@work fun... part 1

so sitting in the back room during focus groups is contrary to popular belief not a lot of fun... but sometimes... you get a list of respondent names that can well... see for yourself

Ice
Air
Gig
Rich
Pin

lets just say after i spent 45 minutes smiling  i spent the rest of my time trying to think up a sentence that can fit it all :)

The bubble bursts...

We were really enjoying our trip to saddi dilli this time around... the world does look gorgeous when looking through nostaligia coloured lenses...or it could just be that delhi in winters takes on another charm!

But ... all good things come to an end.... more like a screeching halt...and this is how our bubble burst...

All it took was 30 mins at a jewellery store thats been in existence for the last 60 years....

we walk in at 12 in the afternoon and we were the first and only potential customers at the time. No one came to ask us what were looking for (perhaps because we didnt look like we could afford anything... true that!) so we made our way to the nearest counter which has 4 women who could've attended us. This was the scene .. left to right
woman 1: staring into space
woman 3: staring into space
woman 4: combing hair, applying make up, re-tying sari... as if she is in her bedroom... oblivious to the fact that three customers (bro, mom and i) are sitting not further than one foot away from her staring in absolute disbelief!

woman 2: chooses to attend to us, despite every cell of her size 0 body telling her not to....

so we begin to sift through some really uninspired designs... in the shop for nostalgia;s sake more than quality... when suddenly make up woman 4 walks upto woman 1 and picks a fight... right there, right then, 2 feet away from us. Our jaws drop - Is this really happening? Are they seriously fighting in front of customers?
we were too stumped to pay attention to what the fight was about... only that it went on for 5 minutes and at the end of it make up woman won.
If only it ended there... the losing party, woman 1 proceeded to mutter under her breath for the next 10, even involving my brother... dekho na... subah subah ladne aa jatein hain! (eng. look, she's come to pick a fight early in the morning. This at 12:30 in the afternoon!) aur koi kaam nahi hai...mood kharab kardiya![eng: does she not have any work?]This while they were both staring into space, while there are customers waiting.

Brother ignores her... mutters something to me about this being unreal... and we giggle

woman 1 now needs to pass on the bad mood... looks at woman 3
woman 1: tune kaan mein kuch kyun nahi pehna? [eng: why have you not worn earrings?]
woman 3: mein subah jaldi jaldi mein ready hui, baal bhi dhone the... nikaaal diye, time nahi mila kuch pehnne ko [eng: got ready in a hurry and even had to wash my hair so didnt have the time to wear earrings]

bro to me: are they seriously discussing this in front of us!!
woman 1 to 3: Bhootni lag rahi hai! logon ko dara degi tu... [You look like the devil, you'll scare of people!]


That conversation was a sore reminder of why I ran away. No regrets.

A chapter closes..

The parents decided to sell the Delhi house my brother and I grew up in and just like that I no longer belong to delhi and delhi has become just another city i visit. *the sound of my hear breaking*

Sad but true.
And funny considering the lengths to which I go to dissociate myself with the city.... furiously defending my "non dilli-ness" .....

but it was my city.... it is where hindi is spoken like it should be...where chole bhature tastes like it should...where raste ka chinese is sold in vans ....where clothes are not floral prints....where winter is cold... where connaught place is....and more importantly janpath with its Tibetan crafts and kohlaps...

The past four days were a happy re-union ...my brother and I flew down to re-live a forgotten life...and strangely we did just that....

* roamed the streets of janpath
* cold coffee at d'pauls... the gold standard for cold coffee...
* milk shakes at cavenders...
* chole bhature at kwality
* kolhaps
* books from new book land....and on his recco
* fought monkeys in our balcony... yes that is correct
* chowmein from the van
* drove past our schools & the house we were born in
* slept in rajai's
* ate idli;s and vada's from the temple
* met old school friends
* met old family friends....who happened to be visiting their parents at the same time!
* adrak wali chai from the streets of south ex...
* bombay bhelpuri ...that thankfully doesnt taste anything like what one gets in bombay!
* books from Teksons!



it was like time hadnt passed...and i wish it hadnt.
Farewell the dilli that was my home....from now on you and i will meet as old friends.

Of new experiences.. part 1

The last 6 months have been so full of new experiences and so much to blog about but i keep postponing the writing to later when i collect some more strange-nesses... the result is a gaping gap since the last time in posted anything and an even bigger gaping hole where these experiences were once stored in my sieve like memory...
The idea is to now write them as and when.... so heres one from today...

Its only after coming to Bangkok that i realised how little exposure i've had to trans gender or homosexuals.... living in india the most i had seen is really the hijda's (transvestites) and sadly given their abysmally low social acceptance... or maybe i should say given that they aren in fact social pariah's one doesnt really know too much about them, their life etc.

The move to Dubai made things even more protected given the extremely masculine nature of the Arab society and the fact that homosexuality is completely unacceptable...

So i find it exciting and liberating that today i have with me a client who is a transvestite (and not even Thai at that!) and a moderator who is openly gay...and interestingly is named "Boy"!

and on that note...

Begins my quest for passion.... cause like Ozzy says..... nothing was ever achieved without taking a risk.... 
Now what DO i like doing??? :-/

This is why...

How do i spend a typical saturday evening these days? in complete loneliness... a hundred thoughts buzzing through my head... all negative.... simmering, brewing, ready to blame the world....

working 18-20 hours a day for the last 1 month... while also traveling, while also jet lagged, while also unable to speak with k for over 2 mins every 2 days, i may just have reached the end of my rope last night (my first day off in 5 weeks)....and so its easy to see why 'work' became an easy target for blame yesterday. 

So the minute i got my 5 min conversation with K i bawled about how i hate my job / am not good at it or something close to that ... how i wanna quit and do nothin...

to which he says... sure .. i think this isnt giving you any happiness.. you seem to be more stressed than excited and i think you should find your passion and follow a dream.... dont worry ab the moolah... i'm there (he btw is currently jobless, spending money in Euro's, while i earn in depressing thai baht!!) 

BUT... its that he said that... and left me smiling....and i slept well after ages... without worry....

AND this is why i love him! :-)

he's ALWAYS on my side.... always supportive and in a battle against the world....we're a team. Thank you honey!!! xoxo

Its like everyones on a vacation!

Yeah i've lived in tourist interest cities before....but they were a minority!
Living in Bangkok with its low expat population or rather high local population (my contexts are still dubai based) makes the tourists really stand out...
Then again that could also be because they're pierced everywhere, wearing rags, tattooed, and slippered...generally hippied out!
Making me the poor sodden worker feel rather miserable about being chained to a desk rather than out there exploring this super city

Moved!

The almost 5 year stint in Dubai came to an end in june to give way to new adventures in the city of angels - bangkok, thailand. At this point, i'm delighted by how 'finally' hasnt featured in the previous sentence making the Dubai sojourn a pleasant memory.

So far intrigued by the city... somethings just stick as you go through your day...
1. "Fanta" as an offering to Brahma ... that Thai's have Brahma temples itself is amazing but "fanta" offering really adds the zing!
2. That grown men in my office are not afraid to wear bunny rabbit soft slippers
3. That you call somebody P'name out of respect or u intersperse english emails with 'na's' and 'ka's making it thai reader friendly and unoffensive
4. That you have no fat women shattering my dreams of shopping and that when i decide to channel my money to shoes... you stop manufacturing at the size just below mine...

Kapkhun khaaa Thailand! You have my curiosity tickled!

Adios '09

Tis was a fabulous year ... loads was tried tested ditched accomplished kept thrown refurbished renewed forgotten you get the drift....

i got a new job... k got into college... missed some important family weddings.. . but we successfully climbed kili... think i take better photos now....

i can now run 6 k at a stretch now... can keep a food log ....but apparently cannot lose weight...our house remains mostly red despite me looking for things blue... successfully stuck to last years resolution of cutting back on the hang ups and i enjoyed life a lot more this past year...took many days off but didnt see many new places... read a lot more this year ...

next year promises to be different... k's going off in 5 days... i am sad... at this point can't get the words of that song out of my head...

i just dont know what to do with myself...so used to doing everything with u..planning everything for two...

Been a while since i led the single life....a looooong time...

Here's toasting the new year --- To change!

Happy new year everyone! :)

The 6k beat..

Ran 6 kms again last night... and am so thrilled...

1.3 kms into the run .. i had decided that 3 would be it...6 was too far...not today..i heard the irritating inner voice speak and say ...so you're giving up again when the going gets tough eh? so you... but i had valid excuses for stopping... i had a pain in my right side...you know the shooting pain you get from not drinking water and running? i was nauseous...felt like my dinner from 3 hours earlier was not going to stay inside long....

then the song changed to 'wake up sid' and the momentum of the song made me run like the wind... it was exhilarating... the wind against my face and the pace ... it was like a taste of freedom and it was like i was 4 again...

I realized that if i can run fast when the beats inspire then i was simply making excuses... that it was now a war against the mind not the body... and so i stayed on the track and ran to wake up sid...

K too did his bit to help by repeating some his kms ....giving me company...thats all it takes ... wake up sid and K! :)

[On another note the beach was fabulous last night...chilly breeze with noisy waves ...perfect to de-stress.]

i am determined to take my run to 10k ...a 'distant' dream right now... and 'wake up sid' may not have a lasting effect ...

So now looking for some fabulous jog beats...reco's please!