Weekends

Ever since I was a kid, and well into teenage, then college and now as a 30 year old grown-up (sad, I know), weekends have had this lovely relaxing quality to them. O come on, you'd say. Weekends are supposed to be relaxing, why would you say like you discovered that. Yeah, I know, but I'm just gonna run with it and describe my idea of a perfect weekend here, Ok? Ok.

So, on a Saturday or a Sunday morning, as kids, its wake up and get dressed (we used to despise that in the joint family, and hence ended up giving up ablutions on weekends altogether when we moved to a different city in a nucelar family). Then it would be the wholesome Sunday programming that would start with Rangoli, have Jungle Book, TaleSpin, Duck Tales (all in Hindi) and that's the peak. We would switch off the TV as soon as the Spirit of Unity Concerts used to come up. Although we should've seen those. Would've put some more culture into our heads, no?

And then, it was 12 o clock and time for lunch. The anticipation of food started right around Jungle Book, with frequent visits to the kitchen to see what was brewing and those lovely smells. O sweet and sour Gujarati tuver ni daal, I can write poems about you. Or the simple tindora-nu-shaak or the tindora nu sukku (dry) athanu (pickle) to accompany it. And as we started eating, there would garam garam rotli with ghee all over it served right into our plates. Bliss that was, I tell you. No fancy mithai this and samosa that. We were all healthy eaters and there wouldn't be any of that unhealthy fried nonsense at meals. Nono, not even on weekends. That was reserved only for special occassions, like birthdays. A birthday should be celebrated with a Sheera or a Basundi or some other such thing along with Dhokla (the white ones, again poem-worth) and green chutney. The simple culinary delights of the Gujarati kitchen are manifold. On a tangent, not that there weren't any sweets in the household on weekends. Its just that they were those dry sweets which are stored in dabbas. Like adadiya or golpapdi or chikki or some other such delightful treat. They were around pretty much every day, owing to our family's weakness for the sweet stuff.

Well, so that was when we were kids, and then we grew up (why why why!?!?!?!) and moved out of home. Even so, this need for good relaxing food on weekends stayed. Be it the regular Sunday visits to Bhojan or Rajdhani or Atitthi (I think that was the name of the underground place we used to go to on 18th June road which closed down later) in Goa for lunch or even now, the visits to Taaj for idli, dosa and putu in Liberia now for Sunday brunch, coz sadly you don't get Gujarati thali here. And, Taaj has closed down. What could be more sad?

Oh, and then weekends, they should not just be about food. They should be about wholesome family entertainment as well. Like watching a Golmaal, or a Chupke Chupke or a few episodes of Mind Your Language along with people you love and having one of those gala times laughing your guts out.

Sitting right here, in Liberia, devoid of any and all entertainment and nary a Gujarati Thali in sight, we reminisce, and pray that this singular happiness of the childhood weekend can be recreated. Soon.

Entropy

There's an entropy. A restlessness. Strange thoughts course through the brain. Radical actions seem plausible, actions which were hitherto considered off-limits.

Life, as it unfolds, becomes complicated. Whether you want it that way is not a choice. There is a plethora of options that you must choose from. Options that the previous generation had not even dreamt of. Choices that sometimes even seem unnecessary. And these choices, to what end? There's no bigger goal, no larger objective, no holy grail that beckons.

And hence, we float, as ever, in a miasma of indecision. A place that's neither here, nor there. We decide to do something today, and tomorrow do something entirely different. We protest against something today, only to become an ardent supporter of it tomorrow.

Then, what is the answer? What does one do with life? Is it then not better to cease existing? No no no. Its better to live life each day and to learn to love the experience. 'Ab aur bhi hai gham iss zamaane mein......' Hai na?

Hide & Seek

Just finished Hide and Seek. Dakota Fanning. Brilliant acting. Didn't know who she was. Googled her. Found out this wasn't her first role. She'd been a pro when she did this. Nevertheless, brilliant acting and great twist in the end. Couldn't predict the end this time. Here's a poster of the movie:

Anyway, watching such a thriller has to be balanced with something. And what better way than to listen to good music on our trusty ole radio station:

http://en.radyovoyage.com/

Ah! One thinks of faraway meadows and Venetian canals when one listens to this radio station.... Bellisimo! Tres Magnifique! 

between sleep and wakefulness

this is where i want to exist. right here. in this escapist reality. between the throes of sleep and wakefulness. the mind tires. exhausted. sleep now, it says. but the body labors on. tries to find peace in something. closure in something. the dessert after the full meal. the obligatory post-coital cigarette. what is the equivalent in real life of these? is there ever any closure? or is this just what dreams are made of. pray tell me. o please. enlighten me. release me from this chakravyuha.

Pointlessness....

So, today is just one of those days. I don't feel like working. And I declined to go to Nerd Nite, though a colleague was really keen on going. And then, there's a book, waiting to be read. Nothing quite interesting, just your usual Michael Crichton novel, its called Nano or Micro or something. It invites me to bed. With a come hither look. But I don't feel drawn enough to jump into bed with it. Maybe later, by way of a sympathy read. And the left eye is twitching. Which in my culture means bad luck. And I'm superstitious about these things. And there were 2 visitors to my blog today (Yay!!). Both from my own office (yes, I can track that). Interesting times. Wonder who would've read the blog today and said. Oh! So this guy is actually nuts. Its not a facade after all. They've changed the liquid hand wash in the bathroom and it smells icky. Now I'll have to go and wash my hands with soap. Life, I'm telling you, is fraught with struggle....

WHAT NEXT?

First of all, and this is a disclaimer, I do not write to be published. It is not a literary work that I'm publishing. I write to vent. I write to put whatever's there in the mind out there.

That done with, over the past few weeks, I've been thinking. What is to be done next in life? I've got two degrees, worked in Goa (\:D/) for 4 years, now I've been in Africa for a year (to the day) and all I can think of is 'WHAT NEXT?'

Having done so many things, Goa, Africa, Engineering, MBA, you'd think now life would be pretty exciting for me. But no, that's not the case. I think excitement comes from within. There, sitting in some far-off corner of the world, maybe even away from satellite / mobile communication, life would be more interesting than sitting at a desk typing out this blog, having nothing worth anything to do with one's life. People would be happier there.

Or is it that I just need a vacation? Don't know. The company thinks I need a vacation once every 6 months. Now, I've been here for a year, and have gone home twice. So, next vacation should be 6 months away, no? No. Its too much. Its Africa, isn't it? It takes its toll on you. Even though you are fully taken care of. You're housed, fed, cared for even better than you were at home. But still, it gets boring, it gets frustrating. Starts coming out of your ears. And there's only so much you can do not to lose it.

Even so, we labor on.... Evermore, like the worker bee that we are...

Easy - and the allure of string instruments

Not so long ago, a friend (m2) sent us this link. And by us, I mean the other two of us, pristine, and me. Its like the three of us form a whole, incomplete without each other. On 3 different continents, but together, part of each other, people of the same insanities. But I digress, here's the link: Easy - Anoushka / Norah / Karsh

Its magical, isn't it. Just the right amount of plinky plonky Sitar, and then the smooth as silk, warm as caramel voice of Norah Jones. Magical, I tell you.

Which brings me to the subject of this post, what is it with the string instrument and Indian subjects? We regularly come across instances of the exoticized India being background-musiced by the Sitar. And it feels so nice, so homely. Like its mine. This warm cozy feeling in all this music.

Just the other day, pristine was speaking of opening a restaurant in (where else?) Goa. And today, whilst hearing this song, I was picturing sitting in such a restaurant, yellow candles flickering in the fading light, and the 3 of us, together, in our bliss.

Ah! but then I dream too much....