3

It's been a while since Month 3 of the wedding - May 17.
3 was great! We just got back from Pradeep and Nisha's wedding in Cochin. We had a blast, the wedding was beautiful and all round we were a happy bunch of people!

Marriage of peers, friends, seems to be hounding my life. There are engaged people or married people everywhere. And of course, the on-off baby carrying one too!

Hoping this 3 brings many such happy moments, good fortune and loads of luck!! :)

P.S - Cheers to our first couple picture posted publicly!

Of Roads, Detours, Dams and Friends: Road Trip #1 - 2012

I was in Delhi for Xmas-New Year when Navneeth gave me a call saying we had to do something together - the Euro Trip Travel Companions! I was thrilled. The trip to France and Italy in 2011 was the single-most wonderful experience ever! And to do it again with my favorite people - I was super kicked!

So we did go - Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, around 180 kms from Hyderabad. This trip was memorable on many counts - Mustang's first road trip, the holy trinity's second trip together, a lot of deep thinking, contemplation and discussion about life matters.

We started in the morning, the drive was beautiful! Endless highway road, brilliant music that Nav made sure we have in place the previous night. Ash and I put our shades on..this was going to be one helluva road trip. We let the music take over, speed was second nature, the surroundings were beautiful - everyone was at bliss. Note about the music: it was 'International Love' that ruled the weekend! Yayy!

At one point, we were mislead and took a detour of around 60kms - we didn't mind, but the roads were terrible, pothole after pothole! Anyway, we reached Nagarjuna Sagar and crashed for a couple of hours after lunch. We slept like babies. We then had our evening Chai with Onion Pakodas and French Fries. It was absolute bliss. We started talking life matters during this time..was the best time ever: Chai, Friends, and our life ahead of us.

Epipottala Falls was beautiful. It was well lit up and the sound of water gushing down rocks was brilliant. The three of us just sat there, absorbing what was around us. This is another place when we continued to talk about life, things ahead of us, the past, etc. All in all, super fun. Funny thing was this place was infested with monkeys, much like Matheran, where we once went on a team trip. I have this weird connection with monkeys. But that story I'll save for later. :)

We got back to our room after dinner. We pretty much let the evening take over as we drank, told stories, made fun of each other, imagined what life would be in a couple of months, years,. We made some confessions, revealed some secrets, understood more about what we think about each other, and generally had a fun time being with each other.

What topped the end of the trip was Navneeth acquiring his first pair of Aviators! (Yayy Navneeth!) Girls, you're about to see the coolest, snazziest, most awesome looking fella walking your way tomorrow. (Note to Navneeth: Do Not notice these girls..remember 'your' International Love!)

So it was an awesome Road Trip! My favorite people, in the comfort of Mustang Maharaj, great music, great food, wonderful talk time, picturesque water bodies - this trip was much needed, and time well spent!

As we ended the trip, we promised that we'd make this an annual affair, without breaking tradition. Every January, we do a trip somewhere, anywhere together. Just the three of us. The three musketeers, the holy trinity - L, D, L! ;)

Champs Elysees!

P.S - Bindu, we missed you loads and talked about you so much! You crazy person!! :)

Pleasant Things on a Chilly Winter Morning

So I'm sitting at home, working! Yes, I'm back home in Delhi for ten days, working though. I see a ping from my dear friend. She tells me she got a job, right near where the old office was and that we needed to meet soon. She was telling me about the new job, and all through it, the only thing that I felt inside me was relief and happiness for her. And also, a wave of realization - you keep the faith and it all comes to you the way you want it. I think she'll be brilliant at her new job! Of course she will be! She's my Superstar!

And just when the chilly morning was becoming pleasant, another dear friend pinged me with a link to her blog (the viewable one ;)). It just brought a smile to my face even before I opened the link. I knew she's an exceptional writer and a great story-teller. I knew whatever she wrote would be great! And then I read her list of highlights of 2011..made me smile, made me feel sad, made me laugh, made me reminisce. I said a silent prayer for 2012 to be great, on all counts - to make the good, better. To make the bad, good. And to make the ugly, beautiful! Champs Elysees! :D

Hyd is where the Home is..

So it's official...(this post comes way too delayed)..I've moved base to Hyderabad.
A move in teams at work meant a move to this place from Dilli, my home. Hyderabad is a nice place, always liked it. Now, I'm about a month old in the city..and it still feels like I'm on a business trip. I miss home terribly, Gran, my sis, (Ma and Pa too as always). I miss home food, thayir saadam, filter coffee..and everything else that is home. When I wished I'd have the boarding school kinda life (cos I never did), I never knew the emo bit would come with it. I thought I was never one to get all 'I miss home, home food, people at home...etc.' But anyhoo, I'm in Hyd now. And while I write this, I'm simultaneously planning my trip back home to Delhi in a couple of weeks. But we'll let that be for now.

For me, Hyderabad means FUN! It means friends becoming family, late night movies, fancy and not-so-fancy dinners, impromptu crazy plans, night-outs, drunken nights, hungover days, loads of friends, food and fun! It's just what I need before I take the plunge. Before I misguide you into thinking I'm scared that my life will completely change after marriage..hold on. I just think its 'fair' that I get to do whatever I want, whenever I want, before I take the plunge into getting 'responsible,' 'accountable,' and 'answerable.'

Like right now..as I was typing 'answerable,' we all decided to go out for dinner. See? This is what I'm talking about!! Never a dull moment in Hyd!

Peace out!

There's People...

Everything happens, all at once..good, bad, ugly..all at once.

There's my perpetual state of "fear of the unknown" that comes along with the matrimonial blah. There's a lot that needs to be done and I haven't even got started yet..but I'm not the only one with the happening life!

There's nice people at work leaving. And when you ask them where, they say: Somewhere. Anywhere. Everywhere. For now - I don't care!
There's marital secrets - who goes and gets married without telling anyone?! :O
There's people on crazy diets - but they're happy and I see effects of the diet ;) (Must.Draw.Inspiration)
There's people going back home for a week or is it Fi days? (I wish I was them!!)
There's people getting awards for great performance and contribution at work! Woohoo! (I believe in the hope of/from the East)
There's people figuring relationships out and having a rough time. (Downplaying the 'rough time' for sanity sake)
There's people sending Thanksgiving gifts from across the seas. (Thank God for small miracles!)
There's people who've come back to work today after an exxxxxtended weekend. (Good times ahead!)
There's people rehearsing dance to put up the best show ever in two weeks. (Hopefully, no forgetting steps this time)
There's people going to Las Vegas and living the dream. (And vowing to DRINK!)
There's people who have 30+ days of vacation, and they want to take it all now! (Pinky swear!)
There's people who bring back memories..fun memories, and force you to believe that nothing has changed. (Mad Dog Rules!)
There's people who make plans every night, multiple plans; pre-dinner, post-dinner, in-between-dinner ;) (I want to be in their brain for one day!)
There's people who're looking for a better job and I know they'll find one. They don't think so. (Keep the faith)
There's people getting bored and restless, living away from family. (I know what they feel like)
There's people who're neck deep in wedding preps (while I'm comfortably numb).
There's people looking to get their daughters married...and with that comes a lot of push-back, frustration and irritation..not to mention FEAR! (Been there, done that...still kinda there)
There's people who relentlessly keep in touch, and make you look bad just because you're not relentless. (I was once, so I hope to change it at some point)

Anyhoo...what I'm trying to say is there's a lot of people dodging the big fat balls life throws at them. They dodge, they catch, they throw back at times. It's not about how far you throw, how well you catch, how well you dodge. In the end - you dodge, catch, throw back. That's it. Nothing else matters.

So while I'm walking a verrrry tight rope with faith in my hands, I'd think what Aamir Khan said: ALL IS WELL.. or All 'will be' well. Sooner. Or later.

When I Miss the Gaon

"Come back..i think moving to hyd is bad idea...bad career move etc etc."


Trust my girl to say that. Hyd was treating me just fine. Usual..I was in training, so I couldn't be having a happening life yet. But PG's ping made me all fuzzy-wuzzy about Goodgaon.


I miss the random pings and conversations I have with her. Our pings mostly consist of "wtf," "come to my desk,"at desk?," "coffee," lunch," etc.. I miss those pings. Cos I can't ping her these things now! Barring "wtf!" 


And the random conversations and her silly jokes. She's very funny! Don't think I could find anyone like her here..and I don't want to!


Anyway, I need to start looking for a place to stay here. I'm already imagining a wonderful place, that I can set up and keep all ready for when PG, her B, and the gang are in town! Wooohooo! I forsee some fun times in hugh spirits ;)


OK, back to training now..need to focus. Over and Out!

Guess who's back at the Gaon!

When Tina left Gurgaon for Hyderabad, we were all broken. Not only cos she was a good friend, teammate and an integral part of the team...she was one of the most entertaining people I'd known! C'mon, we wouldn't name her Suppandi for nothing right?!

She was one fo those people who'd crack the funniest jokes by sheer curiosity. Imagine this...we'd all be talking about something, and 5 minutes later, we would've shifted to another topic..but Tina would still be at the previous topic and would continue to participate in the conversation as if we were all the previous topic...only to realize minutes later that we were talking about different things. It's happened so many times.

Say for instance, Vineet asked Tina something to the effect of "How's Hyderabad and how're you doing?" And Tina replies, "Susan is dancing..." Ankita, Vineet and I are totally stumped as Tina looks at us like WE'RE crazy and says with a smile.."yeah...Susan is dancing no?!" That's Tina for you!! :D

So you can imagine how happy we are that she's in Gurgaon for a couple of days. I planned to WFH tomorrow, but seems like I'll make it to work...I wouldn't want to miss on unadulterated, innocent entertainment! :)

Go Tinayyy!!! :D