Avozinho

A small article I wrote for a booklet published for my maternal grandfather's 100th Birth Day. It was written in a hurry and with inputs from my dear true cousin San!

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The 1st of April, is celebrated as April Fool's day all over the world. But in our family it was always the birth day of our grandfather, our Avozinho. The school summer vacations would start by the end of March, and so all of us cousins, uncles, aunts would congregate in Quepem to celebrate Avozinho's birthday.
Avozinho always loved to have his grandchildren around him, and although nobody dared to play any pranks on him, he enjoyed watching us play pranks on each other. His birthday was one big celebration where the whole family got together and had a good time.

Avozinho always loved visiting his children/grandchildren for their birthdays. Except for the last, I don't think he ever missed any of mama's birthdays, and would always stay the night at our place. He would come all the way from Quepem to Vasco by bus, and would reach by afternoon, and never once did he come empty0handed. He always brought a jackfruit or something from his huge gardens and other properties. After a quick nap he would be as fresh as ever, I always admired that in him. He was very interested in knowing that we were doing well, and encouraged us to do even better.

Whenever Alvaro and I visited Quepem, we were always welcomed with open arms by Avo and Avozinho. Avozinho was always concerned about how our studies were going on, and how we fared in our exams. A good education had top priority for him, as evidenced by all his well educated children. He was very strict about table etiquette and manners, and liked us all to well versed in using our forks and spoons!
Avozinho was also very particular about respecting and obeying once's parents. We were always encouraged to seek our parent's and other elders' blessings every night before bed by Avozinho. 

In those hot lazy afternoons, a welcome noise was the ringing of the ice-cream cart's bells. We were all made to stand in line and given money by Avozinho to buy the ice-cream of our choice. And ice-cream was the best treat you could give us kids!

He is the only grandfather I have known, and although I didn't get to spend much time with him, I will always treasure those few memories I have of my Avozinho.

The call

Ok, so I was loaded with work yesterday. Usually I spend time on shopping sites & blogs, but yesterday I just didn't have any time. As I was busy typing I got a call. When I checked the phone screen, I saw that it was a Goan land-line number. I answered immediately, there was a man at the other end of the line. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hello!

Man: Hello, who's speaking?

Me (irritated): Whom do you want?

Man: You??? I thought I'd called Mama!

Me: Pa??? Is that you?

Man (Pa): Yea

Me: Ok, what happened? Where you calling from? Whose number is this?

Pa: I forgot my mobile, so was calling Mama to tell her, I must've dialled your number!

Me: Oh!

Pa: Yeah, even when I'm calling someone else, I dial your number!! See how I think about you all the time!

Me: Yeah :)

Pa: Ok, call Mama now and tell her I don't have my phone. Bye!

*cuts the call*
Me (To nobody): Ok, Bye?!

The call made my day!!! 

Mumbai: Day 5 - Wedding Day!

Ok, so it was finally the day of the much anticipated wedding. All in all a fun, but tiring day.

I got up early, and had my complimentary breakfast at the hotel, and got back to the run to get dressed. Ma, although she wasn't really feeling well (feverish and stomach upset), got up early and dressed me in the sari, and put on some makeup and stuff. And when she asked for a smile while she took a photo, all I gave was a frown, and told her to hurry up! I don't even know why I was that irritated! Sometimes I think I'm the most ungrateful child ever born. My parents do everything they can to keep me happy, and I repay them with a frown and angry words. Every time I do this, I resolve never to do it again, but I just cant seem to help it!

While dressing, I got multiple calls from my friends, questioning the delay, since I was supposed to be in their hotel by max 8 am, but it was 8.30 am and I still hadn't reached. There was actually (!) a stunned silence on the phone when I told them I would come already dressed, as initially I was supposed to get dressed in the hotel with them, and a lady was supposed to come to drape the sari. Apparently, the lady had closed her parlor since she had to come to dress us, and so she would take the decided upon amount, whether the work was required or not!

Anyway, Pa walked me to the hotel where my friends were getting dressed. When I entered the room, at first I thought I'd got the wrong room, due to all the unknown faces staring at me in the doorway.But on going further in saw my friends. The unknown faces were the parlor ladies. Anyway, there was a lot of chaos in the room, stuff thrown about and girls in saris running around looking for things. Everyone was almost ready, and were just applying the finishing touches (of makeup). I spoke to the lady about the sari, and she agreed to do my hair for the amount she would have charged to drape the sari, so that wasn't a complete waste.

Anyway, when everybody was ready, we had a quick photo session, and left for the wedding hall, which was just across the road.

This was a typical Marathi style wedding, so not a lot of noise, but no dancing at all. The groom arrived soon after us. When he first reached the hall, the bride's mother welcomed him with aarti and stuff. For that, he needed to remove his shoes, and step on a small platform stool kind of thing. When he removes his shoes, the girl's side people (cousins, siblings, friends) snatch his shoes, and then ask for money in return for the shoes. Its tradition! I missed most of this since I was on a call, but one of our friends got the groom's shoes, getting scratches and cuts while doing it! She actually fought the groom's cousins and screamed "My Sari! My Sari!" when they tried to gt near her!! She was my hero!

 Colored rice to be thrown on the couple (like confetti?)

Anyway after that the wedding ceremony started. All the pooja, pheras and everything. We didn't get to see much of it since it was taking place at the front and people were crowding there. We just sat back and tried to take photos. After that a fabulous lunch, and it was time to leave.

Some of us:

The Couple

We went back to the hotel where I was to share a room with Mag. So, the two of us went to our room, and had yet another quick photo session, after which we washed and changed and went off to sleep. After we got up and had some yummy chicken sandwiches, it was time to get dressed for the wedding reception. There wasn't much chaos this time around since most of us weren't wearing saris, so we all got dressed in our respective rooms, and left for the Reception, which was at the same place across the road. 

We wished them again, another photo session and went to dinner, which was pretty uneventful. Caught up with some other friends who came late. With our stomachs overfull, we left the hall to say buy to the bride.
It was a very emotional farewell for her and her parents, lots and lots of crying and hugging, I don't really know why. I mean its not like ancient times, she'll keep meeting her parents and even staying with them and all. Anyway, to each his/her own.

We reached the hotel and with not much time to sleep, since we would be leaving for the bus stop in like 4-5 hours, we all gathered in one room and got to talking shit and stuff. That was fun, but I fell asleep halfway through! I guess everybody was getting sleepy after a point, so we just moved to our rooms and slept for like an hour. Got up and half asleep we left for the station. Back to Pune and back to work!

Mind Mess!

Ok, so I've got a lot on my mind right now. Like a lot!!! And I don't function well when so many thoughts are running about in my head, so I'm going to put them all down here. Maybe not all, but most of them at least. And please excuse the excessive punctuation, I'm very, very disturbed right now. So here we go:

First and foremost on my mind is the betrayal I faced from my own flesh and blood, my guardians, my PARENTS! Yes, you read that right, my parents, the same people who brought me into this world, have deceived me. This is something you never see coming, I mean friends come, betray and go. But family, never! They are the ones who are always for you, with you. Or so I thought!

Anyway, without further ado I present to you the betrayal, as it happened:
I call my parent every night to take their blessings, its something I've been doing all my life. So, as usual I called them last night, and after taking the blessing from Ma, I was about to say good night and disconnect when she suddenly said, "Oh, our tickets have been booked, we'll be going to Shrinagar in September". I went "WHAAAATTTTTT?" out loud on the phone, and "WTF?" in my head.

Yes, apparently they had planned and booked a whole holiday, without even asking me! Can you believe it? Yes, I was speechless too. I mean, what kind of parents do that? Like really!
It seems, Ma and her Sister had unclaimed LTAs (Leave Travel Allowance - They can claim a full refund on air fares for themselves, their spouse, and non-working kids, once a year or so), so they decided to go somewhere since Sis was retiring and wanted to use the last LTA she got. Sis said Shrinagar, so Shrinagar it was. I wasn't asked because:

- Ma didn't think I would get leave from work.
- Ma didn't think I would want to go with Sis and her husband.
- Sis realised that without me, hiring taxis would be easy! (Since there were only four of them, one taxi would suffice).
- Ma didn't think I would get leave, again.

And its not like she didn't have any opportunity to ask me, or even tell me, for that matter. I mean, she speaks to me only like EVERY single day!

Anyway, whats done is done, the past cannot be altered. So, after a fair amount of soul searching and crap, I've decided to silence my wounded pride, and shamelessly tag along!

"I'm going on HOLIDAY!!!!! WOoHooOo!!!"

Now that I've dealt with the betrayal in a fair way (They're gonna (literally) pay for this!), I have to make a list of place to visit and all. Super excited. I'm finally breaking the circle of Goa-Pune-Mumbai-Goa-Pune-Mumbai-Goa-Pune-Mumbai....

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In  other news, I've been feeling somewhat guilty. Why? Because I got promoted. And my teammate did not.
Now, I'm more experienced than him, and more deserving too, IMHO. So I don't know where this guilt is coming from.

Maybe I'm just too nice a person! No, that's something I've never been accused off, believe it or not!
Maybe its like misplaced guilt or something, or maybe I'm just being too dramatic, I just haven't figured it out!

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Also, my flatmate of 9 months is leaving for the USA on Friday. And she informed us about this on Monday! So we now have to look for someone who is ok with Non-Veg (Beef/Pork are the biggest issues!) and us, and is Goan, in exactly FOUR days! How that's gonna happen, I have no idea!

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And Nadal's out of Wimbledon, first round!!! On the bright side, this gives Federer a shot at the trophy.

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Now that I've got it all on my blog and off my chest, it doesn't seem that overwhelming!  Phew! Off to dinner!

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Picture Of The Day: Lone Fisherman on Pashan Lake:

Goa Trip: 1-3 June 2013

Ok, so I was in Goa for a really really short trip. Some glimpses:

Bored in the bus: With nothing to do except listen to music or sleep, I took to photography!

View from the bus as I reached Panjim: It was raining heavily which would have been a welcome change from Pune, if I'd not been wearing cloth shoes!

Reached home, and after a quick shower, re-arranged the book shelves: I take books I buy home, once I'm done reading them. Filled one of the shelves, and so had to make space in the other.

  

Inaugurated the new wine glasses: Homemade Red wine with lunch and dinner, in the most beautiful glasses ever!

Yummy lunch: Rice with Prawn Curry, Shengo (Drumsticks), Tisreo (Clams), simple and tasty.

Followed by the best chocolates ever!!

The next day: Had a sari modelling session with Ma.

  

Another modelling session, with a cousin: History repeating itself? I used to play dress up with Ma's saris all the time when I was a kid.

MaPa's Wedding Anniversary Party (The main reason for the trip): 28 years together!

All the cakes:

The next day: Bully!!!!

Bully & Zac: Brothers!

 

View from the same bridge, in the opposite direction though.

Spider on my wall: Yes, we get spiders, snakes, centipedes and all sorts of creepy crawlers in the house.

~ The End ~

Mumbai: Days 2 - 4

There was a time
I used to look into my father's eyes.
In a happy home
I was a king, I had a golden throne.
Those days are gone,
Now the memory's on the wall.
I hear the songs
From the places where I was born.

- Swedish House Mafia

Ok, so for the next three days I really was a queen, as I always am when with my parents. After the big party, my parents, who were also in Mumbai that week came to pick me at the hotel. We had a quick photo session in front of the water fountain thingy, and then left. After a long long ride around Mumbai in the auto (everything was closed due to the bandh, even the malls), we finally got off at the Infinity mall, and had the best movie experience! Had a quick lunch and were back at the guest house where they were staying. It was a far cry from the hotel I'd just stayed in the previous night, but it was home for now.

The next day I had my quarterly doctor's appointment, which went pretty well except for the fact that a Thyroid problem was detected in my blood test. Since I was doing well from the looks of it, she (the doc.) asked to repeat this test in a month, preferably at another place, to verify the results. So, although I was a bit disturbed with this new problem initially, I have since decided there's no use in worrying about it now when it is unconfirmed. I will worry when there is actually something to worry about!

After another quick lunch at a nearby place and a hunt for the best concealer, we went home and rested (read lazed) around for the rest of the day. The next day we were told we had to vacate the room, since due to some mis-communication the room had been booked only till the previous day. So, we moved across the city, from Andheri, to Dadar into a a nice hotel. Ma was feeling pretty sick by now, due to something she ate. So we stayed in the hotel the rest of the day.

Continued at: http://pitchdarkroom.blogspot.com/2013/07/mumbai-day-5-wedding-day.html

Bombay Talkies

Ok, so I was in Mumbai last week, and had the best, most awesome movie experience ever!! We went for the movie "Bombay Talkies", at the Cinemax Gold Screen in Infinity Mall, Andheri.

I never knew such a place existed, never even imagined it. At first, it looked like any other movie hall, with more softer and larger seats. But as we explored more and found that the leg rest went right up (see below pic) and we could adjust the head rest also. Ma later told us that some people had blankets also, and were all cozy in their seats!

I really wanted to take a pic of myself in the seat, but couldn't. So found the below pic on Google:

I've heard it said that certain rich foods are sinful, but I think seats like these have got to be much more sinful!
This is the benchmark against which all future movie viewing experiences will be compared!!

The movie wasn't that great, which turned out to be a good thing, since I got to catch up on some sleep. I guess they were trying to be modern or something, don't know what exactly. I just didn't see the point of the movie. They were just a bunch of random short stories.

I expected a bit of glamour and sparkle and shine, since Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar directed two of the stories, but alas, went home disappointed, since it was pretty dull!
Rani Mukherji looked good though, but then again I think she'd look good in anything after Aiyya!

All in all, the movie sucked, and would have been a waste had it not been for the seats!