To Another Seven Years!

Early afternoon was chaotic….Enter calmness: Ruhi Jhunjhunwala. Thing were smooth thereon.

I consider myself lucky for the friends I have, especially the ones whom I’ve managed to keep beyond a ‘relevant social context’. Miss Jhunjhunwala is one of them. She and I think and feel alike, our reactions to difficult situations as well as movie characters are the same, and we often (used to) end up liking the same guys as well. I couldn't find a Jai Singh Rathore. Now I hope she does. 

She’s been the calming influence on my life for many years now and she’s been my fun-unlimited appletini partner for just as long. She introduced me to that god-awesome green apple martini at Terttulia, Pune back in the day and we continue to have at least one of those drinks at every opportunity we get. 

Post-party trip to Panchgani

She was one of my anchors through the crappiest times in Pune and the period that followed, she experienced Ladakh with me, she made extra effort to visit me in Abu Dhabi, and she made herself 100 per cent available for me at my wedding.

She had offered long distance help as well, but that was difficult for me to work with. So we decided she’d take charge once she arrives in Delhi. And she did it right from zero hour. She ensured the mehendi walas were doing what I had agreed to pay them for, she fed me while my hands were busy, she scratched my face, fixed my hair and did the entire drill through that tiring afternoon of the mehendi.

Each day she was there to ensure that my makeup was right. Her opinion on the hair mattered, and so did her vote on vetoing various lip colour options. 

And in parallel she managed to get her hair too :P

She also managed the gold jewellery when Mom had her hands full. She coordinated with family, cousins, friends, driver, photographer, hotel staff and the whole world (it seemed) on my behalf through those three days. Heck, she even organised the cash properly in my wallet! I hadn’t done it in weeks and it meant a great deal at that point when I was least expecting it.

She lugged my clothes and bags around for me. She dealt with my tantrums with ease and responsibly managed my things till even after I left with Chetak. 

She stepped in when I was beginning to feel that I cannot reasonably ask anyone to give me that level of undivided attention. Everyone had something else to attend to. I am sure she did too, but she made an exception. For me. I hope she had the time to have fun too.

A small part of me also wished I could join her in the Himalayas after the wedding, but that was just a wish at that point.

I am proud of her for finally getting her nose pierced before she left Delhi.

Now she can sing 'mera laung gawacha' more legitimately!

And I am waiting to celebrate her 30th in style. Open skies and the mountains await. 

Till then, remembering the year of the 27th!

End of Term III

The term has finally come to a close. Just another two days left. These four months were the biggest drag in this place. I didn't do anything. I didn't feel like doing anything. Emotional instability killed a lot of things. But I still have pictures to remember the few good 'moments'. Hope you enjoy them...

At Mocha on the day we first tried going to Srivardhan/Diveagar.

This festive procession that day didn't let us move out of the city.
The July-Oct months are anyway the most festive in this part of the country. Some or the other celebrations keep happening on the streets.

We had very few classes during the first week or so of this term. Swetha and I are known for absolute casual dressing. So the free time led to a makeover and a little shoot of hers in the room one night.

The wall that I did up during those free days.

Went to Srivardhan beach with these three girls.

Had the time of my life on my first ever beach trip!

Delhi High Court came out with the verdict on gay rights. We were a happy lot.

Went on a drive to Sinhagarh and Khadakvasla with Karan

Dhaniya came into my life

Ice Age mania! I went bonkers over Ice Age 3 for some reason.

Sid joined me!! :D

The new terminal 1D at the Indira Gandhi International Airport happened

I got my new lens. Incidentally, this was the first picture I clicked with it

A drive to Mulshi Lake with the boys!

Budday happened!

We drove to the waterfalls at Tamhini Ghat that day

Like I mentioned, known for casual dressing. Therefore, this was the birthday dress.

Absolutely endless chats with Sahil about the most inane things in the world. That window was open through the entire term.

Sid had a second photoshoot in September

Just the obsession with colours

My roommate was in the organising committee of a big event in college this term. Her preparations took over the room for the longest period.

Random moments in the canteen

The National Radio Meet happened. It is one of the few events here in which I manage to find things that interest me.

Statistics was a big headache everytime it surfaced.

Sahil's birthday happened too!

So much for putting cake on his face!

When we slept through one boring seminar after another

Status quo. Durga Puja days.

The Ambar-Dhara moment

In-class photoshoot. Robin had bought a new camera, and I didn't have a picture with Parvathi

Maggi, of course. I spilled it all over my clothes that day.

And now I shall proceed towards some organisational learning. Tada!

Economics, 501, and US

I've been in Delhi for three weeks now. Finally met Tarun today. He is one person I can talk endlessly with. Best of conversations in the last fours years have been with this 'unemotional' nerd. Have also managed to maintain a long distance friendship going weeks without talking.
Each time we've met after completing college has left me with a happy feeling inside. (Of course, that is in retrospect, I am just registering it here.)
He is moving to Bangalore this July. Our long distance will be more difficult after that. But I am not thinking of anything negative right now.
For now, just making myself happier by writing about him here. :-)


Permanent bone of contention: His hairdos and my health.

An absolutely incredible thing happened today: This guy, who totally hates walking, ended up taking a walk for close to a kilometre with me today. :D

Of mood extremes and sanity

As the 20th days of the month, and of the new year rolls in, I realise for the nth time that my blog has not seen anything happy this year. Not that I have seen anything particularly happy myself, but this one's being tortured.

Aside: I am feeling that I'm being tortured too. I want to yell, and I want to write here that I got a frikkin 98.2 percentile in XAT but my goddamn favourite subject - yeah yeah MATHEMATICS - let me down one more time. I do not have an interview call from XLRI, and am not expecting anything from the other institute that I have applied to either! T says that at least I proved that I am smart. When asked, 'to whom?', he says, 'to yourself'. I think if I could shove this information down my readers' throats, I must have done it by now anyway. I did not need two years of MBA entrances to prove that to myself. Never mind, he was just being nice. It's only me who's losing it. Or maybe, I am imagining, this is the failure story of a star of 2030. When she'll be interviewed then, she will tell the world about it. Don't you think so too? All famous stars do have one such story behind them. :P

Coming back. Something happy. Flickr.com is keeping me happy. My increased activity and interaction there will tell that I am happy.
Ok happy is a difficult topic for today. Let's move to sanity. No prizes for guessing - my friends are keeping me sane. There are some asses who piss me off too, but right now we're focusing on happy friends. Here's one for example. My little bitch. :-)

She was in a pair of shorts with a strange print when I first met her eleven years ago. She did have the prettiest eyes though. She also helped me with my english speaking skills. You know, my personal Rapidex english speaking course. :D But she could not help me with handling water colours. I think she had a sadistic motive behind that. She wanted to tell her friends while watching Taare Zameen Par that I can't paint. That's the moment she schemed for. Now I know. But then she did teach me how to sit like a girl. Haan, I needed to be taught that. Having a brother at home never helps in such things, y'know. She tried teaching me integration (maths...ugh!) too. Ha! That ended at the word 'tried' only. But honestly, I am not so bad at maths. I am confident that I'll be able to teach my kid(s). It's just these stupid exams that fuck my happiness!

Ok let's not digress. Don't you wanna know what all I taught her? I taught her how to clean her glasses, and the need to keep them clean. That when I myself did not wear specs. Hmm. I also taught her how to say 'screw the world, I don't care' and mean it at the same time. Don't judge me - according to blogthings I am only 83% sensitive. Rest of the times I do let the world climb a pole. :D Another thing - she didn't know how to use public transport. Her mom trusted me with it, and that is how I managed permissions for us to go out. Oh, we both taught each other how to participate in a cold war too. It lasted a couple of months. It sucks, not advised for my readers.

Ohhh... one of the most important feats that is part of our friendship -- even though she is half, no 2/3rds of my weight, she used to carry me around as pillion on her bicycle. It was always scary, but a lot of fun! :-)

I think I can go on and on, but there is a lot of work that I need to complete before I go to sleep, so I shall stop here. I can only say that it has been incredible growing up with this beautiful woman. She's one of the most important loves of my life.
As always, she helped my mood right now too. Just shows that she does not even need to be physically present to be able to make me feel better. :-)

God bless her...