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.
;)

Six things that made me happy today #4

Here we go:

1. I came out of home today and looked around in wonder. The little white things flying around me were not insects but light, delicate wasps of snow. Snow was not predicted when i had checked weather last and the flurries were a pleasant surprise
2. I found myself breathing deep many times during the day today and each time it calmed me. And i like to feel calm!
3. Had this absolutely hilarious conversation with British and French colleagues that had us either blushing or in splits. (The Brit colleague told me later that he had never seen me laugh so much before, it was that bad!)
4. So i go to this subway quite often so much so that I now just go and present myself before them and they nod their heads. A few minutes later, without me uttering a single word, the sub that i always order is ready for me. And we are all smiling.
5. A well prepared, absolutely yummy mushroom mattar cooked by yours truly that had hubby dearest actually thanking me!
6. A friend who is travelling to Indonesia called and asked me if i had had my food. There is something so utterly charming about someone asking if you have had food that it always brings a smile to my face

Six things that made me happy today #3

Hi,
So here we go:

1. We are planning something for someone (ofcourse cannot spell it out yet, just in case, you know the powers of the internet yadi yadi yadi) and though we have just started the discussions, it already feels nice. All that jazz about doing something for someone else giving you joy yadi yadi yadi...
2. I spent some time in  the evening today doing breathing exercises and felt very relaxed afterwards.
3. My cleaner cancelled for today. Dont know why really but felt very nice about that too! Got a few extra hours to myself!
4. Had an absolutely hilarious exchange of (whatsapp)messages with the girls from dance class, so much so that i had stop walking and laugh before carrying on!
5. Have decided to NOT waste anytime with people i do not enjoy being with and making that decision felt very empowering. I know, weird, but true.
6. Got some 3-4 compliments for my dress in a matter of 5-6 minutes of entering office today and that, my dear reader, can bring joy that is greater than any other ;) And had an execellent conversation with my manager and his manager. Good :)

If you liked reading about simple things that made me happy today, why don't you tell me what made you happy today?

(Shessh! Almost wrote 'Thanks and Regards'!)

Love
R.

Six things that made me happy today

1. Chole is ready! Yeay! All i need is to heat it and dinner, thou shall be served! Wohooo! (When you have cooked for 2 for over 3 years, you will understand what a great joy that is!)
2. I am looking forward to my dance class that shall begin in another hour and a half. Its a great work out and I love to dance.
3. It was sunny today. I dont particularly enjoy the sun, but it is good to get some vitamin D every once in a while.
4.Had a good catch up with my super busy brother. He will be travelling to London soon and i cannot wait.
5. Had a long discussion with Ma as well. As always, I feel so much better after speaking to her.
6. Had a quick chat with Dad too. He likes the chapters I sent to him for feedback. Yeay!

Lessons from 2012

2012.:) While there were definite highlights ( I traveled a lot, got an award for my first book etc) there were tough issues to deal with as well.

Tough times, however, teach us invaluable lessons. And here, to share with you guys, are the pearls of wisdom i have gathered :)

1. Laugh at silly things.
2. Do something creative. I write :)
3. Time does not stop. The wind changes its direction, often without you even realizing it.Know this when things are bad. Keep your head cool. It might be bad, terribly bad, but if you hang in there, it WILL be alright. Never forget that.2012 taught me that.
4. People change. You change. Accept that.
5. People drift apart. People grow apart. Don't keep the grudge. Let them free. Let yourself free.
6. It is sometimes NOT okay to run away from a situation you would much rather not be in.
7. It might have been the toughest choice to make and you wonder if in the end it was worth it. And then, to your mind comes that one slow smile. You know you will never forget it for as long as you live. And you know it was all worth every bit.
8. You know you should do this but you simply don't want to. Have at least one friend who has the guts to tell you exactly that without mincing words.
9. Do things for others. Don't always think about yourself.
10. There are some people you will never get along with. Stop trying and let them be.
11. If things are not good, talking about it all the time to everyone won't help. Chose people whose advice you trust and listen to them.
12. If things are not good, make sure you are talking with someone you trust. Don't keep it all inside.
13. Don't do brash things. Remember that all actions have consequences. Some of these consequences can hurt the people you love the most.
14. Siblings will remain your closest friends. Close friends sometimes begin to behave like siblings too :)
15. It is okay to have the i-will-call-you-on-my-birthday-you-call-me-on-my-birthday relationship if that works with some people.
16. There are some relationships that you can never break off completely. Know that. And learn to forgive such people when they mess up which according to you they will every once in a while.
17. You can be receiving an award from the Chief Minister one night and be huddled outside of the neurosurgery ICU the next. Such is life. Man up and face it.
18. Don't be scared of anything. Fear (of anything) cripples.
19. Dance. I started that again after ...i dont know...more than a decade and the classes were typically the highlight of my days!
20. Do things that give you joy. I write. I take walks. I talk to people. I know i sound like I am 200 years old, but so be it!
21. Be kind to your body. It helps you quite a lot.
22. Always be well dressed. Invest time, energy and effort into how you look. Note: Compliments never hurt ;)
23. Don't think of negative things. When such thoughts wander into your head immediately distract yourself.
24. Be grateful to those who help you.
25. The biggest battles are the ones we fight with ourselves.
26. Tell yourself that you are strong and a fighter. Tell yourself that.
27. Pray. Have faith.
28.  Be grateful for what you have. It is sad if you get to the value of what you had when it is lost.
29. No one should be able to fault your work. Take pride in it.
30. Keep nails well painted.
31. Love and respect yourself. Only then will others.

I wish I will have a great 2013, as will my family, friends and readers:)

Love,
RP

Happy, Positive and/or energetic

So going forward, as often as I can, I am going to put down 6 things here that have made me happy, positive and/or energetic that day.


Idea is to ensure that the feel good hormones flow through your body and make you feel happy, positive and energetic even if you are not feeling that way when you start to write these down. Smart, eh? ;)

If you are reading this (that’s a lame thing to say, because obviously you are reading this), feel free to do the same. Mail me the links or put them in the comments section because as they say, positive hormones are infectious ( I did not make that up. Okay, I did) Lets share the good things , even if they are simple and tiny :)



So here I go:

1. So when i get out at my station, there is a guy who sells newspapers. We always smile at each other even though i never buy his newspaper.  It was nice to see him again today after such a long time.
2. Tried on shoes of a colleague. Loved them!

3. Met people in office after a long time as I was on leave and it was nice to see the familiar faces and catch up

4. We have ready made puris that mom in law cooked for us so that means that I don’t have to bother about cooking tonight!

5. I used my brand new Milton thermos flask today! Yay!

6. Got some compliments about my brand new, snazzy haircut! Double yay!

Love

RP



PS: Very shallow points but who cares ;)

Kids are mean! -Part 1

I must have been 10-11 then and having recently shifted to a new house, I was busy making new friends. Amongst these recently acquired friends were two girls, sisters, both younger to me. Lets call them Ruhi and Yana.

The 'chatt' of our house, littered with stuff that only the 'chatt' of a newly contrscuted house can be littered with was a child's heaven. It was more often than not our playground and we would spend hours and hours playing make believe games as the monsoons lashed around us.

Sometimes we would use the cement mounds that had caked, that odd piece of wood or iron that the labourers had left would be used. For us they were pricessless. And were vehicles of imagination that could take us on flights of fantasy.

Ruhi, (who rather adorably referred to 'chewing gum' as 'chingum'), maybe 7 at that time, was the youngest amongst all of us and therefore the most gullible to ragging and leg pulling.

This one day, Bhai (or someone else) came up with a brain wave. Hurried wispers later, the strategy had been formulated and without wasting any more we sent Bhai away and beckoned Ruhi to come to us.

'Didi!' she yelped as she happily skipped across the 'chatt' towards us.

' What didi?' one of us said ' say hello to bhaiyya also' I said pointing to the air between Yana and me.

'Bhaiyya?' said  Ruhi puzzled.

Yana looked at the air between herself and me as if listening to some one. On cue both of us laughed.

Ruhi stared at us.

'What are you laughing at?' she said her face drawn with worry now.

'Bhaiyya just said that maybe he was invisble to you' said Yana. I laughed again as if Bhai's comment was still tickling me.

'I...I....' stammered poor Ruhi as i struggled to not burst into laughter 'cant see him'

'You are such a scream!' hooted Yana.

'No...really i cannot' said Ruhi.

'Oh my God' i said slapping my forehead and looking intently at the air between Yana and me ' she really cant see you'

'Oh my God' added Yana rather unoriginally and slapped her forhead.

'So' i said now pacing as if in deep thought ' you cannot see bhai'

She shook her head and extended a hand towards the air space next to Yana in an attempt to feel bhai.

'Oh dear, you cant feel him either, can you?' i asked my face registering shock and worry.

She shook her head now almost ready to cry.

'Listen, now dont worry...i can get to the bottom of this' i said my face grave. Yana and ruhi looked expectantly at me.

'So you are saying that you cannot see him waving at you?' i asked eye brows raised. Ruhi shook her head.
'And now....he is jumping in his place...can you see him now?' i asked again. Ruhi shook her head.
'Yana' i said now turnging to face her elder sister ' can you see bhai?'
'Yes ofcourse...he is looking very worried now' she said.

I nodded my head.
'Ofcourse, we have reason to worry' i said.

Yana looked at me and i looked at Yana. Ruhi, teary eyed stared first at me and then at Yana.

'Yana' i said my voice serious ' do you think this is what i think it is?'

Yana, a good actress, breathed deep.

'Yes, didi....i am worried...'

'What is wrong' wailed Ruhi.

I dramatically tunred around to face Ruhi.

'Ruhi...there is this disease that is doing the rounds in schools these days...teachers are not telling pupils about it as it may scare them....but...but...we think you have it...the symptoms are the same'

'what is happening to me?' she asked.

I breathed deep and inched closer towards her.

'I think' i now paused for effect as Yana struggled to keep a straight face ' that you are going mad'

Jhatakas and Matkas

I spent 25 years in India and have been in London for the last 2.5. (Oh wait, did i just give away my age? *horror, horror* in case you did not calculate it, please note that i will turn 16. Year after next.)

So now that I am in the UK, I have , for the first time in my life, joined dance classes.  No ordinary dance class, mind you. Bollywood dance class. In Londond. (I refused to touch dance classes with a bargepole when I was in India. Back home children are told stories of this one girl who waged war against her parents who wanted her to continue dancing but more on that later someday when i am more inclined towards embaressing myself)

Since a career, a house to manage, a book in the market, another as a manuscript I am working on, friends, movies, travelling and then just generally living life was not enough, I have joined dance classes as well.

My love for Bollywood is not something I try to hide. (The three line 'about me' at the back of my book talks about how much i love Bollywood. Sheesh, it is that bad)

Each time I walk out of a movie, I tell myself that i will make a movie one day. I almost always say that to myself. so while it seems increasingly unlikely that i will make a movie (ever!), I thought it best to do the second best thing. Bollywood dance.

So every Tuesday and Thursday, I haul up my yoga mat and trudge my way to the dance studio so that i can soon enough give the Sri devis and the madhuris of Bollywood a run for their money.

Only, unfortunately, i dont think i am that good.
Any good.

But then, does that matter? :)

And in my defense i am getting better by the second.

The jhatakas and the matkas come more naturally to me now. I  can finally do something that resembles bhangra- my version of a bhangra-ish jiggle, I can finally follow about 10% of the instructions and I can do most steps without blatantly staring at people around me to copy their movements. (and i can stretch my legs and make my head touch the floor! Yay!)

I love the two hours i spend dancing each week. I look at the watch when we start the class. 7:30 pm and when i look up at the clock again, it is already past 8:30.
Where did the hour vanish, i say to myself, amazed each time.

By the time I finish the class I am on some endorphin induced super-duper high that refuses to go away for the next 30-40 minutes. I simply cannot sit still.

So the next time you are in a tube in London and see that girl carrying a pink yoga mat in her cloth bag, standing by the door of the train because she has too much energy to sit down , doing mini versions of dance steps- yeah, that's me.

And yes, i highly recommend dance classes. Join one if you can.

Have a great week ahead.
Love
RP

Barfi! - A review

*some spoilers ahead, in fact I write this presuming that my readers have already watched the movie!*

Before Barfi Anurag Basu made 'Kites'.  While Kites was probably more Roshan than Basu ( I liked Kites as well though, very commercial yes, but nicely put together), it is difficult to believe that the same man was at the helm of Barfi.

I always feel that the movie speaks a lot about its director. For example, while I have never met Raju Hirani, (and probably never will) I like him as a person. I really really like him as a person. This is because I believe that a work of art speaks volumes about the creator. By that logic, Anurag basu is very very likable.

Barfi is a sensitive, warm, fuzzy film. When you set out to make a movie that depicts romance between a differently abled couple the easiest thing to do is to try and make the audience cry. Basu's brilliance is that he does not want his audience to go there.  He took the more difficult road- and has tried to make you smile. Not laugh ( though i did a couple of times) but mostly you will find yourself smiling, your heart all warm and fuzzy as you watch this movie. In fact it is one of those rare movies that make you smile even before the first shot appears on screen! ( Was not that little ditty super cute?). However, being the tissue wielding fan of Indian cinema that i am, i could not see a movie like Barfi and not shed a few tears. There is this scene in the movie when Barfi is at his death bed and Shruti has come to bid him a good bye. Jhilmil pats Shruti's arm and cheeks to comfort her. There was something about the autistic, touch phobic Jhilmil  comforting a fully abled Shruti that touched me.

ANyway, i digress. Lets go to the beginning and not jump times like Anurag Basu has in the movie.

When the first shot materialised on the screen-the hills of darjeeling- it was nothing spectacular really but it all looked so beautifully put together that every cell the creatively sensitive me was delighted. Ravi Varman, kudos to you for creating a believable 1970s (no, i was not on the planet in 1970 and have never been to either Darjeeling or Calcutta then but i believe you when you tell me how it all looked then).  I breathed a happy sigh and settled in comfortably expecting a lot. 

Thankfully i was not disappointed.

Barfi is a fable, a river, that meanders in a valley and you move with the flow of water taking in the subtle beauty that meets you at every turn.

The actors (lead and supporting) are excellent. Ranbir Kapoor can pat his back, he has truly arrived. While i am a true blue Khan fan but i have to say that Ranbir leaves all the three khans and the Kumars and the Roshans far behind.  He delights with the flick of his ponytail and he charms when leads the local policeman on Chplin-esque chases. He warms the cockles of your heart when he pretends to gobble up Priyanka Chopra's hand made aate ke toys. And does all of this without speaking a word.


(He does speak two lines, one is English and one in Hindi before the movie begins. 'Dhoomrapan karna swasthya ke liye hanikarak hota hai. Isse kark rog ho sakta hai  ie Smoking is injurious to health. Smoking can cause cancer)

Saurabh Shukla who plays the police officer is superlative.

I don't do reviews because sitting on my sofa , the fact that i watch most Indian movies does not give me the right to critique work done by people who have invested time, energy , skill, heart and soul into it. However, nothing is perfect. And the same can be said about Barfi.

The strength and weakness of the movie is the plot.  While the love story, whether Shruti and Barfi's or Jhilmil and barfi's- is a delight, the whodunit that crops out of nowhere was not needed. It confused me but i was very indulgent towards Anurag Basu because the rest of the movie was superb.

Priyanka Chopra excels. I do not know enough about autistic people to comment on how authentic she looked but i believed her. And that is all that i, as a movie goer who has spent x number of pounds for a ticket, really ask of an actor. Jhilmil as she doggedly follows Barfi who wants to get rid of her is endearing to say the least.And what is equally endearing is when Emraan Hashmi and his heroine would have kissed for 20 minutes, Barfi and Jhilmil just stand close, smiling, forehead to forehead.

Ileana, with her impressively large, eye liner rimmed eyes is expressive and confident in what she is doing. The portrays the conflict many of us identify with very well. There is this scene towards the end of the movie when Barfi has come hunting for Jhilmil. Not able to find her he is about to leave when jhilmil materialises behind him and shouts his name repeatedly. Barfi, obviously cannot hear and is walking away dejected but Shruti (Ileana can). Without saying a word he expression tells speaks of her dilemma. She could just continue walking and Barfi would never know. She could stop and Barfi would never be hers. It is a beautifully done scene.

The movie is made intelligently, each shot put together with love, care and attention to detail. There are a couple of scenes that stayed with me long after the movie finished (and that is very rare, given the number of movies i watch). In particular, the one where at first it seems that Ranbir is making a portrait of Illeana made me laugh loudly for a long time, then the way Ranbir topples over and stays like that for some moments when he realises that he has kissed the hottest girl in town was hilarious, frustration written large on ranbir's face when he sees a man leer at Priyanka's bare legs was a classic and finally my favourite moment in the was movie when Rabir meets Jhilmil who has seemingly disappeared. All is hunky dory till Illeana materialises, the way in which Jhilimil comes and stands infront of Ranbir protectively keeping him away from Illeana, who she perceives to be a threat is touching in its own way.

The movie as you can see, stole my heart.

Barfi, in my opinion is a must watch.Watch Barfi if you love a good story, if you enjoy a master story teller weave his web around you, if you want to believe in love. All over again.

Paris :)

(written many months ago :)  )

It was going to be a flying visit to the capital city of France. We were to reach Saturday morning and leave Sunday night. When Sid asked me what i wanted to do, my answer was simple.


‘Walk around Paris' I said.

This was my second trip to Paris. I had gone there first about 2 years ago with some great friends. While the company was fantastic, the problem was the weather. It was dark and damp and raining the whole while. Even then I had told sid that I wanted to come back to Paris in better weather and that is what we did.



Highlights of the trip
Let me start with the lowlights :)

• So we were sitting in the Eurostar train as a group of 4 well dressed, fashionable young women came and sat next to us. A little later a potbellied Indian (Asian for sure) uncle walked past with a camera in his hand. He stopped short when he saw the attractive women, pointed the camera towards one of them and said ‘One picture?’. The girl was visibly shocked. ‘No!’ she said. ‘What no?’ he said slyly as he focussed his camera. The girl then hid her face behind her hands as the Uncle jee clicked the picture. As he left I could see the women roll their eyes at each other. I felt acutely embarrassed by his behaviour. And hence this request to all of us who go about of the country- please enjoy yourselves as much as you want to, but also please respect other tourists and women.

• Made my way to the metro ticket counter in Paris when an elderly man pointed to my bag and asked me to keep an eye on it. Apparently some young men were eyeing it. Not a great start, I thought but how wrong was I.

• You can kill me for it but I don’t find the Eiffel tower beautiful. Majestic, yes, but beautiful no. There is very little in it that appeals to my innate sense beauty. Yet as we stood the Trocadero, with the Eiffel in the background, Tibetan musicians playing a haunting melody as the sun set- the hair on my hands stood up- it was just so beautiful. And around me was life. People were milling about. I stared for hours at a couple who were trying to take a picture of themselves kissing the sides of the Eiffel tower ( in the background). Each click would be followed by them hopefully turning around the camera to have look at the picture and then they would burst out laughing. The looked like they were so much in love. I saw this young family with a little daughter. The father hoisted his daughter high above as the child gurgled with laughter and extended her hand. The mother grabbed the photo op and clicker ferociously as the daughter lunged forward for the camera. Twins wearing identical clothes and hopping around…

• We walked for hours and hours and hours (reached Paris at 11 and walked till 4 when we reached our hotel, left again at 7 and walked till12 on day one. Day two we started out at 12 and walked till 7!) and discovered parts of the city we did not even know about. And that truly is the joy of walking the city on foot.

• At eleven in the night we reached the Louvre. I have been inside the museum before and all I wanted to do was to stare at the building at night. And what a sight it was. The warm yellow from inside the pyramid and the understated elegance of the museum building. I highly recommend going there at night!

• We were entertained by skaters who performed stunts for the tourists next to the Cathedral of Notre Dame

• I bought handmade paintings (tiny ones) from an artist in Paris. They are gorgeous and will add to my collection of handmade paintings by street artists from my travels

• Paris and London are a lot like each other. Yet there are massive differences. The biggest one was music. Parisians sing and play instruments so much more than the Londoners do. So there was this group of Moroccans sitting in the gardens below the Eiffel Towers singing in a group seemingly having the time of their lives. The trocedaro- people has gathered in groups are were playing instruments and singing along…

• River Siene that runs through the city is gorgeous. Particularly around central Paris. The day was sunny and the night was warm. As we strolled, we spotted hundereds of people sitting on the banks, their guitars in tow singing, laughing and having a great time. Everyone was relaxed and happy and it was so nice to be there!

• Our hotel was close to the Eiffel Tower but that was not the best part about it (for as you already know I am not a big fan of the Tower). The hotel was bang in the midle of a criss cross of lanes that had beautiful cafes and restaurants all over. I had a great time exploring the streets, eating in the cafes, inhaling the smell of freshly baked bread….amazing!

• Shopping- in Paris you have to shop. Now generally I can flit in and out of shos for hours and hours and not find a single thing. Very rarely, and it does happen once in a while, I just manage to find a whole lot of stuff that I really like. And that, my dear friends happened in Paris. Quick and clean- I had bought about 6 dresses in one hour flat. Obviously one of the highlights of the my trip

In love with Paris!

Love
RP

Down the memory lane

I tried very hard today to think of the earliest memory I have of my brother but nothing came to me. I thought harder but still nothing...there were blurry, long forgotten scenes from our childhood that flashed before my eyes but I dismissed every one of them. I was thinking these thoughts when it hit me.

I do not know or recognise life without my brother. He has always been there and i mean it literally.I was all of a year and a day old when he came into the world making me, at the tender age of one, an elder child.

One of the most distinct memories i have is of us sitting on the verandah overlooking the huge, lush, green garden and chatting. We must have been 5-6 or maybe younger, i don't know..

I stared at him playing with something in his hand and asked him ' What do you think of when you are not doing anything?' ( Yes, I used to ask such questions)
'Nothing' he said shrugging his shoulders.
I remember being blown away by that answer as in my head a mishmash of thoughts and ideas are perpetually running amuck. To imagine a mind that thought of nothing was so amazing. And so simple. And so relaxing...

We looked a LOT like each other when we were young (yes, things changed when he grew a moustache and beard, thank God for that!). So much so that a lot of friends at my all girls school often asked me about my twin. I have to add, that though we look like each other and share the same gene pool, it is amazing how similar you can be and yet how much better looking one can be compared to the other. He wins the 'Better looking sibling' crown hands down!

Ma tells me how she used to call me 'didi' so that Bhai would learn to call me that. Of course what then happened was that the little me began to think that my name was 'Didi' but more on that later sometime :) What also happened was that all his friends call me 'Didi' which was really funny because some of them were actually older to me!

We would sit in the clothes cupboard, he would be the shopkeeper and i would be the customer. We would take our cycles out and race as the monsoons lashed around us. We spent hours playing with the white gate (yes, don't ask me what joy we got out of standing on the gate and sashaying on it) I picked peas out of his rice pulao and he dropped me to my school before he went to his own when he got his bike. He tried to teach me to ride a bike once which was nothing short of a disaster...soon cycles and bikes gave way to cars and we would drive around the city catching up over hurriedly bought ice cream. He devours everything i cook and he is the only person i get to boss around.

When Ma would not allow me to go for that party, he would work on my case. Being a man, and hence not in the favour of using more words than are absolutely necessary, I have , over the years adopted the role of his PA in our family. When Ma asked him about what is happening in his life, he is reported to have told her to speak to me. (Yes! and this happened last month!)

He is also the funniest man i know. And how can you not love someone who makes you laugh at the drop of a hat?

I on the other hand believe in bawling my head off at suitable occasions.

I bawled my eyes out when he left for med school and was such a pathetic mess each time he was to go back to med school after holidays that i never (and i repeat never) went to the station/ airport to drop him off. At my vidai  I was...you guessed it right, bawling my head off again as i hugged everyone around me one last time before i left. Tears streaming down my red face and barely able to manage my saree,l hugged Bhai. And what did he do? Pretending to pat me comfortingly he smacked me hard on the shoulder.
'Ouch!' i said indignantly to him the tears forgotten.
With that characteristic slow smile on his face he whispered into my ear ' Dharti pe bojh, now go terrorise Sid!'

Though we have had our fair share of wars over the remote control/ computer / cycle etc, compared to other siblings I  know of we never really fight much. Sitting here, i cannot recall the last time we had a fight. I have also realised how well we work as a team. I gave multiple interviews when my first book came out and one of the most common questions was around how the well the book was marketed online. Which agency had i hired, asked a journalist once.
'My brother' i said to him smiling.

Even though he is younger by only a year (and one day), he is and will always be my younger brother. I am ever ready to pounce on anyone who dares say a word against (funnily enough if the same person was to say the same for me, i would not even be bothered). I have never seen him hit a child (even when he was much younger) or speak rudely to an elderly person which is why i repeat what i said about him in the acknowledgement on my book.
He is the nicest, kindest, funniest man I know. And he is my brother.

So today i recited a long winded sentence telling him how i wished and prayed for rosy health, continued happiness and greater success for him this year and forever.He paused for a minute.
'Same to you' he said.

I could not help but smile.
Happy Rakhee, Bhai.

LOL

It was raining and i did not have an umbrella.I had my iphone open in one hand and blackberry in the other as I tried to take an address from my calendar in the blackberry and stick it on the map on my iPhone. I had just realised that i had walked 15 minutes in the opposite direction. I also knew that I was 20 minutes late already. Sid was waiting for me. I would have taken a cab, had i any cash on myself. In short, I was a mess.

That is when i heard him walking on the sidewalk next to me.

'Country? country?' he said looking at me. In his early twenties, he was thin with a little beard on his face.

I made a face at him and pretended to not notice. I walked as fast as my heels permitted.

'Country? country?' he repeated walking faster to keep pace with me as the rains lashed on.

'India' I said.

A moment's silence.

'I can give you my number' he said after a pause.

I mentally LOL-ed.

'And what would i use that for?' i said unable to stop myself.

'You can call me' he said in a matter of fact voice.

I must have still looked questioningly for he felt the need to explain further.

'You can be my friend, you know' he said benignly.

I made a face at him.

'I am a manager' he said ' a big, big manager' he said as if that would definitely make me change my mind.

I looked at him both the phones in my two hands ringing as the rain pelted down.

'I am married' i said to him.

He stared at me for a moment, blinked once or twice and then without a word about turned and walked away.

LOL.

The problem

The problem is that while we all know that we will die one day,since we do not know when that day will be, we don't think too much about it. This is the present and we think and live in it. Death is but a distant event.

That, I have realized, is the problem.

Because if we were very aware (and by aware I mean really, totally, every-cell-of-my-body aware) that there was only limited time on the planet would not you and I have used 'today' better?


Live!

Love
R

Twenty seconds with a legendary batsman

So there I was, late evening , at the Heathrow airport ready to fly to India for a 4 day trip (it royally messes with the body clock , by the way, to travel to india for a 4 day holiday but more on that later) when i saw him.

Busy day at work, followed by frantic packing and then a hurried cab ride to the airport- I was fairly tired and all that i wanted to do was to get on the plane and doze off .(No, as luck would have it, I did not sleep even one bit on the plane)

So, well, there was the man who had just caught my attention. He seemed oddly familiar.

It took me a few seconds to realise that the slight man standing but a few feet from me filling out some form could be the legendary batsman, Mr Sunil Gavaskar. Sid and I walked past him but we were still not sure.

I went back to grab a sandwich and spotted him again. This time i saw a random Asian guy pass by, come back to him and touch his feet. Maybe it was him, after all, i thought.

What i did not want was to do was to gallop happily to a man who was not Mr Gavsakar.

So this is what I did.

I walked back and when face to face with Mr Gavaskar, I in my politest voice, said this to him:

'Excuse me Sir, but do you just happen to look a lot like Mr Gavaskar or are you indeed Mr Gavaskar?'

His eyes grew bigger with mirth as the man standing next to him started smiling as well.

'Well' he said ' You know, I am always being confused with Mr Gavaskar! Always' he said seemingly quite stricken.

By now he was laughing as was the man with him.

I extended my hand towards him ' It is a pleasure meeting you, Sir' i said politely and shook hands with him.

He smiled, nodded his head and walked off.

I then did what any self respecting woman of the 21st century should do at such occasions. I updated Facebook ;)

Love
RP