HariHareshwar - Magical Cove

Our first Kokan road trip...

With narrow and winding drives...

Deep Dives....

Balancing Acts...

Castles in the air.....

Paw attacks...

Secret views....

Private Moon rises....

Lazzzzzzzing around....

Sweet 16

To our marriage.... 'coming of age'.. 16 months and counting :-)
One of my all time favorite songs ...

Happy Anniversary :-)

One stage, Many Characters

For all the newbie’s who come to 'Amchi Mumbai', travelling in the infamous "locals" is an adventure ride. But for the regulars who ride day in day out, it becomes an ingrained chore. There is almost nothing pleasurable about travelling in the locals, given the heat, the rush & the ubiquitous presence of filth.

Each day has the same template, in the morning; faces are purposeful, driven needing to get somewhere, by evening the same faces show not so subtle signs of exhaustion, weariness and mild dejection. Yet, amidst this seemingly mundane journey, there are daily deeds which break the mold.

Often, street children ride in the ladies compartment, daring each other to jump out first at the station and board the last possible moment. After of couple stations, there is eventually an 'Anuty' who gets annoyed and gives the kids a good long firing may be followed by couple of whacks....

There are the eunuchs who sit by the door seemingly blocking it, but only till they see someone struggle to get in the last moment, a hand is always lent to ensure the person boards the train safely. ..

Almost everyone has a private phone conversation to catch up on....and fellow travelers oblige by pretending they are in private booth and respectfully ignore the raised voices, passionate arguments, teary goodbyes, anger diatribes and so on...

There is the informal info club.... who exchange book recommendations, newspapers & gossip. . and of course the mutual admiration society who compare, sarees, jewelery, shoes, etc...

And then there is an occasional vendor who finds her way into the first class... brining a bundle of entertainment to buyers and spectators alike...

When an occasional infant is travelling with mom, who doesn't have place to sit... finds more than one lap to occupy... and often followed candy treats..

And ironically Mumbai behaves its best only when disaster strikes.... given the two days of motormen strike, its was stunning example of comradeship in which fellow passengers helped each other, offered to share cabs, gave lifts to strangers....

Its a pleasure to find such colorful characters on a such dull ride ... :-) :-)

Then and now....

remember this email conversasion....sounds like ages ago:

location: Ann Arbor, year 2008
7:15 am: alarm rings, I shut it & go back to sleep
get up in anywhere btw 7:30 & 7:45
7:45 - 8:15: shower, get ready. (notice my half hour beauty baths?? :))
8:15: have nimbu paani (warm water, honey & lemon/lime)
next 30-45mins: drive to work, timing depends on traffic & weather. always listen to NPR (national public radio) news; the US version of BBC, only more liberal.
9:00: arrive at work, check work email, if nothing urgent happening (no fire fighting emails from europe or asia ), check personal email, news (cnn, bbc, si.com (sports))...have breakfast (mostly cereal bar or smoothie)
10:00: finally start work, check personal email & si.com every 15mins..:), if not too busy. mornings are very unproductive for me.
12:00: lunch time!!! mostly microwave packed lunch & chat with others in the process; have lunch with collegues or while online (mostly thoroughly combing thru si.com), sometimes I even nap if really sleepy.
1:00: Really get to work, 2-3 hours of solid work, finalize calibrations, shoot emails (& customers if I can find one :)), meetings with customers, peer reviews etc.
4:00 get back to online stuff, chat with collegues (mostly abt sports, shopping, stuff)..trash talk with ppl who support other teams (esp. if the college football season is on)
5:30-6:00 : wrap up work, drive home, again listen to NPR or music. occasionally I have another session of 2-3 hours of solid work if required or if we have tele-cons with asia , generally preceded by dinner. get home at 10;00 in that case.
6:30: get home, snack (hopefully not too much) :)
7:00: head to the gym or sleep (only two radically different options, very rarely I just while away the time or go out bowling or catch a movie). in the gym its running (as much as 10miles on some days), weights or ultra-competitive raquetball (which is like squash on steroids or rather sqaush for dummies)
9:00 get back, head to the guys/gals place whose cooking turn it is; pack box for lunch next day (I eat dinner only if lunch out is planned the next day. chit chat & catch with all the busy folks. gossip: more abt food & less abt ppl. :) today I got into an argument with an ass abt what excatly 'bedanas'(in marathi) are :)
10:00 get back home, have dinner which would be cereal or homenade veggie soup & if can't control myself something sinful like some desert.
10:00:11:30 : watch tv, type emails, play madden (nfl football) on the PC. I delibrately turn on the TV only to watch sports or to catch the daily show (john stewart) & the colbert report.
11:30: brush, floss, moisturize (maan, I AM gay!! :) & ligths out.




so I've typed abt 1000 words what I could have said in 3 : life is BORING!!!!




And the present:
locatation: Ahemdabad, year 2010.

alarm rings at 7:35 (atlest somethings in life are constant)...
no time to waste or snooze..get up & face reality.
shower & get ready, by 8:15 leave for the mess hall for b'fast ..quick call to wifey on the way..wakey wakey
gobble up b'fast...usually cereal, plus the indian b'fast item of the day sometimes an omelete or sunny side up as well.
by 8:45 : rush off to the class room (about 300 feet away)...first class starts at 8:45..mentally wake up before then.
8:45 to 1:10 pm...three 45 minutes classes with 20 mins breaks in between...
during the break: rush off to the restroom, refill water bottle.
in the class: consume water from the bottle, try to stay awake (impossible during economics classes) & try to learn something as well . CP be damned. (CP = class participation, usually 15-20% of the grade).
1:15: head back to the mess for lunch..(quick call to the wifey num. 2 on the way)...ie. call num. 2 not wifey num. 2.
lunch: heavy on the salads not so much on the mutter paneer.
1:45: head back to my room catch on emails & the outside world...off to bed by 2:15..what a luxury!!!!

4:00 (hopefully by 5:00 at the latest): wake up, face reality again.
till 7:00 ...catch up with the most critical HW, study material or assignment at hand.

7:00 to 9:00 pm...off ot the syndicate room for group study, discuss assigments, homework or the marketing case for the next day. productive time spent: approx 50 % (mean 50, min 20, max 70)...rest of the time: social loafing..(that is a real word, learnt in OB (organizational behavior)...MBA education at its best..:))
(if no syndi meeting scheduled during this time..off to a run in the serene old campus.)
9:00 : off to dinner...quick call number three on the way...during dinner optimize salad consumption with goddies like non veg item of the day, sweet or the day or good old mutter panner..
9:30 to 1:00 am: back to syndicate finish up tasks for the next day; more social loafing.
if meeting finishes by 11:30 or 12:00..head off for soccer ...
1:00...back to room..catch up with baiko..study till 2:00....lights out at 2:00.


phew!!

how does midnight soccer after three pegs of vodka make you feel???

answer: thirsty!!

disclaimer: image is staged, everything else real.