Yogyakarta 2015

I’m sprawled on the ground leaning against a pillar with my rucksack in the Jogja airport for the Silkair counter to open. The flight is late, already been 2 hours. Thanks to the heavy downpour in the afternoon. I couldn’t make better use of the extra time though – except to spend an additional hour or so to have a couple more Gudang Garams (it was Indonesia after all!). Now that brings pleasant memories-though a lingering headache for a system unused to smoking any more. The Gudang Garams were a treat from Pak Joko where we spent a companionable few hours at the dhaba serving student budget buffet for lunch on our way down from Mount Merapi – with the rain beating down on the aluminium sheets above, sipping filter coffee.

It had been an enjoyable morning, I checked out early from the hotel and we drove to Mt Merapi. Iuwan was the intrepid WWII surplus jeep driver showing off his skills and the stunning views of the area. The Mt. Merapi tip (blown away by the volcano) was itself obscured by the clouds but it didn’t hide the lush countryside. Surprisingly the trees and plants around had grown so fast after the 2010 eruption. The drive around to see the devastation of the villages and the still smouldering slopes was quite the experience. They’ve kept the artefacts which melted down including the clock that stopped when the eruption happened. I’m glad some of them are able to make some sort of a living after that. The destruction was eerie but human beings really do move on. Even Iuwan was talking about how he managed to escape with the evacuation. It was great weather, cloudy and breezy, got some great pics to capture the outing. Spent some time after the drive chatting with some of the other drivers and Pak Joko who shared their experiences of the quake and the tourists who came by. Danu, who claimed he was 19 (I doubt it!) was quite chatty and curious and shared his stash of Marlboro menthols!

En route to Mt. Merapi was a stop at the Marlioboro Street market – to pick up the Indonesian cardamom or kapulaga which Pak Joko managed to find for me. The tiny shop stall was manned by this sweet old lady who smiled her way into making me buy cloves and vanilla pods that I didn’t really need but for a steal! We looked but couldn’t find the Mahabharata or Gatotkaca wood carvings that I was looked for. Hopefully if I make it to Jepara…another trip. This was day 3 of my solo trip to Yogyakarta. Wrote a long entry in Pak Joko’s guest book and left a hefty tip. He was a gem – such a treat of a driver/guide/companion – looked after me well and had so much interest in Indian culture; of course he also likes Shah Rukh Khan. I didn’t get too much of a chance to ask him questions because he kept me busy racking my brains to come up with answers for his! Been sending everyone I know going to Jogja with his reference.

Day 2 was just as exciting. We started early in the morning with a longish drive to Jomblang caves. The trip is facilitated by Cahyo and his crew – you have to book well in advance. When I got there, Cahyo wasn’t there, but his crew was so sweet – language was a real barrier. Joko made sure someone took me down into the caves with the rest of the groups. It was a basic rustic place but what an awesome EXPERIENCE!! Goes to show how much fun you can have if you can just BE and let things happen! We got lowered down 60m in the harness; Novri the boy or rather young man from Jakarta got paired with me. He was more scared than me while getting lowered down! From that first landing point there’s another 30 odd metres to reach the cave, along one of the most muddy, slithery tracks I’ve been on in a while! It was quite hilarious as people kept sliding and knocking each other down. There was a rope tied to a tree which we could hang on to – but wasn’t much use as it was just tied on one end and not tethered and the rope by then had itself become a slushy mess. Then the long walk into the pitch dark cave with just that one guy who had the head lamp. Luckily inside wasn’t that slippery but so rocky – we had to keep a steady pace though since we had to reach the heart of the cave at a specific time. The sun rays come through this narrow opening on the roof of this huge cavern and light up everything in this ethereal light at around noon. It’s so simple and yet so breathtaking. There’s tiny water droplets in the air which catch the light and the light beams coming down, you can just stand there transfixed with the rainwater coming down in rivulets and just try and breathe everything in! Novri and his group were good companions, they made sure I got lots of pics for myself and did a mini modelling shoot with one of them shining the phone torch for that extra light! The crew member must have seen this every day but I thought the sight wouldn’t cease to be pleasing. The limestone formation in the centre was so pretty, though I wasn’t able to capture it well in a pic, the years of erosion had created such pretty ripple shapes into it. It just all filled the senses in a most fulfilling way. We made our way back, the climb up got even tougher since there was nothing to hold on to but each other. Another giggling slithering half hour later, we got our turn to go back up in the harness. The harness was being pulled up by about 10 men using a couple of trees as leverage. It should be a cause of concern I guess but sometimes you put more trust in humans than machines which may not be kept well maintained! We pounced on the lunch boxes, had showers (my tshirt had to be junked after all the mud and grass stains) and headed to town. It started raining again – luckily it had held out just enough to get me experience!

We stopped at Affandi museum – it was a pleasant surprise actually. Some of his works (Room 1, while I visited) was actually quite good. He’s good with faces and catching expressions with a few strokes. I quite liked that one of his mom walking away dejected when he told her he was going away to study in India. Lump in throat moment – I remembered saying bye to my mom the day she she left Bombay after getting me settled in to my hostel and institute – it was a rainy day too! We did some batik shopping and then back to the hotel for me to have a lazy dinner and a massage. Next time I want to pick up some batik bedsheets.

Did I mention the hotel was really charming? Hotel Phoenix – old colonial style, very well kept and great service. I didn’t even bother to have dinner anywhere else – it would have got in the way of my daily massages before bedtime J They left nice sweet treats in the room everyday – that works well with me, just fyi!
I’m working my way backwards describing the trip. So Day 1 started later than planned thanks to having to hover in the air for about a couple of hours and then another 30 mins in the runway. I must confess I had been a tad jittery about the flight, given the recent spate of air accidents. Well the fears were unfounded. Pak Joko picked me up and after completing the hotel check in etc, we left immediately for Prambanan temple. It was a fascinating complex. I haven’t seen Brahma being featured much in Indian temples. With the 2006 earthquake so much of their structures had crumbled. But the authorities have done a great job of restoration and maintenance. The entire grounds and complex have this discreet network of speakers which had the recordings of this nice soothing rhythmic chiming bells music. Spent a very pleasant couple of hours wandering around and taking pics. We stopped to have lunch at this tiny place which had these raised thatched platforms overlooking paddy fields on our way to Borobudur. The closing time was earlier than we had estimated so this was a rushed affair. But still completely worth it!  As it was cloudy I didn’t get the sunset view but we did catch a quick rain shower and the resultant rainbow and lovely vista of the mists on the distant mountains and paddy fields. Did do the touristy thing to reach into the bell shaped structures and touch the Buddha statue for luck. It was all just so lovely and peaceful.

I really liked the people in Jogja. Everyone seems so smiley and helpful – in a genuine shy way. It’s such a feel- good factor. It was heartwarming when on our way to Jomblang,  Pak Joko would greet all the farm and road workers on the narrow paths while driving by and they would all respond, smiling back warmly.

It was a perfect start to the 2015. Here’s to the positivity and many more happy experiences!

an Apple a day

I dislike Apple. Or more accurately, I don’t trust it. Could be just the reverse snobbery influencing this emotion – like I say I dislike “brands”, but will still gravitate towards Amul cheese and not Brittania; Cinthol deo soap rather than other similar offerings (though all pale in comparison!). Or the urge to be non conformist – just because every one else is eagerly looking to acquire the next Apple gadget, I wont. Though I did enjoy the Ipod my BIL gave me and I did take on the Iphone 4s after moving to Singapore. I refuse to admit I like it. I was a sell-out. Oh the shame of it all! It’s useful certainly – when I want to check what movie is playing. When I lose my way during an evening jog. To check the time, my fb account, mails, my average run rate, calorie count for the day’s diet. Yes and when I want to call someone too. But I miss my old Nokia phones. I do not miss my old Samsung phone – my first deviance from Nokia since 2001. That damn gadget gave me so many problems. The Iphone has not been problem free either.

I feel vindicated when it doesn’t have a simple radio function like any other phone does. You have to download an app first. It’s pervaded virtually every activity you can do in a day. Then there is this fanatic surge of iphone friendly gadgets from other companies. They are all contributing to the meteoric rise in its share price. Suckers!!! Anything and everything can be connected to an Apple gadget. Contrary to other things, people don’t seem to mind that almost everyone else has an Iphone too…so it is a commodity…a luxury commodity.

It’s a strange phenomenon. Can you blame me if I think it is a force gathering its own free will? You can’t blame me for being suspicious that my current iphone 4s starts giving me problems the VERY SAME WEEK that the iphone 5 hits the stores? Or rather is prebooked to the extent of eliminating available stocks. I bet the master server of the Apple is controlling all these gadgets remotely. It laughs triumphantly at the willing slaves all over the world queuing up to buy its next offspring. Soon it will take over the world. I’m crossing over the line to “War of the Machines” now. There will be no war this time around. There will be people clutching Apple gadgets in a trance. They already do what the iphone/ipod/ipad bids them to do.

Their pets will soon be wearing icollars and playing with their iballs. Tigers in wildlife sanctuaries will use their ipreys to locate the youngest wildebeest which wanders away from the herd. While the wildebeest herd leader already has an app on its igraze to map out the hastiest run to safety. Pigeons will use their ishits to find the most inappropriate place or person’s head to dump on. There will be no other birds by then anyway. Champagne bottles will use their icorks to identify the most unwilling participant to release their contents on. In India cows will use their isnooze to find the day’s busiest traffic time to plan their naptime on the roads. Confirmed batchelors will use the icad to send a Dear Jane text to break off a relationship. Jellyfish will use the isting to uh..sting.

Irest my case.

What Singapore has come to mean to me

A year and 10 months ago I was packing and was looking forward to what I thought would be a fresh lease of life to my career. And a new country to live in. Among other things….. Well the career headed south and is now skating along at the edge of the trough, as for the “other” things…they soon followed suit. The more things change more they remain the same.

But it took all this time to find something interesting about Singapore to write about! That’s because I finally made an effort to get around and look at my surroundings. Only since this week am I now am inclined to actually explore Sentosa…considering its literally in my backyard. A taxi driver gave me an education in Singapore history. Sentosa was known as Pulau Belakang Mati (malay for death behind) – it was used as a prison during the Japanese occupation. Before that the island was used by the Allied forces as a lookout for invaders. But hahahaha..the Japanese came in from the north instead of by sea. Then it got named “Sentosa”, yes after santosha. He also explained that the condo was the Keppel harbour and there were drilling ships etc. One of these rigs managed to bring down one of the cable cars. Luckily no one died in the accident but since children were involved in the accident, they started building the cable car higher and the big rigs weren’t allowed in the water. And of course the development of the area into a premium residential area happened. Amazing so much history is covered by all the glitz and commercialism of what the Sentosa Island has now come to be.

One of the main incentives to get off my arse and explore was the resurgence of my old sporty self. The entire boardwalk from behind the condo to Labrador park reserve is so scenic. Albeit crowded with chopsticks armed snackers along the way. It’s beautiful in the night though, past the mangroves. And then there’s Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah hills and Kent ridge. Lovely quiet, wooded area, with great walking/ jogging trails. Plus I always lose my way there and have to find a new way home every time. Makes me feel intrepid! Of course that could be due to my own lousy sense of direction! And it is so easy to take safety for granted here in Singapore. Can’t beat that feeling. The tennis and swimming lessons gave a lot more than just a workout – learning something new or unlearning bad techniques is not to be easily scoffed at. Utilizing the brain for something I actually enjoy had more therapeutic advantages than the other stuff I had been trying.

After the frustration of the malls with same expensive shops and uninteresting branded things and lack of choice, glad to have discovered the small stalls at Golden mile complex at least for sports and camping equipment. Yes I’m aware none of these are great discoveries, but considering how disillusioned I was with Singapore last year, I’m enjoying this phase. I’m sure there are more such areas in the city. This was helped by meeting some normal down to earth people during my kayaking trip. More on that in the travelogue. That trip was one of the best things this year.

What cheers me up every morning is the breakfast show on Gold FM. The DJs are hilarious. Reminds me of the silly PJs and similar sense of humour which feels like home and brings a sense of comfort – like the sort you get with old friends, lightly ribbing each other and not the polite inane chatter you find most people doing these days. Like the sycophancy and fakeness on facebook. Arghhh!

Making new acquaintances on the bus journeys. Other members of the rare breed whose eyes are not glued to smartphones and gadgets.

And I’m so glad to rediscover my old friends – books!! I have not tried it but can't get over the distaste of ebooks. The National Library is a treasure trove. I finally became a member. See the typical lack of courteousness by the local visitors who chatter and are STILL glued to their miserable smartphones, loud noisy kids who need to be swatted - but they fail in their attempts to dampen my glee and I curb my urge to twirl and dance at the sight of so many books. I discovered a comic book by the writer of Asterix, never heard of it before – about the Vizier Iznogoud. Must search for some more in this series. And then Mark Twain’s “Story of Adam & Eve” are a couple of the gems I’ve found so far. Was recently loaned “84 Charing Cross” which carries all the charm of what “A love Story” was supposed to offer – but with little lines interspersed that only an avid reader can relate to. Like the stuff about a note scribbled in a second hand book adds to its value, since you get to speculate on who must have owned it earlier, etc. And how a second hand book falls open to a specific page in the book showing what the previous reader re-read a few times. Interesting observations! “ Born To Run” was a fabulous read – inspiring and transporting.

The kallang leisure club – and all the activities once can participate in. The couple of sessions I attended with the Writer’s group from meetup.com and the writing exercises reignited a creative process. I could feel the seedlings of creativity germinate again through the manure mush I thought my left brain had become! So much so that I still think I can learn to draw and paint…the blank sketchbook flummoxes me but does not intimidate me! Oh and the burning impulse of cooking and trying out new recipes is back. How I missed that!! Tried Giada’s Pea Pesto, organized my first Bbq, tried Nigella’s Peanut butter hummus (hmmm that needed more effort) – haven’t made any progress on making Asian food though.

The weather is something I can live with, I love seeing rains which have some “meat” to them – as in thunder and lightening – for some reason there is no smell of fresh earth like in India though. But no yucky slush to avoid after the rains is a blessing too!

All in all, an eventful rollercoaster of a year! I guess every year genuinely is.

Getting used to Singapore

Took me a long time to get back here!

It’s been over 8 months here in Singapore. Sometimes I wonder why I ever left London, still get the pangs when I think of it. The crisp cold air, the pet dogs, the traditions and heritage, the parks, the cute gardens people maintain (I wasn’t one of them!). I know it was just 4 years there but most of them were spent really trying to understand and explore the place so it carries that much more attachment.

I’m guilty of not having done that so far in Singapore. But I hope that would change soon, starting yesterday! After watching a delightful movie, Cars2; I took the long way around, up Fort Canning park with a lovely canopy of grand old trees, then down past Clarke Quay and the esplanade park ending up at Raffles Hotel for …you guessed it…Singapore slings! One of the rare days where the weather has inspired me to remain outdoors. The slings by the way are slightly too sweet, but well at least it’s one item ticked off the checklist! The nice long girly conversation over the slings was a great way to spend the evening!

I remember another place I liked in Singapore – the MacRitchie Reservoir. Again it was good weather when I went so it’s a nice walk along the waterside. Maybe when I build up my stamina Ill go back for a nice healthy run.
I’m also developing a slow appreciation of the sheer variety of asian cuisines in food courts. I guess travelling to those locations also helps! E.g. I like the Pho’ now – light and healthy. The one I had in Hoi An was much better, of course. That reminds me – the sheer proximity and ease of travelling to neighbouring countries is just so useful! Yup London was much loved for the same reason!

I should feel proud – staying in a luxurious condominium, which can boast not just 1 50 m pool but 2 other 25m pools, a gym, a Jacuzzi, a scenic walk along the marina, and a spacious apartment – I finally have a spare room to dump all my crap! It’s about time to be living comfortably. For who knows how long…depending on how well I do at work!

I got used to the idiot proofing in the UK. Buying an ingredient at the supermarket was easier because it came with an instruction on how to use it! But after a hiatus of 6 months, my cooking instincts are slowly kicking back in! Am no where close to trying the local recipes yet, but who knows, maybe I’ll get there!

Getting home to Mom n Dad should be easier but just haven’t done it so far. Been using up my free time to travel around –short weekend breaks! And those have been so great. Details in another post!

That reminds me – I didn’t do my travelogue for 2010. It was eventful – Mom had finally come to stay with me, so we took my damaged back and her busted ankle off to traipse around Belfast, Bushmills and Londonderry in Northern Ireland for a week. Lovely warm people, beautiful scenery, good food! The Giant’s Causeway was quite fascinating – I wonder how nature could have produced such symmetric blocks! Derry was less idyllic-too many scars; but they’re trying to hard to move on. Another good memory from the trip was the complete giggling fit mom and I had over some stupid toilet brush joke. Between our wheezing coughs and the uncontrollable giggles, it leaves me with a smile every time I think about it! Another time we managed to catch a play at Stratford Upon Avon and luckily Shakespeare’s b’day celebration parade. That was the highlight, because the play was a yawwnnnnn! Took her to Bath as well, easy sightseeing in the open top bus. An unconventional destination of holiday to Jersey later in the year turned out great – cycling, seafood and yea I finally made it to the Gerald Durrell Conservation Park! Lovely island, so tempted to take a non-ambitious job role there and live!
Another item off the London checklist was catching bit of the Wimbledon action, so glad I did that, little knowing Id be leaving end of the year! Leaving London came with its pluses – I took long walks taking photos, visited so many new places and old favourites, buying souvenirs. I promised I would be back to live sometime – I hope I can keep that promise.

Adulthood is complicated....

We all say that it was all so simple when we were children. Was it? Really? I’m sure we had our challenges then. Trying to walk, learning to aim food correctly into our mouths, giving the answer to “what is your name?” to every adult guest. I wish I could recapture that actual feeling of learning something new everyday. Is it that as we grow older we stop learning new things? Or do we just stop noticing them? Or are the new things not interesting enough to even register that we learnt them?! Every day is a new day, new things happen to us everyday – how come it’s just not enough? Very few of us actually are content with where we are, what we are doing and most importantly who we are.

Or just maybe, it’s the problem of too much choice. The consciousness that every single thing we do or say has an impact – small or large. Now I know the limits I imagine upon myself are self imposed. It’s my choice to stay within them or test them. I somehow can’t see myself testing them ALL the time! If that were so, I’d live in a tent in the park one night, ride a horse in Mongolia another day, sing in a rock band the third, spend the fourth en route to Jupiter…you know where this is going. It’s not just my limits now is it?!

I have the choice to live alone, I have the choice to not work where I do, I have the choice to take care of my family, I have the choice to trust somebody, I have the choice to make friends, I choose to cross the road at that particular junction…it goes on and on and on. It’s bloody overwhelming! It’s not as if you are making a choice about important things, its every teensy weensy thing. Yes most of it becomes a routine, so I don’t consciously make a choice anymore. But WHY? Who decided that life should be about growing up, working having a family and then dying? To what end? I’m doing some of this list of things ‘to do’ and I don’t have the remotest feeling that “yes, this is why I am here” or “I’m fulfilling a purpose”. In fact, quite the contrary. Whole purpose of the bloomin’ blogpost!

So what is all this leading to? Afterlife? And all this again? I’m sure as a cockroach or as a chimpanzee I would have similar issues to deal with, no matter what life form I come back as. Finally it’s just me. I’m probably over-thinking this….but AM I? If I am put here to fulfil some purpose would it be simpler to tell me so I can set about doing it already?? Oh no, this may be a test. I’m supposed to embark on a journey in self discovery. Bah! Somehow I don’t think sitting under a tree to figure this all out would really do it.

I know each person is different and thinks differently. Isn’t that strange? If you take a few steps back and ponder - we are all talking to each other without either of us even on one occasion understanding what the other is really saying in exactly the same context. Because everyone’s frame of reference is dependent on THEM! What an exercise in futility! So basically everything you thought had happened really happened differently in someone else’s mind. WOW! So no one has a clue? We are all running in parallel universes without even realizing it! The mind boggles! It would be fun if we could actually figure out how to intersect these parallel universes every once in a while!

So…in the end? It’s still you making all the choices and the decisions that finally affect guess who? Yes, only YOU! This is all nuts. It can’t be all about the journey! Or can it?

The Long overdue 2009 travelog

It’s 6 months into 2010 and now I’m racking my brain to recall my travel in 2009. I spent my 30th birthday in Hyderabad in April with my folks and grandma and relatives. Looks like I’ll be ushering all my birthdays in peacefully. Gone are the wild parties and endless orgies. Sighhh!
There were weekend trips to Wales and Lake District. Too much hassle getting visas processed to go anywhere else! Lake District serves the best lamb shank. I believe I had it everyday! Both places have similar countrysides – sprawling farms dotted with sheep. Wales had lovely seaside scenery while Lake District had…yup you guessed it…lakes! Going to such places always makes you reflect on why you’re living in a tiny apartment going through monotonies of city life year after year. Couldn’t I have just one stupid skill which I could utilize to make me some money to live by and then I could actually go and set up my little café. The charming little café which closes for season breaks so that the owner can go travelling and collect little artefacts from all the interesting places and sells them.

The menu would look something like this:
- South Indian crepes (dosas), with a choice of fillings – spinach and ricotta cheese, spicy lentils, sweet potato, mashed chilli potato, mozzarella cheese and peppers, ham, mushroom and cheese, white cabbage with toasted chopped peanuts. (Sree, you can add your ideas as well!!)
- In season grilled asparagus wrapped in parma ham with shavings of parmesan cheese
- Idlis delicately flavoured with ginger and dotted with mustard seeds and curry leaves served with coconut chutney.
- Potato and pea cakes (veg tikkis) served with watercress salad and dressing
- Roasted chicken wings marinated with lemongrass and bird chilli
- Mixed leaf salad with mango chutney and avocado.
- Wild rice sautéed with pine nuts and sundried tomato chilli paste served with carrot raita.

Slurrrrp, drooool! I’m getting carried away with food as usual! Back to travelog.
Now where was I? Well besides that was a day trip to Dover to see the White limestone cliffs and a faint glimpse of Calais across the distance and another lazy stay a bizarrely decorated BnB with a real fireplace.
Yes finally the long overdue, over planned and under prepared trip to Greece happened with the girls in Sept-Oct. After fights and huffs and shows of cool independence we reached Athens. So much history in every corner, don’t understand how people who visited there previously told us we could not spend more than 2 days. We spent 4 – at least KD and I did and moved on to Olympia on a very long winded bus journey. B & P managed to spend more time in Athens and saw some nearby islands. Olympia is a lovely town and we were lucky to stay at a very hospitable Best Western. Saw the ancient site on a quiet evening, a Bugatti convention and a friendly taxi tour for the day. We returned to Athens by an express bus this time driven by a most cranky driver who didn’t allow anyone to eat, drink, bring luggage put feet up in the bus. Well it was clean at least. We headed on to Mykonos the party island and landed up in a hotel which had gauze for curtains and was run by Punjabis from Jallandar! It had incongruously placed translucent blue rocks around the premises and salty sea water in the pool. I never got to hire my scooter but we had a wild time navigating our way in a car driven by P. (Schumacher)! I got to finally swim in the gorgeous Aegean Sea – cold though it was – a liberating experience, in more ways than one! Santorini came next and by any logic it should feature in anyone’s trip to Greece. We stayed in Oia and could not get enough of the spectacular volcanic crater landscapes. B, P & I did a long hike across the length to the town center and luckily managed to also see the Red beach. The dramatic black and red rockface against the brilliant blue green sea is one of the sights that would stay imprinted. The day cruise to the volcanic centre was a new experience. I don’t think any of the pictures I took did the sight justice. It was a wonderful 2 weeks after all. I think we all had different expectations which probably we couldn’t communicate to each other properly, but I guess we each left with so many great memories of time spent, myriad sights seen, reflections on history and culture and people and tastes.
Well that’s about it for now folks.

Found it...oh no...lost it again...

So many thoughts whirling around my mind all day, yet when it comes putting some of them down, I’m drawing a complete blank. How do people tweet or constantly update their status on facebook? And why?? Are we so starved of attention that we want everyone to know what we’re doing or thinking? Or is it that we feel compelled to be just heard all the time whenever we can?

Maybe it’s true, so many ways to be connected now that we hardly have the time to connect anymore. And I’m not just talking about connected with other people. I’ve recently started attending yoga classes at my gym. I’ve attended 3 in the last week. In each I realized how difficult it is to tap into my inner self. What the heck is my inner self? How do I recognize it if I tap into it? I concentrate so hard trying to focus that I wind up with all my facial muscles all scrunched up by the end of the session. Is it so difficult to be true to myself? Or maybe we just build up that whole self actualization thing out of proportion and its right under our noses all the time!

I’ve hit 30. And a month. On my birthday, while I ushered it in very uneventfully and quietly, I did feel a slight thrill of liberation. I’m writing it here so that every time I get plagued with insecurities I can recall that feeling. That feeling of having moved beyond the past. That feeling of not having to prove myself along the lines that I had thought I had to. I was already the individual I was meant to be. I didn’t have to define it for anybody. I could certainly improve upon it…a lot… but yeah I was there. It’s a good feeling. Maybe that’s the eureka moment I’m looking for during yoga workouts.

remembering

Just finished watching “Ghajini”. The intensity Aamit Khan brings into each of his roles gets to me every time.

I enjoy reading the Metro and the London Paper in the tube. Especially the articles where people get to comment or rather “express their views”. I’m rather impressed with the human capacity to crib. No, I’m not excluding myself from this category…unfortunately having a lifetime membership. In another 10-20 years, I aspire to be a constant on the show Grumpy Old Women, if it’s still on air. In a month or so, I could audition for Grumpy Middle Aged Women for sure!
Very rarely do I summon up my good friend’s philosophies of remembering special moments of the day, which brought happiness, or amusement. The other day however I was having one of those nostalgic phases. Maybe it was because I had booked my tickets for a holiday to go home and visit the folks. Or maybe it was reading Madhur Jaffrey’s book about her childhood that raked up those memories.
I remember vividly the scent and sight of sweetpeas growing up on the bamboo stick supports alongside our driveway. Spring in North India used to bring hoopoes, myenas, bulbuls and sparrows in the garden. Orange bar cartons in the freezer, the tiffin sharing/swapping during recess in school, ma always being there to welcome me back home after an exam, wrestling and playing with Cherie, our family holidays in the Himalayas and the lush greenery, the smell of wet mud while watering the lawn, the lazy winter mornings spent in the sunshine, rain storms and feeling the warm drops of the season’s first shower, the sound of sabziwalas and other vendors throughout the day, the sheer pleasure of stepping into an air-conditioned room after a hot dusty trip outdoors. Yep, life’s simple routine pleasures.
It may be a good idea to recall some good moments from within the last decade before Im too old and grey to!