Sound of Laughter

It's good to be single. It's good to have a few, close friends. It's good to have space. The 'good times' are important too, if they are an option. So I took up the option and decided to put that restlessness of all the previous posts and weeks to rest. It meant spending money which I did not need to. It meant going to a city that I wasn't particularly fond of. It certainly did not translate into a vacation because my definition of that word was bound by the place that I visit. But then I did do all of it because I wanted time with some of my most favourite people. 

God bless Gmail for all the emails that it lets me write to these lovely people. I crib, I laugh, I babble, and I am myself. Why go all the way to Mumbai then, you might ask. Because emails cannot substitute tight hugs and the sound of laughter. 

There was Ridhima, there was Swetha, there was Ruhi, and Robin and Avan. Baij too! Well, Swetha is in Delhi too, but this was about all of us being together. Ruhi is in Chennai these days, and she came as well. 

Swetha and I were to travel together. I had heard bad things about GoAir, but my 8:15 pm flight was above ground at 8:15 pm. We landed on time too. The flight was great. We talked non-stop, a first for me because I compulsively sleep on flights. Ridhima and Bhavya came to pick us. Baij was on the same flight as us, so Avan had come to pick him. She welcomed me too. With the sweetest welcome note! 

We grabbed a quick bite, and went to a place called Escobar. It greeted us with good music, and we spotted Madhur Bhandarkar, Rohit Roy and Randeep Hooda. Well, that was just for the record. :P

We talked, the music got better, the place grew on me, and I had a wonderful time! Swetha did the dance too. 

From Escobar we went to Bandstand. I had heard a lot about it and one really can't expect anything ordinary from the sea. It was a no moon night, the tide was high, and the breeze was perfect. My mind split into two for those few moments of sitting there. Well, the sea deserved the attention. :)

The night as well as the following morning at Ridhima's was like going back in time. It was comfortable and pleasant. 

Then Swetha left for her next destination, and Robin took a little break only to meet Ridhima and me for lunch a while later. And guess who else was there for lunch - Ruuhii, my love!!! We went to Chez Moi in Bandra. I liked it. The food was okay-ish, and I paid little attention to it. Ridhima had to leave a little early, but Robin, Ruhi and their pitcher of sangria were enough to make the afternoon perfect. I wanted time to freeze.

Ruhi & Robin with their sangria

Ridhima in her new look

Quintessential expressions

Robin became the butt of this joke

Uff! There was a photographer at work!

Angry Birds at Candies. We had something better for dessert.

Then it was Avan time! Evening was at her place. Robin was nice enough to drop me there. And before we knew it, it was time for dinner, and Robin and Ruhi were back at Avan's. We had not reached a conclusion for our dinner/drinks destination, and we were not even ready. But we managed to figure it all while Avan's friends joined us. 

Dinner: we went to Copper Chimney which was only a short walk away from her house in Khar. I laughed a lot. I was conscious about the fact that it is a very rare thing now, and I wanted time to freeze a second time that day. I did not want to move. I did not want anyone to leave. Not even the people I was not talking to. It was my picture perfect moment. Only it was so much more than that.
It was already midnight by the time we wrapped dinner. Par raat abhi jawan thi. We went to Shiros from there. The place was bloody crowded. Just the kind I easily detest. But we went straight to the bar, ordered our drinks, had one after the other, and literally danced into the night. I was fine. Make that happy after a point. I demanded that the DJ announced and wished me a happy birthday just like all the other birthdays were being announced. Ruhi got him to. I demanded that one of the bartenders came and danced with me. Baij got his manager to agree. The guy was shy and cute. Haha... I embarrassed him! 

With my lovelies!

I think we left from there around 3:30 am. Avan was keen on going to Marine Drive, so she, Baij and I went. But I don't think we stayed there because the cops were already sending people off. Apparently I talked endlessly. I was enjoying it. Feeling free with the one person whom I can trust with my eyes closed. Literally.
I also managed to avoid doing anything stupid with my phone.

Next morning was very late. Well, technically, not for me because I woke up 8:30 am and barely got any sleep after that. Yet, the breakfast date with Ruhi and Robin was cancelled. Because clearly I was not the only one who had a late night. I only managed to go to Carter Road for lunch with Avan and Baij. The place smelled bad, but it was beautiful. Reinstated my pending need for a beach vacation. The food was ordinary, but our conversation was not.
They then took me aboard a local train (my first!) to Bombay Central to ensure that I don't miss my Rajdhani to Delhi. Trains are always fun!! The local was good too because it was a Sunday afternoon and not crazy rush hour.

Bombay local

Bombay is as rough as Delhi can be. Bombay is as warm as Delhi can be. It's your people who make a difference. Nothing else does. Except that Bombay had me sweating while Delhi welcomed me back with a cold breeze.

I feel refreshed. My heart rate is back to normal. Oh, how I love them all! I am almost in a mind to give Bombay a piece of my heart. At least an html one.


Avan, it was certainly not hell. You know why. 

2011: Hello, Woollen Socks!

There has been activity galore in the last ten days. While the Goa plan could not materialise yet another time, I did check two other trips that were pending. 

Mother had been wanting to go to Chintpurni, HP since last summer. We finally managed to go there during the 19-20 November weekend. The highlight was the fact that Dad agreed to come along. I don't remember the last time the entire family took a trip together. So, Mom, Dad, Bhai, the bhabhi, and me started by taking a long walk towards the Amritsar Shatabdi on 19th morning. As always, I was excited to get on to a train. But after having travelled by the Bhopal Shatabdi earlier this year, I was disappointed to see the uncomfortable seats and  the badly maintained coaches. Maybe it was just an old coach of an old train, but I liked the Bhopal Shatabdi more. Nevertheless, the view of foggy mustard fields into Punjab made up for it all. 

We took the train till Ludhiana, and then took a cab up to the hills. Highlights:

• Lunch at Baabe da Vaishno Dhaba by the state highway in Hoshiarpur was to die for! 
• I saw the process of making jaggery at a small setup in the fields near the dhaba, and the smell & taste of the freshly made sugar was absolutely delicious.
• Our driver, Amandeep was hard of hearing and did not use his rear view mirror for driving. I think the gods did know that we were making the trip only for them. 
• Evening is a good time to visit Chintpurni. At least you can breathe. Things were bad when I visited in the morning in 2006.
• The HP Tourism hotel at Jwala Ji is decent to live in, but wouldn't recommend eating there. Their kitchen sucks. 
• The evening aarti at Jwala Ji, on cold nights, is heart warming.
• Matar kulcha on the road outside Jwala Ji is also worth a try.

A goof-up on Sunday night led to a long, unwanted drive from Ludhiana to Delhi, but I did enjoy the little chill in the air and oh-so-amazing paranthas at Sukhdev's in Murthal!

Some mobile uploads:

Processing sugarcane juice

Drying jaggery

Sadda Punjab :P

Mother and Sis-in-Law

A flat tyre in the middle of nowhere

I had to rush to work as soon as we got home. And I worked, fell ill, and attended several meetings until Friday evening arrived and I rushed to pack again for the next trip.

Passive

Boredom and the absence of any activity has left me rather irritated. The flurry of social lunches and dinners have only burnt a hole in my pocket and made my clothes tighter. Neither of the results induce any kind of positive feeling. I went for a play last Sunday which turned out to be pointless; I was looking forward to Rockstar, which also turned out to be useless. My constantly decreasing motivation for photography has made me close that chapter as well. And I have spent almost a whole quarter like this....

__________

Rockstar has good music. It has the Delhi winter and a few shots of my college. Ranbir Kapoor has done a rather good job.  He has acted well, he is looking good, and has given the movie the little strength that it has. But the actress, the dialogues, and the narrative were so ordinary that they managed to kill the movie for me. Completely! And I am yet to see a Hindi musical which doesn't try too hard to connect the dots. 

Sadda Haq should not even have featured in the movie. It brought down the intensity of the song simply because it was placed out of context. 

Few Hindi movies play with guilt, and I really wish that Imtiaz Ali had picked someone who did not just have a pretty face. Nargis Fakhri... aargh!!

I had similarly looked forward to Mausam in September. I did manage to appreciate it far more than Rockstar, but it certainly left me yearning for more. In fact, the romance in the movie completely engrossed me. The cinematography was brilliant, Shahid Kapur looked good, and even Sonam Kapoor was tolerable. But I cannot ignore the fact that the movie was quite stupid in parts. And utterly idiotic towards the end. But I think I can watch it again merely because of the innocent romance. It was nice. 

__________

On a different note, my mind has been thinking of a mute poem the last few days. When life and everything around you seems poetically strung but it silences you in a strange way that you cannot tell if it is good or bad, positive or negative; just something unsettling, something worth your emotions.

__________

If dinners at Taj and meetings with some people seem as worthless as they do, I wonder if power is an aspiration worth nurturing and taking stress for. 

........now hoping to make the last few weeks of the year useful. 

It's a Wrap!

Clicking photographs made me happy. 

Mind Colours