The Other Side of Life

Do you have a happy place? I never did. But now, I do. Last month, Sherlock and I were on a trip of a lifetime. We went driving all around Ireland and Scotland. Here on, if I use the word beautiful anywhere in the rest of my post, please feel free to report my blog as Spam, because there cannot be a bigger disservice to the places we went to than describing them with an adjective as trite as that. It rained a lot there. Except on one day. The day we went to Cliffs of Moher.  On a bright sunny day, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. The geography of the place is quite logical - there are cliffs extending to both sides of the Visitor Centre. You arrive at the Centre and decided whether you want to go left or right. And then start walking along the cliffs. The trail is amazing, to say the least. It overlooks water and one step here and there, you can say goodbye to all that you love. So we reached the Centre and decided to walk towards the right. WIth sun out...

When I was younger, December holidays meant eating peanuts in the sun, while the mother knit a sweater. It meant snuggling in a razai and slipping into a vegetative state reading and re-reading books, or watching Disney cartoons in the one hour of TV that was allowed. It meant assisting in the annual ritual of making gajar halwa, and being designated the head taster. It meant somehow flexing your cold-numbed fingers to make greeting cards for the new year. It meant hugging a hot water bag and fighting for your space in front of the room heater. And the big new year's eve meant hoarding chips and snacks for the glorious party night and then depositing oneself right in front of the TV at 10 pm to watch Doordarshan's exciting countdown - "Coming Up - Two Hour Entertainment Programme". Sharp at 12, when the good folks at DD would announce the arrival of New year with the exact same graphics every year, of crackers on a black screen and the words "Happy New ...

In 1999, the biggest fad of our lives was Cable TV.  Our TV had suddenly graduated from 2 channels to a glorious 46 channels. The remotes ended their 20 year strike that year and the unused numbers finally had some utility - they had a purpose to their lives now - to show channels beyond double digits to their owners. But for that generation of teenagers, the most exciting part of Cable TV was the Cablewala Movie Channel. In typical middle class households, TV viewing till then was restricted to Doordarshan News at 9 pm and a few shows like Shriman Shrimati and Rangoli. Movies on TV meant the oft-repeated classics of Sholay, Chupke Chupke, Chamatkar on lazy Sunday afternoons. To a starved generation like that, you gift a channel like this and what you get is pure glee. The Cablewala Movie Channel was a legend in itself. On Fridays, first day first show, all the cable guys would book tickets, sneak in a cheap video camera into  single theatre shows and record the ...

(This post was a Tangy Tuesday Pick! Yay! Check it our here -  http://blog.blogadda.com/2016/01/19/tangy-tuesday-picks-blogadda-indian-bloggers-blog-posts ) It's ok to feel bad when something good happens to someone. It's ok sometimes to want to shoot with a gun. It's ok to be irritated when someone scratches fingernails on Teflon. It's ok to miss a post or two in your first Blogathon. It's ok to not want leave Goa and come home. It's ok to suffer a severe case of Monday blues syndrome. Its ok if your motivation level is not that of Aragon. It's ok when bad connectivity makes you miss Blogathon. It's ok to eat good food everyday, like Cheese Patty. It's ok even if the food is unhealthy and fatty. It's ok even if you resolved this year to run a Marathon. It's ok even if while eating, you forgot the Blogathon. It's ok to never ever want to go to work. It's ok to sit at home when office has a vintage Wifi network...

The solutions to most problems in life is having some sand in your feet. Over and out.

Every 3rd day, some 10 people on my Facebook timeline share this link and tag their friends, with the comment - "Lets do this!!". I am talking about this link:  30 Off-Beat Places to Visit in India Before You Turn 30 I diligently go through the list every time and quite valiantly, tell myself that I would, some day cover these 30 places, with Sherlock of course. In the meantime though, I somehow, always find myself in the exact opposite of off-beat locations. The mainstream tourist destinations. I don't know how. I am not complaining. Mainstream tourist destinations have so much fodder for laughter! Last week, I ended up in Udaipur, with 6 hours to kill before a flight. So I sauntered around to City Palace. And there they were. The multitudes of tourists. There is no chance in living hell, that you walk into such a popular tourist destination and don't run into the school picnic gang. A herd of super-excited school kids, who have been allowed to deviate ...

"Aasmaan Se Tapka, Khajoor Ke Ped Pe Latka" How else would explain my wonderful vacation, moving from one hothouse called Delhi to another called Hyderabad? To be fair, I never thought I was going to a hill-station or Switzerland. But a cooler Hyderabad would have been so much more fun! Cities have their own ways of growing on you. Or of not growing, but clawing at you. Either way, you cannot ignore some cities. Hyderabad is one of them. 20 years, and our love-hate match continues. Day 1 is always the day of the bungle before the war. I emerge from the airport, all optimistic, with brushed up Telugu skills and renewed love for the hometown. Half an hour later, on the top of the long snake-like flyover, enroute to the city, the anger begins to kick in. Conversations with drivers. That's when I realize the war is on. I speak my posh, broken Telugu, and the drivers, their rude, unbroken Telugu. At some point, I try putting up a white flag and shift to Hindi politely. To n...

I have been thinking of a good reason why I haven't posted in a while. It's not that things haven't been happening. There was the mindblowing vacation in Japan, the new found love of my life - my brand new, sleek and super smart iPod Touch, also a by-product of the afore-mentioned trip, the exhilaration of 2 international technical publications in 1 month (Yeah, now I am just bragging! I know! ;) ), the airport incident, the grandparent's visit. Basically, life was happening. But, lethargy unfortunately, took precedence over all this, and I just could not get myself to write! I am back now, basically to rant. About the heat, as the title suggests.   I have always loved summers. Most people look shocked when I say that, but I do. Really. The reasons, I have always stated as (a) Mangoes, (b) Lemonade and (c) Bhindi (Ladyfinger). But here's a revelation. The principle reason why I loved summers was Vacations! Two and a half month...