Chiffonesque

For a couple of days I've had to stay at the company guest house. This guest house is mid-way between my home and office. Rooms were neat and they had the friendliest staff. I wouldn't usually eat there because I'd get my staple of Pune viewing and course-wise eats at Linger On. However, one day I did have their vegetarian dinner- daal, rice, kofta in a spicy curry that carried the slightest hint of nutmeg, and curd. It was delicious! Another excellent consequence of the guest-house stay was my re-acquaintance with T.V. I haven't had one in a long time now and don't plan on keeping one in Pune either. But there's something so delicious about T.V. programs. It's such a mixed bag! You have salty treats like F.R.I.E.N.D.S. or Rules of Engagement, rock candy like The Shield (has anyone seen Glenn Close in that series? She IS rock candy!), or sweet and pickled prunes like Sex and the City. I think it's a great idea to call a service that provides T.V. prog...

All gas cylinders must have a fuel gauge. The gauge must indicate how full or empty the cylinder is. What's the point of constantly lifting up cylinders to figure out from heft how much gas you have left? It's annoying! My rant is based on my inability to figure out if I can go for a week or a month or several months on a gas cylinder. Since I'd be staying by myself and subsisting basically rice and daal every day, I estimated to have gas until March. Therefore, I go ahead and invite friends and promise them feasts and stuff and then, I run out of gas. Today is Sunday and the gas agency is shut. Actually, they aren't much more responsive or sprightly when they're open either but...Now, I'm not sure how long it takes to get a gas cylinder here but I'm guessing it would be at least 2 weeks. That's what the last tenant told me. I am not sure if I can trust him enough now. When I first met him, he very helpfully pointed out the closest route to my office...

It was really cold yesterday. I woke up very early, shivered around for some time, and kept looking out to spot the sun. Many hours later, I went out to the balcony and tried sitting in wide shafts of sunshine that had made their appearance. As pretty as the light was (very chic in a European movie sort of way), it didn't help. The sunlight wasn't warm enough. I cleaned up some more, arranged some stuff, and then shivering and cold, fell asleep. I woke up around six in the evening. It was grey with no semblance of any sunshine having visited earlier in the day. I felt like taking a short walk so I got dressed and headed out. The little lane that leads on to the main road has some construction work happening. It reminded me of walks I used to take from my place to J's house in Koregaon Park. There's a lot happening along my road. A small temple opposite the lane was decorated with marigolds and orchids - a very unusual combination. The flowers didn't really '...

Today, I stirred my coffee with a pair of scissors. Here's how it began: Many moons ago, I was born under a star that decreed that I would be...well...weird. Someone capable of doing much but someone also likely to do nothing. And whatever little I'd do, I wouldn't really do them right. So, anyway. For several reasons I decided to shift to Pune. My stuff - which is my bed, kitchen utensils, etc. - all of those would be reaching the new flat a couple of days later. However, I had to shift immediately because of some interesting arrangement with the broker and the landlord. When I started from Mumbai, I decided to take the bare minimum that would carry me through the next couple of days. I'd also need to shift out to another place for another 2 or 3 days while I started my new job. In the mean time, the rented place would get sorted out, etc. etc. and then  I would move in for good by next weekend. (All of that had made sense to me a few days ago.) Therefore, I th...

I'm moving to Pune tomorrow. It's already been a month into the new year and I'm not really feeling so fresh and new about anything. Pune, though, holds the promise of a shiny, fresh kind of ching!  Over the last few weeks, I've been to Pune a few times. Mostly, I've stayed over at a cousin's place in Khadakvasla and just had the most restful time there. My niece, nephew, and I had once taken our cups of hot tea and chocolate milk and gone to an open field. It was early evening, yet the world had this sweet winter vapour around it. The light was soft and it was chilly. We sat on dried grass, spotted plants with bright orange hibiscuses, and made up stories about the neighbor's labrador, Tipsy. In Pune again, I'd gone for a birthday party at one of my cousin's friends home. There was dinner around bonfires under a starlit sky. My finger tips remember the smudge of warmth I coaxed out from every dying ember. I had a few chilly auto-rickshaw rides...

Through shoddy shards of fate, Across fractured bets and odds, With blind faith we prod along, Being so forgiving of our gods.

Saffron linen of an open sky And on that, a reddish moon platter In the cab, the hand-holding Yet looking away, as if it didn't matter Thick, cottony winter breeze And shrubs with firefly dances In the shadows, the kissing And the stealing of nightly chances Unsaid, undone, thrills, words and deeds And maybe the guilt of not knowing Penitent, imprisoned in cold, steady gaze, And yet...redemption in a poem.

I will perhaps be the one millionth person to recommend  the article 'Joy of Quiet' by Pico Iyer for NY Times. It bodes well for the new year that it has begun with such tender and piercing insight. Maybe, in 2012, the world will not end. It will simply get unplugged. 

Last night. I wrote about the knot of anxiety in my stomach. Early this morning, I got a text from my father. My uncle had passed away due to a heart attack. The day was very busy. I sensed some kind of discomfort in my heart. Tried to come to terms with it. Couldn't. Felt a little better when I received my offer letter from a Pune company I had interviewed for. I now need to look for a home there as I need to shift base by the 20th of this month. Have spread the word on twitter and facebook. Also, written to a couple of people whose details I got off Makaan and MagicBricks. No leads yet. As the day progressed, this sense of fear came back. A weird sense of loss. I don't think it was my uncle. I wasn't too close to him. But of course, he was part of my childhood. And that, I guess, inextricably binds you to someone. Somehow, I feel that the year hasn't really begun for me. It still has the stale dishwater feel of last year's rinses. I was so restless and anxio...

It's just the second day of the New Year and I'm feeling really icky today. There's a knot of fear in my stomach and I'm feeling really anxious about something. Like there's something wrong in the offing. I know this is the first post of the new year and it's supposed to be cheery and all. But tonight, I write to get my mind off things. Yesterday, I watched Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes - 2 in the theater. I loved the final scene of the film. The film has been released in the year when the world is supposed to get over. Will it, though? In a sort of cheeky acknowledgment to this speculation, the final scene of the film has Sherlock quickly reading a document and adding a question mark to the very last phrase...which is: "The End". (So, it finally reads 'The End?') Clever. I wonder if that was intentional. I seem to have my appetite under control now. Ate like a regular human-being yesterday and today. This means that I actually got thro...