Point Wise Life Update

What an absolutely crazy few weeks I have had! Time's been flying. Thanks to a trillion changes and guests at home and all that, I have had an average of two hours per day to do something on my own accord. And I spent many such two hours watching Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. But let's not get there :-) I owe this post to my blog (and the receding number of hits on the blog, I shamelessly admit :P), so here goes...

1. Like I said, I got an unexpected vacation that I pretty much wasted not doing nothing. Went to Bombay, went to see my parents... To make sure that in life there are things that never change. And it SO made me realise it's true. My parents still don't think I have grown up enough to not run away if I fight with R. No no, don't get me wrong. We don't have such run away fights. But what can you say when the first thing you hear after you scream "SURPIRRIIIISSSSE" is "beta, tum Ratnakar ko akele chhor ke aa gayi, lad ke toh nahii aayi ho na?" Trust my parents to expect something AS juvenile as that for me. And I smiled. Because I knew they don't expect me to be responsible, and that was why I wanted to spend 4 days with them. Alone. Without an iota of responsibility :P What an awesome trip it was. I LOVE Bombay. I can't say it enough. Bought great brands dirt cheap, just lay around uselessly with Mum pampering me to death and Dad NOT asking me even once when I intend to collect my BE degree from the university/ do my MBA/ grow up :P OK so ONE thing did change. LOL!

2. Met old friends and new... Neha and Bhavna... At Juhu. And what fun it was, especially with the amount of sea food I hogged on that day... A beach side restaurant, some random conversation, and 3 awesome women (Yes, I am counting myself in too) - happy, strong, spirited. 3 women who are different as chalk and cheese, and yet very similar... So what if one of them likes an ex client's butt and 2 don't :P

3. Came back to Bangalore and realised that no matter how much I love Bombay, Bangalore is home. At least for now. And I love it too. Just like I love the long drive from the airport, and this little place that we call our own.

4. And immediately after I realised how much more at home I felt in my tiny little apartment, I also felt guilty. Just like I do every time I leave my parents back home to start something new and get all excited about it. While all they do there is wait. For my sister and me and now R, to go visit them, to have those peals of laughter and noise in the house that seems deserted to Ma who has, for most part of her life, been surrounded by at least 5 people. We get the best of both worlds and we gloat about it too. Why don't they? But then... They do. With their many recent Marine Drive dates and Sunday dinner dates - my parents are back in their honeymoon days. And that makes me go crazy with happiness :D

5. Coming back to Bangalore... And coming back to R. Felt. Very. Good. :-)

6. In laws came avisiting. Planned a Mysore trip with them. Spent Holi with them. And all the while they were here, I got great food and a lot of discipline.I hope they have gone back thinking they got great food and a lot of fun too :-) It's funny how after a few years away from home towns, there are things about elders in the family that begin to inconvenience us. Like waking up early. Like wearing the clothes they would be happier to see you in. Those were the values and things we grew up with. Where did I lose my roots? I got inconvenienced and immediately felt guilty. And now that they have left, I miss the constant buzz in the house, the kind that I associate my growing up years with... I miss my in laws. Whoever thought it's not possible? :-)

7. Joined the new workplace... It's been 2 weeks, I have been working very hard. Ok I will be honest. I am working :D But after my 9 month long holiday - 3 around the time of wedding and 6 in the dead end corporation - this seems like very hard work :P But I am loving every minute of it. I am loving it that I can make a difference to the company I work for and the people I work with. This is where I belong. I know it now :-)

8. I realised that ever since I moved to Bangalore, I have hated more people than I have liked. I haven't always been like this. My intense dislike for a lot of people stemmed as much from their stupidity/ pretentse/ laziness as my own lack of work. Of late I haven't had time to notice anyone's shortcomings but my own and I want to keep it this way. It keeps me grounded, it keeps me happy.

9. The auto wallahs in Bangalore. They are quite crazy, especially when you travel an hour's distance twice everyday. They want to fight every 5 minutes, and they actually provoke you to scream at them so that you are rude to them and they get an opportunity to scream back! How I wish I could get over my irrational fear of driving! I am being more than civil to all the auto wallahs of Bangalore - they are so rude I am scared of them. The only time I get rude is when they fight for more money in spite of what the meter says. I just quietly utter the words "police station" in my super polite argument. I am scared one day I will leave work and never reach home again. Will something like a public litigation or police complaint against the whole bunch of them work? I get rid of some of the commuting stress by having a full fledged music fest for myself from the minute I sit in the auto. Thank God for portable music devices and nice husbands who give you well timed gifts, I have been a lot less scared of dying while commuting :P and I have discovered my love for music all over again. Like the good old days! And I have finally discovered the most convenient way to commute to the other end of the city today - with much less time spent in the auto. And I have been jumping with joy since morning :P

10. R and I no longer spend as much time together as we used to, we now work in different places, in different parts of the city. And strangely, I miss him! Why does life ALWAYS have trade offs? But there are weekends. Today is the first day in weeks that we are spending alone at home, and it's special. We are doing regular things like arguing, blogging, surfing, making fun of each other, and soon, watching a million episodes of 24 all over again. And it feels good to be back to my corner of the world - completely unadulterated :-)

Off I go... My dear 4 and a quarter readers, if you stop coming here now, I will probably not hold it against you. See you when I see you.