Of services and tips

I am not the kind of person who would give away money easily on tips.
But there are instances when I do appreciate good service.
One such instance was when I landed at the Calcutta( I hate the sound of kolkata!) airport on my way home for diwali. Anyone who has been to the Calcutta airport would vouch that searching for a particular taxi from the pleathora of taxis is an ardous task. As I was trying to look for mine in the scorching heat, a small boy, must have been not more than 10 years came running to me , asking me the number I was searching for. As soon as he heard me, he started running along the fleet of taxis shouting at me to stay there in the shade while he searches for it. In less than a minute he came running back, pulled my trolley away from me and started wheeling it towards one corner as I hastened to keep up with him lest he runs aways with my luggage. Suddenly he stopped at one taxi, opened the door, threw my luggage in and stood with the open door grinning at me. I opened my purse and before I could do anythung, he said...thoda zyada dena madam...khana nahi khaya hai..So smiling,I gave him a good amount and before I could bat an eye, he disappered just like he has appeared and then I saw him at a distance wheeling away another passengers trolley and excitedly chatting with him. I smiled.

Long days ...

Its been quite some time since i wrote a blog... the main reason for this delay is the extremely lonely phase that I am going through.There isn't much to talk about nor is there anything to write about.

My days mostly begin early in the morning as i stagger towards my office , and ends late into the night when i stagger back from office. Although the hours that I put into office does seem like I am secretly developing a nuclear bomb for India, but the case is not so. I spend my hours in the office because I have got nothing else to do at home. I am bored; generally of life, of TV, of shopping, coffee shops, of going out...

Given that such an important phase of my life is just around the corner, I should have been exicted. There are huge magazines written on wedding planning; sold at arnd 300 rs a copy, dealing with vast array of topics like how difficult it is to choose you wedding dress, what you should consider and what you should not. I spent a total of 1 hr and 15 mins to choose my wedding dress. Its as grand as i thought any wedding dress should be. I wonder why people spent days together searching for it. My entire wedding shopping took a total of 3 days. Out of which 1 day was dedicated to collecting all dresses that I had given for alteration.

At this rate I have a 100 days to kill before i get married and almost next to nothing left in terms of shopping. So I have decided to take it slowly. I now will dedicate each weeknd for just one thing off the list. For. eg wedding shoes on one weekend, artificial jewellery on the next. Helps to keep me on my toes

Whose cow is it!!!

What does one say when a foreigner asks you this question about a lone cow on one of the roads in the national capital?

I had no answer. Neither to the following -

Does the cow have a home?
When does she go back home?
Why isn' the owner looking for her?
Why are so many people on the road?
Why are they talking on the road? Can't they go home and talk?

mitti ki sugandh

I get down from the bus and look at my watch. Its shows 6:00 pm. I look around and give an appreciative nod at the yellow flowers growing in the wild. I again shake my head in bewilderment ... even the wild flowers are beautiful.

As I look around myself.. I can see that it must have drizzled lighly a few hours ago...the road is a little wet...I take a deep breath..( a habit since childhood that comes into light everytime it rains) ...and nothing...the mitti ki sugandh that sorrunds you during the rain is missing...and then I realise....I am not in India...and a stab of something missing...

My Brother Nikhil

Its been about 3 months since I blogged last.....I intend to be more regular now, now that I have a broadband connection at home with lots and lots of time in abundance...

I am watching My Brother Nikhil...for the first time....I had a choice on watching Aitraz or this... I don't read a lot of movie reviews. I watch movies that appeal to me.....sometimes the ads appeal to me ...sometimes the songs and sometimes (but only some sometimes), does the cast influence me.

Okay...coming back to MBN...its a brilliant movie ..and so brilliantly it deals with issues like Homosexualtily and AIDS. Considering that both the issues are taboo subjects....an average Indian family doesn't discuss these topics...and considering that...the movie was a success...It managed to get the message across ....I hope more such educative movies are made..like MRN and Phir Milenge...

As an afterthought...I was wondering what would I do if I was in Nygel's situation. Would I have the guts and the strength to do what he did? I consider myself modern and educated...but would my education fail me ina situation like this? I wouldn't know.... Like it is said, you do not feel the pain until you experience it. I just hope that I have the guts to be brave and do what is right.

Not so white christmas

After 3 weeks of holiday and fun, UK has got back to work. The traffic has once again picked up its pace and unlike the Christmas weeks (when it hardly took 15 minutes to reach work) it takes about 30 minutes now.

Wanted to write about my trip to Scotland…but as I stare at my computer screen now …nothing comes into my mind. I don’t know what to write about…. Not that the trip was boring… but we mostly drove around. It being the Christmas week, everything was closed. And it was not a white Christmas (but a frosty one) in Scotland so the ski plan was a flop (I so desperately wanted to ski L). But we did drive to Loch Ness, which has very beautiful lakes. The picture attached below is one of them (which ofcourse I have taken. Scotland is so beautiful that even if a novice's photos come out beautiful) We went to a beautiful church for the midnight Christmas mass and sang Christmas carols in the shrillest voice that I have got ;)

UK has the concept of Bed and breakfast wherein you get a nice and cosy room and breakfast in the morning. Pretty nice concept, but expensive too. So we stayed in a Youth Hostel, which is another nice concept here. These hostels provide you with dorms that have about 6-8 beds in them. And it costs about £7-8 per bed. They also allow you to use the kitchen. So it’s a very reasonable option if you are travelling in groups.

During the entire trip, we did not go into any of the castles. The reason being, the charge about £20 for entry into any castle and all of them are the same. I haven't been to London, but people say that Buckignham palace is nothing as compared to Mysore Palace. I still have to verify the truth in this statement. I know its a shame that even after 2.5 months in UK, I haven't visited London. But its just that I don't want to go sight-seeing when its freezing. Its one of the coldest winters UK has ever seen, so I am waiting for summer.