Sunshine Land :)

Bleed BLUE Saturday :(

2011-04-16T15:52:00.001+05:30

I consciously don't work on Saturdays so that I can make quality time with my FAMILY. It is a Saturday morning and here I am typing away at my keypad all by myself, while the kids are out with friends and Nu with his brother … C'est la vie… I had a plan (in my head) to check out the summer workshop offering at Prithvi with the kids this morning. Well we did sleep late last night so I got up late and the kids got up later!! So, despite my day off and interesting plans for the day they bounced out of the house saying 'Mama, I have plans … We'll go some other time ... please!?'

Sigh … somebody said that this is the WHATEVER GENERATION that does whatever they think is right! I sense that I shall soon be left to my own devices and it is perhaps then that I will take to my true calling!? Will I ever write that book … make the film … the story is in my head and a few words are on paper too but ... I cant get myself to complete it. What stops me? An inner voice, my destiny proclaiming that this is not the right time or is it plainly just my laziness? I keep trying to put together a VISION BOARD in my head but never do in real … why do I procrastinate so?

Since the family was away, I skipped breakfast and had a dull and hurried lunch too; cleaned up the house as the maid didn't land up thanks to the conjunctivitis bug; after which, I thought I would watch Vishal Bhardwaj' 2007 film 'The Blue Umbrella' or get my hair done at the parlor or just go chill at BRU World. I logged into my blog instead and started typing … this is what you call a truly lazy day!

The only highlight was that I figured how to add the FB thumbnail at the bottom of every post ... that really felt good as I struggled a lot thru the settings to figure it out! But apart from that its been BORING … This is what you call a Bleed BLUE Saturday!!!

Hopefully the evening will be better as we have dinner with Nu' family ...

Nobility Calling...

2011-04-01T23:45:00.005+05:30

There comes a time when you feel you want to give back … the time has come and the joy of all the people that count in my life has been unbounded!!!

I am happy to start new beginnings … I invoke Lord Rameshwara' blessings in taking the right baby steps … Thank you my Universe for giving back to me … Thank you my dear dear Rameshwara! Thank you my dear Family - Roshni, Raunaq, Mama, Papa, Nu, Malee, Anj, Baji, Vir for your love and prayers.

I am happy to be a part of the EMDI Institute of Media & Communication - General Management, Teaching and Interacting with young minds, and working closely with some of the best industry minds and practitioners in the media and event industries is music to my ears and makes my face break into a perfect 'Battisi Smile' :)

We celebrated with Vanilla and Watermelon flavors of Natural Ice-cream!

All the people - Rashid

2011-03-26T01:47:00.000+05:30

Life and people in this beautiful city of Mumbai never seize to amaze me and today was one such chance meeting with a man called Rashid.

As I stepped out of my meeting at Lower Parel I gave Raunaq a call and confirmed that I was on my way home. He said he would wait for me for lunch and so I quickly jumped into a taxi urging the cabbie to speed up towards Bandra. I got off 20 mins later at the Linking Road KFC corner and quickly hopped into the Habit Shoe Store (my favorite shoe spot) just in case they had something interesting ... after browsing and finding nothing I jumped into a rickshaw and headed towards Andheri. I thought of Raunaq being hungry and reached into my bag for my phone... and reached ...and reached ...and reached ... it was not there!? Yikes -- Dam yaar Priya how do you manage to do this each time?

'Bhaiya gaadi rokiye hamara mobile kahin chooth gaya hai, aapke paas mobile hai kya?' 'Nahin Madam'. He stopped and I frantically looked around while my mind raced for ideas on what to do next. I saw a puny looking man standing next to a car with a mobile in his hand - he was the driver of the car. I requested him for his phone and he gave it to me a little reluctantly. I quickly dialed my number and it rang and rang ... nobody picked up. I was crestfallen! I breathed deeply and dialed once more and after a while a man' voice at the other end answered, 'Hanji boliye'. 'Dekhiye yeh hamara mobile hai ... ap kaun hain!?' 'Ji main taxi wala hoon .. agle passenger ney humko aapka mobile diya aur woh hamarey saath surakshit hai - aapko mil jayega. Lekin abhi hum Dadar ja rahe hain aur uskey baad hi wapas bandra ayengey. Aap hamein 45 minutes mein phir sey phone kariye toh hum aapko wahin KFC par milenge ... hamara naam Rashid hai aur hamari taxi ka number 921 hai'. I thanked him and gave the phone back to the puny driver and thanked him too.

I had 45 minutes to kill and I desperately needed to go to the washroom too. So I went to Sanju-Vanita' place in Khar and after using the Loo I called my son and apprised him of the situation and asked him to carry on with his lunch. I then spent some time chatting with Vanu -- she fed me some yummy lunch and chai. Exactly 45 minutes later I called Rashid on my mobile again. This time he was close to Bandra and said that I should meet him at KFC in 10 mins. I said quick good-byes and thankyous to Vanu, Sanchu and Utsie and sped to KFC.

Outside KFC, I waited and waited and peered had at every cab that passed by but there was no sign of Taxi 921 for more than half an hour!! I requested a lady dressed in a burqa sitting in a rick to lend me her phone and she willingly gave me her phone when I told her that I had left my mobile in a cab and that I was trying to trace the driver, 'Arrey baap rey, aapko yakeen hai ki wo phone waapis zaroor deyga?' 'Haan mujhe yakeen hai'. I called Rashid once again on my mobile ... he said he was stuck in traffic at Bandra masjid and should be there in a few minutes. On impulse I rushed into KFC and bought a Chicken Zinger and a Cooler.

A short while later, I saw Taxi 921 drive up thru the crazy traffic and I waved out. Rashid waved back and I smiled. I rushed to his cab and thanked him profusely as I he handed me back my mobile, 'Aapke husband ka phone abhi aaya tha ... aap unko phone kar leejiye'. I gave him the burger and cooler and some money for taking the trouble and burning his gas for me in the terrible heat on aamchi Mumbai and then finally I took down his car number and full name ... Rashid Kalu Ansari Taxi No.JA-921-C-01 saying that I would inform the Taxi Union of his goodness.

I left bidding goodbye and blessing Rashid for a great life ahead ... feeling tired but relieved I called my husband, my son, Vanita and my parents (I had seen a received call from Mum - she also must have spoken with Rashid)...and I then called the lady in the rick and the puny driver and told them that I had traced my mobile ... they were happy and I think they felt good that I called to let them know ... and then smiling to myself and thanking God for saving the day I finally reached home :)

I called my friend Vidyadhar for the Taxi Union' numbers. I spoke to Mr. Quadros the Secretary of the Union and he was very pleasant and heard out my experience and said that I could write an appreciation note for Rashid and fax it to his office and that they had a system of rewarding such members. I did so immediately and felt good ...

Like I said, every one I met in this day was supportive and helpful and amazing in their own little way ... and I felt that I had completed the circle. God please bless each of these individuals and in some way make their lives happy :)

Golden Era' Everlasting Beauty … Waheeda Rehman

2011-03-21T10:04:00.102+05:30

These beautiful B&W shots of Waheeda Rehman are from the suhagraat scene of the film 'Chaudhvin Ka Chand' … Guru Dutt her newly wedded husband asks her to take her time to open her ghunghat for him (he has never seen her face before); he however cautions her that she may as well get a look at him as he is this grotesque guy with ugly teeth etc… she panics and lifts her ghunghat to reveal the face shown in the picture above … and her husband gasps and says 'Subhaan-allah' and when she sees his handsome face she breaks into a smile :)

This morning I watched Guru Dutt' 1956 production and Raj Khosla' directed hindi film, C.I.D. the unforgettable musical treat, with hummable songs that are often sung in antaksharis across generations even today ...
- Boojh mera kya naam rey nadi kinarey gaon rey, peepal jhoomein mere angana thandi thandi chaon rey
- Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahaan zara hat key zara bachch key yeh hai Bombay meri jaan
- Aankhon hi aankhon mein ishara ho gaya baithey baithey jeeney ka sahara ho gaya
- Ley ke pehla pehla pyar bhar key aankhon mein khumaar jaadoo nagri sey aaya hai koi jaadugar

… and just as the suspense of the murder of Editor Srivastav is being followed by Inspector Shekhar (played by Dev Anand), he is taken to a palatial home of a beautiful mysterious lady called Kamini (the vamp of the film) played by the young and nubile Waheeda Rehman -- she looked stunning and gave a flawless supporting actress performance and was also picturised in the unforgettable song 'Kahin pe nigahein kahin pe nishaana' … The film made an interesting watch and towards the end Waheeda dominated the screen space with Dev instead of Shakila (the heroine of the film). After I completed the viewing I did a rerun of the songs … and in particular Waheeda' kahin pey nigahen … not only was she graceful and beautiful but the expressions too were perfect … her first hindi movie appearance clearly showed the glimmer of a star about to be born!

My curiosity about her grew and I surfed to view some of her unforgettable song performances on YouTube from films like -- Guide, Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Khamoshi, Kaagaz ke Phool, Chaudhvin ka Chand, Reshma Aur Shera … and then I chanced upon a catchy Telugu ITEM song 'Eruvaka Sagaro Rannooo Chinnanah' from the 1955 film Rojulu Maraayi, beautifully danced by none other than Waheeda accompanied by two men playing dhols … I was pleasantly surprised to watch the young damsel move gracefully to the tune and couldn't help tap my feet as I watched it again and again … as Waheeda has said in past interview it truly is a lovely song and indeed very hummable. I havent stopped humming it even as I type this blog … Waheeda appeared only in this song in the film but it is this song that became a super hit of its time … and it was after watching her in this film and learning the fact that she also spoke Urdu that Guru Dutt decided to offer her a role in his next film … shortly after he casted her in C.I.D. as the vamp Kamini and the rest is history … Go ahead and paste the following link in your address bar to watch this first visual treat of Waheeda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAtR9RWIYno

Born into a muslim family one would have thought that her parents would object to any form of creative art .. however her parents were of different mettle. Waheeda born on 14 May 1936 in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, India, started learning Bharatnatyam, an Indian dance form, at a very young age along with her sister from Guru T. K. Mahalingam Pillai, doyen among nattuvanars. They performed on stage on several occasions too. However her father, who was a District Commissioner, died while she still in her teens and hence never saw the success his daughter achieved … even though it was he that set the foundation for her career -- it was after all her dance performance in Eruvaka that gave her career the start.

Her first ever film as a heroine was a 1955 Telugu film release called Jayasimha with the great South Indian mega star NTR (N. T. Rama Rao with over 350+ Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films in his acting career), which was a modified Hamlet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz0wA8Jb59E

Her most popular releases were in the decades of 1950-70s. With her film 'Guide' in 1965 her career peaked and she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her emotionally complex rendition of Rosie -- in this film in particular her two song sequences of the famous cobra dance and the song 'Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai' are my favorite watches of Waheeda. Her performance in Neel Kamal (1968) and Reshma Aur Shera (1971) also accorded her Filmfare and National awards respectively. And although she has given some memorable performances in her films Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Khamoshi, Kaagaz ke Phool, Teesri Kasam and Chaudhvin ka Chand she did not receive any awards for them. A few of her films failed at the box office too. In an open discussion with fans and media in Seattle and Washington October 2004, she stated that her most memorable films have been Pyaasa, Teesri Kasam and Guide. Her most successful film was with Rajesh Khanna Khamoshi while her most romantic scene ever was the song sequence 'Waqt ne kiya' from the film Kaagaz ke phool.

There is much talk of the romance of Guru Dutt and her and I can imagine why they must have had a relationship if at all. His work shows that he was an emotionally sensitive man but undoubtedly depressive (even Dev Anand had remarked that he being young and so creative he should not make depressing films) … but the fact was that he was married to Geeta Dutt (again my favorite singer of all times) and maybe that was the reason that things did not go further with them. Guru Dutt died in 1964 and a few years later so did Geeta Dutt.

The 1964 release of Shagun where she starred with Kamaljit did not do too well at the box office however it provided the base of her marital life -- it was during this time that Kamaljit (the hero of the film) proposed to her … they however married a decade later on 27 April 1974 and had two children Sohail and Kashvi.

Her recent releases showcase her as a supporting actor in Lamhe (1991), Om Jai Jagadish (2002), Water (2005), Rang De Basanti (2006) and Delhi 6 (2009) -- each of these films have been critically acclaimed. With time Waheeda has aged gracefully and it is good to see that she continues her romance with films even today… and as always it is a pleasure to watch my favorite DIVA of yesteryear on the big screen.

Dharmendra ... the everlasting demi-God of Bollywood

2011-02-16T10:53:00.007+05:30

Nu and I have this common liking for old hindi movies, so much so that in this time and age too our favorite weekend stop is the Landmark store' Hindi movies section ... you will find us here often, lost in debate on which movies to buy for our ever increasing collection of films. And now that Moser Baer and the likes have managed to crack the high pricing of films Nu cant seem to stop himself! At home we often watch these films together on a Saturday / Sunday evening with a glass of beer and wafers doing the rounds. Needless to say, we are the kind of couple that pauses at a channel airing an old movie while surfing ... and hum along with the old favorite melodies or imitate a dialogue or smile wistfully at a romantic scene or debate a particular movie' popularity and finesse or just crack a joke over some idiocy being enacted by Mehmood or Dev Anand or Kishore Kumar or Tanuja or Nutan or Asha Parekh or Bindu and the likes; or just laugh out loud before we move on with our surfing ...BUT it is seldom the case that we have surfed past a Dharmu film and cant help but get glued the moment we spot him ...

What a man he is and what films he has done; from his earliest ones when he was a nobody doing films like his first few 'Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere', 'Anpad' and 'Phool aur Pathar', to his hits in his prime years and his parallel cinema films and even the latest. He is one man that gets us weak in the knees, that makes us sigh unabashedly about his good looks and wins our hearts hands down for his acting skills ... whether it be emotion, comedy or action ... the man has done it all and not unlike us he has won the hearts of millions across the globe!

And yet through his career spanning 50 years he has not been awarded a single best actor award ever ... he has been nominated several times (Phool Aur Pathar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Resham Ki Dori, Yaadon Ki Baarat, Ayeee Milan Ki Bela, Naukar Biwi Ka) but never awarded ... In fact even his nominations are not for any of his best performances ... I find amongst my favorites of the 250 odd films that he has done till date; that whether it was Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Phool aur Pathar, Black Mail, Aankhen, Guddi, Seeta aur Geeta, Raja Jani, Naya Zamana, Jeevan Mrityu, Jwar Bhata, Dost, Shalimar, Burning Train, Krodhi, Razia Sultan, Chacha Bhatija, Ram Balram, Metro, Apne or Johnny Gaddar; his dialogue delivery, comic timing, action rigor and romancing have never failed to impress me and yet he was never even nominated for any of these films!

In 1975 his releases were PRATIGYA where he pretends to be the village inspector Davinder SIngh while he is avenging his fathers death with none other than Ajit and is swooning (the now remixed version) to 'Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana o rabba itti si baat na jana ke ke ke o mainu pyaar kardi hai o o saddey uttey o mardi ey' at the joy of Hema acknowledging his love -- a thrilling comedy and a great screenplay, SHOLAY the first Indian movie to have made 60 Golden Jubilees in over a 100 theaters across India where he played the ever favorite heart on his sleeve romantic Veeru showering his love for Basanti played by none other than his sweetheart Hema and where he spewed fire at Gabbar barking 'Basanti in kutton key samney mat nachna chahe meri jaan chali jaye', CHUPKE CHUPKE Hrishikesh Mukherji' cult comedy film where he played the adorable Dr. Parimal Tripathi urf Pyaremohan kidding the great Om Prakash in the guise of a Driver from Allahabad speaking SHUDH Hindi and frustrating the life out of him and his family ... all 3 great films and excellent performances by Dharmu and yet he didnt even get nominated for these films. The same year also saw releases like Aandhi (Sanjeev Kumar), Deewar (Amitabh Bachchan), Sanyasi (Manoj Kumar) and Amanush (Uttam Kumar)... Sanjeev Kumar walked away with the Black Lady for his unforgettable performance as JK for his rendition of a lover of a woman in power!

As an actor he has never failed to please ... however as a man he has disappointed me personally on two counts and since this is a piece dedicated to Dharmu here goes ... it bothers me that he must have hurt Prakash his first wife when he chose to convert and wed his on-screen dream girl Hema; although I am sure that now all must be well and that the families and wives have adjusted to each other' place in his life it is still a gnawing feeling that the man of my dreams let me down ... and the second is his habit of drinking ... Perhaps this had a lot to do with the dual life he was forced to lead due to his second marriage. And yet I have only seen love and respect in the eyes of his sons Bobby and Sunny and never so much as a twitter from Hema or Esha/ Aahana ... so he must be doing a lot of good for his families ... Sigh! My heart goes out to him and wants to hold him and say 'I love you Dharmu nevertheless and always will ...' Needless to say, both of these are private matters that we can only speculate about and hence my comments dont count! May God bless his families with happiness always!

Last December 8 he completed 75 years of age and although in his recent appearance in his home production 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' he didnt really look that great the fact is that his spirit is unending and there is a renewed zeal in him to do more and I wish him the very best.

Summer of 69 - LIVE @ BKC, Mumbai 12 Feb 2011

2011-02-16T09:07:00.009+05:30

In January 1994 when Bryan Adams came to India and performed at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai I was indisposed due to being 7 months pregnant with Roshni and although it was emotionally the most satisfying time of my life it was also the toughest! So I just could not go for the concert. This year on 12 Feb 2011 he performed in Mumbai at the MMRDA grounds and it was Roshni that made it possible for me to share the euphoria of the 20000 odd people that attended.

The tickets were prohibitive. The cheapest ones were priced at INR 2000 and I knew that they would be no fun at all. The INR 4000 and INR 10000 were the other options. Farrukh was not too keen to go and was humming and hawing about going. Eventually he suggested that I go with Roshni and that we could buy the INR 2000 tickets ... ah well I thought ... at least I would get to see the man LIVE!!! So Roshni took the initiative and called Varun who said he would help with booking the tickets for us considering it was a day before the concert. A short while later Roshni came to me gushing, 'Guess what Mom! We are getting 3 VVIP tickets i.e. 3 tickets @ INR 10000 a pop for FREE' ...
'What ... I cant believe this!???'
'Its true Mom, we will need to pick up the tickets from Varun' place tomorrow.'
YIPPPPPPEEEEE!!!! ... is all I could say and the countdown began for the moment of euphoria that would unfold the following evening!

The next evening came and we set off at 5.30 along with Ankita ... and of course Mumbai' Traffic decided to be at its worst! We picked up the tickets and reached the venue and were zapped by the chaotic arrangements! Although we had VVIP tickets there was NO PARKING available anywhere!!! Both the girls mobiles were virtually on the blink and so I could not even send them in alone so I prayed ... 'Oh God please please please ... since you have brought us this far please just spare us one parking spot' and VOILA ... there was a spot just a car length away!! We quickly parked and ran inside as we saw Jackie Shroff giving a BYTE on Bryan Adams to the hungry press. Next we spotted Shiamak ... who hugged Roshni and Ankita with a pat on their heads when I said these are your students, 'SO sweet ... God Bless!' Amongst the stars we also spotted Aditi Gowitrikar, Raju Hirani and Preity Zinta who looked very pleased to be there!

The VVIP area was on a PODIUM and yes it was stylish with seating and sexy round tables with drinks etc. It also supposedly had a clear view but by the time we reached it was jam packed and standing there was just pointless. So we pushed our way into the INR 4000 crowd that was thronging the area in front of the stage. Roshni pushed n pushed with Ankita and me close behind till we reached the front ... we were not bang centre but towards the side ... but it felt great to be part of the madness.

We had arrived late and hence the crowd was already in a frenzy as Bryan dressed in black was crooning away ... he looked great and didnt at all look his age of 51 ... he had so much energy and sang virtually non-stop all the way to 9.30 making us go crazy with all the old favorites Summer of 69, Everything I Do, 18 Till I Die, Straight From The Heart, You’ve Been A Friend To Me, Heaven, Here I Am, Let’s Make It A Night To Remember, Please Forgive Me, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, All For Love, etc. When he started singing Summer of 69 the crowd went ecstatic and Bryan sang it with the same feeling and emotion as he has always done ... oh it was awesome!!!

He then asked someone from the crowd to accompany him on stage to sing 'Baby When You’re Gone' along with him ... there was chaos as the crowd desperately tried to draw his attention and hoped to be picked up! The lucky one was a young girl called Gauri who actually sang the whole song and danced along with BRYAN. She did a pretty good job and looked great and even got a huge hug and T-shirts for her friends :) It was a cute moment and I am sure an unforgettable one for her! Before singing 'Everything I do I do it for you', he asked all of us to turn on our mobile screen lights and hold our phones up in our hands in the air! When I turned to look at the crowd it felt like the stars had descended on the ground!!!

His latest album, Bare Bones, which is a compilation of his greatest songs has been given a gold certificate in India and it was from here that he was singing most of his songs ... The experience was truly exhilarating and of course the crowds refused to let him go ... he did 2 solos specially for us even after the rest of his band said Adieu and sang while playing his harmonica along with the guitar ... unbelievable and simply spectacular! WHAT A NIGHT ... thank you my Lil Roshposh and thank you God for making this happen!

Hum Dono (Rangeen)

2011-02-11T23:46:00.009+05:30

RATING: * * * * *

Wah Dev Saab WAH!!! ... Aapke kya kehne! What a film this man has made and acted in. I saw it in BW with Farrukh a few weeks back and we didnt stop humming the songs for the next few days ... such is the nasha of this film' melodies.

Yesterday Bhabhijaan called and said that she would like me to accompany her for the new colored version of the film ... Farrukh and I had been making plans with the gang but somehow nothing had yet materialised ... yesterday being thursday I feared that I would miss the cinematic screening of this epic Dev Anand film if I said no ... so I said yes and HUM DONO rushed to reach just in time for the PVR Juhu 12.30 screening. As we were entering the screen the titles had just begun and the screen was alight with the colors and a-sung with the famous lighter melody ...ting tin ting tin ting tin ting tin ting ... this got Bima and me all excited as we groped around the dark hall and so we just sat ourselves down on the closest seats available and soaked in the beauty of the music. And then the magic began ...

Dev Anand' handsome face smiling and holding Sadhana' (Meeta) palloo with a ribbon tied to his hand, Meeta' doll like face switching the lighter on an off, Dev flirting with her in the song 'Abhi na jaao chod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin...', wooing her at the gate, her onlooking father, the proposal, the dejection, him enlisting in the army, Meeta leaving her father' home to be with his mother while he is away, him becoming Captain Anand, him shaving while looking at his reflection in the pond and then the ever favorite 'Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya ... har fiqr ko dhooein mein udata chala gaya ...', meeting DA2 Major Verma i.e. his Hum Dono counterpart with just the mooochein being the differentiating factor and of course the ho ho ho gutteral laughter and SCRAM SCRAM, a deep bond of friendship and brotherhood emerges between the two of them in a place that reeks of death and hatred, and then there is DA2' mother Lalita Pawar and wife the gorgeous Nanda (Ruma) who like the perfect bhartiya ardhangini 'jo aadmi ke adhooreypan ko poora karti hai' ... kya devi hai yaar our kya khoobsurti hai aur kya bhajan gayen hain ... 'Allah tero naam ishwar tero naam...' DA2 getting injured and becoming POW, DA1 coming back to find his Mum is dead and that Meeta has been in his home all this while, he goes to give the news of DA2' death to his family and they i.e. Lalita and Nanda and all his friends start thinking that he has returned home as Major Verma whereas he is actually Major Anand (he has got promotion after the war), Nanda falling sick and Anand being in a kashmakash of whether to tell the family that he is actually not Major Verma ... but the Doctor warns him that Ruma will not survive the shock due to her heart ailment, Meeta misunderstanding Anand and Ruma' relationship as she spots them together in the Mandir, and then Ruma' penance and eventually returning with a missing leg on crutches just as the bhajan 'Prabhu tero naam jo dhyaye sukh paye tero naam ...' concludes ... the fight between the two DA's and then the reconciliation and the expression of love between the two couples .... ooooooooh what a story, what songs and what gorgeous looking people and WHAT A FILM ... I had tears or sorrow and joy rolling down my cheeks by the time the film concluded

Thanks a ton Dev Saab for sharing this beautiful acting experience with us on big screen ... we loved it and kept feeling that there needs to be an ongoing screening of some of the best films of your era and they should be tax free so that as many people can watch and learn from them ... kyonki woh waqt ki khoobsoorti kuch aur hi thi and I wish thru these movies we could somehow keep the beautiful values and the innocence that India had ... alive ... I LOVE you DEV ANAND ... God bless you with the courage to continue to do more such acts of idiosyncrasy :)

Lily Boose Nu!@#$?

2011-02-04T17:00:00.005+05:30

You must wonder who this is ... is it a woman, flower, animal!? It is none other than my darling husband Farrukh Shaikh ... One fine evening when my dear Anika was doleful; she and I playfully christened him with the name and it has stuck ... she now calls him simply LILY and adores him ... bonds of love that are timeless and names that are often weird and unexplained but their oddity and cuteness spells LOVE.

I remember my mum calling my sister 'malkin' and my dad calling me piyu, rui (as in as soft as cotton wool) and peachy. My kid sister was called pochersingh, chocha, chochey, mulmooch :) The cutest name that I have been called has been by my babies ... they call me MARSHIE(as in marsh-mallow -- they think I am as cuddly and soft as one) ... shaikhu and honey call me Pichi (which was a shortened version of Priya Chachi:))

I remember some really weird petnames/nicknames in the family as well. My cousins are called Sunny, Honey, Money, Bunny. Another set is called; Chicky, Ricky, Nicky and yet another is called Ginni, Minni, Tinni... My MIL called her 4 sons Munna, Pappu, Raju, Guddu ... this is typical of a Punjabi sibling lineup.

I remember a Bengali sister and brother having the names Buchki and Potal ... two boys in Cathedral school were called smallie and biggie when they were kids -its a different thing that smallie grew in size to be a lot huger than biggie but the names had stuck... Farrukh calls his friends by weird names like Sanju is called Coolie, Pramod is Lungi, Vanu is Hathyarin, Tanu is Monopause, Hoju is Tension, Archie is Doordarshan, Duriya is Khamoshi, Honey is Chantt, Guddu is Rangeela, Tariq is Sarkar and Prashant is Sanki etc... They hate him for these names but he calls them by these names nevertheless and has also logged them so in his mobile contact list... Looks weird when there is an incoming call from say Sanki or Lungi or Monopause :)

Have you heard of any weird names? Do share them with me in your feedback comments below ... This is Piyu signing off with love :)

Ritika Weds Asheesh

2011-01-30T15:28:00.003+05:30

Whenever I go for a wedding the positive energies and happiness never fails to set me on a high for the next few days. The 25th of Jan 2011 saw my dear friend Ritika and Asheesh tie the knot for a lifetime of love and togetherness and as I smiled fondly at the radiance on dear Rits' face I couldnt help asking myself - what is it about a wedding that I love the most ...the uniting of two souls, unashamedly dressing up in BLING, the splash of colors in the clothes that people wear, the immense beauty on the brides face, the pride in the grooms eyes, the bangles, the veils, the jewelry, the sweets, food, music and dance, the merriment on meeting of old friends and long ago met relatives, the tears, the laughter and the tranquil on the parents faces ... I love it all ... and above all of this I love the hope and the desire to commence new beginnings ... chahe kuch bhi kaho ... yeh shaadi ka laddooo sabse bada gamble hai lekin sabse mast partnership bhi hai. God bless the newly weds :)

India' Republic Day 2011

2011-01-30T14:25:00.007+05:30

The morning of 26th January 2011 began like any other @ 6.30AM... I switched off the alarm that croons every morning "..ehsaan itna sa kar dey" as if gently reminding me that I need to do the world a favor by getting off my ass and doing my earthly duties. I walked slowly with my eyes shut (my eyelids refuse to give way these days and my aging knees dont permit speed early in the morning) in the cold darkness, with mechanical precision to Raunaq' room and switched off his fan, snoogled up with him for a bit and then cajoled him to get up. After ablutioning and stuffing our faces with some breakfast we left for his school ... and while we were waiting for the lift Raunaq snapped at me for something inane and we got into a spat over how each of us should not be speaking to each other -- this sudden aggression is a new phenomenon I am occasionally seeing in my adolescent son (needless to say that these are spurts that dont last long and the love bond we share is rock solid!). Thankfully the lift arrived with some unassuming equally bleary eyed people clutching onto their sides for whatever warmth they could garner what with the temperature still hovering below 18 degrees early in the mornings. I sullenly walked in with Raunaq close behind me. I stiffly walked ahead of Raunaq and as we were walking out of the gate someone from the building called out to him ... it was a family whose little daughter Anushka studies in the same school as him. They offered us a lift and although I was irritated thanks to the spat I agreed and got into their CRV.

As I thanked them and exchanged pleasantries Raunaq gave me a side hug and whispered 'Sorry Mom' and I looked at him and nodded approval and the tenseness was over. Anushka was dolled up with make-up and a colorful costume looking adorable all set to do a dance at the school function that morning. Raunaq was dressed in his bright yellow basketball colors .. jersey number 10, shorts and keds. Anushka' father asked looking at the trophy in Raunaq' hand, 'So what is the trophy for?'. Our team won an interschool basketball match Uncle ... this is the MSSA tournament that takes place every year and our team participated and won ... 'Wow! thats cool' and I swelled with pride.

As we entered the school the backyard was milling with students, teachers, helpers and excited parents. A pole stood in the centre with the flag tied to the top in a knot waiting to be hoisted. Soon the welcome address commenced by the Sports Coordinator as the Principal was away for an international tour, the flag was unfurled by the oldest member of the school administration and the crowd began to sing the national anthem. As always, a chill ran down my spine as I watched the motley crowd mouthing the jaya he jaya he ... and when the head girl and boy took the school oath with the entire crowd standing in attention with their right hand extended my tears escaped my eyes and flowed onto my cheeks ... I couldn't help reminisce my school days, the naval parades, flag hoisting at papa' ships and INS Chilka, the illuminated Govt institutions and all the great leaders who have led us to freedom and allowed us this moment of joy 60 years later.

The program organised by the school teachers and students was a burst of color and music and grace and some lovely messages of making the world a better place. Raunaq and his team came on stage to receive their award/trophy for the series of basketball matches they had won in the past month ... moment of pride indeed :)

I had a lovely emotional morning and returned to my building well in time for the flag hoisting ceremony there. Some songs, speeches and recitations by kids and adults alike and a delicious plate of snacks and loads of pleasantries.

I bought 5 flags from a road-side vendor a kid probably the same age as my son ... his name was Abdul and he wanted me to click his picture with his friends which I promptly did ... his smile was priceless... the republic of India had provided him freedom of speech, earn a living of his choice and unabashedly ask for a picture to be taken with a smile without any fear ... he actually made my day!

Life is not a dress rehearsal ... says William Shakespeare!

2010-07-29T10:30:00.009+05:30

Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with two old friends Sujata and Vidhu that I hadn't met in a long time ... it was a HAPPY MEETING as was proclaimed on the delicious and creamy pineapple cake that Vidhu brought for us to treat on, which we shamelessly dug into forgetting all the calorie concerns that each of us has ... Suju got me two really cute Rajasthani paper mache musicians which have taken up place in our living room.

I felt like sharing this for two reasons - one that it made me feel so warm about the fact that we could pick up the strings from where we left off ... the common ground or bond when we befriended each other some years ago being that our children (their sons Shivam and Koustubh) studied in the same grade as Roshni a few years ago... and since we met yesterday after so long the talking was non-stop trying to catch up on all that is happening in each others lives ... kids, husbands, homes, careers, incidents, experiences etc... Vidhu' jewelry business is doing well and Praveen and her now work together, their older son Chickoo or rather Pranav is now appearing for his CA final year, while Koustubh has joined the CBSE program at Poddar. Suju' young Shivam continues his interest in music and hopes to make a career in it someday while Goldie is doing well in the television industry... yak yak yak yak yak yak we went and didn't stop even on the way to Caravan Serai and through the yummy lunch we had there ... just listening to them and sharing the small victories of their lives and challenges ahead made we feel one with them. I told them about my surprise visit to the US to meet Mapa and my sisters and they were thrilled and got goosebumps and all and then Sujata said something very interesting (the second reason of sharing this post) ... "Im so glad you did this for your sisters and your parents Priya because life is not a dress rehearsal yaar ... hum log apni zindagi plan kartey kartey hi nikal detey hain but you chose to listen to your heart". Vidhu agreed wholeheartedly and hoped to do something as exciting if not more with her family ... I am really glad that I could pass this experience onto them ...

What Suju said is indeed very true ... Most people I know treat life like a dress rehearsal and continually struggle and plan and save and wait to enjoy that one perfect moment while their life listlessly goes by dealing with the daily challenges that come its way and that moment of perfection eludes them and before you know it you are too old to let your hair down ... Worse still life could just decide to come to a close ... very recently a young friend named Sandeep aged 35 passed away suddenly with a severe heart attack (may God bless his soul) leaving behind his young wife who had completed 9 months of carrying their only unborn child ... the baby boy came into this world exactly a week after his passing and the young mother is battling with the emotions of her loss and gain. So life is to be loved for whatever it is and live it to its fullest on each day ... Farrukh, my husband is a living example of this philosophy and has virtually made it his religion in practice; he believes that life is a stage and that we should all play our parts well ... and we have no business in meddling with the life of nature as it has its own course to take, he embraces his destiny whatever may it be and lives his life for the moment ... and because he has this approach towards life he is more satisfied with his life than anyone I know and in his own little ways has a blast on each day of his life ... had he not egged me on to go to the US to share in the excitement of lil Arjun' birth into the family, I would never have taken that trip and that near perfect moment of my life (because Farrukh and the kids could not make it), that I shared with Mala, Anjalika, Mama and Papa on the 13th of October 2009 (their anniversary), would never have happened ... I had done my best to make the trip successful and nature orchestrated it to perfection.

Coming back to our endless yakking ... we continued to sit at the restaurant even after clearing the cheque ... and it was only when Roshni called that I looked at the time ... it was 4.30 in the evening ... time had indeed flown by and we parted ways with hugs and promises to stay in touch more often... check out Sujata, Vidhu and me having a laugh ... shows we sure had a great time :)

Comedy, Ravi Baswani and more ...

2010-07-28T11:54:00.006+05:30

People who know me well say that I have an infectious laughter and that when I laugh its as if my insides are going to pop out of me ... I really let go if you know what I mean!? The next most important thing to me after loving my kids and eating is laughing ... I simply love to laugh and hence I screen through all the possible attempts at comedy may they be in films, stand up comedy shows (thankfully beginning to get popular in Mumbai), TV shows and I naturally befriend comic people ...

One really funny person in my life is my own husband and I believe that it was his ability to make me and all others around us laugh out loud is what attracted me to him. And my young Raunaq is fantastic with imitations of comic dialect ... I completely crack up with his acts of popular English and Hindi film scenes that he does with perfect expression and pitch ... we have loads of rolling laugh sessions together :)

An ex-colleague called Bomi at Barclays should switch to being a comic as opposed to being a boring banker ... he would sure do very well ...in fact Joe Coutinho and him should do an act together ... they both have excellent timing and very intelligent humor!!!

And young Shravan, Nilima/Vijay' son is so good with accent imitations and does a fantastic act of various people from across the world and their reactions to their respective team' performances at the recently concluded FIFA world cup in South Africa.

The comic films that completely crack me up are Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Barefoot in the park, Victor Victoria, Super Hero, Top Secret, Hera Pheri, Chupke Chupke, Madagascar, Top Secret, Golmaal, Chalti ka naam gadi, Angoor, Munnabhai MBBS and the best of them all Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Kundan Shah' directorial made me virtually roll on the floor with laughter ... each of the characters including naseeruddin shah, ravi baswani, pankaj kapoor, om puri, satish shah, satish kaushik, bhakti barve, neena gupta and even vidhu vinod chopra (as dushasan in the mahabharat climax scene) were fantastic ... what chracterisation kundan achieved and what display of raw humor!

This morning as I was pottering with fixing breakfast and lunch in the kitchen my husband called out -- Arrey suno ...Ravi Baswani, of your favorite film 'Jaane bhi do yaaro' passed away in Shimla yesterday due to a massive heart attack ... flashes of his comic role in the film came back to me, my throat lumped and my heart went out to him and his family... and a smile came to my face as I remembered his performances in Chashme Baddoor and Kabhi haan kabhi naa. He was 63 -- too young to have died and in death too he had brought a smile to my face ... and yet his time was done in this world of ours and he has moved on leaving behind a live wire comedy that will resonate with peels of laughter each time Jaane bhi do yaaro is watched! Wah kya baat hai ...

Is this what you call a mid-life crisis!?

2010-07-27T12:52:00.008+05:30

My son asked me a few days ago 'Mom when are you getting a job?' I chided him as I tickled his tummy saying, 'I don't want to work anymore darling because I'm so enjoying my job of playing Mommy'. He smiled as he hugged me and moved on with something or the other but he had planted a seed into my head ... and I was conscious that he had already asked me this question twice before.

On the outside he was just being curious but his bigger unsaid question was, when he can have his PS3 and laptop -- promises that I had told him would be fulfilled when I get a job! As parents we tend to play God and believe that we can fulfill our children' wishes even if it means stretching ourselves for it sometimes. Maybe my baby was just being plain curious or just making polite conversation or was humoring me but either ways it was a hope that I had put in his head and I'm not happy that I have not yet been able to fulfill his wish! Of course one has savings but I don't want to break into my savings. Not that I need to fulfill every wish of my child, specially luxury things like these that he can definitely do well without considering he is in the 9th grade; but nevertheless, his casual question served as a reminder that I need to get on with my life.

Getting a job would undoubtedly help materialize his now silent dreams and yet the thought that has been playing ping-pong in my mind for a while now, and hence it found its way to my lips when Raunaq questioned me; is that I really do not want to do a job unless it is truly challenging and promises a career ahead ...

So, my mind has been churning with some unfulfilled dreams from yesteryear ... the things that I would have loved to do or would love to still do:
MUSIC - I would love to sing or perhaps I could be a Radio Jockey and host a show of english and hindi music from my times
FILM - Act in or maybe direct a film and if it proves successful take it up as a full time career
WRITING - I loved playing story teller from my childhood days -- this is my most favorite option!
COOKING - I love being creative with cooking and believe I am blessed with a good hand too - well yeh main nahin kehti ... log kehtey hain ji ... perhaps open a restaurant of my own!?
MARKETING - create brands or work with a company that understands the importance of having a professionally managed team to market its products or set up my own marketing consulting firm.

Yikes ... this is such a variety of thought ... the only common train being creativity! I am 44 and I'm unsure of what to make of my life ahead ... I'm in the middle of my work life and and am having thoughts of making new beginnings ... is it wrong of me to think afresh!? It's like Ive come to the crossroads of my life and I am scratching my head wondering hard, which turn do I take yaar ... and as ideas race through my mind out-doing each other my heart is weighed down by the financial security I would like to create for my children and my old age, and I am forced to think of what I am putting at stake if I take the untrodden path ... in a worst case scenario, I risk failure and in the bargain lose time and money... and yet there is a good chance that there will be success too because I have the confidence and maturity to take things through all the way ... and so my mind is playing tic-tac-toe ... what do I chose ... I need some heavenly intervention NOW! Godji ... kuch karo!!

Controversies galore!

2010-02-23T13:11:00.007+05:30

Amitabh inaugurated a college in Allahabad (his place of birth) on his daughter-in-law, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan' name AND A CONTROVERSY BROKE OUT! -- why does he not make the college in Mumbai when he is living here!?

One of Konkana' dialogues in her movie 'ake up Sid' had the word Bombay in it as opposed to the new and legally enforced Mumbai AND A CONTROVERSY BROKE OUT!! and we were subjected to reels of newsprint about Karan Johar making a beeline to the MNS office.

Shahrukh recently stated that Pakistani cricketers should be allowed to play in the IPL AND A CONTROVERSY BROKE OUT!!!

Aamir said that it is the hero/heroine that make a song immortal and not its lyrics as said by Javed Akhtar the great legend AND A CONTROVERSY BROKE OUT!!!

Each of the above controversies happened in Mumbai and are related with film celebrities ... our lives whether we like it or not continue to be filled with fillum star-related lore/gossip/controversies -- as if we don't have any more callings to bother about; and the media and the infamous minority polity make the most of the slightest spark of information that creeps out of the fillum quarters turning it into an uncontrollable flame ... MNS lately seems to lead such brigades of unemployed rowdy youth who break lose on the city. Why does MNS' agenda for his beloved marathi manus go for a toss when their people cause destruction and the state loses money by delaying releases of films, holding creative juices at ransom and/or eroding GDP of the state? Conveniently targets of most of the controversies are film stars so that there is more hype and attraction to the so called infamous cause of the political entity ... SIGH ... rise above this sham my brethren!

Amitabh did something very gracious -- he named the college after Ash and not his own daughter Shweta ... instead of respecting Jaya and his sentiment of giving so much honor to Ash and also supporting womens education the polity of our state had the gall to say things against him and blow the goodness out of the window.

Why cant Bombay be called Bombay without feeling that some Shiv Sainik or MNS activist will hurl a stone in your direction!?? Isn't this a free country and wasn't this city called Bombay at one time ... Bombay Blues continues to exist as a brand where I am sure even the marathi manus have also grabbed a bite - how come no plans to shut it down!? Are they going to break all the records or cassettes of the song 'ai dil hai mushkil jeena yahan ... yeh hai Bombay meri jaan, should we rename the movie Bombay to Goa as Mumbai to Goa!?? Why make us live in fear of being assaulted because we are brought up saying the word Bombay and that Mumbai doesnt come to our lips as easily!? Why did Karan have to make a mockery of himself and go and apologise to Raj Thackeray!???

I really believe that SRK has the right to express himself about wanting the Pakistani players to play in the IPL - after all why blame the sportsmen of the country!? And why target him when the Times of India is continuing a huge campaign called 'Aman ki Asha' which is endeavoring to unite the two nations? Why isn't any activist bringing down the TOI shutters yet!?

The most recent one on Amir and Javed Akhtar was thankfully not started by the polity but by the stars themselves and the media - radio, TV and print of course lost no effort in blowing the words of both these legends out of proportion. In my humble opinion neither Amir nor Javed are right and these are the reasons why:

- A song becomes a song only once it is sung to music without which it is poetry and hence it is the music that brings life to the poem ... which unfortunately does not draw too great an attraction from the masses... but when the same poem is sung along with music you can hear it blaring from the smallest of hutments to the wedding parties of the elite; from the swanky new BEST AC buses and the sexiest Porsche that has hit the streets and to cabs and the jhankar beat versions in autos ... it is the music that makes the song popular ... Javed please take note!

- Most music albums are released way before the release of the film and hence very often you will hear a song playing for months on the radio and the best ones are played several times a day making them all but mantras of the masses ... there is no star involved at this stage ... the association of the star in fact happens only after you have seen the film and if he/she is a star of your fantasy you fantasize yourself as a part of the song. In fact, so many old age numbers that one has never ever seen on screen are still remembered and sung very animatedly in the ever favorite party game 'Antakshari' and even otherwise bring an association of happiness or sadness in our lives ... Aamir take note ... these songs of yesteryear have nothing to do with the stars that they were filmed on... and yet I am sure that they come to your lips too as you go about your life... just as they do to mine!

TRUTH shall prevail?!

2010-02-01T08:52:00.006+05:30

As children we parroted the school poem every morning ... which amidst its other idealistic lines had a phrase that said ... 'TRUTH SHALL PREVAIL'! As a child, I obviously didn’t know otherwise and prided my self when my teacher called me to the front of the class to lead the recitation of the song, as I recited it 'so nicely' compared to the rest of my classmates.

However, despite the daily morning chant, through my growing years, somehow Truth was a choice I seldom made as there was always the fear of consequence... what would Mummy think if she got to know, teacher will get angry, my friend will be katti with me, I have got poor marks - what will Papa say!? Opinions mattered so much and I was too young to know how to deal with the possibly harsh (?) consequences. These fears grew and became not unlike monsters in my innocent mind … seeming so much larger than the tiny me!

Today, as a woman of the house, as a colleague at work, as a friend or as a citizen of the world I consciously choose Truth and preach it, knowing that Truth is ‘Godliness’ and that it spreads ‘Goodness’ and in the over all mix of things it is for the good of all. I believe I have the maturity to deal with the consequences that may come my way and I fearlessly pride myself for abiding with Truth at the risk of being branded a critic or brazen or opinionated or even down right rude. You might say it is stupid of me to be so apolitical but I would rather be upfront about what I think than be a hypocrite and hate myself for it. More often than not I have come through victorious on my resolve because Truth is right for me, for the people in the situation and for the world at large.

And yet the sad truth is that because most people don’t like to hear or deal with truth, more often than I would like to admit, I am forced to bend towards the other end of the spectrum -- examples that I feel guilty about are ... You don’t tell your boss that she or he is an apology of a leader because you risk your annual appraisal getting awry or getting fired, you don’t tell your maid in enough words that her work is horrible as you run the risk that she won’t turn up the next morning, you listen to crap from a popular yet conceited colleague because you want to be on his right side, you hold back irritation with your spouse on mundane issues as you want to keep peace in the house, you mutter your angst with the system within the confines of your air-conditioned car as you inch through traffic-clogged bumpy roads as you just don’t have the time or patience to deal with such things – it is after all the Government’ job, you don’t stand up and fight terrorism or internal enemies of the state that dispel the oneness of India and you don’t put annoying relatives in their place for interfering in your way of life ... strangely despite my advocacy of Truth I find myself numbing to certain situations of my life … and remain silent to what my mind is shouting or I am reduced to humming and hawing and pulling punches and being politically right … my peers/family/friends egg me into behaving so – don’t be ridiculous, you should not be belling the cat … don’t get involved Priya because you will end up getting blamed … mind your own business yaar … bina wajah ke liye phans jaogi … it will unnecessarily complicate your life – and sadly, I allow such things to happen around me … feeding the demon of frustration that builds within me … where is the space for Truth in the throng of the political thought process doing a TANDAV dance within my mind!?! I feel a sense of gnawing guilt as I look around … only to find that everyone else too is in the same boat … making compromises with their conscience, with their school drilled value systems and with their pride … simply because it is easier to be untruthful ... or it is easier to keep quite!

And of course this choice of silence lets wrong continue, lets mediocrity prevail and negativity grow… we allow house help to continue to do shoddy work and hence our home is not up to the standard we are used to or we like, we let people be mean to us without putting up a front, we don’t have the courage to put people in their place and we are reduced to internalised bitching which increases the negative energies within us and our homes and losing our patience with our kids or spouse or parents becomes a vent of our STRESS, we allow people to be unprofessional, we choose to let a bad leader remain bad leading to a frustrated non-performing team which in turn produces poor quality products and services and a dissatisfied customer base, we let a nasty colleague remain so and let gossip thrive making the work environment unhealthy, we continue inching along bumpy roads and cursing our polity for all the mayhem that the country is drowning in and feel good about the 7.5- 8% GDP growth that is attracting all the FII money to goad the SENSEX to higher highs making the rich richer while farmers not so far away continue to take their lives, we continue without much hope making virtually blind and uninformed choices at the polling station year on year, while reading the papers every morning we choose to let the oneness of our country get diluted with only Tsk-tsking at the continued obliteration caused by our so called leaders ... and so on … Our life has become a consequence of these countless decisions of untruth and silence and hence it is only WE who are responsible for our life being the way it is … sadly this is the only truth that prevails!!

US Calling ... a magical dream come true!!!

2010-01-27T08:58:00.017+05:30

I have my family and God to thank, for all that unfolded in my life over the next month, after the early morning call I received on the 25th of September 2009. It was Anj sounding tired yet content ... saying she had delivered her second baby and that she and he were both well… my heart reached out to Dhaval and her and I thanked God for blessing them with parenthood twice around on 24 September 2009 (living in Texas USA they are about 12 hours behind time from India). Mum and Papa were thrilled and Dhaval sounded on top of the world! Mala, Nu, the kids and I rejoiced the birth in exclamations of excitement and I distributed money to all my house-help!

After work that evening, I decided to visit Da to share the joy of the newest member of the family with him and so I picked up some flowers and Mithai and sped to his home. He was away said the watchman - I guessed he had gone to the club for his walk, swim, sauna routine and I contemplated waiting or just leaving the flowers & mithai with the watchman ... I thought again and decided to wait for him ... and so I waited ... and waited ... during which I read a bit, drove around the block 10 times chased by the traffic cops and then finally at 9PM when I was at the end of my patience and fuel, I checked with the watchman for the last time -- he said that Da had just arrived -- I sent the flowers and mithai up with him. He obliged and just as I was about to leave I received a frantic call from Da requesting me to come up. The watchman helped me to park in the traffic-packed road and I took the lift to the 23rd floor of Matru Mandir. Da looked pleased as punch and we decided to call Anj and Dhaval on Da' free computer based dial-up facility. By this time they were already thinking of names Veer, Jai, Kabir, Rohan, Arjun ... I suggested Kanha and said that I liked Arjun too.

They decided to name their little prince Arjun – I prayed that like the great Pandava Prince Arjun our little baby too would grow to be a valiant young man with all the values of the Bhagvad Gita and make all of us proud some day! The following morning we received his first picture with Dhaval holding him close to his chest. He was wearing two caps (!?) and was swaddled in a red and blue striped sheet so all we could see was his adorable plump cheeks, pouty lips and black eyes looking up at his Papa … Dhaval’ facial expressions were not a part of the picture but I can imagine the 'proud papa' look on his face :) On the following day we received another set of pictures in which a smiling Anika was holding Arjun in her lap and the two cubs were flanked by their smiley parents looking on proudly at their creations. Becoming a parent is truly the most beautiful experience and the most fulfilling achievements ever!

I spoke with Mala the day after Arjun’ birth and she said that she would be traveling to Texas in time for MaPa’ anniversary i.e. 13 October and would spend 6 days with them. Lucky bum!!!! I want to see Arjun too and mama and my darling papli and my Anj baby … :( Oh God, I wish I could just magically appear in Texas … Sigh!!! I hung on to every development, photograph and call eagerly and although I knew it was an impossible dream my heart kept feeling the need to travel the 13500 kilometers and be a part of the celebration with my family.

Two days later an investment I had made with the Post Office matured and just as I was contemplating options for a further reinvestment of the amount, Nu suggested that I use the money to make a trip to the US instead. I shot down the idea saying … ‘No way Nu, I’d rather save the money for a family holiday after Roshni' board exam … plus I doubt I’ll get leave… I dont want to enjoy by myself yaar'. Nu was persistent and so were the kids … they egged me on after a dramatic consultation they had amidst themselves and said in rehearsed unision,
‘MAMA WE BOTH THINK YOU SHOULD GO TO AMERICA!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous – if we go, we go together. Its ok beta – Masi will soon visit India with Arjun ... I would hate to leave you’ll and enjoy the baby alone’
‘Mom we'll be fine. Just think how happy all of you will be when you unite as a family …PLEASE GO na Mama … AT LEAST YOU SHOULD GO – Nana and Nani will be so happy to see you there – It will be the biggest surprise ever and the money spent will be really worth it!!!’
I dreamily replied, ‘Yes … I know that if this could actually happen they would be thrilled and it would be a fantastic reunion for the 5 Sharmas … Papli, Ma, Malee, Anj … and me (!?) … anyway I won't get leave'.
Nu said, ‘Ask your boss ...if she says yes I really think you should go – after all we work hard to enjoy moments like this – you deserve this trip‘!
I slept over their thoughts and decided to give it a shot… my dreams saw me amidst my sisters, parents, lil Anika… and Arjun…

The following week was a milieu of activity - applying for leave which I got instantly since a lot of Diwali bank holidays were falling during the same period, calling the travel agent, deciding on an airline (Emirates was the final choice) and date to fly, talking to the foreign exchange agent, buying gifts for Malee, baby Arjun, Anika and Anj’ home, and thanks to Kanan (my colleague at work) ordering some interesting gifts for Mapa which were a revolving cube with all our pictures on its 6sides and two tea mugs with the kid’ pictures imprinted on them. I finally decided to tell Mala about the trip so that she would be prepared to have me over. The practical Mala was shocked at my plan and insisted that I am wasting my money and that it would be better that Anj came to India. I insisted that my mind was made up and that I was going to make the trip anyways. The plan was; I would leave for San Francisco in the early morning of 10th Oct by Emirates via Dubai and because I would gain time I would arrive there on the 10th of Oct at 1.30PM. Mala would pick me up. I would get over jetlag for two days at her place and then fly to Texas with her on the 13th in time for Mum and Papa’ wedding anniversary! With the leave approval in place, I booked the tickets, bought the requisite dollars and packed like a mad person till the last minute ... and every few moments I had time to breathe I couldn’t stop smiling to myself that the magic was actually unfolding in front of me …

On the 8th of Oct we went for dinner to ‘On Toes, Bandra’ with the Gang to bring in Raunaq and Hoju’ birthdays – they were all really happy to know that I was going to surprise the family and we brought in their birthday at Mocha Mojo’ eating a variety of chocolate desserts. My baby turned 13 ... a teenager ... I am big boy now he said!

The night of 9th Oct arrived, and so did Tuna’ bag to be delivered to Alka in SFO – it was heavy but since I was not carrying too much baggage I decided to carry it for her. We also cut a cake for Raunaq on the evening of the 9th before I left the house and I made certain that my baby got some really cool things that he had wanted as gifts … clothes, a basketball, a Chelsea clock and a bag! He was a little upset that I would not be there for his birthday celebrations on the following day i.e. Saturday 10th Oct – he had invited his gang of boys over for a movie followed by a sleepover and of course breakfast and lunch on Sunday!! Nu was for sure going to have a handful that weekend ;) The kids had all the plans to drop me off at the airport but as the clock went beyond 11 their eyes started getting droopy and they were soon fast asleep. I dressed making sure to wear my body warmers as a precaution against the unpredictable flight temperatures. Nu and I left the house at 12.30 and drove silently to the airport – whenever I leave my children may it be for a short over-night trip for work or if they are going on a tour I get this un-explainable knot in my stomach and I worry myself sick about their well-being. Just as we were reaching the airport I said, ‘Nu please love the kids more than ever for me while I am away and do find the time to talk to them on a daily basis about all that is happening in their lives and please don’t be impatience with them’. He assured me all would be well and we soon bid goodbye. We also decided that if MaPa called home to speak to me during these 3 days of my travel and stay at Mala’ place Nu would say that I am on a business trip to Pune and that the signal there is not very good. And I was off …

10th Oct 2009, INDIA/DUBAI: Check-in at the Emirates counter was pretty much a breeze. I specified to the lady at the counter that she give me a window or aisle seat or a seat between 2 ladies for the connecting flight since I was traveling alone. Then I went through the form filling before immigration check, security check and the 2 hour wait before boarding … I always love the fresh smell that comes from an international flight, however as I walked in to the much talked about Emirates Cabin, the hospitality did not strike me as 'Warm' and was definitely not a patch on the Singapore Airlines experience. I thankfully had an aisle seat and after take off (which was on time) I tuned into the ICE facility on board and watched Night at the Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian which was a fun film; ate breakfast and before I knew it we had landed in Dubai (my first stop on this soil). This airport was huge, awesome and very articulately constructed with all the choice amenities and an endless and abundant duty free … what struck me and took me a while to get used to was seeing so many Hijab clad men and women as part of the front office of each facility at the airport.

The halt at Dubai was for 2 hours and finally it was time to go for the long haul all the way to SFO – a 16 hour non-stop journey!! I walked into the Emirates aircraft to find myself seated between a huge bulky middle aged man and a stout old lady. I felt not unlike a squished tomato!!! Damn the lady at the Emirates counter in Mumbai! Thankfully, they were both very silent for most of the journey and slept thru most of the meals and snack services – so I hogged and enjoyed the wine and watched movies galore … Taking of Pelham 123, Cheri & My Sisters Keeper – this film in particular was simply amazing and had me weeping like a baby by the end of it… the burly man to my right turned to look at me with a 'is all well' look and I smiled thru my tears pointing to the screen – that was the only silent exchange that I had with him! By the end of the journey I had concluded that the much talked of Emirates service was a real disappointment - the food was pathetic and cold, the staff was not responsive and on 4 separate occasions ignored my buzzer calls and the last straw was when I asked for a fruit and the attendant said that I could not have it as I had already had a Veg-Roll (which by the way was putrid)!? I was like ... WHAT are you saying ... please take this horrible roll back! Sorry Maam you have already opened the pack!?!$#@% I swore never to fly Emirates again!!

10th Oct 2009, SFO: The immigration officer at SFO was a cheerful black named John who was the other extreme from my fellow travelers … chatty as can be! He chatted about India and that he wanted to visit Delhi and Goa someday … he really helped in elevating my quieted spirits :) I collected my two bags after 45mins of anxiously waiting at the carousal thanks to the Emirates ground staff’ negligence – my bags had been offloaded from the carousal and hence I could not sight them earlier! Big NO to Emirates!!!! I walked out of the grey doors of the arrival hall to be greeted by a warm hug from Malee who was looking anxious as I took really long to come out! She was worried sick that something had gone wrong with me!

We headed to her new home and what a house!!! Simply beautiful to say the least and just the sanctuary for her … I can imagine why she loved it so much … I freshened up in the white guest room and took out the few gifts that I had got for Malee, had the yummy lunch she had made … Kayle, Dal, hot Rotis and curd … a perfect meal indeed! To beat the jet lag Mala suggested that we drive down to Santana Row … At SR we browsed thru some stores and Mala bought me some amazing formal tops from ‘H&M’. We then had coffee at ‘Peets Coffee and Tea’ and a little later we stopped by at ‘Sino’ for the best Mohitto ever … we were to stay for dinner too but finally decided against it. As we walked back to the car we passed by a multiplex that was showing ‘Bright Star’ the story of John Keats the romantic poet and his beloved Fanny Brawne…slow but very nice! We returned home with my head lolling all the way home…When we reached home Mala wanted to plan for the next day and probed me on my interests – I wanted to visit the temple and meet her dear friends Swami and Vir and if possible see a show like the Lion King … She searched the net to find a show that would suit our schedule – by this time I was too sleeeeepy so I excused myself and left it to Malee to figure it out.

11th Oct 2009, SFO: The next morning I woke up to the smell of steaming idlis and sambhar … Malee was already up and about and furiously cooking up a storm in the kitchen for breakfast and dinner. I first had some amazing green tea and honey with lime from Malee’ garden, and then gorged on the delicious idlis. We sped off to the Rama-Krishna Mission temple nestled in the deeply inclined lanes of SFO - we reached just in time to meet Swami … it was such a pleasure seeing him again – he has become more frail but he still could remember Roshni, Raunaq and Farrukh and asked about each of them. When I told him that I had taken the trip to surprise Mum and Papa he was wondrous as to why I would want to do that. Mala later explained that he came from such humble beginnings that he could not fathom why I would ever want to surprise anybody and the joy related with such a moment!

We also got really lucky and met Virja Prana who gave me the warmest hug ever… we could not stop giggling and yapping about the surprise while Mala was trying to head us off to the Orpheum Theatre to see the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’. The Orpheum theatre was the most awesome experience I have had in the longest time – the interiors were artistically designed and the bar and food counters were filled with a variety of drinks and eats - we had a drink before going into the show and I experienced something innovative here that I wish to share -- we also ordered a drink for the interval before the show and gave him our name; in the interval we came out and our drink was ready to have with our name tag below it on a shelf adjoining the food counter – this saved us the time of standing in a queue and also gave us more time to enjoy the drink since we could not carry the eats and drinks inside! Wicked was a musical tale of misunderstanding and triumph over evil. It is the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and the unfortunate turn of events that thrust her into the spotlight of being the enemy of all that is good. What a performance by each member of the cast, what songs, sets, lighting, costumes, make-up and above all the two leading ladies – exemplary to say the least! After the musical we headed back home feeling heady with the show we had just experienced to prepare dinner for the O’Malleys. Malee had outdone herself with a delicious spread of fish curry, Kayle, Dal, Fish Curry, Baingan, Rice, Salad and hot Rotis followed by Semiyan!!! It was great meeting with Lisa and her family – the kids more particularly Owen had grown so much and Jaya and he were squeezed by me at every opportunity! We had a lovely time chatting about the kids, the surprise, and opportunities for Rosh and Rock to come to the US for their further studies etc. The day had been awesome and I couldn’t help smile as I closed my eyes on my pillow.

12th Oct 2009, SFO: The next morning I started the day with my favorite green tea, honey and lime and grabbed a quick sandwich of cheese spread and fresh garden plucked tomatoes which I munched while walking around Malee’ backyard. We left the house by 10 to visit the Stanford University International Students office where we probed opportunities for Roshni and Raunaq. I got an answer to most of my queries but couldn’t help sigh at the premium fee structure and the fact that if we applied for scholarship it was likely that we would not get admission as the competition was very high in this bracket. We then took off for Carmel … what a beautiful boutique city this is! Lunch at Hog’s Breath Inn (once Clint Eastwood’ place), with its old west ambiance consisted of a huge Portabella mushroom burger and a Bloody Mary … sumptuous and refreshing but too big for me to finish. We then walked the lanes browsing thru the innumerable art galleries and crockery/cutlery stores all of which, I wanted to take back home to my kitchen :) It was thankfully a sunny day and hence the ‘Carmel-by-the-sea’ beach with its panoramic view speckled with beautiful sea gulls was awesome; the air felt crisp while the clear sky reflected a blue water ahead of us. We took in the scene for a while and took some pictures.

We left Carmel at about 4pm and Mala took me across to Alka’ home by about 7.00 PM where I met her parents, her husband Gaurav Garg and her lovely daughters … they were all in a festive mood for the upcoming Diwali celebrations they were having in their home on the 16th evening – the kids had been furiously practicing their steps for a Bollywood medley as Gaurav and uncle painfully strung colorful lights in the garden. Alka treated me to some awesome non-cheeze pizza that we took-away from a restaurant at Santana Row. The shopaholic Alka also made me stop by at Crate & Barrel and Best Buys. I picked up some beautiful Crockery from both the stores and then we went back to her home to have some Margarita that Gaurav made for us and the Yummy Pizza …
By the time I got home it was 12.30 in the night only to find Malee sulking … she was really mad and we had a bit of a spat as I had gotten so late. The fact was that I was on holiday and hence not really bothered about getting late but a bigger reality was that … I was late, more so considering that I had a flight to catch the next morning at 6AM which meant that I was to reach the airport at 5 AM and since the airport was about an hour away, we had to leave home at 4AM and hence at best I needed to get up at 3AM!!! It was already 12.30 in the night … two hours of sleep was all that we were going to have! I packed profusely by myself as Malee continued to sulk and watch Jodha Akbar if you please! When I was done and needed to pack some of the delicate stuff in her bag I walked up to her saying, ‘In which bag can I put these?’ When she got up and showed me the bag I knew that the worst of her mood was over. We finished the rest of the packing within the next half hour and then crashed with our respective alarms on for 3AM … oh lord what a long two and half days these had been in SFO …GROWL … But awesome too :)))

13 – 19th Oct 2009, SFO/Texas/SFO: I had barely slept and … ttrrrng ttrrrng … I slammed the alarm shut and jumped out of bed, quickly washed and dressed and went into the hall. Mala was already up and about fixing my cup of tea and packing a sandwich and some fruit for my flight… she truly is one of the most thoughtful persons I know of. I hugged her saying, ‘Thanks Malee… and sorry about last night’ ‘Its okay’ she said in her playful nasal voice, ‘lets move fast or else we are going to be really late’. ‘Please remember to take your camera Malee as I would like to video capture the surprise’. I had a 6AM connecting flight San Jose-Denver (with an hour’ stopover)-Texas and Mala had a direct flight at 9.00AM. On board the flight from Denver I had the company of a young and cheerful black US Marine. It was amazing talking to him. He had the look of an open minded soul and was so sincere about his queries and really passionate about his work, his fitness, his soon and his wife. He was the first person who had so much praise for Bush and his war causes as they were always to improve the state of being of a land. He also wanted to know more about India and hoped to visit some day. The plan was to meet Malee at the baggage carousel in Texas as her flight was landing in Texas fifteen minutes after mine. Mala came to the carousal as planned in Texas and as we collected out bags my stomach started knotting with anxiety for the upcoming surprise that we were going to give MaPa and Anj  We took a taxi to the house and en-route Anj called to find out where Mala was. She wanted to know if she would reach before 3PM so that she could go along with her to pick up Anika from school. We passed by her as she was driving out and she called Malee:
‘Hey was that you in the cab that just passed by? Sorry I had to leave as I would have got really late – I will see you at home soon. Mama and Papa are waiting for you’
We soon arrived at the Sejpal residence and Mala took out her Camera, I nervously rang the bell and heard Mum’ voice,
‘Jangee Jangee Mala aagaye hai shayad … come fast’
The door then opened and Mama popped her head out smiling, ‘Hiiiiiii’ … her face then shadowed as she realized that it was me she was looking at. She then sighed with a shocked look saying, ‘Haaaainnn … Priya???’
I leaped forward into her shaking arms as she broke into a stream of tears … sobbing uncontrollably bringing tears of joy to my eyes too.
I looked up and on top of the stairway was Papa looking shocked and saying ‘Arrrey… how come … tu kaise aa gayee beta?I rushed up the stairs and hugged him saying, ’Aap logon ki yaad aa rahi thi … so I just decided to come – HAPPY ANNIVERSAY’

Mum was still weepy but by now they were tears of joy (I guess the initial outburst was more emotional) and excitedly jabbered about how they had called Farrukh in the morning as they could not get thru to my mobile and he had said that I had gone to Pune for work :) It had worked out like clockwork after all … God had magically made my dream come true!
We then tip-toed into the room and we feasted our eyes to the latest addition to the family … Arjun Sejpal. He was in deep sleep and buried under loads of covers. I lightly touched his cheek feeling his warm soft cheeks … we were shooed out by Papa. We hugged and kissed some more and then Mum fed us some yummy khana. I had just finished eating and we were talking about the whole surprise when we heard the front door opening and Anika ran in saying, ‘I’m home from school’.
I screamed, ‘So am I’ while running out of the kitchen towards them and Anj who was still standing at the doorway took a few seconds to realize that it was me and screamed, ‘WHAT, WHAT WHAT … what are you doing here. What is this? How come you are here??’
I ran into her arms and we hugged and kissed with tears of joy rolling down our cheeks and the mad Sharma hysteria unfolded the second time around. Anika looked adorable as ever but was shy, speechless and unsure of what to make of this outburst of emotion from all of us mad hatter Sharma’s and when I hugged her she wanted to go back to her favorite Mala Masi’ lap.

Arjun soon awoke from his deep slumber and Mala and I took turns in squeezing him. The afternoon was spent in talking, laughing, replaying the plan for the surprise and finally sharing the gifts that I had got for all of them. After some hot chai in the evening, we anxiously awaited Dhaval’ return to come a full circle on this well orchestrated surprise! Anj called him at the end of the day and he said he was going to be home in 10 minutes. The rest of them quickly assembled in the hall as I hid myself in the living area of their home which also leads to the garden and the garage. Quite contrary to our plans Dhaval suddenly opened the garage door and walked into the house. I saw him turned and ducked. ‘ Hey ... arrey why are you hiding, what's going on’ He thought I was Anj for a few seconds – meanwhile the rest of them came charging from the hall and Dhaval gathered in the confusion that I wasn’t Anj. ‘Wait a minute, don’t tell me … is that Priya?’ I turned and gave him a big hug while he bursted with disbelief, ‘Oh my God … it is Priya! What is this? How? I can’t believe this! This is awesome’. And we were all jumping and screaming with joy and hugging and kissing each other for the third time around … Oh my God! What a perfect surprise it had turned out to be! Dhaval had brought a cake for MaPa’ anniversary and Mala opened a bottle of red wine she had carried from SFO. We all cheered, had yummy mama-khana, clicked loads of pictures, sang songs, yapped, laughed like hell generally having a blast ... and in the middle of all the excitement I missed my three poopies back home like anything!

I spent the next 5 glorious days at Anj' home with her lovely family, Ma Pa and Malee … all of us yapping, hogging, watching movies, each of us contributing our own tips to make the besan ka ladoos for diwali and finally the ladoos turning our quite fine; celebrating diwali together after so long with papa and ma reciting the prayers and all of us joining in for the arti -- I missed my poopies on diwali night as I watched the festivities, lights and sweets and said a silent prayer for their well being; playing with Anika and telling her stories every night and day; bathing Arjun after he had done the largest potty by a baby ever and then swaddling him in fresh clothes; singing to him and putting him to sleep, going to the park with Anika and Mapa as she ran from one swing to the next and playing hide-n-seek with her, visiting her school for a diwali party where we met Anj’ mother’ group – Tanya and Andrea her sisters in the US are adorable and their babies absolute dolls – the school was a dream project that I wished I could make my Rosh and Rock also go thru by rewinding their lives to babyhood once again.

Anj took the trouble to talk to an amazing lady called Jenny Voigt who in turn met with me so warmly and was unbelievably supportive in answering all my queries about career opportunities in the United States. We also visited University of Texas and met the international students coordinator about the admission process for Rosh and Rock. On the morning of Diwali, Preeti Rangachary my friend from school called and again with her I chatted on options of the kids coming to study in the US. I also shopped with Mala and Ma Pa at Crate & Barrel (where I loved a red blown glass bowl) and World Market. On Sunday morning 18th Oct, Mala returned to SFO and D, Anj and I went to the Outlet Mall with the kids where I went insane shopping at GAP, Adidas and Eddie Bauer. On the last day, Anj and I drove out with the kids in tow to shop at Old Navy where again I picked up some lovely stuff for the kids. As always, Anj/D and Mala and even MaPa pampered me with loads of gifts for the kids, Nu and me and our home. Last but not the least, we met with Nikhil – Anika’ lil sweetheart :) and his family Abhi, Vicky and Sachin. Departing from Anj was as emotional as meeting her. She is like a lil baby to me and always will be, even though she is now a mother of two. She wept not wanting to let go and leaving her was the most difficult… D, Ma and Pa dropped me off at the airport while Anj stayed home with the kids to take Anika for her swimming class. I arrived in SFO late that night and Malee fed me with some yummy frozen Aloo Paranthas and Dahi. She had also bought me the red blown bowl we had seen at C&B and loads of chocolates to take back. I packed furiously needing to exchange bags as my bags were just not big enough to carry all the goodies I had bought or had been gifted.

20th Oct, SFO: The next and last morning in the US was more than pleasant. I sat in the garden and enjoyed breakfast of eggs, bread and juice with Malee, who shortly after, left for the office. I dressed in time to meet with an ex-colleague from Invest India called Poonam Karnani who dropped by and like old times was as giggly as ever – it was good to see that she has settled well in the US. A little Malee returned from her office and the bell rang again -- it was one of my one time best friend from St Joseph’s school, Nalini Bamba with her 1 year old son. It was fun to catch up with her again and she looked as lovely as ever! Soon after Vir called to say goodbye and I shared all the details of the surprise with her ... needless to say she was as happy as us about the whole plan ... it is always so refreshing talking with her and some how I feel this unexplainable bond between her and the family. We then had lunch of fish Malee had made for me with some yum Pakistani masala, kayle, moong dal and rotis… Awesome awesome awesome!!!! Malee dropped me off at the airport and it was then that we spoke about her ... her plans for life ahead, her dreams and a lot lot more … As expected both of us were emotionally strung by the time she was to leave… I love my sisters so much and feel blessed to have them in my life … My first ever vacation on my own and that too all the way to the US, after all the initial speculation and hesitation, was a HUGE SUCCESS … thank you God, thank you my world, thank you Nu, thank you my babies and thank you the great Sharma family for making this trip so beautiful...and making it so MAGICALLY PERFECT!

All the people ... Sagar

2009-12-22T19:35:00.010+05:30

I often reflect on my formative working years and more so when I receive my salary at the end of a month ... I cant help thinking about the times when I was making a mere fraction of the amount I earn today ... I was a teenager then!

St. Joseph's High School, R.C.Church had an inclusive learning policy; so children of all strata studied alongside us. In the 9th and 10th grades I tutored slum dweller' kids studying in the junior school. This service was facilitated by the Principal of our school Fr. Joaquim Dcosta and for this task I received a small stipend of Rs.10 per month. I took great pleasure in receiving this amount of money, which was spent in buying chocolates -- my students and I enjoyed this once a month treat ... and I felt happy that my earning was giving so much simple joy - this was my first earning :)

After passing out of St. Josephs I studied at Cathedral & John Connon for my 11th and 12th grades. Although the experience of studying at the school was not such a great experience I learnt a lot in these two years and my earnings were awesome -- as I had graduated to teaching middle school rich kids and got paid Rs.100 an hour and often taught about 2-3 hours a day... which used to earn me a solid Rs.7000 to 8000 per month!!! For a teenager brought up in the frugal subsistence of the armed forces life, this was a booty and I reveled in my earnings - buying new clothes, reading books and comics to my hearts content at the neighbourhood library run by good ol'Amar and eating loads of 5 Stars and kachoris and guzzling bottles of Thums Up and Fanta from the Aarey booth in Navy Nagar... I also saved some of this money with my Mum which Mala and I later used in a trip to Singapore (that is another story).

Then came the college years which required me to travel by 123 to Regal, hopping off at the stop and then walking to Elphinstone College the oldest institution in Bombay ... on one hot morning a few meters short of the college a few youngsters were distributing attractive leaflets that spoke of part-time research assignments with Pathfinders - Lintas! This was one of the leading advertising agencies in those days and their research arm was quite well known amongst youngsters. I had heard of a few friends doing some research assignments with them and they could not stop talking of the fun they had and the places they traveled to. I soon enrolled with them and my first assignment was of door-to-door promotion of Nikky-Tasha' Kitchenettes. I was assigned the Worli area and following the left hand rule which meant ringing the bell of every alternate house starting with the house on my left I got a peek into a variety of Indian homes :) I also worked on Frooti' tetra-packs, Hawkins Cookers etc. Fun times and great confidence building for me ... but the money was not as much as I thought I would make! We were paid Rs.10 per form and however hard I tried I could never do more than 40 to 50 forms in a day and of course we could do this only on weekends or bunk lectures once a week and go off for the whole day. I don't know how many homes I must have visited in those days ... complete strangers that always seemed very cooperative and happy to provide their responses to my questionnaire ... it was very tiring work but very satisfying and thanks to those days till date I appreciate the effort that a salesman makes and can spot a good one instantly!

During my college days I also never missed on an opportunity to compere the bharat-natyam recitals done by a friend named, Kiranmayi Chinni; at the Tanjore, Taj. She would be give me Rs.100 for each show. I truly enjoyed these experiences because the audience was always filled with foreigners that were so appreciative after about Kiran' performance, her learning journey, her costume and my saris and my speech ... and above all being at the Taj felt simply fantastic!

On graduating in 1985, the next natural thing to do was to find myself a proper 9-5 job!!? My summer vacation ended tooooo soon and as soon as it ended I had enrolled for an evening course at Xaviers Institude of Communications for a diploma in Advertising & Marketing. I also went to meet a placement agency and the girl there said that there is a vacancy with a small company called Letraset India which marketed transferable fonts and screens for advertising agencies to use in their print ads - I was to meet a guy called Sagar Tejura at their office near crawford market. On the appointed date, I visited the tiny office which was on the 2nd floor in a dilapidated building near Metro theater (thankfully this was walking distance from my college) and there were precisely 3 people in the office - the promoter, an elderly man called Kaka who was the office man-friday and Sagar who assisted the promoter in all the business operations. Sagar took my interview while the promoter looked on. Sagar grilled me about the stars and the moon and India and all the possible current affairs ... sadly most of my answers were either 'Uuuhm I dont know' or wild guesses that were all wrong. A lump had developed in my throat and my eyes were itching with a hint of tears ready to rollover onto my cheeks ... I wasnt getting this job so I fought back my tears and looked straight into Sagar' eyes for the first time. He had beautiful honest eyes and I desperately searched for some support in them while I said, "Im sorry Sir, I know I am not going to get this job because I dont have an answer to any of your questions ... this is my first interview and maybe that is why I am very nervous". Sagar' eyes softened and he said smiling at me like a parent does when he is happy seeing a spark in his child, "I can understand your nervousness and dont worry you have got this job. We will start you on a salary of Rs.850 plus conveyance and will look at a revision once you have completed 6 months with us. I will see you at the office at 10AM tomorrow morning. Please be on time." I wanted to get up and hug him but restrained myself as Sagar got busy with putting together my appointment letter.

I arrived at work the next morning at 9.45AM ... the peon was cleaning up while the promoter was saying his prayers. The office had a mixed fragrance of rose incense and phenyle and a silence that was broken at 10AM sharp as Sagar strode into the office.

'Arrey wah, you have come in early like the sunshine. Very good! Keep up the punctuality -- yeh nahin ki pehle din par time par ayee ho to baki din aaram sey aarahi ho .. Huh?'
'No Sir, I will be on time'
'Good! And you can call me Sagar and I will call you SUNSHINE :)'

I started work immediately with Sagar giving me an introduction to the brand, that we were the sole importers of Letraset and Rotering products in India, that we did direct sales and also sold to retailers i.e. stationers, he then explained the entire product line i.e. Letraset transfers and Rotering pens and the type of customers that we sold to, the pricing and discounts etc. In the afternoon he took me along for 2 meetings with the Creative Directors of medium sized ad agencies in the Fort area -- these guys looked so beyond me in terms of age, maturity and intellect ... this was going to be a tough ball-game for me who was used to encountering simple and humble home-makers during my door-to-door visits while at Pathfinders... the agency jargon was yet another challenge. I eagerly listened on as Sagar talked his way thru meetings and looked from his face to the customers and was fascinatied each time an order was sealed. Sagar was very encouraging from the word go and after a few days he would let me start the talking at meetings so that I could overcome my fears. However, somehow even after two weeks into the job I wasn't confident of doing a call on my own and kept fumbling thru my responses or would just get into a brain freeze if I walked into an intimidating office ... achieving a sale on my own seemed an impossible task at hand.

On one wet September afternoon when Kaka and I were the only ones in the office - Sagar was unwell at home and the promoter had stepped out for some work; I received a call from a prospective client. He spoke in a heavy voice and said that he wanted to drop by at our office the next morning to see the product line and was considering a purchase -- he would be there at 10.30AM. I panicked... as I knew Sagar wasnt expected to be in for a few more days and that the promoter never sold as he spoke in a very heavy gujju accent. I tried calling Sagar' home but there was no response... I guessed he was resting!? Meanwhile, my boss came back and I apprised him of the worrisome situation at hand. He assured me that I would manage just fine and that I did not need Sagar to be around during the customer' visit. I called Sagar again later that evening and although he sounded really sick I nevertheless told him about the meeting the next morning -- as always he reassured me that all would be well and that he would try and make it to the office at the earliest possible.

Sagar did not arrive at the usual 10AM and my stomach knotted with fear ... as I furtively paced the tiny office going thru my notes and scanning the office reception to see if all was in order the customer arrived - he was a large intimidating dark man wearing spectacles... thankfully he smiled at me the moment I said I was Priya Sharma the girl who spoke to him. As he settled down in our tiny reception area while my boss prompted me to ask him if he would like a cup of tea.
"I'd love a cup of chai please, thank you"

I asked Kaka to help with the tea and then I set about showing him our brochure and the various products fumbling initially but soon picking up speed with my presentation. He asked me several questions and I surprisingly knew all the answer. He then wanted to know what best pricing we could offer him if he ordered a reasonably good quantity. I had responded to all his queries but fumbled at the pricing as he insisted on getting a discount. At this point I said, "Sir, we have offered you our best price but since you are asking for a larger quantity and that you have come all the way to our office let me talk with my boss and see what best we can do to better this price". I then asked my boss if we could give him a discount to which he said, "Since the quantity is big you can give him an additional 2% discount". I communicated the revised offer to the customer as he was finishing his tea; he paused and thought for a while and finally smiled saying, "Okay thank you ... Please pack the goods as per this list". I had just achieved my FIRST SALE!!!!! As the transaction was being completed and Kaka helped with the packing the customer made small talk with my boss, I thought of Sagar and what his reaction would be... I really was dying to call him and share the details of my success with him. Just then, Sagar strode into the office wearing a sweater and carrying a kerchief in his hand -- he looked really very unwell. He shook hands with the customer as I introduced them and then I added with a smile that he had just bought some material from us. As Sagar shook my hand and I realised what a high temperature he had, and he said in his gruff voice, "Oh thats very good!" ... and then whispered close to me, "Congratulations on your first sale Sunshine ... and wish you many many more to come!" I beamed at him admirably and was really touched by his gesture of keeping his word and landing up even though he was so unwell. Sagar left for home shortly after the customer left. Since Sagar continued to remain away from the office due to his illness I made appointments on my own and completed 3 transactions independently.

10 days later, on one of the mornings that I got to the office early I was sorting some papers and amidst them saw the invoice of my first sale. I showed it to my boss and told him that I was arranging to send it to the customer. He said that will not be required and when I asked why he avoided my question. I asked him again after a while and it was then that he told me that my so-called first sale was staged... by none other than Sagar! The customer was his best friend and was not from an ad agency at all and that the goods and the invoice were later returned! My heart sank ... But why!?? "Well, you were not gaining confidence and had so many fears of managing alone... his objective was to give you the confidence in your self and that is what he has achieved ... see how many appointments you have gone to by your self and how many sales you have done ever since that day!"

When Sagar walked in at 10AM that morning, I looked at him with renewed respect and thanked him for all that he had done for me ... he laughed in his typical loud manner and said, "Oh come now ... I'd do anything to see a smile on your face Sunshine". He had taught me two simple values that I apply to date in my work life - there is a way to overcome all your fears and to achieve business objectives empowerment of people is essential -- this makes them do the quality of work they are capable of thus creating a success oriented team.

At the end of the month when I got my first salary cheque I felt I had really earned it and Sagar took me for a small treat to a restaurant to celebrate my first salary. When I thanked him once again for tiding me over into becoming a sales executive who could now achieve targets even though I started with a naqli sale, he said jokingly, "Chalo at least you will remember me all your life ... Tumhari salary or yeh treat ekdum asli hai ... so enjoy!" :)

I moved on before completing six months with Letraset as I got a placement at Trikaya Advertising and over time lost touch with Sagar! When I look at a bunch of young sales people I am always forthcoming in my guidance and assistance in their learning process and smile warmly as I reflect on those days ... and silently pray that Sagar is happy and well ... where ever he is...

All the people ... Jerry

2009-11-21T00:24:00.004+05:30

As a child, my oldest memories go back to me testing a shiny new pen on the collared and squiggled pad at a store and writing neatly in an upward angle and front slant perfect cursive writing ... all the people ... I dont know why but I did always write that phrase to test any new writing instrument. As I grew older I would think back and reflect at my wonder years and this would always come to my mind ... I cant seem to trace back to the memory of why I wrote the phrase but I do know that from my youngest times all the people around me ... mattered ... I wanted them to like me ... and it mattered a lot to me that ALL THE PEOPLE liked me ... and the bubbly smiley me never denyed an onlooker (sometimes even a rank stranger) a smile, or a friend a warm smiley hiiiii! And even to this date people matter to me ... I guess they do to us all!?

Thru my life I would have met thousands of people that I have personally interacted with and liked so much ... family, friends, colleagues, business associates, strangers and it is amazing how some people remain close to yur heart even though the interaction may have been the briefest and how a part of them has in some way made me what I am today.

One such person is JERRY ... it was a dark, stormy night as I drove back from work in my good old Matiz feeling not unlike a sardine, packed in the typical end-of-day grotesque traffic snarl of Mumbai ... listening and singing along with mukesh' lilting songs on the stereo and just as I was at a high note, the car reached the top end of the incline on the Andheri flyover and I pumped the clutch n break for the nth time in the inching homeward journey, my car came to a sudden grinding halt!@#$% ... I turned the ignition several times but to no avail ... this cant be happening to me yaar!?! Desperate honking of the cars behind me deafened my ears ... HONK HONK ... %$#@^ HONK HONK ... cars drove past me as I desperately tried all my tactics to revive the engine but as luck would have it my car was stone dead!!! I pulled the hand brake and stepped out of the car into the rain and apologetically waved my hand to fellow sufferers cursing and shaking their heads at me as they sped off on their ways ... I thought hard about how to get out of the situation!? I really didnt know what to do ... I got back into the car and tried to get through to my husband who said that if I could push the car to the side somehow and just leave it there with the emergency lights on we could deal with it later ... it was impossible for me to push the car in this traffic with cars not leaving an inch of space for me to budge + I just didnt have the strength or the skill to manouever the car in the rain at the top of an incline ... Oh God help me please ... Knock knock on my window ... there was someone knocking for me to open ... as I brought the glass down a young boy about the age of 21-22 (I was closing 40 at this time), "Hi my name is Jerry ... I guess you need some help - please put your car in the neutral gear so I can push you to the side" ... There is a God!!! I mutely followed instrutions and soon I was successfully pushed to the side of the road ... he then said, "if its okay with you will you let me try to start your car -- you sit in the passenger seat" a thought crossed, 'Should I trust him? Shut up woman ... you dont have a choice' so I moved over and he jumped in and tried his best ... no luck again! He then said, "Wait here I will organise some help for you". Before I could say 'thanks for trying to help' he was speeding down the maze of vehicles ... and I stood outside getting wet craning my neck over the traffic to keep sight of him ... as passersby looked my way ...'tsk tsk ... bechari ... kya hua Madam' ... some gave knowing smiles - but none of them stopped to help! 10 minutes passed and I gave up. I locked the car, took out the deck, car papers and slung my bag to trudge down the hill, 'I guess now that the car is parked on the side we can pick it up in the morning ... ' just then I saw my friend in need rushing up towards me ... he had a mechanic with him who opened the car and said, 'madam battery bilkul gayela hai aapka'. Meanwhile Jerry had disappeared again ... I then saw that a car was reversing up the drive ... it was Jerry! He had parked his car ahead when he saw me stranded and had run back to help me out. He then tied my car' bumper to his car and took the drivers seat and the mechanic drove his car as he towed us all the way down the hill to Juhu Galli ... by this time my husband had also arrived. He negotiated with the mechanic and thanked Jerry profusely ... Jerry was not at the end of his angelic self ... He then towed us all the way home. I was clearly smitten by his sheer nicety ... what a truly wonderful angel he was! I took his number and the next morning I thanked him again ... some months later my mobile got lost and with that I lost Jerry' number too ... forever ... but he has left a huge impression on my life ... I often think of him and say a silent prayer that he is well and happy ... see it does matter to me still that he is well and happy ... Cheers to your life Jerry! and hope there are many more people like you in this world...

Basking in Laungurous Goa

2009-05-26T12:07:00.008+05:30

This summer we took a road trip to Goa yet again!!? Why Nu why??? We’ve been there so many times ... 14 times in 19 years of marriage ... SIGH ... please please do lets try a new destination! But it is a great destination and plus we can drive there!!! The week of 16-23 May was booked, leave was applied for and sanctioned and as the time came closer we started getting excited about the trip!

16 May 09 -- We were on our way with our bags, boogie board and gaddi at 5 in the morning. The kids slept thru quite a bit of the journey while Fruki drove pretty much non-stop all the way on NH 14 with a 45min halt at Kamat's at 8.30 for south-Indian breakfast a little short of Mahad. We reached the outskirts of Goa at 2.30 and decided to do lunch at Coqueiro (which is coconut in Portuguese). We ordered fish curry and prawn curry rice while the kids drank iced tea and Nu and I ordered a beer and Margarita respectively … and we were feeling groooooovy :) The goan relaxed mood was set in and we embraced the Goan hospitality with open hearts. We reached the Haathi Mahal, which is situated in South Goa and checked into Villa112. The kids ran into the pool while we stocked the fridge and kitchen with key provisions. After the kids came back we learnt that they had already made friends and they had made a plan to meet up after dinner. We freshened up, ordered room service and enjoyed dinner together while watching Jab We Met for the nth time (it is always a treat to watch) … while flipping thru the channels during a commercial break we came across the ManU vs Arsenal match which ended in a draw thus declaring ManU the winner of the season … My thoughts went out to little Mishal and Abhinav watching the match live in the first row at the Old Trafford Stadium at Manchester … we had made it possible for him and it made me feel warm from within about the fact that we had been able to keep up to our commitment. I had developed an allergic sneezing bout by the time dinner was over so I popped an anti-allergent … I passed out while trying to read a few lines of Shashi Tharoor’ India.

17 May 09 -- We rose early considering we were really tired from the journey the day before and the anti-allergent. I made our favourite elaichi chai and Nu and I sipped on it in the balcony as the kids sleepily slumped into chairs too. Raunaq fed two cats that had found their way into balcony with some milk – they lapped it all up hungrily. We then quickly changed into our costumes and hit the beach. The water was great and the weather perfect so the kids and Nu rode the water scooter and also did the parasailing. We then walked back to the hotel and jumped into the pool and enjoyed breakfast at the floating bar. We lunched at Mikes where I had the best ever Veg Xacuti with rice, lime and green chillies and a Mojitto to down it :) I sacked out for an hour post the heavy lunch and then joined the kids at the pool in the evening where they participated in a swimming competition with other children. Roshni and Raunaq came in 4th and 5th respectively. We had elaichi tea and toasts at the pool. This was followed by Pool Volley Ball with adults and kids alike. Nu joined in to play VB and later played water polo too. We changed after this fun activity at the pool and went for dinner to the Casa Lisboa restaurant at the hotel where we had some traditional Goan performers dancing for us – this was followed by dancing to loads of fun live music and dinner. The kids met their new pals Vijit, Pritham, Sanaya and Gauran after dinner while Nu and I chatted at the pool-side.

18 May 09 – The next morning we did breakfast in the room – eggs, toast, milk and juice and then got ready to receive Ma and Pa at Madgaon. It was so good to see them :) We had lunch at the Lisboa again and Mum and I enjoyed a Margarita each while Papa and Nu had beers. Post lunch the kids freaked out with their new pals while we caught up on some sleep. After tea in the evening, we changed into costumes and went for a dip in the pool – the best part was to see Ma and Pa there too in their adorable costumes :) Mum looked unsteady initially but eventually did some paddling around while Papa joined in with the kids and youngsters to play a few rounds of water polo. We ended the day with dinner at Fishermans wharf where we had a trumpeter serenading us with some of the best melodies of time.

19 May 09 -- We started the day with a cup of tea and a walk on the beach with Ma and Pa which was very refreshing and we got some great pictures too :0 We then drove to the famous St. Francis Church in old Goa -- Mum wanted to join the ceremonies but that was not allowed. We bought a few memorablia and then went to Panjim on an endless tiring walk in the sun to buy Kajus and then later had lunch. The kids ate Dominoes Pizza while we had Mughlai at Moti Mahal. We formally met with Sandeep and Dolly Mehra (Gauran’ parents) and Puneeta and Rohan Singh (Vijit and Saisha’ parents). Mum and I then relaxed in the pool while the kids, Nu and papa played water polo – we ended the day by ordering room service instead of stepping out as Ma and Pa were very tired from the days activities. We taught Ma and Pa how to play UNO and had a blast as the two of them erred continually and kep ket caught as they kept forgetting to say pUNO ;)) Papa kept saying PUNO loudly instead of UNO while declaring his game! It was really funny.

20 May 09 – The next day was a blast in its own way as we decided to hit the beach with all the other friends we made i.e. The Mehra’s and Singh’s and all the kids and us with Ma and Pa. The gang included – 6 of us; Sandeep, dolly, sanaya and gauran; puneeta, vijit and saisha; ananya, jhanvi, devika, divya, kancha and their dad and mum – over 20 of us freaking out together. The waters were roaring and hence an absolute thrill to be in. The kids had a blast, boogie-boarding as well and playing water polo in the midst of the huge waves that pelowed us :) Papa also played ball with the boys while mama waddled around in the water and sat in about 5 inches of water next to dolly and believe it or not but she slipped and actually swallowed a bit of water in the process ... she was quite dazed for a bit after this sudden mishap but enjoyed the rest of the beach experience. Breakfast consisted of sandwiches and juices at the poolside and followed up by lunch in the room. The evening was spent playing UNO with Ma and Pa and having chai. They also had sandwiches and juice before leaving for Mumbai and packed cutlets for their onward journey. Nu and I went to drop them off in the Neeta sleeper bus – which was really very odd from the inside as they expected two complete strangers to share a berth. Very very odd indeed!!!?! We had planned to go for dinner to Martin’ Corner but by the time we got back to the room from dropping Mapa; Rosh was fast asleep so we ordered some room service instead of going out anywhere.

21 May 09 – The day was spent lounging at the swimming pool, eating some delicious fish and prawns for lunch at JoeCons – Rosh stayed back as her stomach was aching. When we got back Sandeep was over with his kids. We spent the afternoon talking about our families and watching the IPL match. In the evening the activity centre organised a dance competition which was being judged by none other than Nu :) It was great fun watching all the kids of all sizes freaking out to their creation of dance steps ;) Raunaq did a "maa da ladla bigad gaya" jig with Gauran while the girls Rosh, Pranika, Sanaya and Ananya danced to "Desi Girl" with the boys i.e. Gauran, Raunaq, Dhruv and Dev joining in towards the end ... The evening ended in a crescendo with all the children on stage grooving together. We spent the evening at the Mehra' Villa 92 where Dolly treated us to baked chicken and bhel along with drinks and snacks. All in all a great evening spent perfectly. We returned to our villa close to 11PM and packed furiously. The kids were forced to return back much to the chagrin of Dhruv, Gauran, Dev and Sanaya but we did retire nevertheless as we just had to get to bed as we returning home the next morning.

22 May 09 -- We started the drive back at 6.40 and took the route via Nipani and the Kolhapur national highway 4 and stopped only at Macdonalds for a quick drive thru burger. I took the wheel from Pune to all the way back and we were home by 6.30PM ... although we had a great trip and got back some fun memories it was good to be back to "home sweet home"!

EGG-JHAAAAAMS!!!

2009-04-03T17:07:00.004+05:30

Today is a bank holiday on account of Ram Navmi ... the birth of Ram and the day that most devout north Indian hindus also perform the ritual of Kanjka -- as a kid we would love this day as Papa and mama would wash our feet, treat us to halwa puri and channas and also give us money, so am at home with Rosh and Rock while they pretend to study for their EGG-JHAAAAAMS looming up large and commencing with a bang (both have Maths on day 1) on 06 April 09!!! Poor babies have so much to cover and so little time on hand ... And I wonder with a fidget as to how they will ever cover their enormous portions with all the distractions that keep popping up into their lives -- calls, emails, SMS's, friends, TV, basket ball, the new found 'Rave', problems of friends, problems of their own!!!?!

All the best my dolls ... Insha-allah all will be well with all your subjects [I am crossing my toes, fingers and eyes for that :)))]

Surprise Party -- JB, Natti, Rosh, Baby Shaikh turns 15!!!

2009-03-31T10:46:00.022+05:30

Last Sunday was 22 March 09 and with Roshni's 15th birthday coming up in four days our lil baby got up from her beauty sleep feeling anxious as ever, about what she would do and wear on the big day -- as usual the exams loomed ahead for all her pals and her, and despite toying with several ideas we just didn't come to a conclusion all thru the day. What we did however achieve on Sunday, was a splurge at a couple of the Malls around our home and at Lokhandwala market' boutique stores -- the young lady was richer by several garments and beamed at herself saying, "Thanks for all the clothes Mom -- I guess we'll celebrate after the exams and we can do a family dinner on my birthday".

Manic Monday arrived and I was fretful about several to-do's at work. At about 5pm I got a call from Rosh and while listening to her animated description of her day at school, my heart kept gnawing at me about the fact that our baby was turning 15 and we were doing nothing grand about it (I know she loves grand things at her age) ... My eyes filled in as I thought of the troubled times she has been thru lately and I resolved that I really did want to celebrate this day for her and show her how many people love her ... I impulsively called a few typical party venues and everything was so unnecessarily exorbitant ... so I called Mum/Papli to check if they would let us use their home as the venue. Mum graciously agreed and said that they would be happy to help in whatever way they could too... Yeaaay!!!!! I was making headway, having achieved the first milestone!

I then called Honey (Fruki' niece) for help with organizing a DJ ... she suggested I speak with Manav instead. Manav was as resourceful as ever and assured me he would speak with his friend who was a DJ and get back to me with his rate and confirmation by EOD. He did call EOD... at dinner time in fact (and since I hate getting up from my meal Fruki picked up the phone) and Manav blurted out the DJ confirmation to Fruki (now Fruki is the last person on this earth to trust a secret with -- he just cannot contain secrets!!! So, I had intentionally not shared any of the plans for the party with him or the kids). Fruki was obviously puzzled at what Manav was saying and gave the phone to me with a quizzical look saying, 'Manav ka phone hai - tumne phone kiya tha kya?' (by this time I had gobbled my last few bites so I ran to get the phone from him hoping that Manav had not done the mindless blurt to my dear hubby ... Alas!!! I was too late and Manav had given Fruki the rate and the confirmation. Nevertheless, I swore Fruki to secrecy (which of course is pointless ... its not that he will blurt out the secret... but he has this habbit of pretending to be puking out what he is dying to say to the effect that the person who is hiding from knows, for sure that something is cooking ... ) uuuuuuuuughhhh he is sooooooooooooooooo annoying!!!! In any case, the fact was that the DJ Ruchir had confirmed to be there for the party on the 26th and would be at the venue by 5.30 for setting up so that all would be ready before the surprise for Rosh at 7pm. Ruchir also asked me to suggest the list of favorite songs that I would like played (I got Dia darling to give me the names of some key numbers / bands). Manav also suggested that we order Biryani from Noorani' at Haji Ali -- chicken tikka and paneer tikka is what he highly recommended. Milestone 2 & 3 had been achieved!

Fruki of course was bursting with very obvious gesticulations like doing the hussle with a silly smile on his face and holding his hand to his mouth in front of Rosh each time she came in front of him or was in the room with him ... its actually very comical and Raunaq and I had a tough time trying to contain himself! By this time which was Tuesday morning 24th March, Rosh was guessing that something was surely amiss. Rock had to be told about the secret as I wanted some of his pals to come for the party too (his pals are absolute squeezable babies -- and they are not yet Young Adults (YA's) (most kids; at least Roshni' pals don't like to be called as kids anymore... Sigh!!!)

Then started the calls to the YA's and Ankita was the first I spoke with amongst the girls and Rohan amongst the boys. They both were mighty excited; Ankita said it was a great idea to have a surprise party and Rohan assured me that he "wouldn't miss the party for the world" -- God bless him for being such a genuine sweetheart. I then drafted an SMS-invite for the YA's and block sent it to them. The confirmations from Rosh' girl school mates were instantaneous -- Dia, Aditi, Arnavaz, Paridhi, Pritika, Kanak, Ritika, Shriya and the boys Molin and Shaun. Molin was a darling and assured me he would get the others from their class to join the party - Sahej and Sid. It was working like clockwork. I had also invited the building gang and had told Rock to invite his friends. Prateek SMSed his confirmation and offered his help in whatever way I might need -- he too was a sweetheart and cam eback to me with confirmations of AP, Aditi and himself. He said that Saurav, Sanjana and Rohit would not make it as they had their 10th Eco paper on the following day!!!:( It was Understandable -- also it was unlikely that Asjad would make it as his parents would not give him permission!? SAAAAAD ... as I know that Rosh would have loved to have all of them there. It would somehow be incomplete... even though some many others were going to make it. The evening before was spent making calls to each of the kids to re-confirm their participation -- I also succeeded in getting thru to Saurav, ordering the cake, ordering the food, arranging for a balloon specialist to decorate the house, asking MaPa to organize the soft drinks and curd (for the delicious mint dip that are a treat with butter wafers and Rosh' favorite snack), buying the Stephanie Myer series for Rosh and giving instructions and coaching to Fruki and Raunaq on what each of them needed to do and say :)

Rosh talking with Saurav and getting greeted by Sanjana

The big night arrived ... I mean the night of 25th March, 12 midnight -- and Sanjana who had been secretly coordinating with me to be there to wish Roshni personally at sharp 12; gave me an SMS stating she was outside our door (where do these YA's get their energy!!?) at the dot of 12. I was yawning my head off thinking of the next day at work as I opened the door and gave her a whispered big hug ... she carried with her a chocolate pastry and a candle, a rose and a card -- we lit the candle and then I called out to Rosh to come to the living room -- Meanwhile since it was already just 12 midnight she was already on the phone with Saurav (the first to wish her) -- she jumped with joy at seeing Sanjana and loads of photos and hugs and kisses were exchanged ;)) I hugged her, Fruki also got up hearing the chatter, while Raunaq had wished her a few minutes before 12 and passed out for the day; the four of us had a tiny pastry cutting ceremony for her :) It was a beautiful moment and the 16th year of my baby' life had just begun!!
The next morning the 3 of us woke up Roshni with the traditional happy birthday singing around her bed and gave her the gift, a butterfly gas balloon and cards -- she beamed with joy saying thank you so much trying to open her eyes! We led her to the living room where the delicious pineapple cake awaited her -- as she blew the candle out, I prayed silently for all her wishes to come true. She was thrilled to see the books and squeezed the balloon saying thanks Mom, Papi and Raunaq!! Off to getting ready then, into one set of her new clothes looking as adorable and gorgeous as ever!

I battled several issues at work thru the day in the hope that I would leave by 3.00 - No luck!!%$#@; as my boss was busy as hell and I just couldn't time with her before that ... Sigh ... WHAT DO DI DO!?? I had started getting frantic calls from Papa and Rosh asking when I was getting home!? Soon ... is all I could say!? I finally just left at 4.30 as I would have gotten really late for the party and would have not made it in time for the surprise that I had put together. I reached Mum's place by 6.00pm after a frustrating ride thanks to a really daft cabbie I had hired. Fruki was already there with the cake (with JB [acronym for Jaat Buddhi - this is what her Gang calls her?!!], Natti, Rosh and Baby Shaikh [this is what darling Dia calls my baby] iced onto it) and crisp butter wafers. I started making the dip and told Mum and Pa to PLEASE clear up the mess they had made with all the dhaniya and pudina they were peeling on the dining table. In the middle of all this maddness Rosh kept calling me to check on when I would get home and what the plan for the evening was -- I told her I was on my way home and that we were going for dinner with Nana and Nani. Fruki suddenly said that I should not go and pick up the kids, "Let them take a rick". Rosh the princess refused to take a Rick and said she wanted to be picked up PLEASE. So Fruki went to fetch them. Meanwhile, the guests started arriving in groups of 4-5 and soon we had over 30 YA's all over the house -- the music blared to the latest hits and all of them kept asking when Rosh was to arrive while moving to their favorite tunes!?

Fruki finally did arrive with Rosh and Raunaq and made a pretence call to me to come down with Mum and Pa. I said 'Come up yaar for God's sake [I just couldn’t bare the suspense any longer and my anxiety of making this surprise actually happen was it its all time high] as Mama wanted Rosh to cut a cake before leaving'. Rosh was quite disgruntled to have to break journey as she was very hungry and wanted to get to the restaurant soon and she protested that we could cut the cake there ... she trudged up reluctantly while I took a couple of minutes to quieten the YA's as they were cackling with excitement about the final moment by now and debating if the deck should play happy birthday or if they should sing it instead ... SHHHHHHHHHH I said just do whatever comes to your mind then ... I peeped thru the peep-hole and saw them stepping out of the lift and coming to the door and then ringing the bell ... I opened the door and said Hi darling ... HAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPY BIIIIIIIIIIRRTHDAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY screamed everyone as Rosh cupped her mouth and jumped with joy ... seeing all her friends in amazement. Almost everyone I had invited was there -- Dia, Ankita, Aditi, Shriya, Arnavaz, Pritika, Kanak, Paridhi, Ritika, Molin, Sahej, Ayush, Yash, Fauvi, Shaun, Saurav, Sanjana, Prateek, Rohit, Akshay, Praneeta, Aditi, Ayushi, Aditya, Shashu, Yathu, Harsh, Avtej, Rohan, Aishni, Mateen and Farishta. We first cut the cake and then clicked a group picture of the entire gang and then the music took off to a blast as they swayed and moved to the beat of all the latest hip hop numbers ... I do believe that the YA's did have a great time after all ... To complete the evening finally Asjad, Akhlad and Azhad arrived towards the end for a few minutes just to give Rosh a bouquet ... I know my Rosh had a beautiful day ... I did too ... God bless you my princess for many many more!!!!

Fruki, Rosh, Rock and me moving with the beat :)

The GANG -- Saurav, Rohit, Rosh, Sanjana, AP and Prateek with Praneeta, Ayushi and Aditi

Houseful of YA's

Trudging thru fast-paced Mumbai %@#$

2009-02-19T11:46:00.014+05:30

I was thrilled when I got a confirmed placement with an mnc bank, at their Worli, Mumbai head office and yet, after my final meeting with HR, on my way home at 6.30 pm in the evening, I had mixed feelings about the commute; as when I stepped out of the office gate no taxi was willing to go to the closest train station, busses seemed crowded and I was unsure of which one to take … so I decided to take a taxi … and of course the traffic was chock-a-block -- by the time I got home it was 8.45pm … my face looked dirty but happy, my hair was frazzled and my wallet was lighter by Rs.300 … and thru dinner thoughts of the commute kept gnawing me … Sigh!

Ever since my first day at work; which was 14 August 2008, I have tried several modes of transport and felt that a chronicle of my experiences would be a fun read:

1. Self-drive to office: For the first few days I drove to office and went insane, not only with the traffic but also at the end of it finding a parking spot at Nehru Centre. The attendants at the parking lot insisted that I leave the car keys behind with them. Although I was really uncomfortable about leaving the keys behind, I had to do so because there was just no free parking space -- all spaces were reserved for people who had bought a monthly pass. The next morning I paid up for the monthly pass which was Rs.1000. I asked for the receipt and he said that they do not issue one – clearly it was a racket and these attendants were simply pocketing the money. The next 2 days went fine as he allowed me to park in one of the empty spaces. However, on day 5, I found that there was no space and he was asking for my keys again. He said “Madam kya karega aaj bahut saab log gadi leke aya hai” Drat!!! I obviously could not do anything but hand him the keys. The parking experience was new every morning and I would get to office with a frown on my brow :( The evening drive home was an altogether different punishment as the traffic would inch forward and there was never a need to drive beyond 20 km/hour. I would leave the office at about 7.30 or so. Despite playing my choice of music in the car and catching up on long conversations hands-free the journey, needless to say the journey was long and exhaustive and would get me home never before 9.45. Having spent much of my energy commuting I would hardly be in a mood to be more than pleasant with my family and of course my wallet would be lighter by Rs.500 every one and half days so I would be spending at least Rs.2500 every week on petrol + the parking charges that I had already committed to. If only I could get parking in the office building but I am told that the cost per month for a parking lot is 40K!@#$ This arrangement of travel was costing me Rs.11000 bucks … never mind said Fruki at least you are comfortable while commuting!?!

2. Driver driving me to office: Once the launch of the club happened it was necessary to have a driver as I had to meet with clients across the city and arrive in a cool and composed state. So, we decided to hire a driver. Along came Rakesh the classic driver from Bihar with a copy of his license and a sugary keenness to work for a salary of Rs.7000 and nothing less – “Ussey kam mein to kaise chalega Madamji”. I told his there would be late hours and long travel to different locales of the city. He was over excited about the opportunity and said he would arrive the next morning. He did arrive, and always did arrive at sharp 7.45AM standing at attention with a slight forward bend in his stance saying, "Good Morning Madamji". He would open the door for me to sit and switch on my pre-set Gayatri Mantra Chant and the AC at just the temperature that I liked and I would be off feeling nothing short of a queen :) However as soon as we were on the main road, his driving which was filled several instances of rash lane cutting causing peeved drivers to race up and abuse him and look disapprovingly at me as well started giving my brow lines that deepened to the affect that I finally shouted out at him, ”Rakesh tum kaise gaadi chalatey ho”. The first few days he didn’t say any thing but slowly he would start getting upset and when commuters abused him he would look back at them saying, “Kya hai” and then proceed to grumble below his breath for the next few minutes. To add to the madness he was very poor with road navigation so I would have to keep my eyes open and be alert all thru our escapades thru the city. On my way to a meeting in Andheri East (he had driven me there thrice before) I got involved in a complex conversation with another client and so was not paying attention to where we were heading – on emerging from my conversation I looked around to find we were lost and it took us a while to get back to the actual destination – I was late for my meeting thanks to the detour our dear over-smart driver had taken. I asked him, “ Agar tum ko raasta nahin samajh raha tha to tumhein rukna chahiye than na!?” to which he said, “Arrey Madamji aap baat kar rahe they aur main to theek aa raha tha … raasta pata nahin kaise badal gaya” I wanted to throttle him! On one day I was busy at work and the security officer called me saying my driver has come to meet me at the front gate. I went to see what was the problem and there was Rakesh virtually in tears, “Madamji hamar batua kisi ney maar liya hai – usme hamara license aur paisa sad chala gaya hai – hum garmi ke maarey shirt utaarey huey the aur hamari ankh lag gayi thi – jaane kab kissi ney batua shirt ki jeb sey nikaal liya” Poor guy … looked miserable. I gave him some money and asked him to immediately go write a complaint for a re-issue of his license. One good thing we discovered after parking the balance few days at Nehru Centre was that there was another option of parking space for which we did not have to pay any money – Worli Sea-face was where a lot of the office staff would park. Another benefit I gained was that my petrol bill came down a bit – this I learned from Rakesh was because the attendants at the Nehru Centre parking lot would steal petrol when I would leave the keys with them. So, although the conveniences were many of having Rakesh drive me around; the angst of constantly being angry with his rash lane cutting and his argumentative behavior defending his driving flaws and top it all the cost of the commute which was now close to Rs.17000 a month (too steep a price for my liking – but seemed justified as Roshni could use him for the long drive into town for her SPB class plus Mom and Papa could also use the comfort when required to make long commutes – it’s a different thing that Roshni’ SPB abruptly came to an end and Mum and Pa never used the car), just made me want a change! One fine evening Rakesh said that he wants a loan of Rs.10000. He had worked with me for just over two months and he was already asking for a loan to pay the deposit of his rented apartment. Nu and I decided not to oblige him. Two days after this incident he said he needed to visit his village as his brother had run away and was missing from home for the past one week. I let him go giving him an advance of Rs.2000 from his next salary. On returning after 4 days he was grumpier than ever! A week later he abruptly said that he would have to leave back for his village and his return was uncertain as there was nobody to look after his home and farmland … SIGH!%$# Now what!?

3. Meanwhile, on the several days of Rakesh’ absence the next obvious commute for me seemed to be a taxi which would cost me about Rs.450 a day i.e. approx Rs.11500 per month. I also tried a rick and taxi combination for a few days on my way to office that failed miserably and also worked out marginally cheaper but the time to commute invariably would be the same – I would get off from the rick at Bandra Talaab and look for a cab to Worli. To my frustration; no cab would be willing to go as they found the journey too short and, “Uskey baad khaali jana padta hai kyunki subah ke time worli sey koi bhaada nahin milta”! So, I was taking the taxi all the way from home to office and back for several days and would always feel guilty about the serious waste of time and money.

4. On one evening, while looking for a cab to Bandra outside the office I strayed towards the bus-stop adjoining our gate and discovered bus No.33 drive up (I had remembered Nu often telling of taking this bus from town). On an impulse I jumped in and to my pleasant surprise even got a seat within the next 5 mins at a FOR LADIES ONLY designated seat. The ticket conductor clicked by with his familiar bag of change and box of tickets and tore me a ticket for Rs.12 (I quickly did my math and realised that if this arrangement worked it would mean a monthly expense of not more than Rs.625 ONLY!!!!) I thanked the conductor with a broad smile and looked around to take in my surroundings – the bus was clean, well lit up with several tube-lights and so I could read - yippeee, fellow commuters were courteous and a mixed bag of all parts of India and something about that made me feel good, the ventilation was ideal and above all the bus dropped me virtually outside Fame Adlabs … this seemed the ideal solution!!? Nu too was amused that I was contemplating the bus everyday but also added that if it suited my convenience it would be ideal. Sure enough, the next day onwards my joy started crumbling once again – the busses would be delayed and often not even halt at the bus-stop and the route it takes i.e. via shiv-sena bhavan and then enroute to Siddhivinayak Temple … mornings would invariably get me into office later than my usual time and evening I would get home later as there would always be a waiting period before a bus arrived.

5. One evening while waiting for the 33 to arrive I saw a fancy AC bus drive up and the plank said BRTS 4 Oshiwara Depot. I once again jumped in impulsively. The fare was 35 bucks all the way to Lokhandwala. The seats were spacious, the bus was well lit, FM was playing on the system and the fellow commuters were the typical white collar executives. Felt good and the math proved not so bad too Rs.1820 per month!! The additional good things about this option are that the bus has an every 15 mins schedule and it takes the Shivaji Park, Mahim, Linking Road, Juhu route so the journey is quite much similar to any comfortable car journey and I do believe that this is actually one of the best alternatives to arrive comfortably at your destination. The one and only bane is that these busses are freezing cold so when I am not carrying a jacket I just don’t take the bus as I shake like a leaf for the long 2 hour+ journey. For some reason with regular progression the traffic has been getting worse and worse and any road journey past 8.15 in the morning and past 6.00 in the evening is a frustrating, slow experience (the god-dammed sky walk being built at Bandra has further worsened the situation) Sigh …just when I thought I had found the ideal solution I was saddened to know otherwise :(

6. On one frustrating morning when I had missed the BRTS 4 that gets me to office on time, and the cabbies at Bandra refused to take me to worli; I walked to Bandra station, walked unabashedly to the front of the long winding line at the ticket counter and bought a first class ticket and went up to platform no 5. Within seconds a train halted, there was some frantic jostling and muttering and ouching but I was safely in the train and within the next 15 mins flat I was at Bombay Central! I walked out and hailed a cab for Poonam Chambers and just as I was getting in 3 other commuters wanting to go to Poonam jumped in with me – we shared the fare which was 28 bucks and therefore just 7 bucks per head and believe it or not I was in my office in 15 mins – had I stuck to the road route I would still be caught in traffic somewhere at Mahim… that evening I accompanied some colleagues to Bombay Central station and took the train back too. The journey door to door i.e. from my office building to my doorstep was a flat 1 hour and gathered that the same would be the case in the mornings!!!! The next morning, I bought a first class monthly pass (I thought it best to try out this option before committing to more) from Jogeshwari to Bombay Central (Getting to Andheri in the morning is a nightmare thanks to the crazy traffic + getting into the train at Andheri requires a mastery in train travel – which clearly I am inept at), which cost me Rs.400 and the road fares per day add up to about Rs.75 per day and this math works out to a comfortable Rs.2350 per month!!! Not bad at all – in fact damn good. The journey is invariably spent standing but is never more than 30 mins and the ladies, well what can I say, as always, it is a mixed bag and mixed experiences on each day with a lot of - body massaging specially in the mornings, dirty looks, dry looks, tsk tsk tsk please madam you are poking me …, the rear most girl/lady will holler imploringly array yaar please move ahead no I am falling out, OUCH followed by closed eyes and deeeeeeep sighs and finally a look that says I wish I could kill you, fourth seaters balance on a quarter of a bum but still stubbornly continue to sit and at every few minutes turn to the other 3 seat members to “please move little” … that is what the 3 ladies do they just move their bodies in the same place and the situation continues till someone else gets up to leave; what hasn’t changed is the desperation to jump into the train and the eagerness to grab a seat and the pointing your finger at a lady sitting being enough communication to prompt a response about her destination … I usually have a squeezing experience when I board the train at Jogeshwari and then stand to a side once the crowd becomes less at Bandra. On the journey home, getting in at Bombay Central and getting off at Andheri is hurried but not that bad at all … the only challenge that remains with this commute is the getting a rick from Andheri station to home … I need to ask 15 0 20 ricks before I get one to agree to take me (this is all thanks to the metro construction happening in full swing on JP Road, which they say will take 2-3 years to complete) … Sigh!! Getting off at Jogeshwari is a pain too as the long winding ride thru the market takes forever! So, I guess Andheri station is my best option and take a bus from there if a rick doesnt happen within the first few minutes.

It’s been 6 months since I joined work and I have tried 6 modes of commuting to work and all of them have their positives and negatives, pleasant moments and nasty ones and as I look back I do believe that none of the services match the speed of the train commute and price albeit more expensive than the bus 33 option is really worth it. I do still take an occasional taxi to work or the rick taxi combo (I have learnt if I take a rick up to Santacruz and then take a cab from there the cabbies are more than willing to go to Worli) or even the 33 or BRTS 4 if get off early from work and contemplate trying out the contract bus as an option. However, when I want to make certain my time to destination I choose nothing but the train. My pass is coming up for renewal soon – I plan to renew it for sure :)

Becoming Mom

2009-02-04T12:58:00.032+05:30

1.30pm, 26 March 1994 ... the time and moment that Dr. Ashok Bhatt of Excel Nursing Home, at 19th Road Khar, Mumbai said with a dramatic smile as he held up the wiggly wailing baby that had just been scooped out of my dissected tummy; “Priya you have a beautiful baby girl and all her toes and fingers are perfect” … I cried out with a burst of emotion as tears of joy gushed out and asked to hold my princess to my chest. Bhatt obliged albeit briefly, I felt her wet and warm body against my chest and prayed silently over her head thanking God for blessing me with motherhood and before I knew it she was whisked away to a counter to my right … as I strained to watch the nurses tending to her, her image blurred and within a few seconds (I guess) I lost consciousness. I opened my eyes and winced at feeling excrutiating pain in my abdomen ... I could see a blurry vision of Farrukh smiling down at me ... I gathered my senses and realised it was twilight and the joy on Fruki' face was apparent because he had become a father … where is she I croaked, “nursery mein so rahi hai” he said. I was eager to see my princess again and hold her close to me ... I asked to see her. As the nurse brought her into the room my pain was forgotten and I savoured my little princess all tied up into a bundle of white and blue linen -- only her tiny (fist sized face could be seen crowned by locks of long dark hair, her eyes and pink lips were firmly shut and she had a few remnants of the calcification white peels on her forehead (thanks to her birth being delayed due to the indecision of whether we should wait for natural birth to happen or go in for surgery) and there was a calm on her face like that of an angel -- the sight of her lovely face made me feel ethereal, as if I had been blessed to mother this little treasure … and I suddenly felt so close to God, as if I was holding God in my arms. The nurse had laid her down on my left side with her lil head resting on my arm ... My eyes filled again as I firmly held her close to my body whispering a silent prayer over her … at this point she awoke and her lovely black beady eyes looked about and her lips opened to, as if say, 'Hi Mom' … I touched her left cheek with my right finger and said 'Hi my princess, I am your mama', and her mouth promptly opened and she swiftly turned her head towards my finger and she started wiggling in my arms as if trying to search for something.
The nurse prompted me, “She is finding milk. Will you feed her or should I get her a bottle”
“I will feed her ... but I don’t know how to”
“Don’t worry she will know how to”

As I placed my unsure breast to my baby’s right cheek (while she was busy trying to reach out to my finger on her left) she magically took the cue, turned her head towards me and swiftly grabbed my breast with her small mouth and started suckling as if she had done this forever. It was a magical moment for me, that took several minutes for me to get used to, while our lady was guzzling milk and intermittently gasping for breath after every few sips and then promptly getting back to the task at hand. We all laughed at her intelligence and ability to cope with the situation with so much ease and I felt that I was the luckiest woman on earth. When Baji suggested, "Priya iska naam Roshni kaisa rahega?" "Haan" I said with pleasure, "Badhiya rahega -- it is so fitting and perfect Baji" ... my princess ROSHNI had brought so much light and delight into our home.

Thru her growing years Roshni continued to amaze me … the only few baby words that Roshni spoke were ‘dabban’ for ‘get down’, ‘anga’ for ‘ice-cream’ and ‘Natti’ for ‘Roshni’; the rest of her English expression was immaculate; she always appeared confident and intelligent and knew how to get her way with all the key people in her life – she would unabashedly ask to be taken 'daban' and once she was down she would point in the direction of the ice-cream store and say 'Anga' with great joy and give her most adorable toothless smile the moment the shop keeper gave the ice-cream in her little hand -- she would lap up the Quality Walls Vanilla ice-cream to the last drop (The Walls factory has a lot to thank Roshni for) and of course try her luck to ask for more; she walked at 9 months and a few days and spoke 3-4 word sentences in perfect English diction before she was 1; she danced to Bollywood tunes in perfect rhythm at her first birthday party which was celebrated on the Carter Road terrace; she memorised several ladybird books as I read the stories to her and would mouth the words of the story alomg with me ... on completing the story she would say 'Mama again' and 'again' and 'again' and I always obliged until finally it was time for her to sleep; she was comfortable using the computer at the age of 2 years and would manoeuver the mouse thru all the complex clicks that the several Jumpstart CD’s demanded and even figured out all the games therein; she loved watching animated films and all my lose change was spent in buying her all the possible Disney stories, Jungle Book and Lion King - he favorite character as a kid was Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" because she thought that Belle was good at heart and fell in love with the beast even though he was so ugly and scary!!! She always had the perfect sense of dressing and style from an early age and like her parents, was Ms. Vanity Fair from the time she realized that the person in the mirror was her (the first time she could express herself she said ‘Mama see ... baby’ pointing to her reflection and thought that there was another girl with her mommy in the mirror - I tried hard to make her believe that it was Natti and not any other baby - 'No its a baby Mama' -- then I kissed her face and she saw me giving the kiss in the reflection and that the baby had the same dress as her – it took some time but finally she realised that it was her own reflection, after which, every time she passed the mirror she would point, smile with glee and say 'Hi Natti' and then laugh out loud); she looked and danced like a DIVA and had the body like that of a fish - slim and agile; as she grew she understood emotional bonds shown in complex movies with immense maturity; her teachers (Ms. Geeta @ Little Bo Beep, Bandra would always sing praise of her intelligence and artistic talents); our friends would be amazed at her speech skills, style and confidence; she displayed leadership qualities from a very early age (which would be seen in the amount of kids who wanted to befriend her and would circle around her to seek her approval and love right from the time we lived at Mira Road to date); her sensitivity to people around her was also unbelievable considering she was so young (on several instances she would cause eyebrows to lift at her insight on the best course of action to be taken in an emotionally strung moment, or assessing who is upset and why and offer an amazingly simple solution or draw a perfect character sketch of an adult that would completely blow the person away, or know how to end a fight amongst friends even if it meant hurting herself in the process); and above all, whenever I have been insecure or hassled about anything it is she my Roshni that I have turned to without a thought -- she is my patient listener, my shoulder to cry on, my guardian angel, giving me the right solutions ALWAYS with so much ease that her capacity to be such a beautiful soul simply instills a sense of pride in me ... all of these innumerable experiences of my daughter' life with me are held within the warmth of my heart forever reaffirming my believe that she is the angel of my life and I am proud to be her mother...

When I told Rosh about my second pregnancy, she was really excited that she was going to get a baby in the house and would make up long stories about the baby (and each of her stories were creative and endless). When I was due for my delivery Dr. Kiran Coelho (my gyneac) said upfront, that I will need to have a c-section again and suggested either the 9th or 11th of October as optional dates for the surgery. I wanted my baby sooner and so chose to go in on the 9th. While leaving home on the 9th morning Roshni was still asleep looking as beautiful as ever. I kissed her goodbye with tears rolling down my cheeks and whispered into her ears that I am going to the hospital to get her a baby to play with. She mumbled something in her sleep and turned her side ... I hugged her firmly knowing that by going into surgery I was taking the risk of never seeing my princess again ... even the thought pained me to think how her mind would adjust to my absence (a mother does believe she is the central focus of her baby -- which is true … and yet I know of enough fathers who do a wonderful single-parenting job with their children). I turned to Farrukh and made him promise that if something irreversible happened to me in that OT he would never let my Rosh get neglected and always support her despite whatever and whoever ... he assured me he would! Mum, Papa, Apaji, Daddy and Farrukh were with me before I went into the OT and they all assured my about Roshni' well being... despite their assurances I was not sure of my baby' well-being if something went wrong in the next few hours ... as one of the petite looking catholic nurses readied me for the OT she saw that I was silently cryin - 'Kya hua.. aapko pain hota hai?' 'Nahin...meri do saal ki beti ghar par hai - mujhe kuch ho gaya to usko kaun dekheyga?'
'Usko God dekheyga ... God sey bada sambhalney wala koi hai kya is duniya mein?!'
'Nahin'
I closed my eyes and thanked God for sending this lady to me in my moment of worry' She was right ... God watches over us all and that is the biggest blessing we have ... my Roshni has!

As I gained consciousness in the gloomy OT on 09 Oct 1996 at Holy Family Hospital, I felt excruciating pain in my abdomen and then realized I was all alone in the room and the lights were out -- the first thought that came to my mind was that something horrible had gone wrong -- Why am I still in the darkened OT all alone? What has happened to my baby? (I had been given General Anesthesia after the epidural injection failed to have the desired numbing effect on my abdomen and limbs) ... and I started crying; I then heard some nurses chattering in marathi in the background and I called out to them as loudly as I could with my croaky and hoarse voice,
"Nurse... mera bachcha kahan hai?"
"Arrey tum hosh mein kaise aaya? Ladka hua hai tumko, baba family ke saath bahar hai"
One of them then rolled me out of the OT into a corridor, where she said I will be, till I was allotted a room!! Ignoring the pain and discomfort I screamed, "Please mujhe mera baby dikhao ".
Within a few minutes, I heard mamas voice saying, "Congratulations Priya, for your handsome son" and she showed me my precious baby -- he looked indeed very handsome with his skin fair and pink ... his eyes closed and his lil fists out of the blue linen already -- this boy was out to rule the world! I hugged him as tightly as I could and wept bitterly thanking God for blessing me with parenthood twice around. Soon Apaji, Farrukh, Papa and Daddy came by my side looking thrilled with the newest addition of the family. Apaji had distributed money the moment she got the news, Papa and Daddy had gushed and cried with joy at the news of their grandson being born and Fruki was skipping about with excitement. Anj suggested we name him Raunaq which was again very fitting considering the excitement he brought into the house on his arrival (Roshni and Raunaq also sounded good together). Roshni came to visit me in the hospital during the visiting hours – I think it was about six in the evening. She was in Farrukh’ lap and was wearing her best dress to meet her bhaiya. She grinned on seeing me in bed and said,”He is so pink Mama”. She snuggled up next to me in my bed and wanted to hold Raunaq in her lap. I let her touch his cheeks, “He is so soft and cute Mama”. “Do you like him darling?” I said. “Yes, thank you so much for giving me such a cute baby Mama - I love him tooooo much”

Raunaq was the coolest kid from day one. He took his time to do everything including walking, speaking, eating etc. Clearly the experience bringing up Raunaq was totally different from that of Roshni. He was not a milk guzzler like her … on the contrary he had a very laid back and princely approach towards drinking milk – and most of the time just ignored the offer as if bored stiff -- I literally needed to force him to drink milk. He also preferred to sleep much longer hours and thru the night and generally needed lesser attention and was much less clingy. Whenever he was awake he would be very alert about his surroundings but would never be bothered about expressing himself. He clearly had a mind of his own from a very early age and all thru his growing years (and even to date remains so) his biggest role model was none other than Roshni ...the moment she entered the room he would try to reach out to her and watch all that she was doing very keenly - on one instance Roshni was rolling on the bed so Raunaq also decided that he could do it and in a blink rolled himself OFF the bed and screamed with joy at the experience not realising that he had bumped his head in the process; He learnt to use the computer earlier than he could run. He was not even two when he would haul himself onto the cartoon charactered chair we had in the kid’s room and jab away at the keyboards signaling he wanted me to switch it on for him to play his favorite Jumpstart CD. One particular instance stands out vividly in my mind -- now, this may sound unbelievable but it is true – he was calling out to me to switch on the computer, I stalled him for a while as I was busy attending to something in the kitchen saying "Mama is coming my darling ... 2 mins please” ... so what does our impatient young man Raunaq do!?? Well, my lil prince climbed onto the study table, switched on the mains, turned on the computer and then clicked on the monitor. As I walked into the room I watched curiously for what he would do next … he grabbed his favorite CD from its pack, opened the disk drive and placed the CD in it (with the correct side up) and then waited for the familiar template to show up (which had an auto start the moment you put it into the disk drive) … on seeing his favorite characters on screen he turned to me realizing I had come into the room, and his adorable face burst into a gleeful smile and he shouted pointing to the screen, “ Ma Ma Ma see” (he spoke only monosyllables at this age). He then jumped up and down on his chair clicking away at all the different buttons and danced every time music would play... I think he was also dancing because he knew he didn't need my help any more ... and sure enough, he would be at the computer at any given time in a day :) He loved climbing things (as was seen in the computer incident above). Actually, he climbed every high surface fearlessly and with agility of a monkey. We had bunk beds in the kids room and I would often find Raunaq hanging onto one of the rungs screaming for help as he lost balance on one of the steps. He was also very proud of himself from an early age - If you were to even look at him with a stern face he would be very insulted and would react with great emotional breakdowns and would be very difficult to quiet him down… Speaking sternly or yelling was totally out of the question. He was a real boy while Rosh the perfect girl. He never spoke squeakily like most kids do. In fact the first word he spoke “Ma” was in a gruff manly voice and I laughed out loud with joy that my baby had finally spoken. This was when he was about a year old. Laughing out loud reminds me of another characteristic of my son – he could not bear if anyone laughed when he said something. So, when he did something cute that thrilled people around him they would laugh with joy and he would think they are laughing at him and burst into tears. This increased with time to the extent that even if a tiny smile broke out he thought you were making fun at him. It took me a long time to convince him that the laughter and smiles were because we appreciated and loved him … Sigh!!! ... We also moved home after Raunaq was born -- we sold the Mira Road house and bought a 2bhk at Kandivili. This was a lot more spacious and we did the children' room beautifully in all the primary colors. As a toddler, Raunaq loved dinky cars that he would race down the corridor; and believed that he could do anything - he would work on puzzles endlessly again and again and again; and make me read all the Poldy and Time life books I dont know how mant times over - the 3 of us would huddle together into a blanket and read every afternoon after lunch before they dozed off to sleep; cycling on his tricycle and doing camps with Rosh and me in the compound below was a thrill for him...

Some unforgettable incidents of our wonder years together were:
- our trip to Punjab for Sachin' wedding with Roshni dressed in fine lehangas and salwar kameez's and Raunaq in a suit and sherwani;
- on one of our camping incidents we all got bitten by an army of red bully ants -- Roshni got chased by the stray dogs in the compound and Raunaq got stuck in the lift;
- Roshni and Raunaq riding on an elephants back at Kandivili and me chasing after the elephant paranoid about what I would do if this huge animal decided to go wild!??
- Horse riding, merry go-riding and building sand castles on the beach
- Our trips to Goa, Manali, Pune, Mahabaleshwar and Lonavala with the gang
- Raunaq slinging his bat on his shoulder from which hung a little bundle that contained a few of his toys, an apple and a set of clothes and saying good bye to us -- he was actually ready to leave home as he was disgusted about going to play school;
- Roshni speaking to Raunaq with authority like a lil granny 'Raaaaunaq noooo doooont do that';
- Akshay and the kids having this bon hommie relationship where he was like the big brother protecting them at Kandivili;
- Teaching Roshni how to swim and her jumping into the pool with her bathrobe in the excitement of showing off to Anj that she could dive into the deep;
- Roshni dressing Raunaq up like a girl;
- Roshni' first crush Chirag;
- All their birthday parties;
- All their little friends Utsav, Sanchi, Akshay, Sahil and then later Sanay; Sanju, Bhoomika, Neha and Zeeshan
... beautiful and memorable times together all of which related to me being a mother.

I had quit working with Telerate after my 4 month long maternity leave – I just could not stay away from my lil princess. Farrukh was supportive and somehow we managed to pull thru financially as well. It seemed so right that I spent time bringing up Roshni and Raunaq instead of going to work … to this date I do believe that the 5 years that I stayed home with the children were the most satisfying years of my life and are filled with beautiful memories.

Thru the years, I have always believed in a simple philosophy while mothering my children - that I am always there for them in every aspect of their lives and always treat them as my closest friends who I turn to when I am low. That has in turn helped them turn to me as a friend too, whenever they need an ear to listen and a few words of wisdom. I usually have liked to leave the final choices in their lives to them after sharing the consequences with them so that they learn to be responsible for their choices and actions. I have also told them that they will always have a place in my heart and home but that we live in a society and hence they need to make a place for themselves in this world too and I will always be there to guide them through their journey of life -- My philosophy works pretty well most of the time … and yet there are times when I question my mothering and feel that I could have done so much better and that my children deserve better ... I do work hard at improving on a daily basis from books I read, from people I talk to and from movies I watch … it is a continuous learning process and I believe will always be ... I am blessed to have Roshni and Raunaq in my life and hope that I can do justice in their upbringing so that they have a good life ahead ...

God! Help me always to make the right choices while guiding my children ... help me perform the role you have bestowed on me better ... because they are your children and the angels of my life ...

Down memory lane with … Class of ‘80, St. Josephs High School

2009-02-02T12:46:00.003+05:30

Last weekend was different in many ways … it was the first long weekend of the year 2009 as Monday was a national holiday on account of 26 January Republic Day celebrations and although there was so much time on hand yet there was just soooo much to do. Saturday morning was spent at work as usual followed by a quick lunch from my home Tiffin, and just as I was tucking in my last bite of dal-rice I got a call from Ramona Dhawan my childhood pal or shall I say chaddi buddy. I was excited on hearing from Ramona as she rattled on about an all-girls meeting from the Class of 80 on 25th of January at the Radio Club, Colaba.

Mala Guriya had called me a few days ago saying, “Hi Priya, kaisi hai … this is Shama or rather Mala Guriya from school. I am in town with my hubby and son and do lets please catch up yaar – I am dying to meet with all you guys”. Shama had got in touch with me a few months ago on Facebook and she had introduced herself (embarrassingly for me) in many animated ways before it dawned on me who she was – I had known her as Mala Guriya and she was registered on Facebook as Shama Mohnani + she looked so different. Ramona, Mala and I studied together in class III at St. Joseph’s High School, R. C. Church before I struck off with my parents on several naval transfers across the globe including Vizag, Russia, Chandigarh and Delhi and then finally back to Bombay in 1977 in the VIIIth grade once again in the same school from where we all passed out in 1980.

After Mala found me on Facebook, I had received a call one fine day from Vinod Hamilton who has set up a yahoo group called Class of 80. He not only got me to join the group but also gave me a list of everyone’ tel nos and email ids. It was great speaking with Ramona, Sangeeta Lalwani, Geeta Kapoor, Rehana, Vinod and above all Utkarsh Palnitkar the first ever head boy at St. Josephs.

In fact, shortly after speaking with Utkarsh he visited Mumbai on work (he does travel to Mumbai every week)so we did lunch at Copper Chimneys, Worli. He arrived a littel late and so I waited anxiously at a table facing the entrance of the restaurant ... he has put on some amount of weight and has lost some hair and is also grey but he still has the same toothy child-like smile and his intelligent way with words - he is now a partner at E&Y and is doing exceptionally well for himself (Utkatsh always had the necessary leadership skillset even as a schoolboy) … It was a pleasure meeting with him and knowing that he is now married to Padma and has twin boys – they live in Hyderabad.

Ramona looked the same to me when I bumped into her at Links Pavilion four years ago, as she did standing on the second row in the black and white class photo in which the prim and pretty Ms. Rose was our class teacher. Along with us were several other familiar faces – Geven, Lipika Ghosh, Sangita Lalwani, Anisa Poonawala, Shamshad Mirza, Shola, Mala Guriya, Seema, Sharmila and Dennis and several others that I am sorry to say, my aging memory fails to recognise! Nevertheless we all looked in several stages of trying to smile … all adorable and earnest looking kids with not an iota of an idea of what lay ahead in our lives.

My fondest memories of school were the church where the crucified Jesus peered down at us thru his sad eyes, singing carols specially before Christmas, playing in the hot sun, eating samosas and jeera golis at the school tuck shop, playing Devils March on the school piano, morning assembly and the march to class after that to some of the coolest peppy instrumental music, Chimanrao and Gandhi plays that I acted in, Je suis dam me dam de dodo, gymnastics on the schools parallel bars, Father Joaquim and his white robes, Mrs. Murthy, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Ramachandran, Mrs. Thor, Mrs. Agnihotri, playing kitty kitty’ coming, Nalini Bamba, Suchita Kumar, Diana Menezes, Ruth Saldanha, Anisa, Rajani, Sangeeta TC, Preeti Rangachari, Utkarsh, Alan D’monte, eating perus with salt and chillis at the peru wala, drinking sugarcane juice at the bus stop, Ranee Desai, Swarna Rajagopalan, Sharmine D’monte, and above all the school building itself – just looking at it brings a lump into my throat and my eyes get wet … on a recent trip to school with Mala, Mum and Papa it was sad to see the condition of the school … and to think, that we have spent some of the best times of our lives within this half acre plot of land. Someday I hope I can give back to my school in some way … even it is in a small way!

When Sunday morning arrived I had a knot in my stomach and I did not know what to expect from the lunch meeting that was looming just a few hours away. I quickly put breakfast together for the family and then rushed to get ready. I slipped on my favourite white Kurti, beige corduroys and a pair of white heeled slip-ons and was on my way with a skip in my walk and my camera in my bag. On the way I stopped over at a florists and picked up 6 single roses for all the girls – Ramona had said that Mala, Reshma Shetty, Geeta Kapoor, Rehana, maybe Sangeeta Lalwani and of course herself would be there at lunch.

I reached a little late and went insane trying to find a parking spot. I finally got one at quite a distance from the club. Ramona was there looking with some weight on her but as gorgeous and well kept as ever, Shama looked different from the school pictures and was there with her hubby Harish and son Sahil (12), Reshma Shetty was there looking as prim as ever, Rehana looked like she did in school – she is as slim as can be and looked simply lovely, Geeta came after a while looking slightly grey but as mad and as beautiful as ever with her 2 lovely daughters. It was just so amazing meeting all of them. We talked of our and each other’ lives, about school, about the teachers, about the economy, ate loads of yummy Mughlai food and clicked loads of pictures.

As I drove back after lunch my thoughts went back to the black and white class photo of std III and std X … so many years had gone by … to be precise 29 years … and each of our lives had changed in some very unfathomable ways … some for the better and many with a lot of sadness in them. Sigh ... this is not the place to share the details of the sadness which I have choses to keep within the folds of my heart with a silent prayer to share their pain but nevertheless … some separated from their spouses, some very unwell, one of the dearest dead and gone from the world _Anthony the ever smiling white teeth set in the black as can be face always either singing a song or kidding someone around_ I miss you Anthony and hope to meet you in our next lives again; some have lost their spouses and some are just very sad with the way life has treated them and yet some of them are not only well but doing great with their respective families … None of us could ever have imagined the things that God had planned for each of us … and yet here we were meeting once again after 29 years and all of us were talking of our lives together once upon a time … down the same memory lane … I would like to put on record that I have and will always have very fond memories of each of my classmates and hope and pray that God fills their lives with all the happiness ever. It was great meeting the girls and I hope to meet the boys and the other girls too some day ... soon!?

Holidaying @ Allahabad in freezing Dec 08

2009-01-18T16:07:00.006+05:30

22 of January was a Monday and unlike the usual trip into the traffic laden streets of Mumbai I was huddled into a cab with my babies heading to Kurla terminus to catch the train to Allahabad for the wedding of Azhar (31) and Saman - Azhar is Bhabijaan' older brother Bari and bhabi Sarita Sheikh' older son - he lives in Canada and is a consultant there.

Despite my repeatedly saying that we should not leave the house before 10.30 we left home at 9.30 to catch a train that was leaving at 12.30!!^%$# We arrived at the station expectedly (for me at least) at 10.30 and spent the next 2 hours waiting for the train on the dirty and smelly platform! Well so much for listening to Mr. Know it All Guddu and my hubby do nothing but loyally agree to his brother!!? %$#&@# Whatever!! The holiday had just begun so I decided to put such small things behind me :) The holiday gang consisted of hubby darling, Rosh, Rock, Sanjana (Archie Prashant' daughter), pretty lil Alize (Honey' babydoll) and me and oh yeah ... how can I forget ... annoying but nevertheless with us for the next 10 full days, Guddu!?!!

The train journey was miserable to say the least -- we were booked in AC-II tier seats and despite the fact that we juggled our seats with fellow passengers so that we could all be together, it was not much fun at all :( Rock was still ailing from his horrid throat infection; the compartment was smelly intermittently, the food on all the stations and the in-house pantry was unpalatable (I had thank fully taken along some cheese spread, nuttella, dal and rice, dahi and a packet of bread for rock and some bananas and apples for the others - by the end of the journey the kids were sick of my even mentioning cheese sandwiches or apples -- ha ha -- they were all soooooo hungry and bored of the same food for the past three meals) and to top it all there were rats in the compartment!! Lord have mercy I thought to myself, as I lay straight jacketed in my bunker bed. I had nightmares of rats running into my jacket and getting caught in the several layers of clothing I had on. I got up feeling like the weight of the world was on me - my body ached from head to toe and for some reason my beloved hubby had christened me Hanuman (and much to my annoyance that he of course didnt care too much about continued to do so through the trip - whatever once again -- there are a lot of whatevers in this trip but the trip was great nevertheless) and hauled my self out of my bunker and almost fell onto a passerby (my bunker was one the aisle ones).

Well finally Allahabad did arrive at a little past 10 and we were all bundled up ready to brave the icy cold of the north. Azhar the groom himself in a cool pair of jeans and jacket and slip ons (alias Baba) and their house-help Rakesh arrived at the station to receive us. We broke up in to 2 groups the kids and hubby going in the Tata Sumo while Guddu, Baba and I went in the family car racing thru the narrow bylanes of chowk and civil lines to finally reach the famous 100+ year old rickety bridge of Naini that runs over the Jamuna -- I held my breath as we drove across and finally into the Agricultural campus to meet with Bari Bhai, Akhtari Apa (who had come in from the UK), Kaneez apa, Tasneem apa, Naseem apa and Shazia all of who had come in from Pakistan specially for the wedding; and finally Gauri the super efficient age-old house-help each of them greeting us with warm hugs and smiling faces.

Roshni looking as radiant as the flowers in the background

All dressed up for the sangeet evening - Starting from your right is Sanjana, Roshni, Raunaq, Farrukh, Omar, Azhar, Armaan, Imaan, Yavar and Alize on his shoulder

My babies and me at the sangeet ceremony

The rest of the gang had gone to Kanpur with the girls mehndi and their Sangeet ceremony. We were quickly shown our bungalow which was adjoining Bari bhai' home and separated by a mere bush; we freshened up and were summoned for breakfast which was the traditional potatoes and masala scrambled eggs with hot paranthas and hot tea. As we hogged our guts out (remember we had a very frugal and limited cuisine diet for the past 24 + hours) we chatted with the apas and bari bhai.

Once breakfast was over we went into our bungalow to settle down -- Fruki was obsessive about arranging all our things into the empty in built wardrobes , which had very very narrow shelves - well we did arrange our stuff and as we were done with this very vital exercise Sarita Bhabi and the gang who had gone to Kanpur arrived -- this included Bhabijaan, and from the UK had come Bari Bhai and Sarita bhabi' younger son Yavar (28); Bhabijaan' younger sister Parveen Apa with her son Omar, beautiful and multi-talented daughter in law Zeenat and her samdhan Abida Apa (You can see them to the right of my picture with Archie); then there was Nazmi (Nammo my darling laughing out loud in the picture below - she was the dearest friend I made there - she is my age and is a tax inspector with the Govt of UK, she is married to her own first cousin Khalid bhai and they have an adorable daughter called Imaan (14 year old sweetheart who we all nick-named Imli); and from Delhi came Sarita Bhabi' younger sister Dipti Didi and her hubby Rajesh Bhai and their beautiful daughter Nayantara (26), and typical punju dude like son Armaan (16); and from the US had come Bhabijaan' older sister called Shamim Apa (she is a Prof. Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, attained her Phd and taught Geography all her life, and now is an active member of a cool group if retired ladies who get together once week and bitch the hell out of their hubbies, she also is a certified Rosarian and she personally maintains the most beautiful rose garden ever that has over a 150 rose plants) -- basically met the whole family -- each of them lovely warm people.

Bari Bhai and Sarita Bhabi' house is one of those old age English homes that looks a little run down from the exterior due to weather conditions but over all a beautiful house with flower-filled gardens all around it. It overlooks the Yamuna river and you can see the Naini bridge in the distance and you can hear the trains going over it. The kids had a ball of a time with the open spaces and the tree in this picture was Roshni' favorite tree under which she would often just loll around and nap.

Fruki, Rock, Me and Rosh

The bride Saman and the groom Azhar at the baarat ceremony in Kanpur - smitten by each other!!!

Yavar, Sarita Bhabi, Azhar (the groom) and Bari Bhai

Bhabijaan, Shamim Apa, Bari Bhai, Akhtari Apa and Parveen Apa

The Sangeet ceremony was on the 24th in the lawns. The house was looking like a fairy land once all the decorations were completed. And all of us were all set to do our bit for the guests -- we were expecting over 150 guests including the girls family -- who were coming to put haldi mehndi for Azhar. The guests arrived VERY LATE and so all the ladies including yourstruly sat on the gaddis arranged; and sang all the possible punju shadi songs. It was fun but kind off not that cool as there was no mike arranged for and hence whatever we sang could hardly be heard beyond 3-4 ft. When the guests did arrive we thru petals of flowers on their path, gave them bouquets of flowers and took them to the main pandaal. Azhar was then brought into the crowd dressed in a pale green Sherwani (tailored by nonen other than Dipti Didi) looking so excited and bashful. All the men of the family were holding a beautiful dupatta as a cover above him and he walked below this like a little prince -- it was a truly princely moment and I had tears in my eyes to see the happiness on Sarita Bhabi and Bari Bhai' faces.

On the 26th came in the late arrivers Honey and her love Maanav Shah (you can view them in the adjoining picture -- he is a dream with lil Alize and she adores him too -- he is basically a budhist by faith and is in the construction business and an over all really nice guy). I havent seen Ali more confident and happy in such a long time and honey so pretty and happy too. I pray that they are a family soon -- insha-allah. As soon as they came we packed into 2 cars and drove to Bari Bhai' farm house where all of us could not stop eating delicious sweet guavas straight off the trees -- this was the family orchard with several hundred trees; a short drive away from the farm house is the ancestral property where Bhabi jaan and Bari bhai' Grand Dad lived several years ago. They were the Thakurs of the village called Mandari -- crowds of village kids and adults gathered to get a glimpse of us -- the caretakers insisted that spirits haunt the haveli even today; the kids enjoyed the cycle rickshaw rides across the city.
That evening Archie and Linet came too by flight; Linet was sick with a sore throat while Archie was bubbly as ever. The evening they arrived was the Mehndi -- so with mehndi on our hands, the kids i.e. Rosh, Rock, Sanju and I with Bima and Parveen Apa went to do our hair which was in a real state as had not had a head bath for the past 4 days. Rosh washed her hair and did her nails, Sanju washed and blow dried her hair straight and Honey did her hair and pedicure.

The next morning we were to set off for the baarat to Kanpur. The bus journey to Kanpur was a riot with all of us swinging to antakshari songs and hubby darling making everybody laugh like hell - at one stage he went and sat with the driver and also tied his turban in his josh. He had christened Sarita Bhabi as God Mother and kept all of us in splits with his mad antics. It was good to see him in his elements -- of course the flip side is that he hardly spent any time with me on this entire trip as he was busy pleasing the everybody else.

The last to arrive were Sarita bhabi's youngest sister Nandini, her hubby and kids Jhanvi and Ishaan - I really liked chutkoo didi very much and do believ that we would have got on very well had she arrived a bit earlier. Nevertheless it was great meeting with her and her lovely family.

We ate loads of yummy grub - the non-veggies went mad digging into ALL the variety that was served on each day and the several occasions, one evening Sarita Bhabi treated us to mouth-watering chaat at Shiv Chaatwaalas - paani puris, dahi puris ragda pattice; we indulged in loads of decking up for all the different occasions - mehndi, sangeet, baraat and then finally the reception, we would break into a dance at the drop of a hat and singing antakshari anywhere and every where too;

we also visited the sangam of ganga and jamuna into the saraswati in a boat that took us to the new Jamuna bridge and then back to view the freaky mixing of the 2 rivers, we then visited frukis old school "Boys High School" where he spent 3 years of his childhood years - he was so excited showing us where his classroom was and where he was made to kneel down and where he parked his bicycle;

The kids at the banks of the Yamuna with a sadhu seeking alms -- Imli, Sanju, Rosh, Alize, Sadhu and Rock

Proud and excited Fruki and Rosh in the Boys High School Compound

Roshnis hand with Mehndi

Rock riding a cycle Rickshaw with Sanju and Alize in the back :)

The kids on the roof At the haveli

Me amidst the crowd of kids that had gathered to see us at Mandari

Rock with a lil chick in his hands -- the kids just loved all the animals on the farm - Hems, goats and cows.

Rock posing in the Guava orchard

We generally enjoyed taking in the fresh crisp air and meeting so many lovely people ... it was good to see this side of Farrukhs family -- people with values, education and warmth ... they totally loved Fruki and he was in his wildest elements making everyone have a great time -- I felt really good being there and would like to submit that I have taken back with me some lovely memories that will give me a lifetime of warmth within.

Yeh hai Bombay meri JAAN!!

2008-12-01T17:10:00.000+05:30

When I am by myself with nothing particular on my mind, my eyes close to block out the worldly light in search of the beautiful light within .. time stands still and my thoughts stray to an ideal moment of love and peace all around me .. with a smile in my soul naturally flowing to my lips as I hold a hot cup of tea in my favourite flowery ceramic mug made perfectly light in its substance and having the sweetness that makes my eyes close with pleasure and as I envision the hot liquid going down my throat, my soul takes in the santoor playing in the background ... my beautiful thoughts, lilt me to wake up to the beauty that awaits me in this wonderful wonderful world ... and I see the world anew with love and peace despite whatever ...

I was born in Visakhapatanam and despite being a Punju brahmin by origin and having travelled the country being an armed forces kid; more than 75% of my 43 rains have been spent in this livewire, fast paced, multi culture, multi cuisine, financial capital of India -- Bombay or newly named Mumbai ... and clearly it is only because of this city and the experinces it has offered me that I am what I am today in mind and spirit. In fact it has given so much to all of its inhabitants like a mother does endlessly, patiently and lovingly providing for all her children may they be of whichever land ... they say it is very difficult to die of hunger in this city as it nurtures you to be a survivor despite whatever!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ... I was in deep sleep nursing a bad back having taken my food and a pill and gone to bed early and was in the midst of some complicated now forgotten dream when Nu woke me up abruptly at about 11.00 in the night on the night of 26th ... Priya dekho Taj or Oberoi mein aag lagi hai!! My bleary mind started playing logic "Taj and Oberoi burning? But they are so far apart ... how is there a fire simultaneously in both the hotels?"

As my cornea and lashes adjusted to the sudden awakening I turned on my side to look towards the TV, and to my horrow heard what the news channels were rattling away with unabated breath while the images of the Taj burning from the roof unfolded; bullets being fired from a police van at reporters; abandoned baggage covered in blood pools at the CST; salaskar, karakare and kamte getting ready for the kill only to be ambushed a short while later; and above all to know that a group of youngsters had caused all of this unbelievable carnage ... WHY HOW WHAT OH MY GOD !!!! was all that I could sputter as we watched into the wee hours of the morning ... I wanted to scream and do something so much and felt so inept to do anything to bring back peace, blow out the fires, bring justice to the victims and above all bring back life ... this was my ilaka where I spent my youth ... our officers that we probably even know ... My city, my mother, my home and yeah the hotels that are joined to some of the most amazing memories of my life -- was hostage to these jerks who believe they are doing well to please their lords, their god and their religion by massacaring innocent people!!? When I gathered my senses after the first few minutes I tried calling Ankita thinking that she may be one of the victims being a towny ... there was no response from her phone and my heart missed a beat as I thought of all the others that I know living in town - Baman n Pam, Jaya n Chetan n their kids, Vandana and her family and Pooja being the dearest -- I couldnt get thru to anyones phones ... I collected myself and prayed that all was well as my heart sank and tears rolled down my cheeks watching the events unfold ...

Oh lord of this universe help wisdom dawn upon the likes of these terrorists that they cannot ever win your love by doing what they do and are continuing to do ... I beckon thee to bring them and all such outfits across this world to justice! Oh Lord do give more love to all the people who suffered and survived the recent carnage and make their lives ahead beautiful and above all hold dearly all the souls of the people who have died and look after their loved ones who have been left behind...

And albeit these horribly wrong happenings and worrisome thoughts I closed my eyes this morning seeking the wondorous light of an ideal world ... to seek that special moment of wonder that will make me see the world anew once again ... because I am an emotional fool and love Bombay and its people and its cosmopolitan and cultural bhel puri beauty and above all its undying spirit so much .. because I love this great citys spirit for surviving the politicians, the corruption, the terrorist attacks and natures anger upon her ... because this place is home for me ... Bombay is my motherland. Yeh hai Bombay meri JAAN!!

Memories from the past - I

2008-07-25T12:00:00.000+05:30

Although this picture is during my early days at Vizag and I look quite pleased as punch in my Papli' lap I don't remember any of this emotion. I am however told by my parents that I was quite a gurgling delight and had a fascination for mangoes at a very early age - to date it is my most favorite fruit.

My earliest vivid memories go back to St Joseph's High School, R.C. Church, Navy Nagar, Lion Gate, Band Stand, trips to the Sea-side and last but not the least Guru’s shop all of them being in the south most part of Bombay in the years of 1968 to 1971 – that was when I was 3 years old. My father Lieutenant Inderjit Sharma was serving the Indian Navy and was posted in Bombay. He was the Captain of INS Nirghat - I remember marching up the wooden gangway of his ship occasionally looking over at the water below and wondering how deep it was and trying hard to catch sight of some fish before I got on board!? Trips to the ship meant my younger sister Mala and me getting dressed in our newest party frocks tailored by none other than my Mum, Chander Rekha Sharma - I have always been Miss Vanity Fair and loved ogling at myself in any reflective surface from the earliest time that I can remember. In particular, I recollect wearing my pink polka dotted umbrella cut dress with a matching hair band holding back my thick black locks on one of the ship visits, with netted self designed socks hugging my skinny limbs all the way up to my knocked knees and shiny white pointy buckled shoes completing the attire.

Papa, Ma, Mala and I would take the bus to Lion Gate or at a later date we would ride on Papas Lambretta Mala standing in front enjoying the breeze while I sat between papa and Mama squeezed and sweaty. On the days we took the bus, on reaching Lion Gate we would walk to Nirghat. Walking to the ship was always a great experience -- we would pass by a fleet of grey blue ships that looked so impressive and gigantic and I would gape up and back at them as Ma or Pa pulled me along and dream of myself sailing off to the high seas on a long voyage across the world; we would catch sight of senior officers that would zip past us in their fancy cars and Jeeps with a flag on their bonnets (I often wondered when my papa would become a senior officer and zip around in a fancy car with a flag); and enjoyed most seeing the several officers in uniforms of different types and color but more often than not in white and on foot saluting my Papa as we walked on - Mala and I would try to copy them and salute back and keep checking with Papa if we were saluting well enough and who was better and that if I could become an officer when I became big!!??

At the gangway of the ship after papa was saluted, the officers in the ship would assemble to greet us as we came on board and shake hands with us. I found that very weird as their hands were always so large and often very tough. My tiny hands kind of got very lost in them :) A visit to the ship also meant yummy treats from the pantry of the ship and drinking the ever favorite coca-cola and gorging on ice-cream.

We lived on the third floor (I think) in M17. The house had 2 bedrooms with built in cupboards and attached bathrooms, a small study, a living cum dinning room, a kitchen and a servants quarter for good ol' house maid Anandi and her drunk husband Ganpath. I loved this home very much and remember playing with my Russian dolls that would close their beautiful big blue eyes if you made they lie horizontally. I loved making my doll lie down and then would prop her to stand and stare at her eyes and would wonder how she was so much more beautiful than me. I loved playing house house with my dolls in the living room.

It was Dec 1971 when ... when papa had gone on war with Pakistan. All of navy nagar and I am told rest of Bombay too was blacked out by pasting black paper on all the windows. We would see ante firing in the dark evening skies and cry thinking that we were surely to get killed by the Pakistanis. One evening I remember Mum taking Mala and me to a neighbours house where we heard a recording of Papas voice where he was telling us he was well and he also sang a song -- I was quite amazed at this and wondered if the neighbours were hiding my Papa somewhere in their house. During the war time Mala and I were making small glasses of sugary juice one evening with the intention of putting poison in them and we had planned to offer the juice to the Pakistanis if they rang our doorbell to kill us. I wonder what would happen if that really happened ... Sigh the imagination of a child!! Papa came home after several days and I remember him having a bandage on his leg. He said he had got hurt in the war? I asked him if the Pakistanis had hurt him and if he fought them with his sword? He had actually just hurt him self while getting down one of the endless ladders of the ship. When I grew up I learnt that Papa was awarded the Vir Chakra for the 1971 war where his ship INS Nirghat and that his ship had sank PNS Khyber... I often wonder about what the families of the officers of that ship must have gone thru when they got the news. To date Papa' name is taken with great honor on every Killers Night that is celebrated on 04 December.

Mummy was a teacher in St. Josephs, R.C. Church and Mala and I studied there too. Our principal in those days was a nun Mother Helen who was the sweetest lady ever. I remember my teacher Mrs. Goese in grade 2 and Mrs. Star in grade 3 who I thought was simply amazing and in my class 3, I made my earliest pals -- Anisa Poonawala, Ramona Dhawan, Sangeeta, Geven, Shola, Seema. I also remember standing 2nd in my class in the 3rd standard and was very happy when Mum showed me my report card.

I also have fresh memories of visiting the shiv temple near the sea and thereafter taking a walk at the seaside; Meena Masi and Bunty visiting our home; Bunty sucking on a piece of orange and then chucking the remnants up to the ceiling -- it took a while and quite some effort to get them off the roof; stealing money from Mum's cupboard and visiting Gurus shop at the corner of K block to eat ball ice-creams.

Trips to Bandstand were rare and undoubtedly the best treat ever! Taking rounds of the park on the horses that stood in line with their respective owners calling out to you for a ride on their special horse. I loved choosing to ride on white horses and felt on top of the world when I was atop the horses back - I felt taller than Mummy and Papa too :) After that would follow a few games in the park with Malee and some yummy bhelpuri in paper cones followed by chilled cocacolas ... this was the absolute highlight!!

When the decision to transfer to Vizag was announced to us I was not sure what lay ahead and was sad that we would not be able to do horse riding and that all our friends would be left behind...

2008 ala re ala!!

2008-01-05T16:58:00.000+05:30

2008 -- its the year of the number 1 people ... the ones I know of are, Farrukh and Gautam ... insha-allah they will both have a great year ahead!!

As December approaches and Nu's birthday is behind us the next big quest that looms large is what we will be doing for New Years ... stay at home, friends place, gymkhana with blazer and gowns, disco, hotel party or go out of town ... somehow the best choice always seems to be out of town!! So it was decided to go to Khandala from 30 Dec - 01 Jan.

29th evening was a flurry of actvity as Rosh returned from her trip to Pondicherry and it was only after she got back home at 10 (she had a BLAAAAAAAST - more about it in another blog) that we started to pack our bags!! By the time we were done with dinner and packing it was past 12 and I willingly snuggled into bed while my mind wandered into dreams of what would it be like in Khandala.

The holiday group was made of -- The 4 of us, Guds and Linnet, Prashant-Archie-Sanju-Aunty and last but not the least Lil Alize :)

We met up at Carter Road and from there jumped into 3 cars (our Esteem, Gud' Swift and Prashant' CRV). We set out at about 9.00 and the first halt was at McDonalds Drive-in where we hogged on some burgers and shakes and moved onto the expressway to halt but once again to fill gas and grab some delicious Vadas. From there it was non-stop to Khandala.

The Heritage Villas owned and managed by Bunty and Alka Anand was a kilometers drive off the main expressway road. The road to the villa was a kachcha rasta and was one helluva bumpy ride. When we finally got there all we saw was 4 tiny cottages and I thought to my self "Heritage!!?? Villas". It is only after alighting and walking around a bit and checking the rooms out that I concluded -- simple, unasuming, clean, in the lap of nature (it is situated at the foothill of a mountain that housed the Karla Caves and adjoins a small village which one passes thru to climb the mountain)... chalega ... actually daudega!! What I liked most about the place was that they didnt boast of too much and offered whatever they did with a homely touch. So here we were, away from the mad rush of Mumbai to spend the next two days together and also bring in the new year ... lets make the most of it man!! That was the spirit that each of us had :)

The kids had a ball as there was a lot of open space to run around, explore and play cricket, lagori, darts etc. Bunty' lil son Jai was the highlight of the place ... he was a really spiky and willing to mix with everyone kind of kid and we all loved him instantly. Bunty and Alka too were very warm. Alkas parents were there too (her Mum' was the Principal of Poddar School and her Dad is a hockey enthusiast and is involved in all the possible hockey matches played on a national and international level as one of the key members) -- it was lovely meeting all of them. The food which was home-cooked was excellent too and we hogged and virtually licked the last morsel off the dishes ...

Our so called NEW Cannon camera was misbehaving all thru the trip and kept blinking at me for new batteries. I tried all kinds of stunts to get whatever pictures I finally got. I think the connection must be lose!? I will need to visit Cannon Shop ONCE again!!

To digest the yummy lunch we went for a walk towards the mountain and ended up doing a 2 hour long cross country walk. On the way we saw and captured some lovely village moments like a tabela with cows chewing away and crapping too, a lady selling wood for the wintery chilling nights, bullock cart, scurries of hens and their chicks, nose-running babies gawking at us, a beautiful water encampment into which we hurled pebbles - Nu and Guds' pebbles were reaching the other end of the water while mine barely plonked into the water a few meters away. The kids also saw some interesting rice seaving and also how bricks are made. By the time we got back we were all exhausted and although we freshened up I guess the walk took a toll on our energies and we retired much earlier than expected.

The next morning was beautiful and the weather nippy while we sipped chaia and marie biscuits and shakarparas (courtesy Archie). After some yummy omeletes and to die-for POHA we dressed and left for Pune which was an hour long drive from Heritage. We first drove into Magarpatta which is beautifully landscaped and very green. Prashant, Archie and Guds got possession of their shop at Magarpatta, while Nu got his haircut, the kids busied themselves by playing hide-n-seek while Linnet and I yapped about several things and Yoga. I suddenly said I want to learn the Surya Namaskar -- so there we were prostrate on the ground doing the 10 different stages of the Surya Namaskar ... all of this was happening in the middle of the builders office reception (of course there was nobody but the receptionist around who looked on eagerly) - I enjoyed the education and believ it or not was sweating after doing just two sets. I believe they do up to 100 of them in Power Yoga sessions!! The paperwork completed and a round of the complex and a quick dekho of the type of flat they have invested in was followed by a lunch at our favorite joint Flags with some Margherittas and delicious HEAVY CHEESY food. Yikes we were bursting at the seems so much that we got off once we got off the highway towards the drive in to Heritage and walked back to burn the over-consumed calories. On the way we got a tutor from the Brick Kiln guy on how they make bricks. Let me see if I can remember ... black mud, red mud, water, hay is all mixed up and put into moulds for shaping. The bricks are then layed out till they dry and then baked in the kiln till they are done. They sell 3000 bricks for a 1000 bucks. I hope I got those figures right!!?

That evening was finally New Years Eve and all (except me) dressed for the ocassion despite the cold -- I of course chose to be well clothed as I CANNOT bear the cold. Spirits were high and Wines, Vodka, Baileys and Tequillas were flowing -- Nu of all the people had 3 shots of Tequilla ... I was expecting him to pass out as he is usually a one beer man ... but he stood thru just fine ... hmmm I wonder how!? Although I have to add that he was behaving quite mad while dancing but then generally he always does behave mad so there was nothing new about that! We'd ordered the grub from Sunny' Dhaba which was yummy and Alka was a gem to loan us her Microwave so that we could eat hot food at whatever hour that suited us. Bunty had organised a deck and I'd recorded some dhisco mhujhic so the evening was gay and merry with a lot of laughter, dancing, drinking and generally having a blast ... all in all yet another GREAT New Years together ... Cheers to all of us and I pray that the year goes well for everyone!!!

Tu jiye hazaaron saal... janamdin mubarak Mama

2007-12-27T11:47:00.000+05:30

Christmas is always a joyous day at our home. We start the week before by setting up a Christmas Tree and then on the morning of Christmas have a long winding treasure hunt for the kids which they enjoy like hell. And then to top it all it is Mum and Apajis birthday.

Apaji would always love gifts and flowers so invariably we would cut a cake buy her something special and get her some flowers which she would carefully decorate in all the vases of the house. I miss her loads and often as after her and Daddy going away there is nobody in Carter Road who really cares truly about me. May God bless her soul and I pray that I have the opportunity someday to do her proud :)

And then it is also Mumnis birthday. Papli was really excited when we went shopping for Ma. In fact he took her shopping over the entire of last week looking for sneekers that she was comfortable with. But Ma will be Ma and she is still to find the right pair after doing the rounds of all the Reebok, Nike and Adidas stores... she still wants the Stitcher brand which clearly is not availbale in India ... In any case last weekend we went shopping for Ma at Westside and got her some really nice SK's and kurtis + a pair of really comfy slip ons... she was happy.

On the day of her birthday Papli was excited as hell -- he called at about 9 in the morning to get us to wish Ma ... We'd just about got up as we had gone to see the late night show of Tare Zameen Par and slept at about 2AM in the night. He then organised a Cake and Card and had ordered a huge bouquet of flowers for Ma and above all himself made some Phirnee and organised the Menu which was coke and PIZZA. We arrived in the evening at about 7.30 and then we ordered the Pizza from Pizza Hut ... yummy plain cheese and Four seasons family size, arabic chicken (medium) and paneer (medium) with some yummy garlic bread too. Ma cut the cake like an excited baby and we all sang and all and after 10 minutes realised that she had forgotten to blow the candle... It was a lovely evening of love, yummy food, great company and some great discussions on how "TEMPER is VERY COSTLY"

Recipes I love ... you will too

2007-12-26T13:44:00.000+05:30

Simply LIP SMACKING, FINGER LICKING YUMMILICIOUS RECIPIES …ENJOY!!!!

I will keep updating this post with more and more :)))

MAHIM KÉ ALOO
Boil mini potatoes – peel when cooled and keep aside
Lightly brown zeera seeds, dhaniya seeds and kashmiri red chillies and then grind to a powder
Soak kokum leaves and then grind to a paste
Oil - Rai – Hing - Kari patta - Green chillies – finely chopped onions
Once the onions turn light pink add the powdered dry masala and the kokum paste and sauté till the oil leaves the sides
Add mini boiled potatoes to the masala and sauté for a few more minutes with salt to taste
Garnish with coriander

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KARNANI AUNTY’S PANEER
Soak paneer in warm water to make tender
Chop into thick pieces of 1.5 inch length and one inch in breadth
Make a puree of tomatoes
Grind kaju kanni, garlic, kashmiri mirch, coconut powder to a paste
Put some oil and a spoonful of butter into a kadhai and add half a tea-spoon of kasturi methi to it
Add the ground masala, tomato puree and some chopped tomatoes to the oil and butter
Once the masala leaves the sides add the chopped paneer to it and let it sauté well in the masala. Add salt to taste
Garnish with fresh coriander

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ALIYA’S CHICKEN ANGARE

Wash the chicken pieces well (preferably use boneless chicken)
Marinate for an hour with the following – 2tbsp of ginger garlic, 1tbsp of browned and powdered kasturi methi, 2tbsp of curd and a pinch of colour.
Grind 4 tomatoes, two onions and a fistful of cashew nuts separately.
Heat oil in a pan and add to it the ground tomatoes, onions and nuts and let it cook covered for an hour.
Add the marinated chicken to the masala and let it cook till it is well done. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Throw in a piece of burning coal into the curry and cover till the steam of the coal stops

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ALIYA’S MUTTON BIRYANI

Wash ½ kg of mutton pieces well and put them in the cooker. To this add 2tbsp of ginger garlic paste, 3-4 chopped tomatoes, 2 big chopped onions, 1tbsp of oil, red chillies, garam masala and salt to taste and cook under pressure for two whistles on a full flame. When the cooker cools open the cooker and cook the meat well till the masala leaves the sides.
Take two cups of basmati rice and to this add excess water, salt, cloves and cardamom and let it come to a boil. Switch off the gas and strain the rice in a colander.
Layer the bottom of the vessel with the rice and then put a layer of the meat. Continue the alternate layers till the meat and rice are over.
To garnish add to the top crisp fried onions, coriander, a few drops of colour added in some milk and lastly saffron.
Now place the biryani over a tawa for it to cook till the rice is completely done.

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BAJI KA DABBA GOSHT

Wash 1kg of fresh mutton pieces well and place in the cooker.
To this raw meat, add salt to taste, red chillies, two chopped onions, three tomatoes, 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, one tsp of garam masala and one tbsp of oil.
Close the cooker and cook the meat for at least three whistles.
Open the cooker once the steam is gone and cook the meat again on a high flame for 5 minutes and then on a slow flame with the cooker open till the gravy is thick and almost dry (but not dry).
Once well done, add a tsp of ghee and coriander leaves.

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ARCHIE’S MASALA MUSHROOMS

Marinate mushrooms with 1tbsp of curd, 1tsp of garam masala, sald and chillies to taste, 1tbsp of ginger garlic paste and 1tbsp of brown vinegar for an hour
Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan and add the marinated mushrooms to it.
Cook in the open pan on a high flame till well done.
Garnish with coriander

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ARCHIE’S BABY POTATOES

Boil 10-12 baby potatoes in a cooker
Once done drain the water
Do not de-skin the potatoes
Add 1tbsp of salad oil in a pan and add to this 1/2 tsp of basil and 1/2 tsp of oregano and 1/2tsp of freshly ground pepper and salt to taste
Saute for 5mins and serve with coriander garnish

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VANITA ki MAA KI DAAL

Ingredients
Black Dal 1 cup
Rajma fist-full
Onion 1 large
Ginger 1 inch
Green chillies 2
Tomatoes 2
Ghee 2 tbsp
Laung 3-4
Tej Patta 1
Milk 1 glass

Method
1. Wash a one cup black whole dal + a fist full of rajma (this is optional) well
2. Soak the washed dals over night ideally or at least for 3 hours, in about 2 glasses of water
3. Next morning you will see that the dals have grown in size and the water has got a red/blackish color. Remember to retain the soaked water to cook along with the dal
4. Grind 1 onion, 1 inch piece of ginger and 2 green chilies to a fine paste
5. Grind or grate 2 tomatoes to a paste
6. Take 2 tbsp of pure ghee in a cooker and add to it a 3-4 laungs, 1 Tej Patta and the onion, chilly, ginger paste to sauté
7. Once the paste is slightly brown add the tomato paste and the soaked dal and rajma with its water
8. Let the dal come to a boil and close the cooker with the whistle on. Let it cook till it blows at least 5 whistles. Turn the cooker to a slow fire and let the dal cook for at least 20 mins.
9. Once the cookers’ whistle has settled, you may open the cooker, light the fire again and let the dal cook with half a glass of milk for at least another half hour on a slow flame.
Also take a mathani and dough the dal well so that it has a smooth consistency

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MY VERY OWN PASTA

Chop small and boil vegetables / meat of your choice – peas, potatoes, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, mushrooms etc or chicken, mince meat or boiled eggs.
Take one tbsp of butter, one tbsp of maida and brown in an open pan. Once done turn off the flame and slowly add a cup full of milk to the mixture while continuously stirring. In case nuggets form whip the paste in the mixie for a few minutes. Once the thick paste is formed add a slice of cheese, salt and pepper to taste. This is your white sauce – the base of your baked dish.
Now add one finely chopped onion to a tbsp of butter in a fresh pan and to this add finely chopped tomatoes and a big clove of garlic finely chopped with a little bit of salt. Saute until tender. Add the white sauce and vegetables to this mixture and sauté for a few minutes. Add some grated cheese into it and then garnish with coriander after serving in a dish.

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VANITA ke BATATE VADE

Ingredients

Garlic 4
Green Chilly 4
Dhania 1 tbsp
Rai ½ tsp
Kari Patta 5 leaves
Turmeric ½ tsp
Boiled grated potatoes 6
Salt To taste
Lime 1 squeezed
Besan paste 3 tbsp besan and 1 cup of water
Pav 10-12
Red Chutney
Green Chutney

Method
1. Grind big garlic cloves and green chillies.
2. Grind dry dhaniya seeds coarsely.
3. Add rai and kari patta to hot oil in a kadhai along with haldi.
4. Add to this the ground garlic, chillies and dhaniya.
5. Then add the grated boiled potatoes and salt and lime to taste.
Make balls and dip in thin mix of besan, salt and water and deep fry in medium hot oil.
7. Serve with fresh pavs and red and green chutneys.
8. Red chutney – Lasan, salt, kashmiri chillies, amchur
9. Green chutney – green chillies, coriander, salt, lime and a small piece of coconut.

GREEN CHUTNEY
1. Take 2 green chilies, a bunch of cleaned and chopped coriander, two large pieces of garlic and put them all into your grinder
2. Before turning the grinder on squeeze one lime onto the ingredients and then close and turn on the grinder (The squeezed lime helps retain the green color of the chutney)
3. Add salt and black salt to paste
4. Preserve in an air tight jar

RED CHUTNEY
1. Soak 100 gms of kashmiri red chillies in a cup of water for about 2-3 hours.
2. Grind the soaked chillies in their water along with a cup full of garlic
3. Add white vinegar and salt to taste and preserve in an airtight jar

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MY VERY OWN EGG CURRY

Ingredients
Eggs 6
Potatoes 3
Large Onion 1
Tomatoes 4
Green Chiilies 2
Oil 2 tbsp
Hing 1 pinch
Jeera 1 pinch
Garam Masala 2 cloves, 1 inch of dalchini, 1 tejpatta leaf, 4-5 pepper balls, 1-2 cardamoms, a little jaiphal, a little javitri
Ginger paste 1 tbsp
Garlic paste 1 tbsp
Dhania powder 1 tbsp
Lime juice 1 lime squeezed
Coriander 1 handful chopped

Method
Boil six eggs, shell them and keep them whole
Peel 3 potatoes and cut into half
Chop one large onion fine
Grind 4 tomatoes and 2 green chillies to a fine paste
In a kadhai add 2 tbsp of oil, add garam masala, a pinch of hing and jeera. Allow to splutter. (At this point if you wish you could take out the garam masala from the oil except for the taj patta
Add the onions and let them brown then add the tomato and chilli puree and saute
Add 1 tbsp of ginger paste and 1 tbsp of garlic paste to the masala along with ¼ tsp of turmeric and 1 tsp of kashmiri chilli powder and let them cook till they leave the sides of the kadhai
Add half a cup of water and cook till the masala becomes a thick curry
Add a tbsp of dhania powder to thicken the gravy. Now add the half cut potatoes and salt to taste and sauté for a while. Cover to cook till potatoes are done (approx 20 mins)
Add the boiled eggs and a glass of water to make the gravy. Bring to a boil and add the lime and coriander to garnish

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MY VERY OWN BUTTER CHICKEN

Ingredients

Kajus 15
Boneless Chicken ½ kg
Tomatoes 4
Pepper 2
Tej Patta 1
Big Cardamom 2
Red Chilli 1 tsp
Sugar ½ tsp
Vinegar 1 tbsp
Fresh cream 2 tbsp
Ground pepper ½ tsp

Method
Put the kaju, whole tomatoes, pepper, cardamom and Tej Patta in a cooker with half a cup of water and let it cook for 3 whistles
Remove the puree from the cooker and take out the garam masala we added. Grind the puree
In a kadhai add a tbsp of butter and the puree, red chilli and sugar and allow simmering till the masala leaves the sides. Then cook for 10 mins on a low fire.
While the masala is cooking prick the chicken with a fork and add vinegar and leave to cook in the microwave for 15 mins. Once done cut into small cubes or triangles
Put the pieces in the gravy and add fresh ground pepper and fresh cream on top

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BIMA ke KEBAB

Ingredients
Mutton Kheema ½ kg
Channa Dal 1 cup
Red Chilli 7
Ginger 2 inch piece
Onions 2 sliced long
Khus Khus 1 tsp
Chironji 1 tsp
Salt To taste
Egg 1
Corriander 1 bunch chopped fine
Onion 1 chopped fine
Pudina 1 bunch chopped fine
Green Chiili 4 chopped fine
Garam Masala 1 flat tbsp

Method
Cook the washed Kheema, Salt, Dal, sliced onion, khus khus, ginger, red chilli and chironji till dal is well done, in a pateela with a cover.
Dry the water of the kheema
Grind to a paste
Add Egg, coriander, pudina, green chillies, garam masal, finely chopped onion (and a lime if desired) to form a soft dough
Make flat small cutlets and shallow fry on a slow flame

Taare Zameen Par

2007-12-25T17:26:00.000+05:30

Aamir Khan' latest contribution to Indian cinema -- Taare Zameen Par, in one word -- EXCELLENT. Every aspect of the film including the fascinating clay animated titles done by Dhimant Vyas was treated in a no nonsense beautiful way.

The film is the journey of an 8 year old, Ishaan Awasthi, called Inu by his family; from a life filled with escapism due to his inability to keep pace with the society' high expectations to a distraught state in hostel and finally to a hand holding phase that transforms him and the society around him.

Little Inu' life revolves around colors and nature and happiness in his imaginative world ... where the morning rush hour is unnecessary - he sleeps on the pot, takes forever to brush and plays with the soap while having a bath, wears his uniform in a dream and has yet not figured out how to knot his tie or his laces; cleanliness is not a concern and hence he is invariably punished during assembly; homework is a bore and hence never done; test papers are never shown to his mum and are instead given to street dogs to play with; his room and things are always in a mess; and above all his interest in studies is as much as his interest in his morning routine so his handwriting is as if like a baby learning to write, his spelling of the simplest of words are wrong again and again and again, his test papers always have marks like 2/25, 3/25 and FAIL written in bold acroos, he has already repeated a year, he says the letters and numbers keep dancing in front of him; and because of his inability to read or understand the complex instructions in class he is always bearing the brunt of his teacher' anger, insults and punishment ... SIGH life is soooooo tiresome .... that he choses to live life on his own terms and in what gives him happiness ... Art is amazing and he thrives on his own imagination while painting and creates some fantastic pieces of work when he is allowed to do so ... nature is fun and interesting to him and hence bunking school is so much better than dealing with a teacher who will yell at him yet again for not completing his math homework and not getting his test papers signed! Litlle Inu finds each of his routines to be a dicomfort to him and hence gives little importance to them and yet finds the time to love and de-tick street dogs, fish with a net in the school gutter and collect fish in his water bottle for his fish bowl at home.

In contrast is his hardworking and successful older brother Yohaan who he calls Dada -- they have a great relationship and love each other loads but his brother' accomplishments make his inadequacies seem even more starkly unaccepable. His super efficient top executive dad too is a stickler for perfection and success and will accept nothing less ... so he has little patience with Inu and is always letting go of his temper with violence or insults or worse still comparisons with Yohaan "how can my son be such a duffer... why are there so many complaints against him???". In the middle of all this is Inus sensitive yet confused mother who loves him dearly but is playing the balancing act between trying to get Inu to live up to his Dads high expectations, taking Yohaans help to convince Inu to get stuff done, help him thru his daily routines and above all cover up for him when he gets into trouble -- she keeps believing that it cant get worse than what it is and when Inu slips yet again she is torn between anger and "kya baat hai Inu... please beta hum padh lete hain na nahin to aaapke friends phir se aagey nikal jayengey"

The problem is that Inu is dyslexic and nobody in his family or school knows so and believe that he is the way he is because he is lazy and over time has become defiant and indisciplined. After getting a warning from the principal about Inu being probably kept back yet again and getting a hint that maybe he has a problem his father decides that he needs to be sent to hostel. Here is where his life becomes and ordeal, as he is away from his family, his street dogs and his fish; his freedom to do as he pleases has come to an end and above all he is not allowed to paint the way he wishes and gets scaled by his art teacher on his closed knuckles several times ... to the effect that he completely loses interest in the only thing that he loved doing ... i.e. Painting! He shuns all except a paralysed classmate, he stops communicating and is punished all the time, continues to do poorly in class, does not talk when his family calls him, has no reaction when they come to meet him on the weekend and slowly but surely becomes a lifeless recluse ...

The movie takes on a new pace after the interval as that is when Aamir (Ram) comes into the film as a temporary ART teacher at his school -- he notices Inu' blank art sheet and gets curious as to why he is so quiet and non-communicative, and unaffected by the fantastic display of dance and music that Ram brings into the class with "Bum bum bole..." Ram, goes thru his class books and dicovers the pattern of his errors, he visits Inu' parents to find that they are clueless and undenying of Inu' problem and discovers during his visit what a fantastic artist Inu is -- this entire sequence of his visit to his parents is delivered to Unbelievable Aamir Perfection and brought buckets of tears to my eyes ... he takes it upon him to bring about the much needed change into Inus life by harshly and assertively sensitising Inu' parents and the school principal about Inus problem, coaching Inu privately on his studies and handwriting and above all holding an art competition ... because he is so sure that Inu will excel and believes that this success will be the turning point in his life ... and he is right!! Inu wins and his painting becomes the cover page of the school annual book giving Inu a reason to smile and look at life anew :)

The casting of each of the characters, the screenplay, the interspersed animation, the music and the cinematography are all superb! My description and review of the film cannot match the excellence of the film and hence to get the complete impact of Inu's journey from darkenss to light watching the film is a MUST TO DO ... The film has some of the most amazing scenes that each of us can identify with in our own lives. This film has acquired a special place in my heart ... like Robin Sharma has said that good books are to be read again and again ... Taare Zameen Par is a film that needs to be watched again and again and again... Kudos to Aamir and his team for creating a film that will create a fresher outlook from parents, elders and teachers towards a new world so that each child from now is nothing less than a STAR or TAARA on this zameen :)

Aaja Nachle ...

2007-12-22T13:30:00.000+05:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8CCJTez-yI

This morning being a Saturday meant no BMR, so I rose at 8.30 as opposed to the usual 6.30 and after the morning chai and methi routine went in to wake up the kids. Roshni mumbled bleary eyed, "Mama, I want to see Aaja Nachle" "Yo lets go darling but for that you have to get up and check the timings of the show ... you never know with all the bad publicity the film has got ... I wonder if it is still running ki pit ke utar gayi hai!?" I said. Breakfast shekfast was happening while Roshni was trying to find out the timings of the show ... there was no listing in the papers, the automated pre-recorded answering machine at Fame Adlabs kept droning on and on and on ... "Papa, you will be walking past Fame on your way to office will you please check the timings and call us?" While the kids gorged on paranthas and chocolate horlicks milk the phone rang, it was Fruki saying that the only show is at 10.30 in the morning... It was 9.45 already!!! "Roshni Raunaq please finish your breakfast WE'LL BE LATE!!!" Raunaq looked up puzzled, "Why am I being chased Mama ... I'm not going - lets go for Air Buddies instead" Roshni and I looked at him, "Raunaq its a family plan and Roshni suggested first that we go for Aaja Nachle so we are going for it and youre coming along ... besides we would like you to come along" I said -- Raunaq reluctantly gave in :) Breakfast was gobbled and we raced around the house getting ready, left the keys with the neighbours as the great Jayshree had not yet arrived and rushed out excited about the film!

It was 10.20, so Rosh raced ahead to the theatre to buy the tickets, while Rock and I briskly followed... Screen 5 Fame Adlabs -- UNBELIEVABLE it was a private screening -- Well ... not really ... it just seemd like it because when we walked in there were precisely 4 people scattered in the hall ... 5 others walked in just as the film certificate of Aaja Nachale was on the screen and that is it ... an 11 people audience!!

Well what can I say, we gripped our seats with positive anticipation as the titles began and and there she was in all her glory -- Madhuri tapped onto the screen as a dance instructor teaching adult students in the US to dance to the tunes of "Dance with me"... so fitting after being away for so many years!

Id like to first start with Anil Mehta, cinematographer of several films like Veer Zara and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, who turned Director for the first time with Aaja Nachale and all I'd like to say is WHAT A WONDERFUL JOB he has done!! Kudos to you Anil and the depiction of your dream idea ... the film actually did flow like silk from start to finish :)

Ajanta Theatre was where her Dada introduced her to music, dance and life ... and now he was dead and the marriage she ran away for was finished ... Diya (Madhuri) and her phirang accent daughter Radha arrive in the fictional small town of Shamli to resurrect a lost dream that she had lived 11 years before she ran away... from Ajanta, her parents and home, her best pal and dance mate Najma (Divya Dutta) and the pining tea stall owner Mohan (Ranvir Shorey) with a cup and plate in his hand; to be the wife of Steve the attractive looking national geographic photographer in New York. On her return the ruins of Ajanta and her gurus recorded dying message on a projection screen make her decide to convince the people of Shamli, who have ever since her being a run-away bride written her off, to save Ajanta from the perils of commercialisation and consumerism! She fights her daughters persistent pleas of going back to their air-conditioned mosquito free confortable home in the US and the abuse, outcry, aggression and timelines of the people of Shamli to conserve the beautiful music and dance heritage of their town which is being threatened to being raised to the ground to build a MALL -- she makes a challenging deal with the unasuming suave, pizza making MP Raja Sahib (Akshaye Khanna) to do a show of Laila Majnu with the people of Ajanta within 2 months!

The herculean task of auditioning commences for all the key characters of Laila Majnu ... the musical. Each of the characters have done a wonderful job -- From Daaktar Sahib (Raghubir Yadav) the caretaker of Ajanta cycle rickshawing down the streets of Shamli making announcements on a loud speaker about the return of Diya and being her undying support thru start to finish; to Mrs. Chojar (Sushmita Mukherji) who is the eager to act land-lady disillussioned because her husband believes that if she acts "meri izzat ghategi"; She goes into an amazing outburt of how she feels like another FILE that is opened and closed as per her husbands desire and says that there are 2 people who live in their house -- "Ek Mr.Chojar aur doosra unki izzat". She finds her Govt servant husband Mr. Chojar (Vinay Pathak) "Boring" -- He, in turn is shocked at the outburst of emotion by his wife and the stigma of being a BORE in her eyes haunts him enough to pucker up the courage to apply for a "post" in the theatrical Laila Majnu only to win back the love of his wife. Mr & Mrs Chojar now live in the same house that Madhuri' parents owned and rent out a room to her daughter and her on the condition that she signs an affidavit that she will make no claims on their house on a Rs.20 stamp paper. Yashpal Sharma in his protrayal of the SHO Singh is fantastic in the drunken scenes where he calls Ranvir Shorey "oye yaar tu to jalebi hai" and how by the end of the film hugs him saying he is a true Majnu because Mohan forgets his broken pride and decides to work with Diya only because she is fighting for the heritage of Shamli and serves chai to the crew and cast while also enacting the husband of Laila. On the other hand is the scheming Farooque (Irfan Khan) who is Najmas husband and whose portrayal of his love for none other than his business of building Malls comes through very convincingly when he connives and gets his wife to talk about the bad character of Diya before marraige so that people stay away from Laila Majnu ALL because he wants to raise Ajanta and build yet another Mall. He also convinces the local politician Choudhary Om Singh (Akhilendra Singh) to pull back his support from Laila Majnu with a kickback of Rs.50 Lakh. Originally Diya had convinced him to give his support to preserving the heritage of Ajanta as a strong election "Mudda" without which it is very likely that he will lose against the suave Akshaye Khanna. He agrees and also gets Irfan (the heartbreaker -- Kunal Kapoor) who was one of his touts to portray Majnu and lends his expertiese(!?) in portraying Laila' father! Initially the reluctant Irfan participates in the act only because of Choudhrys insistence and is constantly irritated with his role as he hates dancing and even more irritated with the perpetual nose cleaning Anokhi (Konkana Sen) who is chosen to play Laila and is all over him pledging undying love for him in her jhalla-looking clothes and hair ... the way their hatred for each other turns into love is beautiful with the old trick that Madhuri teaches her ... "spruce up and make an effort to look good, and dont run after Irfan so much... instead keep away from him for a while and he will eventually follow you" ... the way the whole change is shown in their relationship is so beautiful! When Choudhary decides to withdraw support and wants Kunal too to quit Kunal decides not to ditch Diya as it was unfair to do this with the show just a few days away, he too gets beaten up by Choudharys men and when Anokhi jumps in to save him and gets very badly hurt Irfan realises how much she loves him... the highlight is when Ranvir Shorey says to him while serving him a cup of tea ... "Bol de yaar nahin to tu bhi cup plate haath mein dhare reh jayega" Irfan gawkily declares his love for Anokhi by saying "yaar agli baar na tu Laila nahin banegi ... kyonki main tujhe baar baar marte nahin dekh sakta" Sigh so darned cute!! With the chaos thanks to Choudhary, Najma (without her husband knowing) aplogises for the damage done and volunteers to play Lailas mother and Yashpal is pulled in to play Lailas father. In the middle of all this is an eager LIC agent wanting ti insure Irfan as he is going to die playing Majnu; being played by none other than Jugal Hansraj (looking really good) who renders the role of Tabrez ... Lailas brother!

All in all a totally mixed bag of left feet that eventually end up creatring a fantastic rendition of the old saga of Laila Majnu in the finale showing the childhood friendship of Laila and Majnu in a Madrassa that dvelops into undying love as they grow up and how Tabrez finds out and is killed bu Majnu in a sword fight and is condemned to death by stoning as per the law of the land and how Laila vows to marry another provided they let Majnu go ... they do let him go but her husband can never have her sould and as she is taken by Majnu ... he swears to take Majnus life and when he does take Majnus life Laila dies too ... they are united ... but in heaven ... the climax had all the people of Shamli broken to tears and all 3 of us including Raunaq totally transfixed ... "Mom did this really happen?" said Rock

Unlike popular comment that the film was only centered on Madhuri and that every body else got sidelined ... I would like to submit that each of the characters I have mentioned above came thru very convincingly and each of them had an important role in building the film.

The pace of the film too unlike popular critic comment is perfect... the music is finger tapping and peppy ... each of the dances have been protrayed with amazing color and finesse and finally the sets are unbelievable and beautiful ... Diya wins and Raja Sahib gives up the idea of a Mall forever ... Diya fulfills her role of making Shamli realise the importance of Ajanta in their lives and goes back to being an instructor in the US leaving behind a trail of love, dance and music at Shamli... and all of us (including Raunaq) wondering WHY such a lovely film was a so called FLOP!?

Chak Dey Phattey Papa!!

2007-12-17T21:53:00.000+05:30

Papa being felicitated by Neeta Ambani, Chairperson of Dhirubhai Ambani International School, with a shawl.

Papa and Neeta Ambani saluting the flag while the sunset bugle plays in the background!!

This weekend was special for my darling Papli and the entire family :) The Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS) had their Annual Day and were also celebrating the 60th year of Indian independence -- their show was titled "Celebrate India ... a musical".

On this special day of DAIS they wished to share the glory of some very important and forgotten heros of our country... war heros, freedom fighters and sportsmen. Their function was held on 2 days i.e. 14 and 15 Dec.

My darling Papa was one of the special invitees on 15 Dec 07 alongwith Mrs Boyce (who was the daughter of Col Tarapore, who had got the Param Vir Chakra for fighting the war of 1965 - he died in the action and was awarded posthumously), Manju Malkani (wife of Squadron Leader Malkani who flew his fighter plane over enemy territory during the 1971 war and was again awarded Vir Chakra). The 3 of them, Mum and I (I wangled an invite as I didnt want to miss the ocassion) were treated so warmly by the administrative staff of DAIS ... we were given tea and some yum snacks while the executive assistant of Neeta Ambani, Nandeeta sat with us and chatted about our lives. Mrs. Boyce was such a lady with all etiquette and all (she teaches ettiquette to large corporate houses in Pune) and a real chatter box -- I simply loved listening to her endless tales and experiences. Mrs. Manju Malkani is the HR gead at HDFC Ltd. and we talked of some of the really cool people that I admire at HDFC like Deepak Satwalekar, Milind Barve, Keki Mistry etc. They were quite amused about the fact that I work with a toy company and asked me which one is my most favorite toy ... Finger Football -- here you have 2 pairs of shoes that have holes in them so that you can wear them on your fingers and you kick around with your fingers playing finger football ... they were really amused!!

At around 6.30 we were taken down to the grounds where the stage was set ... it was a huge stage twice the size of a basket ball, elaborately decorated and having several levels ... it was really GRANDE and looked nothing less than a filmfare set!! Once we were seated we were in the front row, Mukesh Ambani (the rishest man in the world) sauntered in wearing a black safari ... it felt unreal that he was away from us by about a meter or so -- somehow whatever people may say about how Reliance has become so big, it is impressive that he has achieved this feat!!

The ceremonies began with a prayer foloowed by Neeta Ambani giving a speech of which the following lines made an impression in my mind"...DAIS wishes to Celebrate India ... India has more than a billion opportunities ..." She then felicitated Col Tarapore, Sqd Ldr. Malkani and Cmde Inderjit Sharma with a shall each and a token of appreciation.

Mrs Boyce daughter of Col Tarapore who received the Param Vir Charkra for the action in 1965 war

Mrs Manju Malkani wife of Squadron Leader Malkani who received the Vir Chakra for the action in 1971 war

Then Papa came on stage and she felicitated papa with a shawl ... I really got eems at this point and treed all the way to my toes ... this was the first time I had heard in my concious state of papas heroic action during the war of 1971 and when the lady announced "... and for this heroic display of courage Cmde Inderjit Sharma was awarded the Vir Chakra", it felt as if he was getting the award just then. To think, I was just six then and my Malee was a lil baby at 5 - I have very faint memories of papa coming home after the war and having a hurt on his leg and his sword was with him for some reason -- I remember asking him "Papa did the pakistanis attack you on your leg and did you fight them with your sword?" At that time I guess papa must have not wanted to disturb me with details of the bombing and said "yes beta" ... for a long long time I believed that papa got the award for a aword fight with a pakistani who had landed on his ship!! Sigh ... so much for my childish imagination!! Papa received his felicitation amidst loud applause. Neeta then asked everyone to rise while they played the evening bugle that is so familiar in any armed forces base at sunset and a film that showed the Indian flag being brought down for the day ... it all felt so nostalgic and surreal and for a long time loads of navy memories flooded my mind and heart... revati, MBlock, INS Sindhudurg and its dome, the officers, dhruv bhandari, chilka, bakshi and his maths and science tutorial so that I could pass the medical examination, learning .22 gun firing and boating, ramchandran and his puffy milk glasses, INS Shakti, walks with juba and lama in the nights, durga puja, SODA shows, the shiv temple, the swimming pool, amar' library, US club, Dattu, sea pool, st josephs, ashivini, peru-wala near school, 103/123 busses, bus-tickets, Defence Theatre, nalini bamba, aparna, reena and rohin chand, ritu mridhu, nilli puddi, jyoti and diggy, cycling all the way to marine drive - what a beautiful life it was ... SIGH ... the life in the navy seems like a lifetime away ... I really miss it...

Enough of nostalgia ... The musical had a theme of a Baiscopewala showing the kids a new India and telling them tales of the great achievements of our country -- all of this was displayed in a burst of color with the fantastic colors of India coming thru in the costumes and sets, dances by over 900 kids to the tune of some amazing patriotic and folk songs that were all recorded in the children' voices like - aao bacho tumhe sunayen, nanna munna rahi hoon, mera joota hai japani, ae vatan ae vatan humko teri kasam, kar chale hum fida jaano tan saathiyo, wallao rey nakwa ho wallao hey rama (marathi song), Aekla cholo rey (bengali song), vande mataram (new Lata version), Buri nazar na hum pe dalo hum hain hindustani and to top it all all the kids came and congregated on stage with Chak De India and Neeta Ambani joined them in the centre -- all of them were jumping and dancing to the beats of Chak De Chak de India ... everyone in the audience was on their feet, dancing and waving flags and clapping together!! OH MY GOD ... What a resounding celebration of INDIA -- it was just too AWESOME a climax!!!!!!

After the program Ma and Pa went to thank Neeta Ambani personally I went along and clicked some pics of them and then I too shook hands with her to congratulate her on her pet project of DAIS (she being the chairperson of DAIS controls every function of the school) -- Guys her hands felt like warm melting butter or rather as soft as a babys skin. I must say she is one lucky woman in India. I am so glad that she being the wife of the richest man of the world sets a great example for other men and women to follow... the amount of respect and love she has got from her family shows in the beautiful glow on her face. Tha fact that she has been given this project to be run entirely on her own and that Mukesh was present despite his busy as hell schedule - he really need not have been there but he was there for both the days from start of the function to finish and also enjoyed the eateries at the MELA thereafter; all this shows the respect he has for her and the importance she is to his life -- that is what truly impressed me the most! She was dressed in a bridal red sari with some amazing gold embroidery and had diamonds all over her - we were discussing that during the evening she if one is to value her dress she was worth several crores.

The musical was followed by a MELA - there were so many stalls ... ma and pa hogged on some yummy kachori and rasey wale aloo, gajar ka halwa (to die for) and rasmalai from an Ajmer Mithaiwala stall... they also bought a candle from a Blind man called Bhavesh' stall and on the way out we had the best treat ... AAMIR KHAN in person was calling out the raffle draw!!! At this point I clearly went mad with excitement and started yelling out to him ... I would like to believe that he spotted me and smiled :))

I missed both Anj and Mallee tooooooooo much as it was such a super evening in every way ... and yeah I am so glad that at least I could enjoy these special moments with Ma and Pa.

Mainu Viral Shiral Ho Gaya!!

2007-12-12T19:34:00.000+05:30

Hai hai main bechari ... am unwell and down with the flu or viral or cold or the bug or whatever and am in bed for the past two days -- all I have been able to get out of me during this time has been my BLOG :)

Fruki got up this morning and took on the BMR with full gusto (devoid the lunch preparation - the kids took money for Shettys insufferable school lunch) Fruki was playing his role to the hilt and gave ME a large cup of milk with honey and haldi -- I think he overdid the haldi - I had instructed him to add 1 tsp of honey and 1/2 tsp of haldi ... I am sure he mixed up the proportions because the milk tasted like hell!!

I also started reading a book which is an autobiography of R.K.Narayan of "Malgudi Days - Swami & friends" fame titled My Days ... its really well written. Might just become one of my favourite books!

Roshni just asked me if I want coke ... how insensitive!! :( For 2 large reasons I CANNOT have coke 1. Im on a very concious diet that has a target of reaching 60kgs (this is the first milestone and the second being 55kgs) and I am on a virtually NO sugar diet + am aching at all the possible parts of my body thanks to the weights I am inflicted to suffer by my instructor at the gym and 2. I have the flu shlu ... SIGH... WAAAAAH

I love coke specially when its chilled and poured into a glass of loads of ice-cubes like the one in the picture... Rosh is further tempting me with a glass of coke ...SO RUDE!!!!!

Jay Shree

2007-12-12T14:38:00.000+05:30

"Mama what does Jay Shree mean?" asked Roshni. Well ... er ...um... its hailing the lord I guess darling. I also read later in a blog that it means a "Lady who is victorious"... Knowing Jayshree that seems more like it!!

Jayshree ... my beloved house maid is about 35 years in age. She is the only daughter of her parents and hails from a town called Sholapur in Maharashtra, India. She was brought up by her uneducated mother as her father passed away at a very young age. She was a good student and studied all the way till the 10th grade and was a favorite amongst friends. She is quite a nice looking woman although she has a shrill voice. Her Mum sort of got paranoid of her future possibilities of going astray so she cut short her studies and married her off to a Tailor from the Sholapur called Bharat Mungshe who was 4 years older to her. She today has three children and lives with her family in a slum at Adarsh Nagar, Goregaon. Her oldest son is Nilesh who is 19, followed by Shailesh the great at 18 years of age and who is the brat in her life and last but not the least is her daughter Neelam who is 16 and an ardent student in the 10th grade -- Jayshree wants her daughter to complete her studies.

Jayshree is an ideal maid for us. She comes in to work just as I am leaving for work. She does the morning dishes, cleans up the house (jhadoo-katka-dusting-bathroom routine), washes the clothes, gives the kids a hot snack when they return from school and cleans their tiffins and finally also cooks the evening meal [including salad and rotis:))] -- in brief she is a blessing in disguise!! The good thing about her is that she is intelligent and can read and write. So each time I teach her a new recipe she writes it down to the last detail and uses it for future reference :) The kids and she have a mutual feeling of love for each other and generally have a grand time together. So, she is here virtually the whole day and has a chai and lunch here, does all the work and yet she is not is our face like a full time maid at the end of the day. The only inconvenience is the dishes in the night and the BMR ... but frankly all of it has now settled into a routine that Fruki and I have gotten comfortable with.

On the 10th of Nov 07, it was the New year of the Hindu calender and a day after Diwali, she shrilled at me "Bhabi mobile kitne mein milega?" So I started off with well depends Jayshree ... on your budget, purpose and who its for!? "Mobile kisko chahiye?" It appeared that our all time brat Shailesh had not eaten any food for the past three days and was sulking around the house asking for a mobile!!? The older one does not have one, the sister hasnt asked for one but this baby of the family was voicing his desires vociferously to the effect that he had brought the whole house down. Bharat and she had been fighting like cats and generally there was misery at home. So as soon as I had given her salary of the month she wanted me to buy her son the mobile.

I told her that the cheapest one could start at about Rs.2000 and could of course go upto Rs.40000. He I believe wanted a Motorola which had a camera, FM radio and of course have the other basic functions!!? So I said why does he want such a fancy mobile to which she had no answer. Then she said, "Bhabi wo gaon ja raha hai aur usko gaon mein sabko dikhana hai!!?" I was quite irritated with him for being so insensitive towards his parents. Jayshree barely earns Rs.4500 (she gets 3500 from us + another 1000 from another flat in our block) and her hubby earns another 7K -- they find it realy difficult to get through the month with the mounting expenses!

Anyway after being unable to convince her against the unnecessary expense she called for him to come to our place. I took them to a mobile store that sells mobiles and pre-paid cards near our place. He kept eyeing a 4K fancy looking flap-type Motorola with a camera and I kept bringing him back to the userfriendly and economical Nokia which cost 2.5K which had all the features except a camera. I got the shop keeper to convince him that the camera of the Motorola clicked worthless pictures and that the mobile too was fragile. Nokia is generally a proven mobile!!! Anyway after 45mins of really stressfull convincing he gave in to buy the Nokia alongwith a lifetime prepaid card which cost another 500 bucks ... All Jayshree was concerned was if it had FM radio?? So I said "Haan Jayshree FM bhi hai aur Nokia ka achcha mobile hai" Sigh it really hurt to see poor Jayshree give away 3K for this heap of plastic ... so much for consumerism and India Shining and our economy growing!!

On the same day Jayshree also took our gas cylinder and the regulator with her on the promise that she will return it in a weeks time. She said that the kerosene gets very expensive during this time of the year and so requested that I lend her my cylinder. I consulted Fruki and he said we can give it to her as we now have the pipe gas that connects the whole building and have no need for the cylinders unless something happens to the pipe gas (God forbid!?) In anycase, its been over a month since she took the cylinder and has been saying that she will return it soon as her own cylinder is awarded to her.

Today she tells me she fought with the gas suppliers as they are asking for her new ration card and only then will they give her a gas connection. She has already spent 700 bucks and gone to their office several times to follow up on the connection. Her current card is rendered useless as the place she is now renting to live in at Adarsh Nagar is not the address shown in her ration card. This so called card holds the address of her previuos home which she sold a few years ago. So now shes got to get a new card made and only then can she be alloted her own gas connection. This process could take another 2 months!? This means she will not return my cylinder for another 2 months and it also means she is indebted to us for the favour. The things that our system makes us suffer.

And to think that our dear Jayshree has to deal with all of this and get no support from her sons and husband to help her in making the situation any better. Now you can imagine why I believe that the meaning victorious lady suits her!!

Happy Birthday Nu

2007-12-11T19:04:00.000+05:30

My Nu' birthday happened on 01 Dec 07. He turned 48 - he of course keeps saying that there was an error in the date and that he feels and looks much younger :)

It was a lovely morning and for a change I awoke before day break to quietly write out his card and pluck 2 flowers from our plant, make two cups of tea and land up on him singing a soft "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU". We had a great time chatting and drinking chai (this was Frukis first ever BED-TEA!!) I gave him the 2 flowers Id plucked from his parents which he promptly put above his ears where he left them till he went in for his bath ... check out the pic :))

Once the kids got up we gave him the rest of his gifts - a Levis sweatshirt and Cannon Camera from me and a Levis T-shirt from Rosh n Rock - and of course cards from each of us. He also got a huge bouquet of flowers from PAMA at 12 in the night :) They also got him 2 pairs of formal trousers tailored at Raymonds. He is yet to receive them.

In the evening we got together with pals for a lovely dinner at a nearby restaurant called Tian... Fruki wore his new T-shirt gifted by the kiddos and I was all dolled up in a tunic and slacks... I looked good but would have looked better if I didnt have so many oodles of weight... hopefully my morning exercise routine will work some wonders soon!!?

We all had some yum food and I downed a happy Margherita :) and was thereafter feeling very happy Hic Hic ... Apart from our kids there was Sanchi as well and Rosh and she gabbed about this and that while Raunaq was sort of trying to be a part of the conversation but eventually by about 11PM got really crabby -- he was bored stiff and sleepy as hell and in his drowsiness almost hurt himself very badly by jamming his lil finger in the doorway of Cafe Coffee Day (we had dropped by there for some delicious dessert steaming brownies and icecream). So it was this dramatic moment when his hand was in the doorway and the door shut -- we were all watching it happen and were too away from him to do anything so we all screemed "Raunaq watch it, EEEEEKS, Oh God, Hey Bhagwan etc." Raunaq was of course too sleepy and irritated with all of us and and so his hand stayed put and the door swung towards his hand while we shouted ... He got more scared than hurt as the distance between the door and its frame was about a centimeter away to allow for a free swing ... PHEW!!?

Shortly after we quickly lapped up our dessert and zomed off home -- Rock reached his paw for me to kiss while we walked back from the car to the lift. Kiss given and arm in arm we talked of the unnecessary fuss and the seriousness of the narrow escape from the swinging door. He said sorry and we kissed and huggied and made up.

Fruki gets a lil disturbed when incidents like this happen and is uncertain as to how to react - YELL, ignore or just give a sarcastic comment like "Priya kuch bolo yaar nahin to hum problem mein aa jayenge" This is the usual situation but when there too many friends around he sort of has this very stressful expression on his brow and an artificial smile on his face, sort of holding up - Well he held up well and so the evening ended well!!

All in all I believe Frukicat had a happy beginning on the first day of his 49th year :)

Masha-allah!!

2007-12-11T18:11:00.000+05:30

Fire team going berserk and making a sweeping surprise victory at the end of Vibgyor High Sports Day 2007

The balloons flying away into the sky

Asjad taking the official sports oath

Rock wins 100M Silver - look at him waving out to us :)

Rock on the victory stand for 200M - Silver again!!

Rock doing a back roll for Gymnastics display - Silver yet again!

This is Roshni getting her bronze for 200M

Rosh getting her Gymnastics bronze medal

Rock n Rosh ROCK the day :)

Last Friday 07 Dec 07 was a day of pride for the Shaikhs ... apne chunnu munnu won some serious medals on sports day ... Fruki and my collars were up, uP and UP :))

The day started with Roshni and some friends yelling gimme a V giime an I gimme a B gimme a G gimme a Y gimme an O gimme an R VIBGYOR. This was followed by the sports torch being led around the field by 4 kids. Then came the cool march-past led by the Head Girl / Boy and Sports Minister (Asjad) and the other ministers (captains) and all the 4 houses (Water, Earth, Air, Fire) with "eyes right check turn" and all (I got some serious goosies when Fire passed by as I was in Red house as a kid :)). This was followed by the oath which was taken by the Sports Minister followed by the letting lose of a huge bunch of air balloons carrying a large banner with Vibgyor High painted on it. By this time I was eeeems like hell!!!

Roshni is in Fire or red house while Raunaq is in Earth or green house. At the beginning of the sprorts day Earth was leading with a HUGE margin while Fire was a far behind 3rd. However as the morning progressed Fire caught up and emerged the unbelievable winner. The entire Fire team went berserk with excitement and were running around the ground furling their flag -- it was quite an eeeemotional moment. Roshni won 4 medals - Gold in the relay, Silver in Obstacle Race (where she was weraing a cap, had a skipping rope around herneck and ended the last lap by jumping in a sack - she come first actually but Sigh the judges decision is final), Bronze in Gymnastics and Bronze in 200M.
Raunaq won 3 medals - Silvers for Basketball, 100M and 200 M. His obstacle race was a disaster - they had a wheelbarrow race. His partner Naman was the wheel barrow and he kept going all over the place instead of straight in their track. They barely made it halfway :( Poor Rock hates losing and was miserable.

Subah ho gayi mami!!

2007-12-10T13:50:00.000+05:30

My mornings begin with a reluctant hauling myself out of bed with expected difficulty and mindlessly heading bleary eyed to the loo only to sleep some more on the pot while my inners awake to natures call; and it is only after about thirty minutes of this blissful mid-sleep awakening that I actually awaken to my calling duties of THE RESPONSIBLE WOMAN OF THE HOUSE' BIG MORNING ROUTINE!!

The BMR begins with me downing a glass of Methi water with stray soaked bitter Methi seeds floating into my mouth and me ruminating over them while trying hard to hold back throwing up instead (Methi seeds are bitter even after being soaked overnight and take forever to chew into a state that can be swallowed -- sigh but they are so called HEALTHY and hence the endured misery), downing some more water to wash away the after taste; fixing chai for my beloved Farrukh in the annoying steel Dekchi which has survived my daily vows of throwing it out every morning thanks to the messy sputtering of millions of chai droplets around the cup while pouring the hot chai out; cutting and making a sabzi in the everlasting Kadhai and making rotis for the kids; fixing breakfast for the kids which is either of the following - paranthas for which I get awarded a slurp/beam, boiled eggs for which I get an ugly face as if I am the worst mother on earth, crisp butter sada dosas which are appreciated with a smile, chocos which they love the most more becasue they lovingly chuck them at each other while eating -- several pieces of chocos lie victim on the floor after they have left for school and lastly a scrambled egg for Roshni and an omelete for Raunaq combo - so the kids have either of the above as the main breakfast + an Elchi Banana + a Large Mug of Milk with Chocolate Horlicks -- I love playing Mommy and my poor kids have now suffered this forced big breakfast eating tooooo long to complain any more :); packing their lunch boxes with rotis in foil, sabzi in a separate container, spoon and a paper napkin; filling their bottles; packing Raunaq' snack box with some nick-nacks; meanwhile in the middle of all this flurry the beds are made, the milk is boiled, some frantic instructions are given, some signs are done on important yet perpetually ignored till the last minute documents, some irritation is expressed and last but not the least quick hugs and kisses are exchanged before the exit happens for the day at 7.45AM. Once the kids have left, I get into my sexy (I would like to believe) fitness gear and leave the house for the next one hour during which I either go the Gym where I work on my upper / lower body / abs with weights or just go for a long walk in the Garden follwed up with some Yogic exercises like Alom Vilom, Kapal Bharati, breathing, eye exercises in the sun. This is truly the best part of my day -- I enjoy it the most as it is the only time that I dedicate to myself unconditionally. After I return, I fix Breakfast for Farrukh and me. I usually read the papers while eating breakfast and then get ready for office. Once the great lady Jayshree arrives; shes my maid who I depend on completely for ALL the rest of the endless work that happens in a home; I leave for the office.

Well today was not like the usual mornings as our friendly neighbourhood milkman got delayed and so did not arrive before Farrukh left for his morning walk which is at 6.15 AM. My morning alarm is set for 6.30AM and even these extra 15mins are much desired bliss and I hate trading them for anything. However, this morning just after Farrukh left, our SHRILLING LOUD doorbell rang. I ignored it knowing it was Azad (he's the milkman) and praying that he will leave the milk packets on the mat outside. But the bell rang again. I hauled myself out of bed and staggered with closed eyes to open the door. "Kya karte ho Azad, Double Ghanti kyon mara tumne? Bola hai na ki disturb hota hai". He said, "Madam, watchman ne bola hai ki doodh chori hota hai to jab tak aap khologey nahin tab tak ghanti marney ka" I grumbled and stretched out my hand for the milk and I receive in my hand only one small packet of milk. I tried to open my eyes to the bright light in the corridor and said "Arrey yeh kya sirf 1/2 litre?? What about the balance 1 litre?" "Sorry Madam aaj doodh kam hai kyonki doosra building mein chori ho gaya to mujhe doodh dena pada"

Drat ... when a morning begins like this everything goes for a tizzy as my blissful half an hour on the pot ends up being hurried and nervous thinking of - what will I give the kids, how will Farrukh have his chai??? Today I was worried as I had set curd last night with the balance milk and it was clearly not possible to have the kids share less than half a litre of milk!!

I went through my BMR with a frown on my face, growled at the kids and Farrukh for something totally unimportant, and gave the kids their boiled eggs and promtly got ugly faces in return "Mom I hate boiled eggs" said Raunaq at which I further growled between clenched teeth "HAVE IT -- its the healthiest part of your breakfast" and then added while hurrying back for the kitchen - "Sorry there's no milk for you guys today". There was a unanimous YEEEAY ... Hey no problem at all Mom... its okay really!!? Their hugs were warmer and their kisses were with a smile on their faces when they left for school... SIGH I love being loved by my babies ... I obviously have Azad to thank for this mornings display of affection from them. Like they say in the larger picture of life everything fits in well!!