mixed bag...

Yesterday was quite a mixed bag of experiences and thoughts…gotto spend sometime in the kitchen cooking and I enjoyed that thoroughly! After a sumptuous lunch, I headed to catch up with a couple of friends. Met Sunita @ Barrista over coffee and OZ Open final…she needed the change to feel better…hope her mum gets well soon and test results for the scary diseases come out negative…whoever is reading this, pray for her…on my way to the coffee shop, had an interesting experience…I got into the local bus and was looking for a seat…managed to get one and sat there. At the next stop, a lady boarded the bus, and there was something very unpleasantly peculiar about her appearance…she had these weird and ugly boils all over her face… that I hadn’t seen before…but I instantly fell in love with her smile! She took a seat near me and we started a conversation. She turned out to be a pretty interesting person…educated, intelligent, working in LIC, happily married for 27 years with two kids were some of the things I came to know about her in our conversation…though I didn’t intent to eavesdrop but she had one of the sweetest and most romantic conversations I ever came across with her husband :) For a moment I felt so small and low remembering the last thought I had while getting ready…I had just glanced at the mirror before leaving for the coffee shop and brooded over the mark a pimple had left over my face…and here I was sitting with this lady whose face was nothing but ugly (that’s the crudest but most truthful way to describe her appearance...) who was so happy and content in her life…lesson learnt! :)


I said a goodbye to this lady when she got down and kept thinking…finally met Sunita at the coffee shop…where we talked about her mum’s illness, about writing as a hobby, about thoughts and ideas coming and evaporating before we think of using ‘em…but more than everything else, it was Fred-Nadal match!! Its’ a pleasure to watch these two guys play!!! Though I am a die hard Fed fan and so much wanted him to win yesterday…but whenever you see these two guys play, its’ always the game that takes the precedence over “who’s gonna win”! As always, great game between two of the best tennis players! Feddy breaking down in the presentation ceremony is going to be one of the most sentimental moments in the history of this game…nothing more than the love for the game, he lost his cool and broke down admitting how sad he felt on losing the game…! But then the best man won! Nadal deserved it, he fought for it and achieved it! With the game still on my mind, I met one of my old friends in graduation after a long time! With my stay in Chennai about to come to an end, I’ll remember this city giving me enough chances to catch up with some old pals…


I reach home and catch up with one of my all time fav Jab we met…I can watch that movie any number of times…(will write another post on my all time favs! :) )After I got tired of zapping channels, and reading through each and every word of the news paper…thought to go online and chat with some of my friends…but for some reason I didn’t get into the mood of hanging around for long on the messenger…saw the watch and it was only 23:30!! Tried getting back to my book…but naah, this time the idea was not inviting…so there I lay in bed thinking, where my thoughts wandering in all possible directions! It amuses me at times on the extent to which our brain can think and thought-hopping it can pursue! My thoughts yesterday night included topics all over the place…going back to Mumbai, terrorist attacks on Mumbaià people who lost their dear ones in those attacks-->Moshe, the Jewish baby-->history of Jews-->my limited knowledge on Israel-Palestine conflict-->Israel’s attacks on Gaza strip-->Hitler-->his hatred for Jews-->Mein Kamph-->recent article on the popularity of the book in India that mentioned a statement by Bal Thackrey before the ’92 riots where he stated “Replace Jews by Muslims in Mein Kamph and that’s what I feel about them”-->the fundamentalists--> Raj Thackrey and his illogical idiotic fanaticism on the Marathi manoos-->me going back to Mumbai-->starting from scratch there-->looking for a project-->the sky rocketing rents in the city-->gotten completely tired of packing bags and moving around alone-->idea of settling down-->(call from a friend-->call to another friend wishing him on his Birthday…a BIG and HEARTY laugh when he tells me the story of bags and mobile phones getting stolen on his trip to Simla with his friends. The hearty laugh went on and on after he told me about the status of the hunt-for-the-thief. As per the police officials, they have got hold of “one shoe” of the thief that he left behind during the chase and got his name-address details through the PAN CARD that he had left behind!!! Some food for thought---Indian thieves paying taxes! What more can a country ask for!!! LOL)-->(back to my chain of thoughts)--> excitement of shopping stuff for the new place-->renovation that needs to be done to my home in Dewas -->missing mum n’ dad-->childhood memories-->fun with cousins-->my cousin Vipula in Mumbai-->her sudden call the day before saying she remembered me:) followed by a call from another cousin Mita -->realizing how unexpected things as these make you feel good-->instances when Imade mistakes expecting something, wanting something and it not happening-->feeling tired and checking the time-->getting surprised when I see its’ 3 in the morning! And finally drifted to sleep just to get up in the morning for a new day!

My Chennai stay: The flip side

After reading my previous posts on Chennai, I was told by friends that the content was good enough to scare people off from this place! I never intended that though! So I thought to write something on the flip side of my stay in Chennai and when I think about it, it hasn’t been that bad either! I got another chance to visit and “live” in a new place where I didn’t know anyone, didn’t know the language, the culture…so just added up another bunch of experiences in my kitty! Some of the experiences were hard enough where in I had to struggle to find an accommodation or for something as trivial as hiring an autorickshaw that was never achieved without a fight!

But then as I said earlier, everything has “the other side”… in the day to day struggle of my stay in Chennai, I did come across people who were sweet enough to help me out…be it a shopkeeper to suggest me to take a local train rather than getting into an ordeal with the rickshaw driver, or a rickshaw driver to help me out look for PGs around the place. All these years, whatever places I have visited and lived on my own, I realized something…wherever you go, you’ll always find genuine people to help you out…that there are certain characteristics that go beyond the confines of country, state, region, culture, and language…I still remember one of the experiences had with an autouwala in Chennai…the trend here is to bargain a lot with the autowala to decide on a fair deal (I mentioned in my previous post that the meters here mere showpieces). To avoid the frustration of the arguments; I always prefer to travel in the local buses against an auto. But one of the days, I had to reach somewhere urgently so was not left with a choice but to take an auto ride. Gotten used to the trend, I stopped an auto and asked him how much is he going to charge for the ride…what followed was a pleasant surprise! The auto driver in his late fifties replied back, “Madam, its’ sad to see educated people like you ask this question…my auto has a meter and I’ll charge whatever comes in the meter.” I was zapped for a moment; then I just smiled and got in the rick. On the way, I told him about the trend followed by the autowallas in Chennai that doesn’t leave us with an option but to bargain. He just smiled and replied, “Someone has to start…” The experience did teach me lessons, lesson “to start” wherever possible, and the realization that there are good people everywhere.

All n’ all, my stay in Chennai has been a bunch of learning experiences and fond memories…I made some good friends, gotta chance to catch up with my uncle-aunty and friends…was able to frequent my Bro’s place in B’lore so often…visited home more frequently than I did while in US…tried my hands on learning Tamil (I learnt only the slangs though!), gave my pubbing, clubbing and partying a break for sometime (have been in the “good gal” mode for the last few months! ;)) , walks on the beach (though alone:( ) were something I throughly enjoyed and last but not the least, my quota of reading increased with the ample time I had on my hands here! Interpreter of Maladies, Inheritence of Loss, Lajja, Curfewed Night, Reading Lolita in Tehran, Shantaram (that was a re-read for me) , God of small things, Unaccustomed Earth were long time due! Thanks to my Chennai stay, I finished up with these and few others :) My stay in Chennai is going to end pretty soon and I am happy I have fond memories of the past five months to treasure…

Sunday alone in Chennai...not a very good idea!

After spending the whole of Saturday in the office, I was looking forward for a nice Sunday…and then the question popped…Anyone around?!? The answer was pretty much anticipated…”NO”! I haven’t spent many weekends in Chennai…mostly I am in B’lore @ bhai’s place or else Sheenu was here…this Sunday, for a change, neither was I in B’lore nor was Sheenu around…Forget about finding a soul in Chennai with whom I could have enjoyed DOSTANA (all my friends are watching it and calling me!!!), I couldn’t think of anyone around with whom I can just sit around over a coffee and have a nice conversation!! Miss my starbucks’ days!!
Then I thought of hanging around in the market to get something for Chunnu’s wedding…but didn’t find anything good other than Kanjivaram Sarees!! Don’t be surprised if you see me in my denims in Chunnu’s wedding!! :D finally I was so @#$%#%*$#%*# that I decided to do something that won’t fail in any case, and so I just went to a bookshop and spent my Sunday there…this was one of the wisest things I did yesterday! The next wise thing was buying a couple of books…nothing could have made me feel better…! I came back to my room after spending almost 3-4 hours in the book store just to see my roomie watching some Tamil movie with a volume that was good enough to be heard by our neighbors!! I really don’t mind that…neither do I have any presumptions about it, but just that its’ going overboard these days…or maybe I am on the verge of losing my patience…haven’t reached the final stage though….!! After reading for some more time, I tried my phonebook…conversations over the phone are not that bad either…but ALAS!! All possible scenarios came up which prevented this from happening…either people were not reachable, or there was no reply, or they were busy with some family function, or they were busy watching movies, or sleeping in US!! I cannot blame them for any of these things…at the end of the day, the only thing that came to my mind was Atul’s post when he was trying to figure out someone from his huge group of friends to spend a weekend with…mine was a similar case yesterday…maybe a bit worse than that…unlike Atul, I do not remember how many people I have on my friend’s list on ORKUT, but I do remember that’s a decent number…but most of them are more of my acquaintances than friends…(if not, they would have turned into acquaintances by now…c’mon! its’ been ages I have logged into ORKUT!!) Also, I have a pretty limited number of people I usually speak on the phone these days…which made the chances of me getting engaged on the phone still meager…I was kinda frustrated yesterday (which I seldom am)…was wondering about it when my friend said,” you need to be frustrated at times…else you get habitual to things that frustrate you…” all I did after hearing that was “smile”….there was another reason for me to smile…after a LONG time I behaved like normal person and got frustrated of being alone…!

My Lunch today...

Highlights of my lunch today in Chennai office canteen:

A North Indian thali with specialities as: DAWA PARATA and BENDI MASALA!!

Can you beat that!? To top it all the “BENDIs” cooked in water!

Everything else is manageable….but I am missing my kitchen and cooking routine…immensely L Waiting to get to a place I can set up my kitchen and start cooking again!

Ri2 reaches Chennai!!

before you guys start reading, lemme tell you that I had written this post LONG LONG back but got a chance only today to put it on the blog! :)

Life has been on a roller coaster ride…I know its’ been a long long time I have put anything on the blog…really sorry to all my readers not that I was not writing stuff, but nothing worth putting on the blog…
Something or the other has been happening around…good or bad, I dunno, but for a reason for sure! I am still pondering over the reasons though…I came back to India a month back…not to my home, not to Mumbai…but to Chennai!! Packing my bags from USA and coming back happened pretty suddenly…most of my friends may still be unaware of this event! J coming back to India always feels good, but I was sad too…for leaving US, for leaving my home out there…this is one aspect I strongly dislike about my job…you are on a constant move! You go to a place, get a house, try turning it to a home and then its’ time for you to leave…its’ doesn’t let you get attached…as for me, it has just turned out in making me all the more detached…this one was just one of the few events that have happened in the past that has turned me to a pretty detached person…from things, people, places…I guess that’s the best way to avoid getting hurt…I always say this after getting hurt because of an attachment…learning the lesson and repeating the same mistake again!! But that’s the way it happens with me…I learn the hard way! But then its’ only because of my job that I was able to see all these places, go somewhere outside my country, live there, know the people and culture. That’s the flip side and I love my job for that! :D
Being in Chennai has been an experience in itself...No offence meant, but its’ not the first choice of most of the people who belong to any place above AP to live in Chennai. I had my friends, colleagues telling me all sorts of scary stories about the place and cribbing about almost everything here!! For me, I am not the “cribbing” kind, it just doesn’t come to me…maybe that’s one of the reasons I stand here in life, because I could not crib about something or I could not just go ahead and demand something…. So back to the point, anything and everything is fine with Ritu! J As for Chennai, I am not able to call it bad…its’ just very different from the places I am used to. I am pretty sure the Chennai people would be feeling the same when they move out of Chennai to some other place. Its’ just a matter of habits and trends that you are used to…nothing more, nothing less. I am not sure whether to get surprised or shocked about me not feeling bad for living in a place that’s full of strangers and rather finding it nice to be among complete strangers!! I get scared of myself at times…but then I guess it was something that was much needed. Chennai is completely different in all respects: the place, people, food, language, everything. As for the difference, its’ pretty huge as compared to the places I have been before. From Mumbai to US, coming back to Chennai is a big event in itself!
To start with, the biggest barrier over here is the language! Believe me, if you know Tamil, it won’t be that bad a place…though supposedly, I am living in the better parts of the city . So I do have people replying back to me in English In the workplace too, you’ll find people mumbling in some language that sounds like a tongue twister! I am trying my hands on Tamil these days!! Not much, only kunchum kunchum! ;)
Then comes the weather, its’ not that bad right now, again supposedly, I am visiting Chennai in one the best seasons! As for the humidity and heat, I have experienced that in Mumbai too My loyal friends, my blisters have started visiting me more frequently now:-s
Next is the crowd…the crowd here is strictly absolutely traditional. You actually won’t get a feel of being in a Metro when you look at the crowd here. But then that’s the way it is. The “style” element is somewhat missing from the crowd; though it can be found scattered around, but the sight is very rare. The appearance is purely traditional and simplistic in nature. Tradition and Simplicity are a BIG YES for me, just that it seems to go overboard in this place. The parameter of a lady wearing saree, salwar kameez or a pair of jeans as a basis to judge how “modern” she is or how “independent” she is or how “educated” she is seems very unreasonable and somewhat moronish! No offense meant to any place or group of people, but come to think of a lady belonging to the so called “high elite class” living in a “posh” area of delhi who is capable of carrying a designer wear with loads of style but is not educated enough or independent enough to do a job on her own or travel in a state transport bus!! At the same time there’ll be a lady in Chennai wearing a simple cotton saree or salwar kameez who’s highly educated and independent enough to face the world. I always feel that there should be a balance in all the elements; despite of the place you belong to, your personality should have flavors of education, independence, confidence, tradition with a pinch of style, attitude and presentability. Thinking of a person to be better than the other based only on the “style” seems immature to me. I found the people over here very simple…simple to the core and I absolutely loved it! Maybe, they just need to capture a bit of style depending on the situation. At the end of day, its’ all about what’s in your mind and how open your thoughts are…even while I am writing this, I figure out how debatable this topic can be! J so lets close it here for now! ;)
Last but not the least, the food! For a foodie like me, its’ somewhat a pain area…I like South Indian cuisine, but I am having an overdose here…having spent a decent amount of time in USA gave me chance to try out different cuisines from different parts of the world and I absolutely loved the experience! Over here in Chennai, I do not have that many choices…or maybe I am not aware of the right places…so the IDLIs, DOSAs, VADAs, Rice are just getting onto me! I’ve had my share of funny experiences with the way food is ordered/ eaten here…!! I never knew the concept of “meals” till I ordered one; and there comes a big thali with a big heap of plain rice along with tamarind rice, lemon rice, curd rice and tomato rice on the sides!! Rasam, Sambhar and a veggie with the “oh-so-necessary-in-every-veggie” coconut were the accompaniments! For a person like me who’s not very fond of rice, that came as a major shock! My dislike for rice has nothing but grown after coming here! ;)
And apart from everything else, beware of the autowallas here!! They are a unique group!! Meters in autos exist as showpieces here. Meters are strictly “not-to-be-used” accessory for the auto. The fare from one place is the soul choice of the autowalla; and if your face and language is good enough to show that you are not from this place, you are in deep deep trouble. The fares coming up can be as high as 200 bucks for a distance close to 1.5KM!! I tried my hands on bargaining for this deal and to my absolute surprise I finally travelled that distance in 30 bucks!! Never knew I was so good in bargaining! ;)) though I am not really sure if those 30 bucks was more than the actual cost! J
Its’ close to one month for me in this place and I am just getting a feel of the place…its’ always better to gather some new experiences rather than crib about it! lets’ see what new comes up in Chennai in the days to come…