Magical

So I am now waiting. At a bus station. Only thing is that the bus station is on water and is swaying gently. The water bus should here soon to take us to the railway station. And off from Venice we shall be.

My thoughts on Venice? Well it is the most unique city I have ever set my eyes on. There is some thing so magical about this place that I have been swept off my feet. The last this happened was with the taj mahal.

So picture broad narrow roads. On either side are houses/ palaces from the 15-16th century. Most houses have a car park and a car. Now replace the road with the gently swelling blue green waters of the canal, the cars with beautiful gandolas or boats and the car parks with boat parks. Add quaint bridges every where. Add tinybeautiful restaurants with green canopies and a multitude of flowers. Add gorgeously dressed women. Add men with long hair. Add dogs better turned out than the women. Add those gorgeous colourful Venetian masks. Add charm, grace and immense beauty. And voila! You have Venice.

It's a flowing, swelling, ebbing city.

And yes we did take the gondola ride. We were taken through the narrow lanes of water in a beautiful black gondola as the sun set. Our gondolier, Alex, told us bits about the city and layer as the chatter died down broke into an Italian ballad. I don't know what it meant, he was not even singing too well but it just added to the atmosphere.

We had taken the water bus passes and hence explored the grand canal well into the nights. And how beautiful the warm yellow glow of the lights looked reflected in the waters of the canal.

The only sour bit about the city were some of the locals who were quite rude but then well maybe coming from London India where people are generally very polite, we probably had high standards when it came to the spoken word.:p

To all the people who have asked for pics , they will come once I am back in London.:)

Now off to Florence and then home to London. Bye bye magical Venice, you are beautiful.

Italy-first impressions

So I am sick.since I came to London in jan 2010 I have never been sick. So much like me to fall sick on the first day of our 10 day trip to Italy. Anyways

Gorgeous.that's the right word. I am down and out with fever and am coughing like an old woman but I am intrigued and amazed by the beauty of Rome.

Every turn you take in the older parts of the city and you come across something that atleast looks very historic and important. There are painters and musicians. Desi/Bangladeshi men selling silly toys you would consider outdated for our local melas, Italians ones playing musical instruments or singing. Artists sit on the side of the road and with a cigarette tucked between their lips spend hours painting.

The pebbled streets, the cafes, the food, the music , the art, the beauty...

It is a must visit for all the history enthusiasts!

I know what the critics say about Rome. It's dirty, unsafe and third world-ish. I agree. I crinkled up my very London nose as I surveyed the Rome metro. Sid added that Delhi metro has to be ten times better. We felt very superior but then there is the spirit of the city. The sheer beauty and history.

We had lunch at a cafe right opposite the pantheon today . Pony tailed men sang, pigeons strutted around, old aunties with dogs with red bows smoked cigarettes and drank wine. Life seemed so lazy and relaxed. That is probably what Rome is. Too beautiful to be bothered by harsh things, too steeped in history to be affected adversely by the modernity that surrounds it and too free spirited to be bound....that for me sums up the spirit of Rome.

Hi again! So I am sitting in the dlr on my way to the airport.we are off to Italy for the next 10 days! People tell me that it is very easy to fall in live with Italy..let's see how it goes!

It has been extremely busy and very stressful at work of late and j will be glad when this phase of work is done with...will post more stuff when I get back from Italy :)

Take care and love
R

Nice, France

Day 1

So we went to Nice last Friday for a quick 3 day break. And what a lovely trip that was.

We boarded an early morning (8:00 am ) flight from London to Nice and arrived in this lovely city by the Meditteranean Sea by 10:30 am their time.

Reached out hotel and after putting our stuff their set out for a tiny little town called Antibe. The plan was to do day trips and spend Sunday in Nice. And trust me, Nice is a lovely base for some excellent day trips.

The train/bus/tram system in Nice and around it is extremely cheap. One pound in London is useless,but you get a proper train ticket in one euro in Nice. Works well with me!

The Nice Railway Station:



Arrived in antibe half an hour later. And what a delightfull little town it turned out to be. We walked around quite a bit. The sparkling blue meditteranean Sea, the white yatchs, the bright Sun. Lovely!



Walked to the Pablo Picasso Museum. Looked at some of the paintings made by him andothers. It was here that Pablo spent some painting because he felt inspired by the beauty around him. Looking at the view around the museum. I was not surprised!

View from the Museum





Once we had trekked up the museum and spent an hour going through the paintings, we walked down to the Antibe beach. I spent 2-3 hours there. There were young people, some children some oldies relaxing on the beach. It was just such a spectacularly beautiful beach. Also, importantly it was one of the few sand beaches around.

Once done, we came back to the city and loitered around, looking at shops and walking through quiet lanes. It was a charming little place. Here are some random pictures:



Had something to eat and came back to Nice by 7 pm, quite exhausted. Took a shower and went out to hunt for food.

Nice is lovely by the night. There were many tourists and all the places were so well lit up and welcoming. We just walked around, tired and exhausted but loving the whole experience of exploring an unknown city.

Is not this spectacular?



We walked into the old city known for its charming alleys and lovely food stalls. Had dinner, explored some more and came back absolutely, totally exhausted.

Day 2: Later :)

The beautiful bride.

So I mailed a friend inviting her for my wedding last year. No she could not come but she said she had only one piece of advice. No matter what else happens, you HAVE to look absolutely gorgeous on your big day, she said!

Okay. Right. Ofcourse, I have to.

So far so good. I had chosen my lehenga with care, booked an appointment at the best saloon in the city. I was set to be the pretty bride.

Now I am okay looking. Sometimes when Sid is a little high he goes as far as to tell me that I the most gorgeously beautiful girl on the planet. Mommy says I have the loveliest eyes on the planet. Okay I can ignore Mommy. All mums think their child is good looking. I should also ignore Sid because he says such things only when he is happy high. Okay. Not good. See, I know I am decent looking, never mind if i dont get the compliments.

So that point clarified, let me move forward with my story.

On wedding day, when I was all done at the salon, and the salon ladies had gushed how absolutely gorgeous I was looking and the cleaning lady there said that i was the prettiest bride ever (and asked for a bakshish in the same breath) I was happy and content. Then came mommy. And she stared at me. And stared.

Then she cleared her throat delicately.

'Cant we loosen her hair a little bit?', she asked the parlour lady a tad bit too politely.

'No Aunty, the whole duppata is in the right place because of the hairstyle only!'

'Hmmmm...can we change the color of the lipstick',asked Mum looking at me.

'No Aunty, it matches the lehenga'

'Okay, can we wash her face?'

'Mom!' I said.

Dad called at that very moment.

'Ohh, have they left?' Mom said into the phone.

'The barat will be there in 20 minutes?' she said again after a minute's pause.

'Okay....I have to welcome them, i know'

'Yes I am around an hour from the venue...will come in in a bit'

'Oh ok, dont distrub me I will be there' said Mom, she shut her phone with a bang and barged out to welcome the barat that was 20 minutes away from the venue that itself was an hour drive away.

So there I was standing in my bridal lehenga, dressed in all the finery but not really sure of Mom's reaction.

Was I the beautiful bride?
It was one of the few things that both the sides of the family unanimously agreed. They agreed that I was NOT the beautiful bride.

Some people even told me to go and get back my money from the beauty parlor. And then things started snow balling. Those who probably thought that I was looking good, decided to go with the mass opinion and declared that they would not send their own daughters to the salon where I had gone.
And so on and so forth.

I therefore did not look forward to the wedding video, cringed when it came and hid behind the door when the rest of the family watched it.

I also did not do one more thing.

I never really saw the wedding pictures.

Untill a few days back. Bt when I did do you know what struck me the most? Okay I certainly did not look as great (if i might be aloowed to use that phrase) as i normally do, but you know what? I looked absolutely, blissfully happy :)

Right.
So I still exist.

I have been absent from blogging because I have been working too much :(

Things have been very busy of late the blog has been very neglected...Apologies.

I was just thinking how lonely life is here in London. Once the shine of it all wears off its just the loneliest place. I sometimes long so much for my home back in India. My Mum was one of the most ambitious people and still grudges the fact that she had to give up her career. And when I sit here...all alone with just work for company, longing for the familiar banter I always shared with Mum, I think to myself that she did give up a lot but in return I and my brother got SO much.

The comfort of knowing that someone is always there to talk to...some one is always there...just there..

Indiah!

Yo!

So it is that gorious time of the year when I get to start gloating about an upcoming India trip. And trust me there are few pleasures greater than this.

I am travelling alone to India in May and will be spending time with both sets of parents. I am already thinking of the nice absolutely yummy things I can eat....aah..well...

Anyways, so I am going to be in India for a glorious 10 days. Of which I might work for a few days as well....but thats fine, till I can be in India and be around people who matter such trivial issues do not matter. The sad part however is the main purpose behind the India visit. The dentist. How I shudder at the thought...

March is dragging on. Yesterday I started work at 8:00 am and finshed it at 8:15 in the night. Days are getting longer, more stressfull and with the year end just around the corner, the tempers are running woefully short...Sid is keeping very busy as well. For those interested, he is again travelling to Germany today for work. Poor fellow, he had to get up at 3:00 am today and he wont be back before 2 in the night- its going to be a long long day. I however plan to leave work on time today, go home dosome work on the book and then have dinner with N who has agreed to come over! I am planning to order food and wont have to cook!

Once March is out (and we are already done with the first week),April should bring some nice things. Primarily, there is going to be a lot of travelling. Sid and I are planning to travel to Nice and Monaco and across Italy in two separate trips in April. I am particularly looking forward to my Nice trip. I spend a lot of time just googling for Nice pics...it seems lovely *Sigh* If only the weather holds up.*Fingers Crossed!!!*

Italy should be good too but its a 9 day trip and each of those days will involve a lot of walking which I am dreading. We are planning to cover Rome, Venice, Florence and Pisa this time. I am really excited about Venice! I originally wanted to explore the south of Italy but then Sid and I decided that it would be best to do the main cities in our first trip.

And once April is out of the door, in comes May!

Yoooohoooooooooooooooo!!! And with May comes the trip to India! India! India! India! India! India! India!!!!!!

On being Indian.

'You guys don't drink', said a colleague accusingly one day. He was thinking of ways in which he could thank me for an extra bit of work I had done for him.

By you guys, he meant Indians as a whole. Rather bizarre because I am the only Indian I know in London who does not drink. And trust me I know a lot of Indians.

Anyways, so that was what he said. Just one example of how nationality sometimes explains a million things for a lot of people.

I have realised that there are some assumptions that the western world has made about us Indians. Some are good some while others are certainly not so good. Let me list a few of them:

* We get the scores- When I was interviewing for LBS, one thing was quite clear my 740 GMAT score was not really as great as it would have been for a non Indian. Indians are expected to score above 700! Be damned if you are Indian with a score less than 700!

*We know all about Excel and Powerpoint- So any gora in office has an excel issue, he turns around and shouts for an Indian, the issue gets solved in a jiffy. (Example of Excel complications: The text is exceeding the size of the cell, what do I do? Ans: Thwack your head with a news paper *Aloud* -Use Wrap text *angelic smile*)

*We are Tiny- And being as vertically challenged as I am does not help the cause of people of my nation. What I have started doing is wearing really high heels. All for the love of my country. That has led to back pain. But I can do that much atleast for people of my mother land.

*We do not reply to emails- And that I have to agree to, inspite of all the love for the motherland sloshing inside me. In the one year I have worked in an international organization, I have not come across any non Indian who has not replied to emails. People in India, believe in face to face conversation. Replying to emails does not figure high on their ways to communicate list.

*Saturday and Sunday are working in India- Yes. I am not kidding. This IS what we have done to ourselves. People get so many replies on Saturdays and Sundays ( which of course, the Whites here check only on Mondays) that they think Sat and Sunday are working days in India. Can you bloody beat that? I mean like comon?

*We do not like being handed stuff by the giver's left hand: So apparently there is this book on '120 ways of not offending Indians'. It is, rather disturbingly selling quite a few copies. This piece of exquisite literature spells what a Westerner should do or not do in India if he does not want to offend Indians. One of the things is NEVER to use your left hand while giving an Indian something. Apparently we find it very offending. My colleague came up to me one day and (out of the blue)apologized for having given me things with her left hand in the past. She is after all a leftie and could not do much about it but she will def try not to repeat this in future, she said looking incosolate. I was stunned into silence when she told me why she was apologising for something I had not even noticed!

The book also, FYI says that when you are in a meeting with a couple of Indians, do not speak if one of the Indians is senior to you. Apparently, during the meetings a strict protocol is followed regarding who will speak when. The senior most person sepaks first, then the second in the heirarchy and then the third etc etc. My colleague was concerned. I was VERY concerned.


*Indians cant make it to a meeting on time- Okay. I cannot make it to a meeting on time :(

Let me know if you know more of these! Will be fun!

As for the colleague who complained that Indians do not drink, I told him that while we might not drink, we do eat chocolates ;)

Love
R

Too less!

I manage a full time job, a house and my first book is getting published soon. So as you can imagine I should have a lot of work. And yes, I am getting busier by the day but I still feel the need to do more.

No, not the need to achieve more but the need to do more. I get very weird when I come home and have a few hours to myself. I just want to be doing something constructive and useful all the time. Is that normal?

I have been working VERY hard the last few years. There were always a couple of balls in the air. Hell! nine days before my wedding I was giving the TOEFL exam and was checking my result at the airport on my way to my Maldives where I went for my Honeymoon.

While I was working in India ( right after B school), I was juggling a new Sales job plus GMAT prep plus TOEFL prep plus my own wedding prep! Trust me that was a handful.

When I was coming to London ( about 1.5 months after my wedding), the night before I was uptill 2-3 in the morning. Doing what? submitting my PHD application to London Business School! I remember submitting it like 3 hours before leaving India for the UK. The new bride in the in laws house spent all her time in front of the lap top working on some weird marketing concept!

Life in London is easier. This is the first time I do not have an exam to write. I have realised how addicted I have been to exams. It just gives purpose to my life, without that I feel rather lost. So much so that some days back I decided that I should give the IAS exams, go back to India and do something constructive for my country. But finally after some thought I decided against it. Most of my family breathed a sigh of relief. They did not want the mad crazy about to give an exam me around them :P

Anyways, so this is how things stand. I am looking for bigger challenges something that gives me the familiar rush of seeing my name at the top of the result page in college.

Maybe I am plain crazy. Yes that should explain things. Crazy, thats what I am :P

*Sigh*

Too less!

I manage a full time job, a house and my first book is getting published soon. So as you can imagine I should have a lot of work. And yes, I am getting busier by the day but I still feel the need to do more.

No, not the need to achieve more but the need to do more. I get very weird when I come home and have a few hours to myself. I just want to be doing something constructive and useful all the time. Is that normal?

I have been working VERY hard the last few years. There were always a couple of balls in the air. Hell! nine days before my wedding I was giving the TOEFL exam and was checking my result at the airport on my way to my Maldives where I went for my Honeymoon.

While I was working in India ( right after B school), I was juggling a new Sales job plus GMAT prep plus TOEFL prep plus my own wedding prep! Trust me that was a handful.

When I was coming to London ( about 1.5 months after my wedding), the night before I was uptill 2-3 in the morning. Doing what? submitting my PHD application to London Business School! I remember submitting it like 3 hours before leaving India for the UK. The new bride in the in laws house spent all her time in front of the lap top working on some weird marketing concept!

Life in London is easier. This is the first time I do not have an exam to write. I have realised how addicted I have been to exams. It just gives purpose to my life, without that I feel rather lost. So much so that some days back I decided that I should give the IAS exams, go back to India and do something constructive for my country. But finally after some thought I decided against it. Most of my family breathed a sigh of relief. They did not want the mad crazy about to give an exam me around them :P

Anyways, so this is how things stand. I am looking for bigger challenges something that gives me the familiar rush of seeing my name at the top of the result page in college.

*Sigh*

Why, in an arranged marriage do we yes to who we say yes to?

I belong to the old school. I wanted it all the to begin and (hopefully) end with the same man. There were enough people who proposed marriage along the way but I never got into anything just for the heck of it or for peer pressure. Even when I was really young I had the sense to understand that this guy in front of me -we will not work out.

Also I was too geeky and busy with tests and grades to really bother ( If you don't believe me, check out my posts till 2009- they are all about grades!)

Now that I have been married for over a year ( and how I love to say that)I wonder what makes a couple tick. Tick for the long term.... that makes you stay together for your life time.

Mine was an arranged match. I was 24 when I met Sid, had seen really little of the world and knew very little about relationships et al (again due to the fact that I was an out right maggu. Sid made sense to me. He used to do cool things like travel to India for the weekend to meet me but I think it was just good luck that Sid is who he is.

The reason I say this is because I am surrounded by women my age who are still looking. For various reasons they are going in for arranged marriages and most of them have met 20-25 boys! Without liking anyone!

Some one is not cool enough, someone is not polite enough, someone is not educated enough, someone is not cheerful enough, some one is not confident enough, someone is not intelligent enough...

My close friends tell me how tough it is meet someone who even meets the basic bare minimum criteria.

And I wonder that is that because as we grow older we become more set in our ways? Do we want more from the person than we had the brains to demand when we were younger?

Sid was the first and ONLY guy I met even though ours was an arranged match. It so happens that he is very well mannered, well educated, cheerful, extremely confident, and very alert and intelligent. But I was not consciously looking for all this. I did not have the brains to figure out that this was all needed! Infact I do not know how many of these characteristics are actually needed.

Met Sid, liked him, he liked me, end of story. It was as simple. The only thing I was looking for in my husband to be was strength of character. That was really all.

But I do wonder, what really makes relationships work. What do you think?


Love
R

P.S. I am getting increasingly busy with office work. Hence the long periods without posts.

PPS Do notice the subscribe box just below the 'About Me' section! I am proud to say that I put that! So please, if you like the blog and would like updates to reach your inbox, enter your email id!

Pati in Poland
Or Rather Getting Pati to Poland!

Yes, so Sid is in Poland today. I am not too sure that I can give you the correct name of the city though. I think the name begins with a P and ends with a Z. However it does not matter as he has completely and point blank refused to get me anything from Poland.

Its been quite hectic these last few days and am I am tempted to take a day off just like that! To give you a snap shot of my very interesting life:

Left home at 8:20am . Was very happy about leaving on time. No, the happiness did not last long as when I reached the DLR station I was told that my train was not running. I almost decided to go back home but then changed my mind. So I walked. Yes bloody walked. In my heels. Carrying the laptop that weighs more than I do. Walked bloody 5 stops.

Aaargh!

So, I reached office late and grumpy and then spent the entire day in meetings, calls and mails. Finally came home at around 6:15pm quite exhausted after 10 hours of work. Got half an hour to myself before I started cooking just a little after Sid came in.

Worked some magic there and cooked amazing hybrid Biryani (My version of Biryani. I never had biryani in India, so I just guess.). I was then given the task of Ironing shirts for Sid- a task both of us HATE and are perpetually trying to trap the other one into doing. I considered myself very smart, I actually got away with ironing by finding him two brand new shirts! Happy and elated at my luck, I helped Sid pack his clothes for the Poland trip when Sid decided that he could not find the tiny toothpaste tube he wanted to take. We then proceeded to lift beds, Pull out suitcases from inbetween clothes etc etc –all in am attempt to find the tooth paste tube. But to no avail. Finally I suggested that he could probably buy one at the airport. Sid agreed but continued to look.

*Sigh*

By this time it was almost 9:30 and I was all exhausted. After some more packing and a little more arranging we sat down to a quiet though nice dinner (where Sid philosophically said, ‘Life both choti hoti hai’ )and were asleep by 10:30.

Only to be woken at 4:30 am. The alarm clock woke us up. Time for Sid to go.

I decided to stay in bed as most of Sid’s work had been done the night before and I felt extremely exhausted. Almost as soon as I thought this to myself, Sid announced that he could not find the nail cutter. Since I had used it last, I had to get out bed to hunt for it. I found it in a few minutes and climbed back into bed straight after.

Not for much long though.

The taxi had come, Sid was not ready and I was trying to stay in bed.
Sid put on his brand new shirt and realised that it was too crumpled to be worn. He had too much to do in the next few minutes so I like the best biwi on the planet jumped in to help. So there I was at 5:30 in the morning ironing the shirt. Bloody.

So much worse than ironing the shirt at 9:00 pm in the night.

Should I get some award or what?

So well, finally we managed to get Sid ready for Poland. I jumped right back into my warm comfortable yellow bed knowing that I had to get up at 7 and leave home by 8

I got up at 8.

And that too only because my Mum in law fortuitously called me up.

And then started the cycle again!

*Sigh*

P.S Anyways, I now have the evening to myself and am looking forward to ordering my favourite mushroom rice from a Bangladeshi restaurant that pretends to sell Indian Food. I have a lovely PG Wodehouse that I am going to read! Maybe I wont miss Sid?

I wish. :)

The story of my Teeth

So each year till I finished engineering I would go to a new dentist. My mother would force me into going to one.

My Mom was convinced that there was something wrong with my teeth, something that she could not quite lay her hands on but definitely something wrong. The smile was not quite nice, the way I closed my mouth was not the way it should have been etc etc

But unfortunately no dentist seemed to agree. Year after year, the different dentist we went to said that nothing was wrong with my teeth. Okay, so we nodded our heads and mom ticked off another dentist from her list. The perfect dentist was still at large. If only Mum kept trying hard enough, we would find him one day. The dentist who would agree that there was something wrong with my teeth.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

There sure is.

One fine day, Mum found him. That was last year of engineering. I had gotten through Bschool and was generally very happy with life. I should have known that happiness does not last too long.

I went to him with my Dad after Mum made the appointment.

He gave my teeth one look and said ‘ All gadbad’

I gasped.

‘We need to take out 2 teeth’, the dentist said flatly.

‘No!’, I said sitting up in protest.

‘Yes’, said the dentist pushing me back again.

‘When can we do this?’, asked my Dad.

‘Today’, said the dentist pulling out something that resembled a screw driver.

‘No!’, I said sitting up in protest yet again.

‘Yes’, said the dentist pushing me back yet again.

‘Let me call Mummy’, said Dad intelligently. When in doubt, call the wife. I wish
Sid would realize that as well. Anyways, coming back to the story.

‘Yes, lets call Mummy’, I said hopefully.

So Dad called Mummy and told her that the dentist wanted to pull out my teeth and give me braces for 5 months. Well in time for B school. The conversation took 3 seconds. I gather mum leaped with joy, pumped her fists in the air and screamed a ‘Just do it!’.

Well so the teeth were taken out. Two from the lower jaw. The dentist told me to eat loads of ice cream. The only thing he said that I approved of. Happy with that atleast I went home with cotton stuffed where my teeth had been.

Mum gave me the Royal treatment for the next two days. She had not been so happy even when I had converted B school. Some 2 days later when I could open my mouth easily, Mum and I were discussing things and life.

She said something and I smiled.

‘WHATTT!’, shrieked Mum.

‘Huh?’, said I.

‘Whats happened to your lower dentures?’

‘He took out 2teeth, that’s what’s happened!’, I said now confused.

‘Two from the lower?’, gasped my Mum.

‘Yes, Daddy asked you also’, I said

‘No, but Lower was absolutely fine! I wanted to set the upper denture right!!’

Wow. So because of that I spent the first 1 year of Bschool with white ceramic
braces. Only thing was they coloured yellow when I ate something that had turmeric in it. So many people thought I had perpetually yellow teeth and suggested that I should brush more regularly.

Such is the unfairness of life

Cooking shooking

The first meal I made was one day after coming to London. I made rice, and then stirred fried it with some veggies. I served it with curd and I was surprised that it was edible.

That seems like a long time back. A long journey has been travelled since then.
In the beginning I hated to cook. I just completely hated spending any time in the kitchen. There was a reason behind that though. There I was fresh out of B school, had just resigned from one of the best jobs that the campus had to offer, was living in a country far away from my own –doing little the whole day apart from receiving negative replies from recruiters and cooking.

So, I started resenting it quite a bit. I felt I had turned into one of those people whose purpose in life is o just cook. I know now that that was extremely stupid. I wish I had not thought that way. But well that was how it was.

Now, things are much different. I love to cook. After spending the whole day punching in the keyboard, I love to spend time in the kitchen. Also, it is honestly easier and more fun to cook here. Most vegetables are fresh and clean and you can get chopped veggies as well if you want. If you want to make pasta, you get 100 different types of sauces you can choose from. Boil the pasta, add the sauce and voila! The food is ready.

I don’t really enjoy food too much but I have developed a liking for cooking. Very often, I find myself looking for recipes online and trying them out after work or over the weekends.

It helps that Sid loves what I cook. He is generally the only person eating my food (except for myself) and manages to complement me when I know for sure that the food is bad.

We often invite people over for elaborate (by UK standards ) Indian meals and I quite enjoy that process as well. Sid handles the cleaning of the house and I do the cooking. I love the spread that I end up with.

The growth trajectory in terms of what I cook, has been decent. I started with rice and daal and some veggies, moved on to parathas, then to rotis, then to stuffed parathas, then to pooris and then to bhatoores. My highest point has been the samosas I made last to last week. I felt, I had, momentarily atleast arrived in life.

The next thing I am very keen to try my hand at is baking. I am dying to make muffins and bake bread. And I sound so domesticated now.

*Sigh*
This is what a year of marriage does to you.
Love
R

Birthday :)

So 2nd of Feb, I turned another year older. *Sigh* While the lead up to the birthday was not too good (Sid informed me that he would be travelling to Paris that day), the day itself turned out to be really lovely.

Sid woke me at mid night with a lovely cake (okay, not a full cake but 4 slices of chocolate cake with a gazillion candles on it! But hey, things not perfect are generally things charming!)

Here is a pic of the cake! And no,I have not cut it yet. Thats the whole cake!




He also gifted me a moon pig card which had some million pics of me on the outside and some lovely lines inside. Ofcourse I alter found that the lovely lines had been lifted from the internet but again, I found that cute too!


Anyways, now coming to the day itself.So many lovely things happened. A colleague of mine, who is actually 10 years older to me and has been working for 14 years now, took me out for lunch. We just went to Pret to get a work lunch but then we were like, lets make it exciting! Lets have a sit in lunch. So we sat in Pret and talked and ate. It was just so lovely and I was truly touched by her thoughtfulness.

Then there is this other office friend whom I had helped sometime back. He had promised to get me chocolates for that ( since I dont drink and he could not think of any other way of saying thank you . When I went in office, he was there standing with a box of chocolates for me.

I was like, 'oh my God, its my birthday today!'. He hugged me and wished me a happy birthday and we had a good laugh about the co incidence.

My sister in law sent me lovely flowers at work.

And once I came back home and got a few quiet minutes to myself, I was just so happy. Just genuinely happy for no apparent reason.

Sid came back at around 8:15 pm. Since we were not together the whole day ( and he is taking me birthday shopping tomorrow) he wanted to get me something, even if it was really small. He took the last bit quite seriously and got me ear rings from Paris that cost him 3.75 euros!

But I love those ear rings! Never mind the price!

But that was not all. So by that time I was exhausted and I did not feel like going for the dinner Sid and I had planned. I was dreaming about an ordered take away but Sid kept insisting that we should go out. While we were discussing that, the bell rang.

I opened the door to see my best friend, N standing there with this HUGE cake in her hands. She and her BF had come to surprise me! And surprise me they did. We cut the cake, N's Bf smeared it on my face ( how can we complete the day without that ritual!)and we all hogged on the absolutely LOVELY cake! (Red Velvet, a semi favourite, as nothing can take the place of chocolate)

So then we all went out to have dinner. And that was lovely too.It was bang in the middle of the week and everyone had come back from work. There were all tired but had taken out time to make my day special.....I was so touched.

It was a lovely birthday :) Now you know why.
Love
R

Circus!

So, Friday last, Sid and I went to see the first circus of my adult life. It was called Totem and was performed by Cirque Du Soleil.

It was by far the most speactular thing I had ever seen. To start with Royal Albert Hall was nothing short of fantastic being so steeped in heritage and culture as a lot of things in London are.



This circus is one of the most famous on the planet. They come up with various shows and travel across the world. Infact The troupe was travelling to Amsterdam when we had visited it last year.

The show ahd not started but the clowns came in and mingled with the crowds, flirted with the women, teased the men and generally set the mood for the whole show. And boy, what a show it was. There were enough times I was taken aback with what the men/ women were doing a few feet away from me!


The skill, timing and perfection. These men and women have spent their life times perfecting their art and I came out of the hall, very very very impressed to say the least.

Most people who work in the circus are ex olympic gymnasts, you had to see the stunts to believe them. You know how you must have seen the ice skating olympics and how you gasp as the girl twirls on her skates at lightning speed...it was all there and more! Very often I would not clap / cheer when an act was over because i was too busy gasping! There were trapese artists, clowns, russian bars and a lot of other stuff...







It was an expensive watch, but one of the best evenings I have had in London. And for those who live in cities where the circus visits, this is just to tell you to go give it a watch. Trust me, it will be worth it!

Love
R

I wish I could look coyly at my nails and say that I found Yamla Pagla Deewana too pedestrian for my sophisticated tastes. I wish I could talk about intelligent cinema and how it never fails to excite me.

I wish.

Only that wish is not coming true anytime soon.

I loved Dabang and as if that was not enough, I went ahead and laughed my head off in Yamla Pagla Deewana enjoying it more than ‘127 hours’ and ‘The King’s Speech’ put together. Okay these are both great movies worthy of a watch but I just enjoyed Yamla Pgala Dewana much more.

Bobby Deol is by far the weakest link in the movie with his excessive face making. People in Benaras do not have twisted faces. As far as I know atleast. And his love interest, I recognized her from a tele serial I used to watch many many years ago on Zee TV. I cannot recall the name of the TV serial but I do remember that she had an imaginary son called Tingu. As expected that name had kinda cracked me up and has stayed with me all these years.

So well, the honest truth is that I enjoy nonsense. The mad cap kind of nonsense.
In sharp contrast there is this other movie lover in me that forgets to eat painstakingly made poha ( yes I cook Indian food!) when she sees Kal ho na ho on the telly. Poha is forgotten, husband is sushed and not replied to when he dares utter a word and tears stream down my face as Shah Rukh lies on his death bed. As Preity zinta runs out of the hospital room, unable to see the man she loves die, I contemplate switching the channel. It is too difficult to see Shah Rukh die.
Talking of Preity Zinta. Well, she is about to get married to Saif Ali Khan. Her mother, grand mother and a lot of other rather fat aunties sing ‘mahi ve’. Jaya Bachchan tries her best to look forlorn at the engagement of her daughter. I cry buckets as my mind goes back to my own wedding and vidaai.

What kind of a Bollywood fan am I? It is against my ethics to say that any (read ANY) movie was crappy. I don’t say that. It cannot be true. I find something nice in every movie. The more the nonsense in the movie, the more I enjoy it. And ofcourse if Shah Rukh dies, I cry non stop.

What kind of a Bollywood fan am I?

And on that noble thought,

Love

R

P.S For those interested I can be reached at ruchita[dot]misra[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk

Travelogue- Marrakech ( December, 2010)

Marrakech Day 4

For those interested in the the previous bits of the Morocco trip
Morocco Day One: http://smilethesmile.blogspot.com/2010/12/morocco-day-one.html
Morocco Day Two: http://smilethesmile.blogspot.com/2010/12/marrakech-morocco-day-two.html


So we set out today at 8 in the morning for which we got out of bed by 7! What kind of a holiday is it if you are up and about by 6:45?

Anywyas, after a hurried breakfast we set out in our rented car, again with the same guide as before, Bougemal. The drive today took us some 4 hours, 4 hours of spectacular rocky terrain as we reached our destination: Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou.

In Arabic, a Kasbah is the between of a village and a fortress. And Kasbah Ben Haddou is one of the most famous ones across Morocco. It has been declared as an UNESCO world heritage sight.

Anyways, here are some of my favourite pics from today. These are few of the clicks from the very beginning of the journey.

The valley!



Another view!



Our Car. I like this lonely car shot.



The best part was that we could stop where ever we wanted and click pics.
Infront of our eyes, the terrain started changing. You can now see a much more harsh terrain. I wish the camera could capture what the eyes can see. This was one of the passes. This was called Tischka Pass. Tischka means Darkness in Arabic. Like Sid said, one can only imagine how scary it would have been 1000 years ago.








This is how the roads looked from the highest accessible bit at the Pass.






And the terrain changes further

And...further! Can you see the snow capped mountain peaks? I just could not enough of them.




This is by far one of my favourite pics. The camels and the brown. The snow and the white. The combination of the two is just too eerie! There are a million pics of the brown and the white! This was one of the stops we took while on our way.




This was the last stop. It provided us with a view of the Kasbah.



Once inside the Kasbah, we spent an hour or so exploring the Kasbah and clicking the pics. Below are a few of them.





Two women in a distance


All in all today was a spectacular day and we loved every bit of it to bits!We reached the Riad by 7 after gifting our guide a packet of delicacies we had got from London, rested for some time ( I finished the book I am reading,’A piece of Cake’ by Cupcake Brown, yes that’s the authors name : Cupcake!), went out again to get some food....and by the time we came back, we were exhausted!
Day four comes to an end......I hope you enjoyed reading the post as much as i enjoyed the day!

Love

R

tired and grumpy.

Yes that is my post. This is all that it intends to tell you. That I am tired and grumpy. How this bit of information will change your life forever, I do not know.

But then I am grumpy and tired.

Travelogue

I am trying to put in this blog little bits of the various places I keep travelling to. I have realized that I have forgotten so much about my trips last year. Hence this attempt :)

Brussels, Belgium.
April, 2010.

Sid and I travelled to Brussels for a day last Easter. We went there with another couple from Sid’s B school which added to the fun. We drove in from Paris enjoying every bit of the French and Belgian countryside.




And with that we enter Belgium!




We went out to this authentic Dutch Place for dinner. Okay the only vegetarian bits that Dutch eat is bread, cheese and fries. So well, that is what I had. I remember that even though it was a well known place, none of us really like the food.

After that we all went out for a stroll and walked around the Grand Place. As you can see it was beautiful!







Next day we spent a LOT of time strolling around. It is a small city. Nothing much to see compared to the biggies like Paris and London but it has a charm about itself that is difficult to ignore.



The stock exchange!

We roamed and shopped in the small alleys of the city. There were a multitude of chocolate and toy shops that were a treat to the eye.



Toys!

The Manneken Piss- That is supposed to be one of the most important things to see in Brussles and we walked round and round trying to locate it! I burst out laughing when we actually did find it. First it was so tiny that it was ludicrous. Second, the piss in ‘Manneken piss’ was actually just that! Mannaken Piss is the statue of a small boy peeing!




We dutifully posed infront of Manneken Piss and clicked multiple shots of everyone.
We spent the rest of the evening strolling around the city, we discovered a city square, where we spent a lot of time generally chatting up, soaking in the sun and resting our tired feet. The last thing we did was to check out the Tintin museum. Tintin was created by Herge in Brussels and hence the museum is apparently quite the famous one. Since I am not a Tintin fan, I did not enjoy it too much. The fact that we were the only all adult group did not help matters too much.

Anyways, it was a lovely day and a half spent in Brussels. I don’t think I will go there again because there is not much for the typical tourists we are.

As a parting shot, a pic of Sid and me walking the streets of Brussels. Don’t we look like two school going kids making way to school?




Love,
R