At Viceroy

It was a weekday, late afternoon, I decided to head to Viceroy’s coffee shop by myself for a cuppa tea over a novel. The coffee shop was quite and deserted, as predicted for that time of the day. Braced with my thoughts and my novel, I got seated by the lake view. As my tea arrived, I was sipping it and enjoying every bit of it. Then the waiter, shyly walks over to me and excuses himself for interrupting me, but he had a question that he wanted to ask me. I said go ahead.

He asked me if I was a columnist or restaurant critic for any news paper.

I constrained my elated alter ego with great struggle and asked him why did he think I was a columnist or restaurant critic.

He continued to say “you are by yourself, reading a book and carefully noting something down, so I had to ask”. I went along with it and replied “even if I was one, I cant tell you that”. He then apologized for his brief interruption and excused back to his world. But there I was sipping my tea and felt like a renowned under cover journalist, giving a review to that coffee shop.

I completely forgot about this enchanting memory from couple of years ago, until this morning over our hot chai, V brought up something about “Taj Banjara”.

Colbert Celebrity Feuds

Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report on the celebrity feud between Amitabh Bacchan and Shahrukh Khan. It's a kick just to hear him pronounce Preity Zinta's name. Ok, now, bollywood is fiercely catching on to hollywood, aieh ? Full of s*** gossip, making it to comedy central and all. C'mon shahrukh, rest the case, u aint no Amitabh.

At DMV with manners

Few days after my run in with the cop, while waiting at the DMV, I came across few interesting people. There was this lady who wanted to renew her license, because it was going to expire few days after her b’day or something like that. She was of petite built, with an oversized pale blue sweater on, curly blonde hair, a very homely face, with bare make up. She’s the kind of a woman, who you’d think is married (maybe happily), has 2 boys, is over worked at home or at work.

We got talking and she admitted she doesn’t look forward to her b’days anymore, and the mordant part was it’s her b’day the next day. I felt a pang of sadness for her at that thought. When would someone STOP liking their birthdays and why.

While that thought bubble was in the air, a young mother and her young toddler were walking out, and I heard her say to him “Please wait, dear, let the ladies come first” and from the other side of the door a little girl trots in with a princessly aura. That did it, in the room full of bored faces, few of us cracked up laughing….

Oh, by the way

Few days in the past, in a hurry I quickly hopped into my SUV and started to pace fast to get to work, for my 1 o’clock, but the cop behind me had other plans and pulled me over.

Actually I saw him just while I was entering the school zone and put on my seat belt reluctantly. Nodding my head in denial, I pulled over to the curb side.

Anyway, I had zillion things on my mind so i didnt have any energy left to "act" cautious, and so I was left with my natural charm.

Cop: “Do u know why u were pulled over.”
I was almost about to say: “Was I speeding?”
Cop: “Your registration sticker is from last year, please give me your insurance, DL and registration papers”.

I grabbed my over sized bag from back seat and looked for my wallet, grrh…I couldn’t find it, shoot, not today! I looked again, no luck, and so without choice I sheepishly told him i changed my purse this morning and looks like I forgot my wallet at home : (

I guess as any man with a lady in his life would know this situation, he nodded, and said well, dont worry, just give me ur DOB, Name and last 4 digits of ur social and I did. I was sure he was going to give me a ticket in the next few minutes.

Tapping fingers on the steering wheel and cursing V, for putting my registration sticker on his car, then in an attempt to take it off, he ruined it, and shamelessly put his reg sticker on.

Anyway, the cop comes back and as if he was reading my mind he said you are good I wont give u a ticket this time, BUT, tell your husband his DL expired 16 days ago, if he gets caught his license will be suspended. Score !

CozY BasH !

As my friend puts it, it doesn’t cost money to have fun, just time which you’ll remember later. This also reminds me of a new year I’ll never forget, that I celebrated with bunch of friends in our 2 bedroom apt in Southport, Gold coast. I forget the year, but all of us dressed to kill, rented a sports car, to go downtown and do some clubbing. It was little chilly so we closed the car top or whatever the right lingo for that is. On our way to downtown, we had a to make a quick stop at McD’s to grab a bite. We thought why waste the time and packed our food to eat in the car. Just as we got there, Jasbir, didn’t look too good, we asked him if everything was alright. Doubtfully he replied, I cant find the keys. We were like WHAT ! In frantic, we rushed back to McD’s to see if we left the keys there, everyone checked their pockets, purses etc etc and no sign of it, and suddenly jasbir yells, the keys are in the car, unfortunately due to some high tech alarm system, we couldn’t open it though the keys are in. It’s about 11.30pm on dec 31st, we called the rental car guy, he said he cant help us until next morning, we called cabs to get us to downtown, they said it’s little bit way off the route and they didn’t wanna come, the buses were only after an hour, in all we were stuck under the warm star lit sky in Gold Coast with no means to get anywhere except home, so all five of us walked back home, swore at each other for being careless, but with no means we thought we’ll make the best of what we could do. So, we made cocktails, dimmed the room, to loud music we played truth or dare, shared secrets, danced and partied till the crack of dawn. Will never forget that night…wherever you are Happy New year to friends to all of us who shared sweet times together.

Few days b4 New Years

(The next few following blogs will be all that i've been planning to blog since the last 2 weeks, so, bear with me and step back in time )

On 12/19/06
Bah Humbug:

I’ve a list….well the word list brings a lot to mind but I’ll try to stick to what I’ve on my mind. It’s Christmas and new year time of the year and I’ve cards all addressed but still not posted, becoz of my compulsive feeling that I should give them my touch of festitvity, which I didn’t get to yet, and it’s already the 19th. And I’m expecting a large crowd to mob my home, so I need to revamp my living room, for which I’m not sure if I have enough time to go shop, let alone the energy. So in my mind I’m buzzing in and out of the stores and I’ve accomplished what I’ve on my to do list. But I’m not even close. This year I thought I’ll get a tree and do all the works but with heavy work schedules I didn’t get around that. So apart from what I’ve on my list, I’ve tons of reasons of why I couldn’t get them done. I’ve had a office luncheon on last Friday, dinner at my manager’s home last night, tonite I’ve a appointment in KOP and a happy hour at Maddies, tomorrow I’ve a Polyanna party at work and bingo, I don’t have any time to do what I need to. We have no vegetables at home either. Can use a helping hand badly? But most of all I miss my family and friends.


On 12/24/06
Great Guns !

Over the holiday weekend, I saw “Thank you for smoking”, this is a movie about the devil at its best. It’s a dry-satirical-walk-tall kinda movie. The guy has a - what you’d call the most hated job in the world. He’s a spokes person for the Academy of Tobacco Studies. Translation, he’ll tell you that smoking is good for you. There is a beautiful show of mind and words playing together. People who love to talk or are taken by the people who have the power of gab to convince that bad is good for you, need to see this movie. The brilliance in the razor sharp conversation is not to miss.

On 12/26/06
Rocky rocked !

On Tuesday nite, I wasn’t doing all too well, so after dinner, while trying to doze on the couch, I saw “Rocky” for the first time. I know I never saw the movie, not even the first, second, third I lost count how many sequels it has, but loved Sylvester’s acting in it. The moral of the movie, never judge a book by it’s cover. The best shot I liked is just after Rocky gets the invitation by Apollo Creed to fight him in the heavy weight championship, Mick (rocky’s old time coach who throws him out of league) comes back to Rocky.

The heated conversation between those two, with Mick’s head leaning on the door and tells rocky “this is the moment I’d been waiting for, I’m 73 years old, Rocky”.

All u hear from inside is the sound of a flush from the bathroom.

At that second the drain of energy you see on the coach’s face that he lost what he yearned for is lovely.
Then rocky running in the dark alley to get hold of him to patch up was so neat.

No ticket for me !

I usually have to drive past a school to get to work. As usual me and rocky were on our way just 45 mts after noon. I had a meeting at 1pm so I wasn’t sparing any time. But driving past a school also means that I had to drive slow. At the same time, from my rear view mirror, I spotted a cops car behind me, and reluctantly put on my seat belt.

Just then like some old world charm, he started flashing his light at me, and I was nodding my head in denial and pulled over.

This was the first time ever in PA that I was stopped. The other time was in Chicago and that incident was so funny that I’ll have to blog seperately. Anyway, I had zillion things on my mind so i didnt have any energy left to "act" cautious.

The cop heads over to ask me “Do u know why u were pulled over.”
Before I could say “Was I speeding?”
He broke the awkward pause by saying “Your registration sticker is from last year, u need to change that”. Then he goes on to ask me for my driver's license, registration...the whole thing basically.

I grabbed my huge purse from back seat and looked for my wallet, grrh…I couldn’t find it, shoot, not today ! I looked again, no luck, and so without choice I sheepishly told him i changed my purse this morning and i forgot to get my wallet with me : (

I guess as any man with a lady in his life would know this situation, he nodded, and said dont worry, just give me ur DOB, Name and last 4 digits of ur social. And I did. I was sure he was going to give me a ticket in the next few minutes.

As any suspense thriller unfolds, i had to wait tapping my finger on the steering wheel while he went to his car to run by my dl.

He returns in few minutes and says well everything’s fine, just put the sticker, and this time I wont give u the ticket. I did a small victory dance in my heart. It’s that time of the year with magic in the air, even cops kinda take it lil’ easy I guess.

Then he continued that “Tell your husband his DL expired 16 days ago, if he gets cited his DL will be suspended, all he has to do is go to DMV and renew it”.

I was like what ! why did my husband’s DL is being discussed when he pulled ME over. Anyway, I politely thanked and headed back to work with rocky.

Ho Ho Ho !

Last Thursday (12/21/06) at work, while I was giving a present to someone I really look up to, another colleague asked “so where’s my present”. I replied Santa hasn’t finished making his rounds in India, once he finishes that, he’ll bring ur’s too. He responded in a very bah-humbug way, that there is no Santa, (so much for imagination, huh). So, I told him yes, there is and I could prove it to him. He said fine, let’s see what u got.

In a bizarre spirited coincidence, the next morning when I was reading news I saw a picture of Santa being given a speeding ticket by the Indian cops in Ahemdabad !

Just as I said : )

Peace with God

My two darlings, ammi and baba left for their hajj trip today along with my mama & mami. I pray for their safe trip. We've been talking about this trip for a while and now the day has dawned on us, and i feel terrible that i'm not with them. I take comfort in the thought that I helped them pack, at least that. I’ll miss talking to them on a daily basis, but I’ll be with them in spirit. Love you both…

Lagee kya…

I love creative ads that tickle ur brain and heart. Like the Corona beer’s ad, simple yet with clear message. Anyway, I recently came across this one in India, where a little kid is enjoying his chocolate under the tree, while a cabbie is reversing his car with the tree in the back,
The oily haired pan chewing cabbie turns around and asks “oye, dekh lagee kya”
the kids says “nahi nahi, aajao”
so he backs a little and asks “oye, dekh lagee kya”
the kids looks again and says “nahi nahi, aajao”
so he backs a little more and hits the tree and looks at the kid angrily
and so kid replies “haa ab lagai”

With his eyes naughtily smiling, he returns to peacefully sitting under the tree and unwraps his remaining chocolate. Some simple pleasures just cant be interrupted.

Kabul Express at 4.15 on Sat

After few loads of laundry and one in the washer, we decided it's time to take a break and headed to see Kabul Express in Doylestown, PA. It's about 45 minutes drive and hmm...i'd say about 45 miles away. The movie was into 3 minutes when we got there. But loved the rest of the story.

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

My fave part about the movie apart from Arshad and John was Hanif Hum Ghum. He adds the "regular Afghani guy who's seen it all" kinda character to the movie, he's someone you'd love to meet in real life.

The power of gun, the fear of death, the love of Indian cigarettes, common ground of Md. Rafi, longing to meet families, and not to forget the localites prank of donkey on travellers...drives these people to understand and tolerate one another. The movie almost humanises the face of one of the talibs but the responsibilities the journalists and reporters carry on their shoulders is enormous.

There were few shots i really liked, one's in the car where the talib says, at gun point to Arshad that "thumhari duniya alag hai". Meanings to such sentences come to life only in such situations. The stark difference in the preciousness to life and no fear of death between these people is amazing to notice.

Another shot is when the talib is doing his wazoo before namaz, looks at this american female journalist. You'd think that he's looking at her with bad intentions but as the movie goes on, you'd know that he sees in her what he'd have seen in his daughter. This is a must see movie, it briefly touches the politics of war but takes us into the journey of 3 journalists, one driver of Kabul Express, and the talib who meets his fate in the hands of his own country men.

You walk out of the cinema, wondering who to blame, if u see a quality of a friend in ur enemy, does it make the enemy your friend, who really is your enemy then?

Buick in green

It’s cold and rainy here, so the familiarity of the Buick green car that I came across in two days was something I couldn't pass to mention.

The first time I saw it, I liked his bumper sticker, which subtly stands out to say…

“No one died
When Clinton lied”.

Way to go, Buick in green. Aren't we all living the verities of war in one way or the other.

Yaootza!

I wanted to say just that, before heading to india, so post my 3 weeks vacation, I'll say that again - yaootza with a bang. From the time, I caught my flight in New York to Hyderabad and back, all the series of events are imprinted in my memory as a string of bookmarks. Maybe i should change the title of this blog as tale of 3 cities, Philadelphia, Hyderabad and Rajahmundry. All three very close to my heart that i have a undying patriotism to them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the thought of direct flight to Hyderabad, since I had taken the route via Bombay the last few times and hated it. What amazed me most was the sight of a father traveling with his toddler sans the mother. An interesting thing about being an Indian is there is no guesswork necessary, by the time I came out of the immigration line in Hyderabad, I knew that his wife didn’t get the vacation since she’s a contractor in CA, and since his parents never saw the 3yr old kid, all the family, relatives everyone are waiting to see the toddler and are at the airport to receive him, so that’s why he’s changing the clothes of the child. The father was even keeping an eye on the other kids in the plane who were traveling only with their moms without their pops. One guy, I saw in the flight went to the extent of taking the liberty to leave his duty free bought liquor with me while he can go and do more shopping, in a state of dumbstruck I first accepted but later spotted him making a call in fursat, so I gave him a small gentle piece of my mind and got back.

The echo of sounds and sights of heavy traffic, the incessantly ring of phone at home, the brightness of the light switched on by the maid in the early hours, my mom and dad’s bright voice and face while I climb down the stairs, the sight of street lights with the back drop of vendor’s banners lining the walls of the big buildings in the dark of the night, all this was riotously surfing my heart. I’m unable to shake the feeling of that familiar eeriness that I so love, and though with my body I’m here, my heart seems to left behind in that very heavy traffic streets, and in the homes made of people.

The noise and people talking is so engaging that you don’t even need to say anything. I remember this one situation, I was asked to write something in the comments section for a school book, but then everyone was reading behind me what I was writing, of course they were kids, but in the echo of my very own words that they were reading aloud, I lost the flow of thought I wanted to convey. In other situations I felt the same way… In my brother’s living room, a friend and all of us were talking but I was just being washed with the words that were coming out of their minds. I didn’t say anything, I felt as if I was an onlooker. I compared all this to the deafening silence we all feel in our very living rooms in US. I’m not saying the life in US is not good, but the standards are high, the freedom in your cocoon is highly regarded that it isolates the core of our living. The non-sensical movies, the imitating kids, the prestige hungry wannabe people, I came across all of them in India. But what stuck to me most was the love and warmth of a mother, how she chose to perceive a same situation that, she and I, both witnessed at the same time. The love and affection of close friends, the family treasons, a TC’s amazement, the loneliness of a parents with kids abroad, sight of four kids going through rubble playfully with such innocence, the stark difference in highways to Eluru and Kakinada, a chef’s professionalism in River Bay in Rajahmundry, the face of the waiter who served us dinner in Priyadarshini late night, the drive thru OU to get biryani from Bawarchi to home and then not liking it, the comfort of making a quick turn instead of going through another exit, the palatial temple of Iskon in rjy, not to mention the food at Alex Kitchen, I believe bobby’s cousin in now the host, the guy at gujari’s who was dropping hints for us look around the store while he can start his lunch was utterly disappointed that we were done and we need to wrap up and go.

All I can say is this trip made me look at myself in closer, made me grow a bit more in my own skin. I met up with my old school friends at Zaafron, it felt so f*****g darn good, we all were chattering like there was no end. What I loved most was the fursat-ness in the daily life, really, nobody is in a hurry, there isn’t a drive to get things over with, when the 5 minutes of wait turns into 1/2n hour, u’ll never know. Now that I’m back, I cant come out of that fursat ness, I’ve slowed it down, but I know life here will catch up with me and shake it off of me. But until then I’ll enjoy it.

As I was standing at the immigration line in New York, I started to miss home terribly. The abundance of facilities in order, the plush wall to wall carpet in the airport, the non-chaotic lines, the orderliness seemed very odd to me. I felt like I was in different age and time. I dint seem to like it. While vamsi drove I slept in the car, as I reached home and removed shoes the very touch of my home’s carpet on my feet felt…I don’t know I cant describe it. With much deluge, I headed to work the next day, I felt like I was in another surreal world. The sight and touch of my cube, the same place I spend most of my time, felt pointless. All this felt like a world I can’t touch but somehow living through in small bits. I’ve always carried a thought that all our life we slowly discover a bit of who we are, we’ll never completely know who we are, since situations evolve a new personality in us that we aren’t aware of. This trip was one of them for me, nothing extraordinary happened, but many ordinaries came together.

A what face ?

While being plopped on the couch and watching TV, I bumped into Reba on Lifetime.

Alright, alright, we know women like to watch Lifetime but so do men.

Anyway, there is this Barbara Jean character who in a gripping situation unveils that her husband has put on a lying face in-front of his ex-wife and other people.

For obvious reasons this bloke is disappointed that, his current wife gave away how his lying face looks like to the rest of the crowd. Now that he cant use that face anymore, he’s stumped. That right there got me thinking…darn ! I’m sure we all have faces, of different emotions, a surprising face, a sad face, and a happy one and on and on, but how does your face look like when u r stating something that is not completely true, well I mean when u lie!

Sure…we all lie…say white lies here and there that are completely harmless and inconsequential. Like the time you call in sick to work, just to relax at home and do a plenty of nothings, or the time u tell ur girlfriend / boyfriend/ husband/ wife that they don’t exactly look fat, it’s just the wrong outfit.

Should we wonder how our face looks like in such situations.

Is this a grim reality we face for being adults or can we get by without a lying face. It’s a catch 22.

I couldn’t eat!

Since Vamsi is in Chicago for the past 2 weeks, I was tired of my own hand cooked food and the sight of piled dishes in the sink wasn’t getting me anywhere near the frame of mind to cook. So, I dialed in to my fave or rather ex-fave restaurant, Wave Noodles for delivery of some Shrimp with Basil and hot & sour soup. I specifically told her, missy, I have no cash on me so charge the tip as well on my card.

Half hour later, after my shower and few minutes into channel swapping, the bell rang. I’ve heard or read somewhere that for a single girl, it’s always good to be on the phone with someone when u r answering the door. So, with my phone as a weapon, I opened the door, and the guy gave me the credit card bill to sign, I did and thanked him. Then he looks at the bill and with his typical Chinese accent he continues to say that he drove 6 miles to get here and deliver and I didn’t tip him enough. I was like “what!”, but I asked that girl to charge me and I went on to say that I had no cash what so ever, I had dimes and nickels for all he cares and few quarters in sight. He just nodded, and walked away, I doubt if he understood a thing I said. I was like helloooo! First a feeling of guilt washed me, cursing that I should always keep cash on me, then after few minutes a mysterious rage took over me, how could he just walk away like that, aren’t I the customer here. I had given good tips whenever I go for lunches there. So for the first time I asked them for delivery and the lady forgot to charge the tip on my card and I take the brunt of it. It seemed so unfair, so, I called them again, to tell her to charge it on my card again, well no, she just didn’t get it, get what I was trying to explain and it was well into my dinner time, so I hung up. By this time I lost my appetite to eat too and made a mental note to drop by tomorrow to withdraw cash then go to the restaurant and give that guy his tip.

All this for not making my own dinner! Next time, i should just make Maggie noodles, darn, I was pissed.