in...
"buy-ology" by Martin Lindstrom...an awesome read for anyone with anything to do with marketing / consumers... and unbelievably no seriously accurate to the point of being scary..
it's as i'm reading this while waiting for the metro this morning that i am overcome with feelings like ... OMG i'm EXACTLY like this...or i feel exactly like this...
aka... i'm like every other consumer out there....

in fact am just half way through it and its already given me answers to why i'm currently immersed in...

"gossip girl" - an insane extremely american teenage DRAMA series with nothing in it but pure malice.... that for some reason i cant stop watching .....freaks me out...
but shall continue to watch....

my new "mac book" - looooving it... its taken me a while to get used to it... and i'm sure i havent gotten there yet.. also not sure what about it i like...but i'm quite sure i'd like to mac my life..

"big b's blog"... i like his writing style... but i dont really care to read about his daily life... what inspires me is that a person of his stature finds time to key in a few things every single day.........now that maybe something that makes great men... discipline

aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh....pulling my hair out

pontless post alert - just a consequence of extreme frustration with a call centre exec just doing his job...

very badly....
the only time i'm probably patient is with call centre execs.... the "need to be harmonious" with everyone in the world [ex those i love truly] attribute in my personality prompts me to politely listen to the entire sales pitch attentively [ok maybe not all that attentively] before declining gently... and then firmly... and still more firmly... this has always been the routine...

so today when this guys from StanChart calls reg some insurance plan for which only a few lucky long standing customers [i've held this a/c for only a month now so i know its not true... reason one for annoyance] ... i did the same thing... I did get put off by the guys "jaali" (fake/ pseudo) "white" accent ... but i said to myself whatever works to up ur self confidence works for me buddy... and continued to listen (without grinning)

soon the script gets technical ... i only hear... blah blah...1 dh a day...both for you and husband... blah blah... and i lose interest...when he stops i say "thanks for the call but i'm really not interested" as per my script
... thats when he gets annoying..

He: if u feel 1 dh per day... is too expensive you can go for a policy that only covers you
Me thinking: is this guy for real ... does he really think sarcasm is going to work??!
but saying: No its not about the money... i jst have a few policies already and its difficult for me to keep track... so i'd rather not complicate my life...

He: i know... u must be having an LIC policy from India...
Me thinking : U presumptuous twit
But saying: as a matter of fact i dont have an LIC [which i do btw but i had to argue]

He: yes then you must be having a company policy and others from... but my advice to you...
Me thinking: again ..presumptuous twit... why would i take advice from some random man on the phone and who knows if you're really from stan chart anyway!
but saying: really... not interested..

He: you dont know what you are missing ma'am...this policy is really the best you can get... i'm sure your current policies dont offer any of these benefits...
Me: Thank you for being so presumptuous about what policies i have and what they offer... I'm quite capable of deciding for myself and i'd appreciate if you would stop trying to sell me something i dont want

He: Thank you ma'aam for you time. Hope you have a fantastic day.
he thinking: what a bitch!

Me thinking: Blog this and let off steam...
There..done.. :)

and runnin running and runnin...

weather getting better.....so am back at the beach with J&K....for the daily runs... am noticeably the slowest person on the track but at least am running...not something i would hv ever thought i'd eva do even until a year ago...

with every passing day we discover new things about ourselves.. i like that... like thinking that i wont get bored..

discovered websites that help you figure out your run type and foot type and hence what shoe you should be running in...J&K both figured theirs and now run in very expensive shoes... I apparently for once have no abnormalities... [miracles happen]

i did however land up with a nick ...[cant believe i'm about to publish this] "wobbly"...apparently while the lower half of my body is happy to continue in a straight line.. my torso wobbles making me look like a soft toy (acc to K), this has quadrupled my weight issues in a nano second and now along with being the slowest i will now be the most self conscious runner...

however, over the last 4 days of i hv successfully gone from 3k in 25 mins to 3k in 15 mins... so pat on back.. next week i will up my kms to 4.5 ... if i survive the palpitations... i am also the loudest runner... huffing away like an engine.. but am runnin runnin..

and i feel GOOD!

Remind me not to start my day like this!

Slowly realising that i do things i know i shouldnt be doing even when i know that just knowing i shouldnt be doing them isnt going to stop me... u'll get this only if ur me...or as jumbled...or bright..

so heres one of them...

so i'm back to being the first one (well very nearly) into work...not to be confused wth the most hard working...i kind of am the first to leave to...[but this isnt what i shouldnt be doing]

so anyway i end up having access to FB (blocked during work hours) and to my horror chking fb has become like a 'wake up ritual' every morn... i dont know how or why this happened (ok maybe i know why...this horrible voyeur resides in me somewhere...successfully hiding from my more rational and mature side...which also manages to hide pretty brilliantly)

anyway there i am sneaking up on all my friends lives...interesting lives...at least if pics could say a 1000 words and they sure can
and i'm stuck with horrible self esteem issues..."i'm so fat, i'm so ugly, i hv a boring life...and other awful-er thoughts..."

No amount of telling myself that these are just 'creative' peeps who can make even sneezing look like a cool thing works... and i'm there feeling miserable for a bit...

.... did that just sound like 'confessions of a fb-holic'? DRAT!
i hope 'acknowledgment is the first step' works for me.. :)

Things that make me go oooooh!

Was going through my Tanzania pics when i found this one and was inspired into creating this very random post ...the idea is to paste pics of things i love...


1. Butta (Corn on the cob) served with spicy indian masalas (salt and red chilli powder) and more than a hint of lemon. Reminds me of evenings walks in Delhi. The sole purpose of those walks was to be yet another Rs 5 (was it?) poorer. Strangely enough, in all those years and zillions of butta's i never learnt quite how to identify the "good" ones. :)





This particular butta is Tanzanian! Available right opposite our hotel in Moshi - this literally may have been the 'high' [;)] point of my trip!

Deira...

Cheater Cheetah

sitting at my desk at work today going over some of the photo's i've taken during our trip to Tanzania is really making me itch for the camera. all i want to do is go out there and experiment. somehow feels like i'm cheating myself by not acting on my instincts and hence the title (far fetched but from the heart :)

Fleeced ....

I think with age comes a declining sense of humor... really that has to be the explanation for my inability for coming up with funny titles... if you can think of another...dont tell me

so here's the story of how divine intervention aided in me making it to the top of Kili
There were many... one of them involved addie getting a seat right in front of us on the flight from addis to JRO...really what are the chances?!
But this one involves a particular fleece jacket... On another note, i didnt know fleeces are called that till this trip. So i bought one for the trip...and then while packing realised i should have bought 2. Going through my closet to look for an alternative cause by now it was too late to go out and buy another i chanced upon (wait for it) a fleece jacket.
hmmm... i didnt know i owned one? ... hmmm.. wait a min... it isnt mine... hmmmm.. did i borrow this? from whom? when? why? ohhhhhh...think the laundry guy made a mistake and gave it to us by mistake... I should return it... or not... this is GOD giving me a sign... His gift... never mind that i was stealing at this point... So of course i kept it...resolving to return it after the trip. The beauty of it was that it was my size. Quite an achievement that!

So it went with me to Kili... I used it ...and used it...and a bond grew between us
And then by some freak poetic justice left it behind in Kili