Gupshup, no greater joy ;)

Picture this:

Its 6:30 in the evening. I have wrapped up work for the day and familiar feeling of a day well spent in chasing people least interested in being chased kicks in. I have also just baked cookies for a friend who got married recently and dutifully sent her a picture of the cookies that i would bring for her the next day.

'I am coming, these look too good to wait till tomorrow' she replies. So there she is, her mehendi still visible and wedding ring glittering gobbling up one cookie after the other obviously making up for the months before her wedding she was on a strict diet.


She shares with me the million stories that only a new bride can have (including some absolutely hilarious ones). The two of us sit in the balcony and i wrap a throw around my shoulders to protect myself from the slight chill in the chair. She politely declines the offer of something to keep her warm.
The grey, serious Thames rumbles around us as the grey skies look on benignly. On the marble table top in front of us are two cups of hot ginger lemon tea (healthy), sprouts ( healthy) and freshly baked cookies (divine) that i have baked to mark her recent wedding.
And we laugh non stop at the stories she has. Family both hers and his. The new husband. The wedding ceremony itself. It is all hilarious. The conversation turns more serious then. We discuss emotions, conflicting ones. And the struggles, the difficult ones...

For her new husband i pack half a dozen cookies. Half a cookie finally reaches him. The rest, my friend eats on the way home.


And this:

Four of us girls meet up at a fancy restaurant in Central London. And get border line bored (which is very rare given that we are all nautanki lovers and share a common passion for all things Bollywood). The food is great and we hog. Chat a little bit, not much though...maybe because everyone is tired after a long day at work. Giggle. Pull each others legs. Time to go home.
And it is when we are at the Waterloo station about to get into different trains that it begins. As one leaves, the others cling to her. No, we cant let you go, we yelp and that is the start of madness. Suddenly we all have soo much to say. And then this. And that. And another round of mad laughter. Someone says she wants to do the whole ring-a-roses thingie and we need to remind her that we are in a station. Someone suddenly spots a devilishly handsome guy. Someone says something else. Suddenly everyone is saying something and no one is listening.

The usual us.

We stand at the station for close to half an hour jabbing incessantly about everything and nothing!

And this:
So this friend from work is getting married, bless her. Three of us decide to go out for a quick drink before we send her off to India for the ceremony. The 'quick' drink lasts close to 5 hours.
5 hours of non stop (and i really mean this when i say it), nonstop laughing-till-my-stomach-hurts waali laughs. I am taught abuses that i have never even heard before that scandalize and amaze and excite me in equal measure. (Later I come back home and proudly inform my husband that I now know mannnnyyy abuses. As i rattle them off, Sid can barely contains his snigger)

We give the soon to be bride the all important lessons for a happy married life, lessons that can only come from happily married women (eg: Don't cook for your husband. Don't listen to your mother-in-law. Ever).

We first order the main course. Then desert. And then starters. No one gets a 'drink'. As we order the starter after the dessert, the very high browed waiter gives us a look that for no reason sends us into fresh peals of uncontrolled laughter.


And then this:

I am surprised to see that the call lasted over 2 hours; certainly did not feel that way. As i end the call, I have the widest grin on my face and I think my friend does too :)



Love
RP

Brugge, Belgium

Day 2, Brugge, Belgium


The train from Brugge to Lille, France has just chugged off and I must take this time to put down the highlights of day 2.

Since I did my MBA in India, I can only express myself in bullet points, so here we go:

• Boy, did we walk! The cobbled streets which seem so romantic at first glance are so so difficult to walk on! Most parts of Brugge are cobbled and we walked pretty much non stop the whole day, so you can do the math while I rub my legs that are still smarting!

• It was sunny and the city seemed to come alive from the dead. There were people everywhere, dressed in their sunny bests, the duck came out, the musicians sang and the horses clippity clopped happily. The cafes around the main square were overflowing with people laughing and talking….it was a pretty sight

• We walked around the canals soaking in the sunshine and hoping that our bodies were happily churning out the much needed vitamin D ( It is so bleak and grey in London all the time, that most Londoners are deficient in Vitamin D!)

• Instead of doing the usual sit down meal surrounded by 200 pieces of cutlery, we decided to do a cheap take away. Greasy pizza and burger in tow, we had our lunch with trees around us and the canals in front of us. (Side note: it was the first time I actually saw a duck fly!)

• Sid even managed to stretch himself and caught a quick nap on the bench

• A little later, as we walked further, I came across a little river with a cluster of trees beside it. It was so pretty that it seemed like it was a picture in a book. It was fairly deserted, with a boy and agirl in one corner…err…doing their thing. Sid and I steered clear of them giving them the privacy that they did not seem to need and sat down to take in the beauty….It was absolutely heavenly

• I bought, as usual, a hand made painting from a local artist –this time depicting the canals of Brugge

• We resumed our walk a little later and chanced upon a flea market which sold really weird stuff (including Pantene shampoo- why would anyone sell that in a flea market is beyond me!)

• By now we were both very tired and had been walking in the sun for over 6 hours. Exhausted, we headed to our hotel.

• We came out again for dinner (a proper sit down meal in a fancy Italian restaurant that had multiple vegetarian options for me to choose from) and had decided to head back but then again, the pretty little city was screaming out asking us to walk so we started off again..

• The city was even more gorgeous in the night, with the warm glow from lamps lighting the cobbled streets, the canals reflecting the light from the buildings around them and the gentle coolness of the air….i think we walked for over two hours again… and let me rub my feet again!

• There is this portion of the city overlooking the canals (I did not catch the name) that has a HUGE weeping willow tree drooping its melancholy sadness into the still, clean waters. There was something so mesmerising about it particularly in the nights when the buildings around it were reflected dot for dot in the waters….

Today, we spent some more time exploring the city, walking our favourite paths before getting on this train that will take us to Lille for some office work.

Over all, Brugge is more like Amsterdam than Venice. It also reminded me a lot of Prague and Salzbourg. Its quaint, its pretty….there are not many touristy things to do (for that please head to Rome, Paris and London) but it is the right choice for a quick, relaxing get away from the madness of London.

And finally, for the first time in the eight year history of this blog I have finished a travelogue! *victory dance*

Love

RP

PS: Please do not reproduce the pictures without permission.

Breakfast in London, lunch in France and dinner in Belgium!

This year, so far, I have only travelled to the Canary Islands in Spain. We went there for my 16th birthday.  Okay i turned 16 many years ago...lets just say I am a twenty something who does not like to share her actual age!

We have travelled less this year mainly because of two reasons.

First it has been very very cold in this part of the world and second, Sid has  been extremely busy with work for the last couple of months.

Anyway, coming to today. We are finally travelling again and  I am sitting snug in my room in Hotel Navarra ( good, but not great- more on that later sometime), Brugge, Belgium as i type this.

Highlights of the day so far:

• The most interesting thing about today was that we had all three meals in different countries. Breakfast in London, lunch in France and dinner in Brugge, Belgium.
• Today has been a looong day. Got up at 6 in the morning because we had not even started packing. The cab came at 8:20 and we were downstairs before that. In the meanwhile, we had not only done our packing, taken baths and gotten ourselves ready, we had also managed to do dishes, clean the house, throw the garbage etc etc....
• First we took the Eurostar from St Pancras International station that took us to Lille in France. A quick break in France which included a nice lunch, then another train to the middle of no where and then another train to Brugge, our final destination.
• The Eurostar we boarded was headed towards Disneyland, Paris and a lot of our fellow passengers were families with excited kids.
• No one at Lille Station spoke English! It was so funny. We barely managed to get by with the limited French we can manage
• There was this very kind station manager at the Lille Station who actually took us all the way to the right platform because he could not quite explain to us the way!
• At first glance, Brugge is quiet, sleepy and pretty- exactly the kind of place we were looking for for the weekend
• We were both so tired by the time we reached the hotel (which by the way was built in the 16th century and is a historical monument) that we did not have the energy to venture out.
• Sid slept and i watched a movie.
• Later in the evening, we finally managed to go out for dinner, pretty much exactly when it started to rain again. Our luck!
• We walked to the square and discussed how Brugge reminded us of both Prague and Salzbourg.
• Sid had a three course, luxurious meal. I shared his desert and though i am hardly a person with a sweet tooth, i must say it was superlative!
• As we had dinner, i realised that it was after so long that both of us were having a relaxed meal together. Sid has been so busy of late that even meal times in London have been intercepted by phone calls/ emails!
• Dinner was also good because we discussed many things. Made sid laugh at some silly jokes and recounted bits from 'Dictator' a movie that Sid has also seen!
• On the way back, we wandered around the main market place...looked hard for a place that sold bottled water and whooped with joy when we managed to find one...
• Finally back in the room by 10:30 and with that the day ended...

I leave you with a picture I clicked before we sat down for dinner. Brugge, Belgium :)

Over and out! I need some precious sleep now!

Love
R

A piece of lego.

This guy who sits next to me at work can be really funny. A few days back he told me about this friend of his, a lady and her rather strange tale.


So for the longest time ever, this lady thought that she was deaf in one ear. At age 18 she went to a doctor to get that ear checked.
And can you even guess what happened at the doctor’s?
The doctor pulled out a piece of lego stuck inside her ear.
She vaguely recalled her brother putting something inside her ear when they were very little.

The lady, free from the piece of lego lodged neatly inside her ear for the longest time ever could hear perfectly then onwards.

This story really really cracked me up. No one else ( and I have repeated this to many people) has found it funny. I, however, cannot stop laughing even now. When I heard it first, I actually laughed till I cried. In office. No, I am not kidding.

I am not sure why I am putting it here…oh well…

My Polish Cleaner

So she comes to my house once a week for three hours. Sometimes she stays a little extra and sometimes i give her extra money  for no reason. She comes with a smile on her face, does her job and goes away.

Over time, we have begun to speak quite a lot and i find myself looking forward to her visits. Through broken English, I have managed to piece together some bits of her life and it is, i feel a remarkable tale.

So here, we go, the little i know about my cleaner (I will call her A).

She is 29 years old and speaks heavily accented English. She is also double my height and triple my weight ( and i don't mean this in a mean way...she is just that way). A comes from a small city in Southern Poland and has a bachelors degree. The degree however, is of little use, because she cannot speak English ffluently enough.

The youngest of three sisters, by the time she was 15, she had lost both her parents to heart attacks. It was while hoovering my living room that A recounted the horrifying tale of how being trained in first aid, she tried to revive her dying father on the stairs in her ancestral house.

'My mother died in her sleep' she says with a sad smile ' so it was better...'

Her eldest sister married some one in England, and brought her two sisters to live with them. Unable to find work, A began to clean. Along the way she made two friends. A girl she met through some friends and another man (R)she became friends with through some other acquaintances.

Soon, she began to date the man. One day she she tagged the pictures of her boyfriend on facebook. Her friend called her immediately.
'How do you know that guy?' the friend asked.
'He is my boyfriend' A said ' do you know him as well?'
'Yes'
'How?'
'He is my brother!'

That happy co incidence out of the way, A and R began a life together in London.

'So' i asked her the other day ' how long have you known R for now?'
'5 years, Madam' she said laughing.
'why don't you marry R' I ask gently teasing.
She laughed again and shook her head.
'No? why not?' i asked curious.
'I don't trust him'
I did a double take.
'Why?'
'Because he cheated on me'

 The ups and downs in their relationship continued and it was while they were on a break (and in a very Ross- Rachel' way) R slept with A's friend. 'A' found out about it once they were back together...Apologies followed, another break up happened but A decided, in the end and much like Rachel, to take him back.

Yesterday we were talking about kids, about R's 15 year old daughter from a previous marriage.
'Does not your R tell you that he wants to have more kids?'
She giggled as she neatly folded the clothes.
'Oh yes, he does...but the doctor said that i cant have kids for another 3 years'
I sit up straight. I don't want to ask further but still i do.
'Is everything okay?'
She laughs again.
'Oh yes, now it is...but i had cancer last year'

I gulp. Again i don't want to know but i know that i will ask.

'Which cancer was it?'

After much explanation, i figure out that she was diagnosed with cervical cancer two years back and is in remission now.

'It was not that bad...you know...my best friend had some other cancer the same time...so i had someone...'
I shake my head.

She looks at me, probably taking in my shocked face.
'No, really, it was not that bad...I just told my family to tell me what i  needed to do and simply did as told. I did not even ask them about what would happen...Every three months i go for a check up and so far it is all okay...'
I stare at her as she speaks in the middle of nervous bouts of laughter.

'No really...' she says again and again more to herself than to me ' it was not that bad'

And then she goes on to tell me about last week when she locked herself out in the balcony. She waited there, in the cold for 4 hours, unable to come back in, till the landlady came back from office. We are both in splits by the time she finishes her little story.

'I hope my 30s are better' she says laughing, referring to being out in the cold for 4 hours.
'I hope they are' i say thinking about her parents and health.

Dance

I wear many hats, often more than i can easily manage on my little head.

Most of the time, i spread myself too thin with my hands in many and varied projects. That is really odd because for the longest time ever, my life was only about one thing. Academics.

Anyway, so one of the many things I am dabbling in at the moment is dance. I have always had a love hate relationship with it and it is only recently that i have really begun to enjoy it. Twice each week, we get together in a dance studio situated in what can best be described as a quirky part of London and dance our stress away. There are 15-20 students in my class, mostly working professionals from different parts of the world and the country with one thing in common- love for bollywood and dance!

This Sunday I performed on stage for the first time in like 200 years. It was just a 3 minute performance for which we had spent weeks practising- but in the end it was so worth it.

The noise, the lights, the cheering, the butterflies in my stomach, the 'i think i have forgotten all the steps' looks exchanged with the group as we waited for our turn, the anticipation of it all and the fact that no one (read NO ONE) goofed up!

There is, indeed,  something extremely special about being part of a bigger group where the 'we' means more than the 'I'. We performed to 'Pandey Ji' and I don't think i will ever be able to listen to that song again without my shoulders moving involuntarily :-)

While i anticipated many benefits of dancing ( my body is more toned, I definitely feel that my stamina has increased, I feel extremely good after the hour long work out etc etc) there is another angle that i had never anticipated.

Friends.

Enough said :)


Leaving you with some pictures from the last class of the term.

Listening to final instructions from our instructor.

Pandey jee, thomp thomp! :-)

Love
R

Awadh Samman 2012

On the 1st of November, 2012, I was awarded the Awadh Samman. I have postponed blogging about it for forever now and it is indeed time to change that!:)

As they say, better late than never.

Allow me to begin from the beginning.
It all happened really fast, to be honest. One fine day, I was asked to email to the news channel all the newspaper cuttings, best seller links, interviews I had for TIB and a few days later was politely informed that Zee News Uttar Pradesh and the UP Government would like to honour me with the 'Awadh Samman'.  Wiki link to the award: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awadh_Samman#Zee_News_Awadh_Samman_Awardees_for_2012

My Award, a HUGE trophy is the Awadh Samman, Young Achiever (Literature) award and they gave it to me for the success of my first book, the three gold medals during MBA and the ranks and scholarships during engineering college. The greatest focus, ofcourse was on TIB.

To say the least, I was shocked! For the longest time ever, it did not even sink in and it was in a daze that I hurriedly booked tickets to India to collect my award.

Zee News UP team was super fantastic all throughout. They actually came home and interviewed my mum, dad, brother, dadi! Here is a picture of my Dad, at my home, giving an interview on me. Allow me a moment- I feel so proud when i see this picture! There is  a similar one with my Mum giving her interview as well.

My husband travelled with me and my mother in law came in from Delhi to attend the function. The function itself was very elegant. They sent a senior member of their organization to pick up my family and me from home (as they did for other winners as well) and escorted us to the Taj hotel where the ceremony was to take place.

The room soon filled up with media, politicians, winners and prominent members of the city. It was then , as i adjusted my saree that I was told that the award ceremony would be telecast live on not one but two channels (one state and the other national).

I refused to panic then. Afterall, all i needed to do was to walk up and take my trophy and walk back down.

No.

As the ceremony started, I realised that i would have to give an acceptance speech as well! Yes, the event was being telecast live on not one but two channels and i was supposed to give an acceptance speech.  As people went up to the stage to receive their awards, I was amazed and humbled at the people I had been grouped with (including padmabhushans). Interestingly, it included Prof HC Verma whose books I had devoured while preparing for IIT-JEE.

I was given the award by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, and whatever his political ideologies might be, I took an instant like to him for his gentlemanly ways.

For those who wanted to know, my acceptance speech was tiny. I just thanked my family who had travelled across the country and the world to be with me. I thanked them for their support, for believeing in me for standing by me.... Without them, none of this would have happened. They are, like i said then, the wind beneath my wings.

I never thought i would write a book so soon. And even when i was writing it, it was all really song and dance for me. I would write and then laugh and then write some more. Never, in my wildest dreams did i think that i would be on TV one day, receiving an award and giving a speech!

For those interested, here is video clipping of yours truly getting the award.

Awadh Samman 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKzlR62j2XY

Thank you, once again, to every one who read TIB. I heart you.
;)