Tartrazina

Nothing at all to report...

2011-02-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

...just very happy.

A month ago was I was dizzy with all the traveling I was doing, and then dreading the weekends of no travel that were to follow. If there's one thing I dislike - it's being home alone on weekends! The thought of not leaving the city and breaking my 5 week(end) wanderlust was just too dreadful to me!

I thought it was pre-birthday blues... and it probably was. After all, who wants to turn 32! But 3 weeks later I feel 23!!!! Some of it's got to do with the way life is turning out ..and the influences of loved ones ...and a tiny amount of rewiring - or rather de-wiring. I have to learn to live for the moment and not trip over what isn't even there before me. I definitely feel like I'm making progress.

Last week was probably the best week I'll have this year - I'm not being skeptical, I'm just being real. And I don't mind that - because it was such a good week - complete with brother bonding, random party night out, first time indulgences, beautiful, beautiful music by a beautiful beautiful musician, growing up stories, life stories and family stories, kick boxing, Pudding victories, the Aero Show, soaking up some sunshine, good days at work - great nights out, high heels, short skirts, and the pinkest cheeks!

Cheers to nothing at all!

Gone in November

2010-12-14T01:03:00.001-08:00

Can't believe we're at the end of another year - and apparently THIS is when I should post my end of the decade post to be correct! But I'm not quite in the mood for that yet! May be in 2 weeks.

Still getting over my roller-coaster holiday last month! Spent an entire month away - and went through every possible human emotion. The trip was planned to attend my first cousin's wedding in London at the beginning of November, and travel around Europe with his sister. Reached on the 1st and thoroughly enjoyed my first 2 days. And then came the 3rd of November. Fooling around in my aunt's room when the Police came over to tell us that my uncle (father of the groom) had a heart attack at work and died. Was terrible to know that things would never be the same again for their family. The wedding was postponed.

I went ahead with my travels within Europe - sadly without my dear cousin Liz. Was much easier being away than in London naturally. SO MANY new experiences - the main one being SNOW! Was absolutely spectacular! Covered Edinburgh, Oslo & Jönköping (Sweden).

Not able to post pics - may be soon! That's all for now.

When will it stop?

2010-08-19T00:18:00.000-07:00

What do you do when everyone tells you "it's ok", but it's not.

I watched 500 days of Summer yesterday & it made me want to snap right out of this before it goes to 30 days!

Currently in my head : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8dQXNxQ9Xc

Troubles

2010-08-09T04:50:00.000-07:00

Trouble with drinking sweet red wine is the sick feeling that follows & stained lips
Trouble with drinking a litre of water to avoid a hangover is a full bladder
Trouble with going to sleep @ 9:43 pm is waking up @ 1:48am
Trouble with communicating with someone you can very easily get attached to is that tho’ you hear all he’s saying you’re only listening selectively
Trouble with getting emotionally involved with your best friends brother is that you can’t cry on your best friends shoulder
Trouble with asking questions is finding out
Trouble with me is I can’t stay out of trouble

This songs been on my mind a lot lately...
The trouble with love is
It can tear you up inside
Make your heart believe a lie
It's stronger than your pride
(Kelly Clarkson)

Forgotten how to use radioblog, so I hope youtube works.

Moo Moments

2010-07-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

Some inflight ramblings from last night!
Date: 29Jul10
Location: Up in the air, 6E259, Hyderabad to Bangalore

Writing to keep my mind of my tummy ache - there's very little to expect from ONE Zupar - but I'm a bit nervous to pop another one while up in the air - on a fairly empty stomach.

I had my dumbest blond moment! First ever to be the last to board a flight because I was waiting for an old fashioned pair of heels that were on sale - crap luck they didn't have my size! Could've dies when I heard my name over the PA - knowing that my boss would hear it too while waiting for his flight to begin boarding!

Its awesome to be sandwiched between the beautiful bright moon above and a fluffy layer of clouds below.

Last night I web checked in to avoid sitting/talking shop with a colleague I was traveling with today. Only to find out at the airport this morning that he'd found out my seat to sit beside me! So I changed my seat to the second last row so I could put my eye shades on & pass out!

I LOVE Hyderabad airport!

Haven't seen so much bling on a woman dressed so simply - and I'd never imagined I'd actually LOVE the look of diamonds & pearls! I AM GROWING OLD!

Cheerses to the end of a Decade!

2009-12-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

With the last weekend of 2009 over, I figure its time to say bye-bye to the decade that was. Note the lack of descriptor - because truly I'm not sure what I feel about the first 10 2000's. AND JUST as I type this and think about the people who popped into my life this decade THE ONE pops up on g-chat - GOD HELP ME! I wonder can I have a The One FREE decade please??

So anyway, now that my head is completely shaken about, I wonder has anything changed?

So here's what happened this decade - atleast some of what stands out - sometimes like sore thumbs ;-)

2000 started with a sooperb family surprise when I was turning 21 ...some amount of boy-problems - was only natural :-) Graduated out of college and (geographically) parted ways with some of the most beautiful people in the world who are still near & dear.
2001 my romance with Ogilvy began and lasted the first half of the decade. It was the beginning of new friendships. EXIM. And a new romance that would dominate MUCH of the years to come! Luke Peris was my home with the craziest 6 ladies I'll pray I live with again - so that we'll never feel old or alone!
2002 began with a near move to Delhi - thank you Lord for not sending me there! Mid-year was the bonding of my life with the Golden Daffodils - an Ostrich & a Tote :-) they were my strength in what would soon be the darkest, most despairing year of my life! And also the Iquewww and Sumsum who grew from colleagues to shoulders I pretty much sobbed on!!!
2003 I think began my affairs with the sea - Gokarna/Karwar - or may be that began at the end of '02, its a blur! The arrival of my Pudding - Aaliyah Emma Khan! Another house shift - was vagabond between Rajni's & Rajesh's apartments! And then finally LIC - our lovely little house of Dragons :-)
2004 I think had a major focus on my family - with my mum and probably my brother more so - I think. May be that was when he spent a couple of month's doing his internship? I'm not sure. I almost forgot - I finally quit Ogilvy & made a somewhat "bissaw" decision to work in real estate!
2005 was the beginning of Tartrazina... the Gander's special name for me, and then this blog! ...Follow this for what happened then!
2006 gave me my first international business trip to a country I never ever imagined going to - South Africa. I remember this being on the barred countries list in my first passport in 1987 - and I thought to myself when I was 8 that I'd never need/want to go there...how wrong I was! The year was sooo BIG that it'll need a few more lines on it. ET happened - the shock, the unexpected physical agony, all the love that got me through it! And finally the reconnecting with my darling cousin who became my partner in travels.... until her Husband Hunt ended this year :-) Oh yes, soon after ET my PLUM was born - Sofiyah Sarah Khan!
2007 was BIG on the international travel circuit - began with Paris (on work), Vietnam & Singapore with Liz, and back to Singapore for a cruise to Penang/Phuket! Plenty of Discovery Channel moments snorkeling! :-)
2008 my travels picked up pace - whether it was weekends in the Bandipur jungles nearby or an African Safari far far away! We never did reach Madagascar - but we just went MADDDD instead! Came back to a rocky road in Asipac.
2009 ....hmmm ...here we are... with 3 days to go and what do I have to say about it??? What do I remember about it - mostly the travel, I spent more weekends away from BLR than in it... The recession wasn't going to tie me down - no way! Daffodils reunion in Cochin. Ooty virgin no more - and then I just kept going back for more!!! Zanzibarrrr once more, thanks to Shants! :-D Family annual-beach time in Goks! Snow virgin no more - in Ladakh! Some trips to the jungles in between for sure! Sri Lanka with my Single'ese & not so Singles also!! And then one last trip of a lifetime before the 6-day-week-new job!!!!! SIGH - I haven't travelled in over a month - that's the longest I've been in BLR this year!

THE END!

Addendum - after Iquewww's correction may be this should be titled - "Cheerses to the end of my decadant decade!" ...perhaps? ;-)

Head in the Himalayas!!

2009-06-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

3 days to my next adventure. This time I'm off to the Great Himalayas! Like most pre-holiday posts, I have nothing but a vague itinerary in mind, and tho' I keep telling myself that I'll write long informative pictures posts after my travels - I never get down to posting anything more than pictures! Let's see if this time is any different!

Anyway so all I know so far is that I fly to Delhi on Friday night, and we begin our drive to Manali (I think) on Saturday. And eventually aim to reach Leh (I hope). Trip planning has been left to my darling Totes - Mr. and Mrs.! There's a bunch of 5 of us traveling - happy group!

Being a snow virgin I sure am praying for some snow - tho' I am shit scared of how cold it will be!! Anyway, thanks to my mum and my dear dear friends I think I have enough to keep me snug. If I need more warmth I'll snuggle with some hot mountain climber - who knows :-) hee hee! Wishful thinking never hurt!

www.psychedelicpilgrimm.blogspot.com

2009-06-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

My baby brother's begun to blog :-) I do hope he isn't as inconsistent as I am!

It's been ages since my last post - months have gone by without a squeak. I really didn't think I'd get this lazy! We've been going through tumultuous days at work - I guess the whole world is. It just seems to never get better here! Regardless of the times, I've kept traveling over the weekends to visit friends in the jungles, the beaches and the hills close by. And now I'm hoping to go to The Himalayas at the end of the month. The good thing with the shit situation at work is, that I don't owe them anything, so asking for leave is the least of my worries. Hmmm.... must admit however typing that last line out gave me goose bumps! I'm not as brave as I wish I was!

In other news, my swimming is coming along just fine. I haven't lost a gram but my stamina is up and my stroke does feel smoother. It's a lot of fun keeping my coach on his toes!

Tonight I'm off to a posh bar for drinks with an old school friend and his family & friends. Should be fun - tho' I'm not sure I look posh enough for the venue - I'm quite sure never will be, what with my orange wedges!! :-)

The weekend was supposed to be BIG with tons of friends in town. Sadly the littlest one I was waiting for most won't be able to make it :-( This is why I hate PLANS.

The last couple of months have brought out the domestic trait in me! I'm growing Bougainvillea - here's a picture of the first bloom

10 days to the 20th = 30 years of Me!

2009-03-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Its the last few days of the twenties. And I'm quite excited about the BIG 3 0h! I know nothing's going to change, but its nice being excited about a birthday for a change - 29 seemed like the end of something, but this is just the beginning of more madness!

I've given up on the big life plan - the date lines and dead lines! Not that I had many plans. I've always just gone with the flow and believed that stuff happens when it has to. Of course the body clock still tick-tocks - when there's nothing you can do there's no point listening to it anymore, is there? Speaking of body clocks - tho' this wasn't on my list of things to do before 30 - I pulled my hamstring muscle over the weekend! All over a silly drunken race! I must admit that for the few seconds I did manage to sprint the feeling was amazing!

Anyway, as I've learned - there'll be jobs tho' there may not be money! There'll be boys and there'll be men and may be some day there'll be babies too - but for now I'll just let life be! ...hmmm if that makes any sense?

How brilliantly blue was my Valley!

2009-03-06T03:49:00.000-08:00

I spent Valentine's Day in the paradise island of Zanzibar! How could I ask for more!?!!

60 days to 30!

2009-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

Its crazy how time flies and I really didn’t do that much these last 2 years! On Friday, April 13, 2007 I posted a list - which I’ve got just about 60 days left to complete. Well I guess some will just spill over and hopefully be struck off in this lifetime, for now I’m going to strike off what’s done and try to do a little more before 20MAR09!

30 before 30
Can't seem to strike through, so the bold ones are what's left...

1. Live in a shack on a beach.
2. Take a martial arts course.
3. Drink Absynthe.
4. Have a fling with a foreigner.
5. Go skinny dipping.
6. Chuck a drink at someone.
7. Spend an obscene amount of money on something I don't need.
8. Get a job bar-tending - for more than just one night.
9. Drink a beer with my cook.
10. Be hospitalised.
11. Throw a plate against the wall.
12. Have sex outdoors - in a car perhaps!
13. Plan a holiday in under an hour, and rush to the airport/bus station/ train station.
14. Kiss in the rain.
15. Get a brazilian wax.
16. Trip on Ecstacy.
17. Break a bone... of all the undone things I’m really worried about this happening post 30!
18. Get lost in a foreign city where you don't know the language.
19. Punch someone... I pity the unlucky receiver, the power behind that punch is building up.
20. Live abroad.
21. Travel to another city for dinner.
22. Buy a house, or atleast a car - which means: In these grim times, I sure am glad I didn’t do either – no loans thank gawwdd!!
23. ...learn how to drive.
24. Go on a holiday with a lover.
25. Tip the barman with something other than money!
26. Lose weight and get in shape... this is done & undone - 2 years was enough to get in and out of shape unfortunately!
27. Buy my Mum a diamond.
28. Run a marathon.
29. Sing on stage or in a band, and I don't mean karaoke... hopefully this will be struck off 30Jan09 @ The Circle of Life concert – if anyone’s reading this in Bangalore you’d better be there!!
30. Travel more than 500km on a Rs.500 budget for atleast 2 days.

So much for lists!!!! Let's see if I can do better in the future!!

Hip! Hip!!

2008-10-01T06:20:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when you actually earn yourself a holiday! Next week is that time for me! The exhaustion of shifting house; been up & down some rocky roads; detoxed and prepared my body for the onslaught - of drunken debauchery and some fun in the sun!! MADAGASCAR & ZANZIBAR here I Come!!

Some of the stress was even brought on by the actual planning of the holiday itself - lame ass visa shit! The pain of dealing with a total asshole Indian @ an embassy which doesn't even issue visas! And the egos of daft men who believe they're in high places has weighed heavily and its finally time fuck all of that and put my feet up & sip a cocktail!

I leave on Thursday for Dubai. Seeing that my tickets are all subject to load, I do hope I make it on the flight! I hear the tension will be well worth the rupees saved...what with the depreciating value of the damn Rs.!! Hopefully next Sunday we'll be in Dar-e-salaam, or may be even on a ferry to Zanzibar! After a few days on the tiny party island off the Tanzanian coast, we head to Madagascar. We're still hoping my fairly flirtatious cousin will hook us up with a rich hunk who'll sail us to Madagascar on his luxury yacht - so we don't have tickets YET! So wish me luck & here's to my island in the sun!

Exactly a month...

2008-08-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

...since my last post. Except that with this slow internet connection it may just upload after midnight and become a month & one day.... hardly matters! Just been a long time. My posts are few and far between. Its easy to just drop of the radar, tho' I do manage to read blogs every now and then.

Anyway, just watched the Olympic's Opening Ceremony - whoaaa!!!! WHAT A SHOW!!

Had a bizarre day yesterday. We made a trip to a very pretty hill station being developed near Pune. But before and after I had some very silly moments! Think it was the 3am start which affected my brain and my balance!!! To begin with I walked down the UP escalator - tripped and almost got injured - but finally made it off at the bottom on both feet, with a slightly bruised toe! ...all just so my colleague who was in the washroom wouldn't be alone when she walked out!

Incident # 2 ...dived out of the car and slipped on the mossy pavement of the dam we stopped at! Missed landing on my bum thanks to quick reflexes! But it could've been BAD BAD BAD! Either I'd have landed on the road - or slipped through the dam railings & into the lake!!!

And then there was - tear jerkingly hilarious - Incident # 3! Sooo.. I ran through the rain and turned left - straight into a closed glass door - BANG! DOING... oh that's the same as doing - I mean DOYINGGG.... resonating through the entire restaurant!! All the waiters - turned on their heels! All the patrons - jaw dropping, frozen! And then I just cracked up - much to the relief of my colleagues sitting inside!!!! It's once we stopped laughing did the bruises begin to hurt! Fortunately my head didn't turn into a potato! But now I've got a purple knee and a pain in the head!

Let's hope that's my inauspicious, imbalanced day of the year away & done with!

Mind on Madras!

2008-07-08T03:28:00.000-07:00

I'm back from what was one helluva good time in Madras - and I can't help but wish I was still there. My year began there - and I think I said before my NYO8 couldn't have been better... and then the weekend again made me fall back in love with the city! Oh yes I loved a boy from the city - and may be that's why I’ve had a thing for this sultry city! Even the humidity can’t take that away! It’s funny coz it will probably always be my city of love – thanx to the One – whenever I drive in and around his neighbourhood I can’t help but wonder if he’d show up around a corner – tho’ he’s a gazillion miles away! Strangely Story No. 2 and Story No. 3 are from there too – not that I’ve ever met them there – so they don’t count really!

Anyway, back to the weekend that was! Penny Lane and her Lover are getting married – I’ll play her song @ the end of this post! Saturday’s pre-wedding party was themed the 60’s and PL and Lover looked sooper coolio! So did the rest of us if I may say so! I wish I could’ve stayed there all week. Today’s their Sangeet – and I’m really going to miss watching the gang take it away with Khajra Re!! Especially My Rat & Snoop! I’m glad I got to catch a bit of the action in the short while I was there. I thought and hoped and prayed that I could go back on Thursday for the beach wedding, but it doesn’t look possible with a house full of family here with me for the week – absolutely shitty timing really!

Cheerses to Penny Lane and her Lover… chin-chin!

BIAL and Me

2008-06-10T02:42:00.000-07:00

I just happened to be on one of the last flights out of our horrid old HAL Airport on 23Jun - before which I was SO stressed out about whether or not I'd have to go all the way to the new airport or not! But thanx to Govt. delays we so often take for granted in here Karnataka, I didn't have to do the 40km commute and face first day fuggups at BIAL! There was a cloud of nostalgia (apart from the shifting chaos) at the old airport - and for some strange reason I felt really good to be a part of it. To begin with I got there an hour before, only to be informed that my flight was going to be 2 hours late - which gave me 3hrs to boarding time! Thank god for small mercies - I'd have cursed had I been at BIAL - I escaped passed the guards & met a friend for dinner. Back in the airport the passengers seemed pretty nostalgic too - given the circumstance, no one was pissed off or rude. Coffee Day seemed to be running out of beans! One man even went around with a handicam - into the bookstore to have a chat with the owner!

When I got back to the city I landed at BIAL. After years of waiting the spanking new Bangalore International Airport is up and running - definitely needs a bit of oiling, but at least its here! And there are dozens of articles on how good/bad/ugly it is, but for now, here's what it means to me:

Changed the Bangalore skies forever! There'll be no more wishes when a plan goes over my head, or floating on my back in the pool waiting for a plane to fly over! Or worrying about the repeated nightmare I used to have!

I'll look forward to long drives on a good road for chai @ weird times, like we used to do when we were in school in Calcutta! Drives to the airport used to be regular after a night out! Which was a good thing for me when we moved into an apartment 2km from the airport - I was assured a ride home!

Means a lot more train rides or drives to Madras or Hyderabad - or any other near by places I plan to go! Especially with the Hyderabad new airport being miles away as well - a combined city to airport drive time of up to 3hrs!!

I'm not going to volunteer to pick up family anymore - specially the crack of dawn flights!

I'd better get me a nice BIG backpack that I can get on the bus with! The buses are pretty decent, with loads of luggage space - and you don't feel scared that someone will walk away with whats yours coz there are only about 15-20 people on board!

For now this shall be it! Perhaps there'll be more once I take a flight out!

I'm not sure I have a song for the occasion! But if you have the time and the inclination watch Unaccompanied Minors - and know for sure that this place is not quarter as HUGE!!! But it'll have to do! :-)

Announcements

2008-05-15T06:23:00.002-07:00

Tue 13May08 - Mrs. Tote (ex flatmate, crazy woman, personal therapist, soul-sista!) went to hospital in Hyderabad and they began to induce labour. Many hundred kilometers away I FINALLY finished reading Shantaram!

Wed 14May08 - Beautiful baby Rasha is FINALLY out! Part of the celebrations many hundred kilometers away includes a treat @ the movies - Iron Man & brownie fudge gelato!!

Thu 15May08 - I better run along... have to be at a concert by Liel from Israel in half an hour!!

Over and out.

Another weekend gone by..

2008-05-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

Haven't been up to much good since the last post! Work's been going on. Life's been going no where in particular...

Watched more movies, and here are my 2 paise bits (not a patch on Iquews!)
- Into the Wild got me thinking - keep off the greens! Quite a brilliant movie, also makes me wonder what i'm doing here in office!
- Finally got to see Tsotsi - it had been recommended to me by our South African cab driver in Cape Town year before last. Had no idea it would be SO GOOD!
- Death @ a Funeral - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!!!

...i can't seem to find the bullet points symbol - so hyphens will have to do for the above!

I got down to reading a little more of Shantaram! Its close to a year of starting the book - but considering I'm not much of a reader, that's not surprising to my near and dear ones! I usually only take it with me on train journeys, which I haven't done in AGES! I miss my train rides. Anyway, I'm aiming at finishing it before my first ever online ordered book arrives! Well, come to think of it, it's the first ever book I've bought myself! Growing up, every birthday I'd dread getting books - didn't need to open the gift-wrap to know it was a book... I'd just pass it on to my sister (the bookworm)!!! I've bought books as presents for friends who I know love reading, but the only books I've ever read have either been lent or given to me! So I'm quite excited! Its called The Little Man. Also I've been chatting with the author! Which makes it kinda cooler! Unless of course I don't like the book - that'll be a bummer! Hehe! ...which isn't likely, considering it is autobiographical (which is what I usually choose to read) - and I loved the first chapter. If I can get through the first page I usually like the books, coz most books just a paragraph is enough to know I won't be interested!

I should actually write a post on how much I disliked reading as a child - and how that's been changing... very slowly! Some other time perhaps.

I've started swimming again! Not sure how long it will last, but its what I look forward to most in my day! I need another swimming costume tho' - something more racer like to make me glide through unobstructed! This tankini's a bit to flappy!! Another Speedo... soon I hope!

End of May is my best friend's wedding! SIGH! Can't believe it! I've known him from the time we were quite small... the first time we went to his place was in Class III! We were probably the youngest on the swimming team together - tho' he looked younger, like a little mouse!!! My sweet Ra! We both had big sisters on the team - and his mum and my dad were both teachers-in-charge of our teams! And then as we grew older he was part of our gang - 4 girls & him! He was practically one of the girls! During the difficult times too - he was there. He was not only my best friend, but my athletics coach too - yelling, encouraging, running along side me making it look so easy while I'd struggle to keep up! I did well that season! Then I moved away, but our holidays were always crazy - one summer at his place one of the last few times we were all together, we got very drunk, smoke "beedis" and climbed on the parapet of his gorgeous old mansion! He spent most of that party with his head in pot - while Fruitti and I went dancing in the rain @ 5 in the morning!! We've had some sooperb times together! And here's wishing him a sooperber life with M! Now that he has a wife, may be I can be his caddy someday... and check out the golfers on the course in exotic countries! ;-)

To Ra and M from my favourite movie!

For April

2008-04-29T03:12:00.000-07:00

Its been over a month since my last post - and there've been ups and downs - some really, really low!

An old friend lost his Mum quite suddenly and it made me realise all over again how unpredictable life is. And tho' I'd been complaining about my Mum extending her trip here, by the end of the 4 weeks I really didn't want her to leave. Not just because life's short and all of that. But more so because somehow thanks to her dealing with my morning grumps and me dealing with her buzzing around me, we re-structured our ways and fitted into a peaceful - HAPPY, DELIRIOUS, EVEN DRUNKEN - coexistence!! I had the best couple of weeks with her - including one week with the sister & her little wickeds!!!

Trying times with a close friend added a little drama and made me wonder why we really give a shit sometimes! What's it all worth when good intentions go bad?!!! So then we just fuggit!!

Soon after Ma left things didn't go as right as I'd have liked them to! Operation "Moo-ove my Arse" fell through and I was down in the dumps! Fortunately with friends around and in town, a couple of drunken nights helped me forget - and get on with it!

Speaking of leavings and movings - Mrs.Oreo - wife of HellFire - also left us mid month! We had a crazy few days and nights with her before saying goodbye. Already miss her high pitched "whaaat?!!"!!!!

I took off to the jungles with BananaRana and her beau!! That's a word from my grandma's house.. I wonder why we don't use it more often - beau!!!! Anyway, en route to the jungles we made a pit stop @ National Market and I bought over a dozen DVDs!!! So apart from watching movies and drinking in the jungles, we also went on a couple of long drives - and were sabotaged by 2 elephants one particular instance! Hehe... well it was funny coz Banana and I were both too scared to drive past the wild tuskers, so we kept turning around, and backing up to get a closer look! And there were strangers in their cars encouraging us to drive along with them! But I think any wise elephant would read our fear & charge!!! My best drive was heading back to Bangalore. I hitched a ride with her beau's brother - a cool ass rally driver! What usually takes 5-6 hours took 3 and a half!!! I was happily strapped into the front and enjoyed every second of the ride! We saw lots more wildlife on the drive back - absolutely fantastic!

Here's to April!

Houston we have a Story!

2008-03-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well almost... may be... perhaps ...I'll give him the benefit of the doubt! Lets play CONSEQUENCES...

His Name: Story # 4
Her Name: Tartrazina
Where they met: in her house - Golden Daffodils! (in 2002, I'm guessing).
What they did: chaat @ Tewari's, walked to Manipal Centre to watch The Goose sing - somewhere along the way there was a moment - she recalls - chemistry, but no touching!
She said: (in Feb '08) "I've been told I chose beers over boys".
He said: (in Mar '08) "You got your beers and your boy".
He gives her: butterflies in her tummy.
She gives him: kisses.
The Consequences: he leaves in 2 weeks.

24 hours to 29

2008-03-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

...and I've just finished work! Its annoying how everything always lands up all at once - new assignments, the mother, concerts, old flatmates, even ex-lovers! The last week has been one crazy roller coaster of all things good, bad, tired, drunken, sober, focused, righteous, and downright bitchy!!!!

Began with the ex lover - from exactly a year ago - begging for forgiveness and buying me many drinks in the bargain! That was a blast! We also went to the India Rock fest with Megadeth & Machine Head & MOST IMPORTANTLY - The Gander's band reunited - MILLENIUM!!! Its unbelievable how a lot of whiskey can make a metal head of the very least of us!!!!! The show was brilliant - from the music to the atmosphere! I totally loved being there!

To make up from my early escape from work on Friday evening, I spent Saturday & Sunday @ work - and as I just mentioned, I only just got done with today's quota! Well - I'm waiting for yousendit to load, that's why I'm still online and not asleep! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit - I can't remember my frikken password!!!!! Ugggghhhhh!!!

This is it for now. I've got 366days to do a dozen bizarre things from a list I made last year! More on that soon! Wish me luck and love and happiness and all that jazz people - I'm beginning to run out of stock!!!

Monday Morning 2am – ridiculous; random..

2008-03-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Blame it on the fancy vanilla coffee I concocted – can’t seem to get any sleep! Its WAY past my bedtime – more so for a Sunday night, after a hectic weekend! Activities & accompanied thoughts listed here below: (been writing too many formal letters @ work)

Friday – girls night @ Nid’s place. Got to bond with the ladies and watch Date Movie – killer of all my favourite romantic comedies!!

Saturday – a fantastic FREEEE dinner @ Blue Ginger (VERY EXPENSIVE Vietnamese restaurant @ the Taj Westend!) …complete with rice paper rolls & real authentic flavours – and many champagne cocktails to wash it all down!!!! It’s strange how I’ve suddenly begun to like the taste of champagne – oh no.. so much for my low maintenance beer days, now I’ll never find a lover!

Sunday –
• watched my new fav. Chick flick – the Jane Austin Book Club! LOVED it – thought I might try reading one of her books! My sister’s been after me to atleast pick up Pride & Prejudice and give it a shot - just a few pages to see if I like it, but I’m SO NOT a reader, that I’ve never bothered! Made the brother sit through the entire flick, & by the end he suggested Zoo hoo & I start a Shantaram Book Club – seeing that we’ll NEVER finish reading it!!! Hehe! He thinks we might just find the men of our dreams!!

• late lunch with my grandma was great fun! I love her sense of humour – well, and her sister’s too! @ 80+ they sure know how to make light of the bad days – like today, when the nurse & the maid decided not to show up, and one of the sisters had a pain attack!! Cheerses to women with gumption! (That’s a word I wouldn’t have used, had I not heard it in a movie some months ago!)

• drunken old man gave me a bit of a scare on the road – he looked like he was having a heart attack! So I began thumping his chest! Till I smelled the boozy woozies in the air!!! Hehe! Poor guy! I hope he got home alright!

• the brother & I made it to church on time, but had to stand through the service… had a couple of laughs together. Been feeling things come together again between the 2 of us. Guess we’re both making a little bit of an effort. Or may be its just this time of the year. Today was Dad’s 13th birthday in Heaven :-)

• cooked a scrumptious dinner, if I may say so myself!! Got a little carried away with Nigela Express… and realized how simple sour cream & baked potatoes can make any meal more delicious! THEN the damn vanilla coffee – which is keeping me up. And definitely gonna get me in trouble tomorrow morning  :-(

Not sure if I’ve said this before on Tartrazina, but I’d like to open some kind of foodie place sometime in my life. Even did a little research on the science of opening a restaurant!! But I seriously doubt my emotional capacity to see it through! Every time I cook, I wish more and more that it was my profession! One of my close friend’s recently quit corporate life, did a 2 month internship with a chef & now works in a restaurant in Mangalore! Now that’s not such a bad idea – except that I seriously doubt it’ll pay my rent!!!! Or may be if I cook everyday I’ll get sick of it – and realize real-estate isn’t such a bad thing after all! Hehe!

Ok – so I’ve run out of things to ramble on about. I’d give you a prize if you’ve even reached this far! Going to try once more to put on the blinders, shut my eyes & HOPEFULLY pass out!

You can go your own way

2008-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

Gone for good: Chat with The One that used to be THE ONE
Friday evening began with a quick escape out of office and straight to my new favourite bar - Noon Wines! They serve the strongest sweet red wine I've ever drunk - and I'm usually not fond off port or other sweet home-made wines, but a cold glass of this truly kicks ass!!! Anyway, after a sooper evening with Zoo hoo, my ex colleague, and 2 gentlementals who were entertaining and protected us from a bunch of idiot men sitting at the next table!!

Anyway we chased plenty of glasses of wine with plenty of glasses of beer to save ourselves from being swept off the floor at midnight! And got home to The Rat, Miss Bul, and my New Year’s Eve Fellow Barman - and continued our maniacal finishing off beers! Sometime midway between being drunk and VERY drunk I got online and had a chat with The One that used to be THE ONE – who in all honesty is no longer The One! But 4 glasses of wine and many beers down things turned quite different!!!! Its shocking how when you’re drunk you can still type alright – and manage to say exactly what you’re not supposed to – for your own sanity and HIS!!! I still believe he’s the sooperbest person ever but that’s about it – and truly there was absolutely no need to express it like I did!!! Anyway, ever since I’d like to bury my head in the sand and get a good tan all over!!!

What’s weird is that before I began to type this post I opened up Radio Blog looking for my favourite song The Way I Am, and instead got Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way – so here goes a dedication to The One that used to be!

Speaking of going your own away… Zoo hoo moved out yesterday. And it didn’t hit me till I got home in the evening from my gran’s place and realized she was actually GONE! Felt a pang of sadness, cause tho’ she’s moved only a few streets away, it won’t be the same without her. Strangely I haven’t been at home to say bye to any of the girls when they’ve left. Was in Paris when The Linguini moved, at work when Bert left and at my gran’s yesterday. Guess it’s just something about goodbyes that brings out the worst in me! Anyway to Zoo hoo – I don’t know if you’ll read this space anytime soon, but cheerses to you my dahling – you’re going to be very very happy in your new little home :-) !

I was bound to have a very depressed evening yesterday, but fortunately we got to go to another kick-ass concert – Kurtis King & Band – some sooper cool jazz, blues & rock’n’roll! And a very entertaining lead vocalist called Leroy who unbelievably turned out to be 62 years old! I’ll try and post a picture of him tomorrow.

Till then – tootles and good night!

Valentine’s date with Jose Feliciano

2008-02-15T03:20:00.000-08:00

At the end of a rather hectic day at work – where I didn’t get a chance to make any calls to swindle a free ticket to the Jose Feliciano concert – like the voice of angel I heard one of my colleagues talking out about the concert! She seemed like the last person on earth who’d go watch JF, so I casually asked what she meant – and accidentally swung myself a free bee!!!!

Eventually I had 3 free tickets and no one to go with! Another colleague went to the extent of driving us to the show gates and got put off by the lousy parking arrangements & went home! So there I was with spare passes, making calls to the people who I thought might like to be there – not realizing most of my self-respecting friends would’ve made V-day plans by 7.30pm on Feb 14th!!! And tho’ I knew Story No.3 would’ve loved to be there, he couldn’ve make it. Well I ended up having the best evening in a long long while – with no one I new around … except for the star himself!

I must’ve missed the first 3-4 songs, coz the show was already on when I walked in. Fortunately the show was in an auditorium with theatre seating so it didn’t really matter that I was alone – I didn’t have to stand around on my own, avoiding weirdos if it had been at Palace Grounds or somewhere! Or worse still at a hotel with free drinks avoiding drunken weirdos!!!

Well I didn’t know what to expect, coz I haven’t consciously listened to him music before, but I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the familiar chords of Billy Gene begin! He was just fantastic!!! There was a beautiful Spanish love song in the middle – well it must’ve been a love-song coz it made me sad inside – and just for a moment I felt really alone on Valentines day! But minutes later I was back in the groove of things what with him belting out Light My Fire, and cracking us all up with impersonations of the Maharishi, Nat King Cole singing in Spanish & Enrique & Julio Eglesias singing in English!!! He was on a roll! I think I swooned when he started singing The first time ever I saw your face!!! Missed my dad – guess he was sitting in the empty seat next to me!

Ok I'm not too sure, how this is going to work - if My Funny Valentine keeps playing too! Experimental post! Think I need Saltwater Blues' expert advice!

For love's sake...

2008-02-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

here's Chet Baker

I've listened to this by 3 different performers since last night - Frank Sinatra, and one of my favourite American Idol'07 contestants - Melinda Doolittle - wonder how she's doing?!

PS - I'm not sure what how to get just one song to play - so the entire list is showing up!!! Happy listening! Happy Valentines Day :)

...that time again

2008-02-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

Yep, it's almost V-Day and it doesn't really get any easier - however much wine you drink!!!! And what's worse I have a new favourite song, and no one to dedicate it to! I'm not sure if that radio link thing will work, so in case its not on their song list here are the lyrics. sweet! sigh!

If you were falling
Then I would catch you.
You need a light
I’d find a match.

‘Coz I love the way you say good morning.
And you take me the way I am.

If you are chilly,
here take my sweater.
Your head is aching,
I’ll make it better.

Coz I love the way you call me baby.
And you take me the way I am.

I’d buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair.
Sew on patches to all you tear.

‘Coz I love you more than I could ever promise.
And you take me the way I am.

You take me the way I am.
You take me the way I am
————————————————–
The Way I Am
Single Song Words by Artist / Band : Ingrid Michaelson
Taken from Album : Girls and Boys

I made a card!!!

2008-02-07T10:33:00.000-08:00

...well its for a blog I dropped by - and in attempting to post it here - I didn't copy link to the blog... Slumber Cards I think! ...shit my battery is dying! Hope I manage to post it tomorrow!

...finally putting it up...

Boo Hoo!

2008-01-29T04:41:00.000-08:00

BOO: Horo-spoiler!
Pisces: An unexpected amount of cash is coming your way soon. Treat yourself, and those closest to you.
That’s what my horoscope said today. What better way to make sure it never comes true by making me expect the cash!! If I hadn’t expected it – it may have come my way! But now that I’m expecting it… so it’ll never be unexpected and it’ll never come my way  boo frikken hoo!

HOO: House Hunt
We’ve been given marching orders! And quite shockingly it’s not because I sang loudly on my balcony way past midnight many nights ago! Or that we’ve scaled the gates a couple of times drunk as skunks! Or because we’ve had more than a couple of drunken “incidents”! Probably because our landlord’s son has 3 home grown potted plants of pot!!!! Yep that’s right – weed farm! Well they’ve been more than understanding – even supportive of our youthful ways! Anyway we’ve gotta leave because his mum – our landlady – is moving back to Bangalore. Sweet old lady, so I can’t even curse too much – but it sure is a bummer going on the house hunt again!

For lack of anything else, here’s a silly me-me!!

2008-01-17T02:00:00.000-08:00

.PAST.
-first grade teacher's name: Mrs. Rozario
-last song you sang: 59th Street Bridge Song at karaoke on the cruise!
-last thing you laughed at: my colleague at lunch
-last time you cried: can’t remember  …I think I must’ve let a tear drop watching Angela’s Ashes

.PRESENT.
-what's in your cd player: …nothing.. but listening to 99 Red Balloons on the radio as I type
-what color socks are you wearing: not wearing any
-what's under your bed: sleep on a mattress on the floor, so nothing
-what time did you wake up today: 7:58

.FUTURE.
-what is your career going to be: a lady of leisure someday ;-) (yeah in my acid induced dreams)
-where are you going to live: close to the sea I hope
-how many kids do you want: 2... and may be a 3rd ...leave room for error
-what kind of car will you drive: with a Nano out I’ve had a dozen friends say I should buy it, but I think I’d be a disaster on the streets – fatal combination of lousy traffic sense + road rage! If I ever drive – it’ll have to be a HUMMER! haha

.CURRENT.
-current hair: brown, bra-length!
-current clothes: brown trousers, khaki top (from the Rat), kohlapuri tie-ups
-current jewelry: silver chain, silver earrings, 5 silver rings, silver bangle, silver toe-ring
-current annoyance: taxes!!!
-current smell: colleague’s cologne
-current longing: to be in Calcutta with my pretty Puddings, and meet friends, family & The Portuguesey!
-current desktop picture: nothing, I’m still getting used to this laptop… will save soon
-current favorite music artist: Jack Johnson – been stuck on him for a while now
-current book: Shantaram …taking me FOREVER to finish!
-current worry: my Brother!
-current hate: fake hugs & affection & concern
-story behind your username: my ex-flatmate used to call me Ding-Tart, which turned into Tarty and finally Tartrazina …all out of genuine affection 
-current favorite article of clothing: grey draw-strings
-favorite physical feature on a boy: teeth/ smile/ eyes/ feet
-one person you wish was here right now: My dad…would’ve been nice to see him with the Puddings
-line from the last thing you wrote to someone: huggers & xxx
-i am happiest when: I’m swimming
-i feel lonely when: i think of the good times
-do you think too much: only about the things I should’ve let go off!
-if you could live anywhere in the world, where: almost every country I’ve visited, so!!!
-famous person you have met: i get so nervous meeting famous people, that I usually don’t actually go up & meet them!! My entire family shook hands with Mother Teresa – while I hid in the crowd!
-do you have any regrets: a few
-sex or love: Love, love, love!!! ...but sex will do in the meanwhile!
-favorite beer: UB Pints
-favorite smell: green apple
-what makes you mad: Lies
-favorite way to waste time: watching teevee, sitting in the sun – on my balcony since BLR doesn’t have a beach
-what is your best quality: my laugh… especially at myself
-are currently in love/lust: till love shows up again – lust it shall be ;-)
-what's the craziest thing you have ever done: take an auto to an ex boyfriend’s house past midnight – without enough money & not knowing the way!! I dragged my brother along!
-any bad habits: indeed
-do you find it hard to trust people: first instinct is to trust people – but sometimes I can get a little skeptical
-last thing you bought yourself:
-bath or shower: shower
-favorite season: summer
-favorite color: I’d have said blue or yellow, but if my wardrobe is anything to go by it’s got to be brown!
-favorite time of day: after sunset
-gold or silver: Silver
-any secret crushes: Story No.3

.FASHION.
-how many coats and jackets do you own: 5
-do you wear a watch: no
-favorite pants color: black
-most expensive item of clothing: a dress from Mango – of course I didn’t buy it! hehe
-most treasured: silver chain that I’m wearing
.YOUR FRIENDS.
-do your friends know you: they sure do
-what do they tend to be like: in each group of friends there’s been a similar people, eg. Pri’s like Fruitti & Mrs.Tote
-can you count on them: for sure
-can they count on you: for sure

.LAST.
-last book you read: Sand in my bra
-last movie you saw: Centre Stage
-last movie you saw on the big screen: Transformers
-last show you watched on tv: Brothers & Sisters
-last song you heard: shit I don’t know the name of the song playing before this one! Shit bums!
-last thing you had to drink: Fresh lime water salt
-last thing you ate: a samosa – that won’t go down in my food diary ;-)
-last time you showered: this morning
-last time you smiled: 5 mins ago
-last time you laughed: 5 mins ago
-last person you hugged: my grand ma, last night when I dropped her home
-last person you kissed: Mr. White
-last person you talked to online: Benny
-last person you talked to on the phone: Zoo

.DO YOU.
-smoke: occasionally
-do drugs: on occasion
-drink: yes
-sleep with stuffed animals: yes – my animal kingdom – a dog, a pig & a lion!
-have a dream that keeps coming back: a couple of years ago – its stopped now, thank gawd
-play an instrument: No, tho I’ve tried to learn to play the trumpet
-believe there is life on other planets: there must be
-read the newspaper: occasionally
-have any gay or lesbian friends: yes
-believe in miracles: of course I do – it’s what keeps me alive ;-)
-consider yourself tolerant: for sure
-consider police a friend or foe: unfortunately in Bangalore they’re almost all fucking assholes!
-like the taste of alcohol: very much!
-have a favorite stooge: yep – Banana Pancakes
-believe in astrology: a little
-believe in magic: a little
-pray: I do
-go to church: rarely
-have any secrets: of course
-have any pets: no
-go or plan to attend college: done with college
-talk to strangers: sometimes
-have any piercings: ears only
-have any tattoos: no
-hate yourself: not really!
-wish on stars: yep
-like your handwriting: its alright!
-believe in witches: not really
-believe in ghosts: as long as they stay away I’m ok!
-believe in Santa: not anymore… as a kid I was terrified of him!
-believe in the easter bunny: nope!
-believe in the tooth fairy: I made a lot of money off her – so yeah!
-have a second family: no

I’d done this yesterday, but didn’t end up sending it!

Resolutions & Confessions

2008-01-03T04:44:00.000-08:00

Res: I’m going to make my bed every morning – even if it means I keep my auto ride waiting an extra 2 mins. while I throw the covers into place!

Con: I had the bestest NY’s eve & morning ever – ok that’s obvious coz it always only gets better & better!! But it truly matched up to NY’s in Goa 2yrs. ago which was the best NY’s morning by far!

Res: Not eat rice (in any of its sooperbly yummy forms) more than once a day… this means no more Pongal breakfasts, Prawn-curry-rice lunches & Biryani dinners for me!!!

Con: I didn’t have a bath on the 1st of Jan!!!! …I know I felt like a piggy!! But what could I do, between taking naps in people’s houses & hitching a ride back to Bangalore I wasn’t in one place long enough to even charge my phone – forget shower! By the time I reached home at night I couldn’t give a damn about how piggy I’d been, I just passed out!

Res: I’ll drink whiskey-water/ wine instead of beer as often as is possible! Sometimes I’m just too broke for my dietary (haha) alternatives!

Con: Drank champagne with breakfast at 8 o’clock in the morning on NY’s morning! I usually switch fruit juice for Kings Beer with breakfast in Goa, but that’s usually more like brunch at noon!!!

Res: ummmm...

Con: I don’t like the taste of magic mushrooms!! Damn now I’ll never see ‘em glowing colours & magic monsters & all those crazy trippy things I’ve heard off!

Res: I’ve run out of resolutions!

Con: I made some really crappy cocktails on NY’s eve… I tried one and almost threw up!!!!

PS: I saw a Mongoose on NY’s morning – I hope it brings me good luck for the rest of the year!

All I want for Christmas is You!

2007-12-26T04:26:00.000-08:00

I almost subjected myself to watching Love Actually for the millionth time last night - after my silly goose friend realised he was too hung over to go to a Santa Hat party with me!!! And I swear that would've thrown me into hardcore end of year depression!!! But fortunately - between fighting off the blues and breathing deep, one of my girlie friends called and persuaded me to just hop into an auto and be the self-sufficient woman of the world that I know I am - I did go to the party, with my brother filling in as security personnel & date! And had a bloody good time - beginning with a shot of Absynthe followed by lots of wine, lots of dancing, lots of lovely people!!!

I've realised that in the recent past I no longer have a YOU - that I want for Christmas!!!! And its definitely better than being blue without the You, that I used to want so bad! Besides it sure is fun to scan through a room of random new people with my hottness antennae turned up... sensing the vibes bouncing back! After being single for the last 5 years - or more - I think I've only just begun to LOVE being singular! Cheerses to all ye Singles... here's to a season of mingling!

And to all you bums who read and don't comment - YES YOUUUUUUU - Peace yo ;-) More Christmas Huggers & xxx & wishes to you!

Apparently it didn't kill my spirits!

2007-12-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Thankew Blogger for saving my post!

Fa la la la la la la la la la!

2007-12-24T01:49:00.000-08:00

I just lost my long long long post and I'm soooo annoyed!!!! Anyway here's a picture wish instead!!! Can't let Blogger kill my Christmas spirits!! Ughhhh... I am annoyed tho!

Merry Christmas all ye Bloggers out there!

Fa la la la la la la la la!

2007-12-24T00:16:00.000-08:00

Its Christmas Eve already, and I haven't decked my home yet :( The last few weekends have been hectic to say the least. Not that I'd ever have it any other way - added to the Christmas spirits but it took away from my Christmas decorating time! One of my oldest bestest friends The Golfer was down for a couple of days, so I spent my mornings walking the course with him and attempting to distract his competitors ;-) After which I was witness at a wedding of some friends! Was quite cool signing my name in the big church register!! All in all a sooper weekend!

So I'm sitting at work now, wondering when I can run out of here and buy a star - and hoping and praying my brother will surprise me with decors once I get home! I've been begging him to put up the decors we already have at home, and will be pleasantly shocked if he's actually made the effort!

I've had excellent helpers in the past - what with my flat mates and my dear dear friend ..who's probably reading this :o) ...who've put up with my stressing & ordering and even cleaned the fan for me!

My Christmas trees have been painted twiggy branches which got us into trouble with the neighbours!

And last year we stuck the Christmas lights in the shape of the tree - which looked quite lovely for the 10 mins it stayed on the wall!! And now I've run out of ideas and time :-( but refuse to buy one of those fake tinsel ones! There are too few things I'm stubborn about & my Christmas Tree is one of them.

Not sure of the plans for tonight, but I do hope I make it to midnight mass. And spend the day at my grans tomorrow, followed by a Santa Hat party... hmmmm, i wonder what else I can wear! Should be fun!

Here's hugses and xxx & Kwismis wishes to all ye Bloggers out there! Cheerses!

Cruise with me baybee!

2007-12-21T03:34:00.000-08:00

I’m back on dry land and wishing I was at sea again! This cruise was truly quite an experience. I hadn’t gone with too much expectation, so that definitely worked in my favour! Was a bit apprehensive about being trapped on a boat with people from work, but it turned out to be a blast! For starters our phones were out of network. So there was no real worry of being trapped by the Devil!

Our cabin was a snug to say the least – just about large enough for 2 beds, and a bunk, and space for all out trash to be strewn around! Awesome planning for such a tiny space! Think I’ll follow the same principals if I ever intend to live in the tiny apartment I’m buying in Jaipur (don’t ask!!!) Most of our time was spent in one of the restaurants – a meal in one, desert in another, a mid night snack, tea time muffin, some friends from the sea!!! I didn’t manage to teetotal, but I limited my drinks to a glass of beer or wine at night – which I must admit is quite unlike me!!! I don’t believe in drink ONE GLASS of anything!!! But I think I must’ve been high on PRAWNS!!! Big huge tiger prawns! And calamari! And everything else!!! Hehe!

Our first stop in Penang was spent exploring little parts of the city on our own – 3 girls & 1 guy just making our way around on our own – quite unlike the people coming off our cruise liner! We managed to escape from the millions of taxi guys trying to rip us off – its difficult to explain to someone that you really our a BUDGET traveler when you walk off a Star Cruise liner!!! So anyway after bonding with some kind Tam-bram food sellers, they directed us to the bus station 100m away! From then on it was a bus, lots of walking around in a random shopping centre (where we didn’t buy a thing!!!), a visit to the beautiful Reclining Buddha temple (Wat Chayamangkalaram), and the Burmese temple across the road, eating fresh fruit – the pineapple was juicier than any I’ve ever tasted before (truly!!!), a taxi ride to the jetty, and a cyclo ride to the place we were told was called the Esplanade – but honestly everyone had a different name for it – I’m just glad we made it there! We spent the next hour eating oysters, prawns, sunflower seeds, beef & chicken satay and drinking Tiger beeyah!!! Absolute bliss!!  Hopefully my colleague will be back soon, and I’ll be able to post some pictures from her camera soon.

The next day we spent off an island in Phuket (called Coral Island). I spent about 2-3 hours with my bum sticking out the water and my eyes glued to the gorgeous, gorgeous fishies!! Having snorkeled just once before in Vietnam I was sure we’d see nothing coz there was just a lot of dead coral where our boat anchored, but swimming out just a little with a slice of bread in one hand proved excellent!!!! While swimming back to the beach I felt like the pied piper with my trail of aquatic friends following my hand of bread back!!! Back on land I devoured some more prawns!!

Our evenings on the cruise were spent either at one of the shows at discos or at The Lido – some fun Broadway thing by the crew & Streetlife – excellent dancers & acrobats. Having been subjected to an entire cabaret once before I decided to give PASSION – the cabaret, a miss!! The karaoke bar was hilarious – watching and trying to sing Chinese songs along with the people there – 90% oriental! The videos were hilarious – don’t know how Chinese people manage to take karaoke so seriously!!!!

Finally on the last day I spent the entire afternoon swimming & playing rubbish games with my boss’ kids in the pool! And as expected I’m properly roasted yet again!!!!

I think it took us a while to realize we were actually on a cruise!!! Just never imagined I’ve ever make it to a cruise liner!! My earlier experience on a Junkboat was the closest I thought I’d ever get to a night on the sea! But yeah, this was so so fine!!! I hope everyone goes cruisin’ some day! 

On that note – cheerses to the festive season – I hope to add pictures to this post when I have them, but in the meanwhile – Mewy Kwismiss to efwybody in the blogosphere! HO! HO! HO!

Days go by

2007-12-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

There are certain dates that stand out every year in people’s personal calendars… and with time, some of them fade away. The usual biggies are birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and New Years. But strangely another day that has always always makes me nostalgic is December 13th taking me back to 1991! It happened to be a Friday.

I’m feeling rather unproductive and I’ve struggled to get some work done. Had a random mid-week V.Late night yesterday – but it was so nice! Tho’ my body was DYING to pass out my dorrling Boomsa, flat mate Liz and Story No.3 kept me awake - in splits and feeling all warm and fuzzy!!

My Facebook horoscope said these are good times for me – no shit, what with a cruise, yeah?! Hehe! Nah but besides the cruise I know I’m in a very, very happy place at the moment. Ever the skeptic, I wonder how long this will last!

Cruisin...

2007-12-10T23:36:00.000-08:00

Its the end of the year, and I’m thanking my stars for the excellent travel luck I’ve had all year! I’m not sure if I should ramble on with my update of the year that’s been or just ramble on about the excellent luck that’s still coming my way!!! I think I’ll save the update for another post... hopefully I’ll keep up the fairly decent posting!

Yesterday I got back from 4 blissful days spent in Candolim, Goa with my school friends – Sha, Fruiti & KP... and their respective spouses. Sha’s boyfriend only reached on the evening I was leaving, so we were roomies for the trip. We spent our days swimming, lying on the beach, eating calamari & prawns and drinking Kings! And in the night we’d drink wine and bond, lying on the beach looking for shooting stars and making wishes for me to find a spouse or many spices!!!!! Hehe! On the last night we also took the most ridiculous drunken pictures (which I fortunately don’t have copies off!)

In 4 day’s I’ll be off to Singapore again – I don’t fucking believe it – considering they wouldn’t let me back into the country when I had to return to India from Vietnam 2 months ago!! On Sunday we board the Star Cruise to Penang and Phuket on an office holiday! As awesome as the entire thing sounds, I’m still a bit skeptical about being trapped between the Devil (Boss!) and the deep blue sea – quite literally!!! My dear dear friend (who never fucking reads this blog anymore, so I shouldn’t bother making him feel important!) suggested I should try teetotal-ling at sea! Soul searching, reading (I have a couple of hundred pages of Shantaram to go – I can’t believe I’ve gotten through 600 pages!), meeting new people, basking in the sun (I’m not sure this is a good idea in my present crispy brownness!) and general (pre-Christmas) detox is what he’s suggested. I’ve been thinking about it, and tho’ its probably the best plan – considering my office allowance will probably only buy me 3 drinks @ Singapore rates – I’m not sure I’ll survive sober with work people around me 24x5...eeeehh!!

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for what I should do sober on a boat.. and also what I should do in Penang and Phuket, please do write in! I haven’t done any research – infact I haven’t even read the cruise itinerary yet!

Over and out!

Its been too long...

2007-12-04T00:13:00.000-08:00

and tho' my heart says I should update this space my head just doesn't give a shit anymore!!! Well I've been having too much of a good time :-) Work's been hectic but, I thank my travel stars and my love stars! Slow down I'll tell you all about it...

One week after I was back from Nam I headed to Jaipur on a 3 week posting as I like to call it - I should be in the army really, hehe!! The 3 week stint was hardwork, late nights, shopping, fun... eventful to say the least! We were there to launch a new residential project targetted at the "me's" of the world - close to my heart and I enjoyed working on it every bit! We broke a Guiness World Record for the largest number of people in a ground breaking ceremony with some 4523 participants, 3500 of whom were Pandits! Most peaceful event ever! Here's a picture of me and the certificate, in case you thought I was fibbing!

I used to believe I was the wife of a fisherwoman in my last life, so I guess I'm meant to be a farmers wife in this one! Here I am, breaking ground... woman of the earth!

In between I got to spend a few days in Jaisalmer with my colleague... one night in the desert and one night at the Fort. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous...

Shadows of us

Our ride

Dune Moo

Music man

Dear sweet camel boy that kept giving me wicked smiles threatening to make the camel run!

I'm Croc obsessed!

Forgive me for getting carried away with the pics - but here's one last picture...eating Nuclear Pakoras in Pokaran ;-)

Its just as good to be back in Bengaluru. I've had my bestest friend Misses Fruitti and her Mad Swede as house-guests which means there's been no time for a Pre-Christmas Detox that my body is begging for! Spent the weekend meeting people that made my tummy tumble, drinking lots of whiskey & listening to the sweeeeeet, sweeeeeet sound of Jazz ...life is good, yeah! And tomorrow night I'm off to Goa... sigh!!! Fuck, I feel blessed :-)

I still have to begin the post of my beaoooootiful trip to Vietnam and Singapore - there's too much pressure that the post will never capture how fucking fantastic my trip was!!!! But atleast I'd like to share some helpful information for anyone who's planning on hopping across the globe! Soon, I promise!

With the year winding up so quickly, I'm still wondering what to do for New Years eve. Most of my friends have been busy planning and booking for weeks now, and I just don't feel like making any plans. Thing is I'm a little exhausted and not in the mood for making plans! But I know I need to get outta the city to keep up this years sooperb travel karma!!! Wouldn't mind a repeat of last years mad NY's party in Madras with That Only and her bunch of mad friends! What say you Penny Lane... will you keep me entertained if I show up uninvited???! Tell me your plans people???

Singapore to Saigon

2007-09-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

@ Midnight on Monday I begin my long awaited journey to la la land! I head from Bangalore to Singapore (where I'll spend a few days with close friends) and then on to Vietnam!

I've been planning this trip for close to 5 months now. Well more than planning, the task was to save some money so I could afford to bugger off!!! And touch wood I'm all set & ready & waitingggg!!!!!!

The excitement is killing me, and I can't seem to do an ounce of work! Lucky for me, everyone at work is just as excited and not giving me anymore work to do!!! I've also been happily handing over jobs left right & centre!! DELEGATION, I think I'll continue the trend when I get back ;-) hehehe!

Anyway, so far on my list of to dos...
Laundry - to doooo, ugghh!
Hair Cut - done
Buy Shampoo & other bath stuff - done
Buy Batteries & film stuff - done
Convince Benny to lend me his i-pod - doing!
Print Info. - almost done
Wax - to do
Self pedicure - to do
Travel Insurance - done
Currency - waiting for the man with the money as I type
Practise riding a scooter - this weekend, I hope
Buy medicines - to do
Buy cigarettes for Miss Bul & me - to do
Buy Old Monk for Liz - to do
General presents - done

I hope I haven't left anything out, coz if I have, it means I'll never remember till I'm on the plane, hitting my head!!!! eeeeee!!! Already have butterflies in my tummy!!!

When I'm there (in Singy), the plan is to just hang out and chill with my friends on the first 3 days, drink LOTS being the POA! and, then wait for my cousin to reach and do the touristy stuff on the next 2 days.

We fly to Saigon on the 8th. I love the name Saigon, its so much more exotic than Ho Chi Minh City! Gawdddd I can't wait to get there! eeeeeee!!! Ok so from Saigon we go to Hanoi for a night, & then off to Halong Bay - for a night on a junk boat - fingers crossed the weather is good & we get bookings etc, coz I have nothing booked yet!!!! Then back to Saigon, and on to the gorgeous little island of Phu Quoc with my friends, for the weekend! Then we head to Shoe Paradise... a small town called Hoi An, which also happens to be a UN Heritage Village! Lets hope my footwear demons get their fill ;-)

Next month this time, I'll be back in good ol' Bangalore, hopefully uploading pictures & telling more stories & wearing some funky new footwear! In the mean while, Tạm biệt và may mắn!!!

This used to be my playground

2007-09-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

I got a call from my sister last week to tell me my old home - in Calcutta had been demolished. We lived on campus in a school, and I'd heard the buildings were heritage sites which weren't supposed to be pulled down - but left to ruin on their own (hmmm, how kind)! Either way, it made me feel awful everytime I went back to visit and see our home looking like a deserted ghost house!!! For a while they made our lawn a dumping ground for old, unwanted furniture, unused building material, garbage - the works! Considering it was the place I grew up in till I turned 16 - and new every crack & crevice off - it was horrible to get a weird eery feeling when I once attempted to enter the building, & found it cobwebby, dark & filthy!!! Together with the building I wonder if they've erased the ghosts of our past.

Here's a Google Earth image - I just had to see for myself if the building had really been pulled down or not. The gap between the 2 white-outlined squares is where I lived! Top floor, Qr. No. 7 (I think)!! Since I'm tripping down memory lane, thought I'd add a few more moments on the map of my wonder years!

Hey they’re playing my song!!!*

2007-08-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

Yes I LOVE Worldspace! On my grumpiest morning in the office... even if I have NO personal e-mails in my inbox, and no posts on my Facebook wall, and non of my favourite people on chat... it’s my one guaranteed pick-me-up!!!

Just listened to an old favourite – Damn! I wish I was your lover!!! Hehehehehhehe!! Makes me wanna laugh out loud!

* and thanx to Fisheye for one of my favourite campaigns :)

Tired of being Independent

2007-08-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Dear Whoever's Listening,

I'm having a blue morning - and its not even a Monday. I had a bunch of confusing dreams last night. In the good one i was watching the meteorite shower that I missed while I was awake on Sunday night!!! But even that got scary when it looked like the stars were aiming straight for us - I don't remember who the other person was, but I hope he's still alive!! The other dream was about the ex-sms-flirt friend I had who's getting married tomorrow. I've already told him I'm not going for the wedding. In my dream I'd just received his wedding invitation which was more like a package of various bits of trivia on the couple - that I'm glad I don't really know!

I've had a bizarre week, to say the least. On Monday I met an old friend of my dad's who took us to his friend's house for dinner. The lady of the house was this sweet, full of life person, and between her & my dad's friend they had us entertained with stories from their time! She also happened to be a wedding planner and when it was time for desert, he mentioned that she'd never let us touch any of the wedding cake that was all neatly packed & ready for the wedding she was organising this Friday. That's when someone passed me a box to take a look at the little pink ribbon & all - and i see my ex-sms-flirt's name on the box - shit bums piss fuckeroonie - and then they show me the church books all warm and fuzzy with pink ribbon and bells et al!!! Uggghhhhh... I must admit I felt a bit faint!!!! And for some od reason I still do.

I need a hug!

xxx,

Tartrazina

Don't call me babe...

2007-07-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is with men - and me. But I've had an aweful lot of bad luck off late. In the past year, the half way interesting men I've run into just happen to either leave out or ignore some bits of vital information before they begin to shower me with attention. Vital bits of information like "I'm married" or "getting married" as the case has been.

Whats even more annoying is that once - sooner rather than later - I have found out, by accident or almost like an after thought as the case has been - they continue on this road to hell quite oblivious of the world! And the last nails on a wall screachingly ugly straw is when they say "Hey BABE!" Uggggghhhhhhhhhh...

Chop-chop is all i can say.

More than Four

2007-07-06T02:35:00.000-07:00

This post has been inspired by an email tag thing from my sister. I responded by mail already, but in the process realised there was SOOOO much more I wanted to say! And instead of rambling on in an email to my near and dear - who might just be annoyed, I decided it was better I blog about it - that way I can ramble and rant and rave as much as I like, and you can stop reading round about now, if you like :-)

…OR NOT!
“Four Things about me you may not have known” is what the original tag is, but for some there’s a shitload more than 4 that I feel like writing about! So here goes!

A: JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE:
Apart from the obvious - this would be anything I’ve been paid to do, correct?
1. Swimming assistant to a bunch of 3 – 8yr olds, the summer when I was 13.
2. Cataloguing the library of the sweetest old lady in Calcutta. Apart from being paid money, fancy lunch at her antique dining table with fancy silverware, and tea from Kookie Jar were the perks we enjoyed most!
3. Modeled for a “Wearhouse” print-ad that ran for 6 months – was sort of by default, I could hardly believe it myself!

B: MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:

1. Cocktail - thing is I’ve never watched from start to finish @ one go - except when we were kids & we had to close our eyes all the time! ...promise!!!
2. Dancer in the Dark
3. Love Actually
4. Life is Beautiful
5. Grease 1 & 2
6. Sound of Music
7. Dirty Dancing – apart from wishing I could dance like that, I always wanted to stay over at the staff quarters @ a holiday resort ;-)

C: PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Calcutta – LMC Boy’ school Campus, LMC Girls school dorm., New (12yrs. Old) House near the airport, Sha’s place, Sangho’s place, Fruitti’s place, Minti’s place
2. Bangalore – MCC hostel, Sena Vihar, Jal Vayu Vihar, Mrs. Pinto’s PG, EXIM House, Luke Peris, Golden Daffodils, LIC Colony, High Street
3. Hyderabad – Tote’s house

D: TV SHOWS I WATCH
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Law & Order - Special Victims Unit
3. Coupling
4. Just For Laughs Gags
...ok also The OC and Life as we know it (he's sooo hot, and lovely!) *shameful*

E: PLACES I HAVE BEEN ON HOLIDAY
1. Tuticorin
2. Srikakulam – oh but you already new that!
3. Bhadravati
4. Dharmsala

G: MY FAVOURITE FOODS:
1. Seafood - any
2. Khau-suey
3. Pongal/ curd chillies/ rasam / buttermilk
4. ...torture to limit this to 4 - i'm hungry again!
I used to love bland food – pasta in white sauce, stroganoff, and I still do love em all – but post op. I’ve developed this huge Spice Tooth! And unbelievably – from being someone who couldn’t eat the spicey hostel food 10 yrs ago, I’m a born-again chilly addict!!! Tobassco, green chilli sauce, green chillies, curd chillies, fried red chillies – bring it on baybeeee!!!! My colleague suggested that may be if I received a blood transfusion (I don’t believe I did) it was from someone who loved spicey food!

H: PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. Home in Calcutta
2. Vietnam
3. Kudle Beach, Gokarna
4. Lunch @ Secret Garden, digging into their Thai green curry & rice!

So now true to tagging spirit you’re next… Spaceman Spiff!

Please don't let it rain on my parade!

2007-06-28T03:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow this time I'll be on a train making my way to the god forsaken little village of Srikakulam!!! Its a place I've known off ever since I can remember my cook & his family going to their "mullook" when we came to Bangalore every Christmas. But that's about all I know, till I googled it today!

About 9 or 10 years ago, I planned to do a trip there for (my cook) Jiggy's older daughter's wedding. Unfortunately being in college, and bound by standard holidays I didn't make it. This Sunday is his younger daughter's wedding. And if all goes as per plan - and floods don't leave me stranded somewhere along the way - I'll finally make it there by Saturday afternoon. Here's a satellite image of the globe... the pink star is where I'm going to, and I've tried to show you the Indian Peninsular!

Hope I survive the rains, and pray that my dear friend Yespari starts her life as a happy wife!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight....

2007-06-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm not a lion, coz I didn't get much sleep in the mighty jungle last weekend!!! I had an excellent time at Jungle Retreat - by far the most insane weekend! NO, I didn't see any wild cats! Just wild peeps :-P

Mighty thanx to Mr.Tote, Bananarana, Rogun Sar & James Sar for making it purfic ;-)

The sea in my tummy!

2007-06-08T02:15:00.000-07:00

You shall have a fishy, in a little dishy,
You shall have a fishy,
When the boat comes in!

Mr. Tote and I just indulged in the most sinful sea-food lunch at Kudla this afternoon. I can barely hold my head up, and I have a meeting in 20 minutes! Here's a little something to chew on:
Butter, garlic, pepper crabs
Masala fried pomphret
Fish thali
Prawn thali

We barely touched the thalis - so you'll know what my flatmates will be having for dinner this weekend!!!!!

I'm off to Jungle Retreat with Mr. Tote - and may be finally I'll see a leopard - or may be not! There's no point being hopeful in the wild, its when you least expect 'em that they show up (these big cats!)!!

...does anyone know what the word for "high on food" is???

Raver Hop!

2007-06-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

So here's the story of the newly discovered psychedellic froggy in drugged out South America!!!! Take a closer look at it...

It'll give Crazy Frog a leap for its money... ting ting ting ting!!!

Nothing in particular.

2007-05-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

Last night - or rather early this morning I woke up dreaming of my dad - in his rugby days. This was obviously provoked by the recently launched LMOB website which has a lot of old pictures of the team my dad played for. The day it was launched - sometime last week, I was hooked pretty much all day, going over and over and over the pictures, and strangely going back to when I was anywhere between 3 and 8yrs old. Or may be I was younger, I'm not sure!

We were nothing but happy. Now we aren't even sad. That probably didn't make sense to you - but in my head it works.

This thing... that thing...

2007-05-10T00:41:00.000-07:00

Can't think of anything to blog about. But I'm hoping now that I've started typing I'll ramble on about something... anything... nothing... everything...

hmmm... I didn't think so either!

So instead here are a few pictures from the past month's travels...

From Goa

Trips on the way to The Big Chill

Big Chillers

Change your mind restaurant!!!

...in another part of the forest...

Is it a bird??

Is it a leopard????

Elephants...

No it's Beauties from Ooty!!!

...and Tart & Tote on the rocks!

@ Jungle Retreat

Tartrazina turned 2!

2007-04-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

...on April 16th! Drank bloody mary's on Baga beach to celebrate!! :)

30 before 30

2007-04-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

I figure I may as well compile my list now, while I still have time to finish every single thing! I've already done about a dozen... go figure!?!
So in no particular order, with a little help from my friends... I'd like to tick off every single thing below...

1. Live in a shack on a beach.
2. Take a martial arts course.
3. Drink Absynthe.
4. Have a fling with a foreigner.
5. Go skinny dipping.
6. Chuck a drink at someone.
7. Spend an obscene amount of money on something I don't need.
8. Get a job bar-tending - for more than just one night.
9. Drink a beer with my cook.
10. Be hospitalised.
11. Throw a plate against the wall.
12. Have sex outdoors - in a car perhaps!
13. Plan a holiday in under an hour, and rush to the airport/bus station/ train station.
14. Kiss in the rain.
15. Get a brazilian wax.
16. Trip on Ecstacy.
17. Break a bone.
18. Get lost in a foreign city where you don't know the language.
19. Punch someone.
20. Live abroad.
21. Travel to another city for dinner.
22. Buy a house, or atleast a car - which means:
23. ...learn how to drive.
24. Go on a holiday with a lover.
25. Tip the barman with something other than money!
26. Lose weight and get in shape.
27. Buy my Mum a diamond.
28. Run a marathon.
29. Sing on stage or in a band, and I don't mean karaoke.
30. Travel more than 500km on a Rs.500 budget for atleast 2 days.

I'm Goa'n away!!!!!!!

2007-04-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

The Whitey & I are off to Goa for a crazy cousins weekend at sea!!! Where better than Goa?! I hate the fact that I'm sitting at work right now when I should be out with her - like drinking at Pecos, for her to really get a feel of this city! :)

Anyway, there'll be plenty of beeyahs and breezers and cocktails once we reach the beach! Keep your fingers and toes crossed so that my camera doesn't get buggered up... its a bit temperamental after Paris - so hope it works!

Nothing more to report...

Tootles,

Tart

Thankew Jax for some more Jack! :-)

2007-04-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

01- Upside down.mp...

Sitting, waiting, wishing

2007-04-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

One more thing I forgot in my last post - I'm obsessed with Jack Johnson. Can't get his songs outta my head! And I wish he'd come to India - and play in Goa perhaps! But no, he's playing in Hawaii instead in 2 weeks - booo hoo hoo! My life sucks!

Feeling lethargic

2007-04-05T00:51:00.000-07:00

Works been dull ever since we got back from Paris - so thats all of 2 months of DULLNESS! Usually the dull days last from 3 or 4 days to a couple of weeks - and I used to cherish the extra time I got to faff around and not do work. But this is getting a little bit annoying! I'm still faffing, but I don't enjoy it as much!

In the meanwhile, I've been coaxed into Facebook! Well actually I started only yesterday and I'm already a little bit bored! Have been on Orkut for a while, and I figure the fun part lasts only about 6hrs, when you're busy finding new people that are actually old people - and you reconnect! After that its a bore! Besides, why would I want everybody to know who I sent what messages too!!!??! I find that pretty silly!

So here I am back on Blogger - blogging for blogssake! I have nothing intelligent (ok, I never had intelligent things) to say. Nothing new. Nothing funny even!

There's a post that's been saved in my drafts, but I'm waiting to get some pictures scanned before that goes up. Hope I remember to get that done tomorrow.

In other news - well not quite NEWS. But just something more I have to say - for the first time ever (I think), Good Friday is not a holiday for me this year. Its weird, there are 3 Christians in my organisation, and tho' its not on the Holiday List, we sort of took for granted that they'd allow us to take it as a "restricted" holiday - apparently not! If we don't go in it'll be a day from out already limited Leave. I'm too damn lazy to feel discriminated against!!! There, thats how lethargic I feel.

I'm a Beeyah!!!

2007-03-30T02:17:00.001-07:00

Found this via FiNK

You Are Beer

You drink to have fun and let loose. Simple as that.
And you aren't picky about what you drink, though you can appreciate a quality brew.
Casual and down to earth, you can hang with the guys more easily than the girls.
You prefer to date a man who is manly, direct, and sure of what he wants.

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

Something to talk about!

2007-03-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

"I feel so foolish, I never noticed
Youd act so nervous, could you be falling for me?
It took a rumor to make me wonder
Now Im convinced Im going under
Thinking bout you every day
Dreaming bout you every night
Hoping that you feel the same way"

ya ya, blah, blah, blah!!!! :) I love Bonnie Raitt

Tart turns 28

2007-03-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

1. Today.

2. These are 28 thoughts... some may be disconnected.

3. My weekend turned out quite different than I had it planned. Tho' I got enough grief for changing every body else's plans - at the end of the day, my weekend couldn't have been better!

4. I was at the Iron Maiden show - excellent, even for a non-fan! Good riff! Good riff!!!! hehe!

5. I'm going to Goa in April - hopefully my plans will not change!

6. There's a boy thats making his way into my heart. I'm not sure how far in to let him :-)

7. My birthday resolution is to not mix boys and beers!

8. I'm having long weekend withdrawal pangs.

9. I can't wait for Easter weekend for another long weekend.

10. My best friends got me a "surprise" brithday cake after I messed up their plans, after they drove 5hrs., after they were tired and weary. I couldn't have been more touched. I'm a lucky bum to be loved so much!

11. This years been big on presents - I truly am lucky bum!

12. I'm going swimming in 25 minutes. Bliss.

13. My phone clock is 25 minutes early. Random.

14. I wish I was with my Plum & Pudding today.

15. Jiggy - my cook called from a phone booth to wish me! He refused to use my Mum's phone. Said that wouldn't be special enough. Sigh!

16. Gosh I can't believe I set out to write 28 things - I'm running out of thoughts!!!

17. Its torture turning older!

18. Fuck - 10 more to go!!!

19. Its time I act my age and not my shoe size!

20. Blank!

21. Blank!

22. Ok shit, this is getting boring - for me, I can't imagine how you must feel!!!!

23. According to the Ladies Oracle (when I was in Class VIII) I was supposed to follow my mum - my mum got married when she was 28 - I don't see even the remotest sign of me following in a her foot steps at the rate I'm going!!! My deadline is upon me!!!

24. Blah...

25. Blah...

26. Blah...

27. Sorry for putting you thru this somewhat bland list!

28. 2 more to 30! Naheeeeeeeeeen!!!!!!

Good riff!!!

2007-03-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

...I'm going to watch Iron Maiden tomorrow! And from this evening every bar in town is going to be drowning in their ...uh music - if thats what its called??! I don't know what I'm doing going for the show!!! But I'm hoping all the rage and death and whatever else their songs are about will knock the soppy romantic out of me!!!!

Title: thats what I've been trained to say by the actual fans!

This thing thats bothering me..

2007-03-08T03:04:00.000-08:00

When you don't tell someone whats really going on in your life, and you aren't exactly lying isn't that dishonesty??? I think it is. But I could be wrong.

J'adore Paris!!!

2007-02-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

I've been back 12 days, and must admit I'm still getting over my hangover!

I did everything a tourist in the city of lights would do - from the top of the Eiffel Tower, to mass at Notre dame, Sacre Coeur, a sneak peak @ the Mona Lisa, cabaret @ Crazy Horse, a stroll down Champs Elysees, crazy nights @ Latin Corner Cafe, the flea market @ St. Ouen, and experimenting with all the yummy food from duck froi gras to stuffed crepes!

But more than all that what I enjoyed most was hanging out by the Seine and soaking up the culture... aka... wine, wine, wine - and of course absolutely yummy tequila flavoured beer called - Desperado! Its a different story that it didn't go down to well when the half naked barman yelled out 2 Desperado's for the ladies to Liz & me!! I also met some amazing people that took us to a non touristy jazz bar in called Caveau de Oubliettes - which has left me longing to go back for more!!

Here's my trip in pictures...

A stroll by the Seine

Angels of Notre Dame

Louis Vuitton Moo Hennessy

Sweet jazz @ The Cave

Tart @ Moulin Rouge

Crazy, crazy, crazy Latin Corner Cafe!!!

The Green Fairy

Shiny happy people @ Shywawa!

Cheerses to Paris - j'taime!

How blue is my Vally?!

2007-02-13T21:46:00.000-08:00

I'm suffering from Vally Blues! I thought I was too old for it, but it seems I'm still a sucker for love!!! All my ranting and raving about it has made it worse - I feel worse! More single - more alone!

J'adore Paris!!!!!

2007-02-09T05:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm back from one of the most beautiful cities in the world! And I'm bubbling with stories of wine and jazz and falling in love with hot Parisian men over and over and over again!

But no, this post is not going to be about all of that! This one's for Zu... my dear flatmate who's sad I haven't written about her! ...which is not true, coz my last 2 posts not only have her name mentioned, but her picture too!!!!

Anyway, more about Zu! We met about 4 years ago (gosh please don't give me grief if I'm a few weeks off the mark!) and bonded about Calcutta... and various ex lovers!! But that was that, we'd hang out on and off, untill she eventually moved into our place! I've cheered her on when she bunjee jumped - she's a cool chikidee she is... I disapproved of her tattoo design and she went ahead and got it anyway!!! And it looks AWESOME!!! She's a hard peanut to crack! But she's been through my good times and very, very bad times - and for that, I love her!!! So cheerses to you, my dear Zu Hoo!!!

People in my neighbourhood

2007-01-17T03:50:00.000-08:00

Chapter: Tartrazina's Trot to Work

...on the Sunny Side of the Street!

Ever Since we shifted into our new office just off Residency Road, I get my daily dose of excercise thanks to Bangalore Police's terrific road network planning! In the last leg of my journey, the one way route in an auto would take me a good 25 minutes more, which considering I'm usually running late is not worth the extra kilometers. The Pink is in an Auto and the Yellow is Tart's Trot!

So I walk instead. And the faces and places that make my days brighter...

Everyday I can't help pausing for a few seconds @ the Puma store. Its sooo pretty... I know the word I should use is funky - but its pretty in my head!!!!! Green ones, pinks one, blue ones, red ones, silver ones, yellow ones ... I want them ALL, and yet have none! Fortunately I've walked by when the store was open only ONCE - thus my urge to splurge has been thwarted!

Sometimes I wish I could spend a late morning in Pecos, sipping a beer and munching free popcorn!

If I'm lucky there'll be some hot yeng firangs gents that I might smile at - and as Banana, Bert or Zu can tell you, to get a smile out of me pre-11am is a rare but precious moment!!! :-)

If for some reason, I'm NOT on the sunny side of the street I usually pass the spas dog that sleeps outside the shops to the left! He looks like a dwarfed wolf - and I've rarely seen him awake! He makes me jealous of my ugly routine.

The other day I walked through a bunch of Tibetan Monks. Mrs. Tote thinks Tibetan Monks are hot! Does anyone else think the same? I didn't find them hot, but I guess they do have an air of mystery and calm!

Then there are the random breakfast options that keep my mind occupied as I trot down Brigade Road. I'm not particularly fond of coffee off late, so I usually dash into Nilgiri's for a sandwich & Mango Yogi. Or if there's time a Subway or Dosa @ Ballal's - which is soooper yummy, but not great for my tummy!

(Illustrations courtesy Google Earth!)

Trip to thousand 6!

2007-01-10T05:20:00.000-08:00

I never got down to completing my Hyderabad post - tho' I promise I shall some day ... I owe it to the bunch of crazy people I had such an awesome time with!

Its 2007 already! And every year seems to finish faster than the previous one!

As usual - a quick re-cap of a year that was... 2006

Jan... began with many, many nights @ Take 5! Making new frundses! Drinking new wineses - Inniskillin ..reccommended for those of you who like sweet wine! And a week in Bombay on work, which ended up being a sooper time with the Nair Sisters!

Feb... More work and a lot more travel!

March... I can't remember anything other than the endless planning with the Rat for THE BIG BEACH HOUSE BIRTHDAY celebration! Ma turned 60 and Rolf turned 21. And I turned OLD!

April… never in my life have I had so many things to do and SO LITTLE time! I ended up missing my best friend’s wedding to go to South Africa and Dubai. The guilt of missing the wedding was over come by the fantab time I had of course.. hehe ;-)

May… I think I must’ve been on a high after my travels, coz I don’t remember much!!

June… I don’t remember either… must’ve been World Cup fever!

July… was shifting time L Still miss my old house – specially on sunny winter days when we could bask on the terrace. Its true that there must’ve been 5 such occasions in 3 yrs. But still!

August… oh yes how can I forget! Taking you back to July here for a moment – when I discovered my little (OK BIG!) friend ET growing inside of me for what could’ve been a year! And the panic and chaos and calm and comforting from inside and outside of my head! What mattered most (no pun intended!) was all of my friends and family who really really stood by me and got me through the crap!
…August 1st was ET’s day OUT! And from then on the month was spent on the road to recovery!

September… new secret travels with Liz! And finally back to work! Just in time to bid farewell to The Goose who left to become a rockstar!

October… selling expensive ass villas. Making new friends. Falling for the wrong ones! And getting over the whole mess that is what life is all about!

November… still getting over the mess! And making more new friends… and strengthening older bonds! Being far away from home and still at home! Being pampered by the Totes! And loving every minute of it!

December… Couldn’t believe it ended so soon! Hyderabad couldn’t have ended any better! There was a quick trip to Cal to see my New Little Plum and the Old Big Pudding! And then back to Bangalore where the entire family joined me for Christmas. Was a month of sharing and caring and loving and cuddling and reuniting with old friends that had almost fallen off my radar! Also had an absolutely sooper NY’s eve close to the sea… swimming, drinking, barbecuing, and bartending!

(Mid way through this post, I lost the ability to post pictures! ..yes I worked it back to front!)

Of misses and kisses!

2006-12-16T04:56:00.000-08:00

I've been away from there for a week and I miss it like mad, yeah!!
I'm still reeling from the ride Hyd took me on!! Had so much fun there - even made me feel young and silly again! ...And do even sillier things too!
Haven't danced that much thru the entire year in Bangalore! I may not be queen of Salsa but I sure felt like I was!
Biryani and kebabs... and khatti daal... sigh... may be I'll lose some weight back here (in my acid induced dreams, yeah!)
The bunch of crazy people I worked with...

(due to the desire to escape before work comes up on a Saturday night, this post shall be continued after the weekend! Apologies! Apologies!!!)

This is ridiculous..

2006-12-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

...its 2:20am and I'm wide awake! Pissing off!!! I know I'll be in a sooper foul mood tomorrow!

God help me!

Fa la la la la.. la la la la...

2006-12-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

...took a long over due day off from work today... to remind myself that I DO HAVE A LIFE!!!

Listened to Ho ho ho 1... the Christmas CD we recorded 2 years ago. Felt nostalgic and happy and sad all at once! Made calls to people I missed terribly but hadn't stopped to think about for a LONG time.

Never imagined I'd get caught in this rat race - but I am... *bows head in shame*

Its strange how it happens... and you just don't notice till it's almost too late! Same as putting on weight I guess - all of a sudden I went from athlete to plum pudding!!!! ...phew... and I just haven't managed to shake it off ever since. I don't know if it's possible to re-gain my life either! Whether these days off will be few and FAAAAAR between! Whether it'll take a fucking tumour to get my next one and a half month holiday!! No one could've put it better than Alanis!!!!

...its like meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife.... la la la la!!!

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you...

2006-11-30T04:47:00.000-08:00

...and sometimes Orkut helps!!!

I've noticed the new obsession with Orkut has cut down on (my) blog time! And just when I got back into the blog of things and decided that Orkut was the enemy... it worked its charm again!!

My last post is about several trips I've made to Goa over the span of my life time. And while retracing the memories I day-tripped through practically ever holiday I was there. One holiday in particular that stood out was the time I tasted Feni for the first time! And more than the Feni Tasting, was the fun I had with the friends we made ! But, for the life of me, I couldn't remember their names and felt pretty lousy about that... which is why I didn't expand on that part!!

YESTERDAY, the girl I was thinking off, scrapped me on Orkut!!!!! I just couldn't believe it. I've NEVER been more excited to get back in touch with some body ever before!!!!! According to her we probably met 14 years ago - I can't even remember the year!!!! After that first trip to Goa, their family visited us in Calcutta and she remembered all the mad things we did on the school campus we lived on - from my sister's flirting to sneaking into "tunnels" we knew were forbidden :)

Being in touch with her has just made me SO happy! Guess it brings my childhood back - along with the memories, is the mood - and the positive energy it was surrounded in! Needed that, had started to feel a bit blue this week! Ahhh... thanx Orkut, just in time ...my family Christmas season starts tomorrow :)

I need to Goaway...

2006-11-28T02:02:00.000-08:00

Memories of Goa go way back to when I must've been about 2 - 3 years old. I vaguely recall lying on the deck of a boat sailing from Bombay to Goa with my Mum and Dad and sister, and a whole bunch of people I don't even remember. That memory comes with a little bit of unease... for some strange reason I kept thinking my Dad would roll off the deck and drown!!! Its weird but when you're small if you feel stressed about something, a lot of the time you (or atleast I did) end up keeping it inside yourself!!! Thats probably why the feeling still remains!

I also remember a HUGE house... that belonged to my uncle's ancestors. His mother was quite a grumpy old lady and I vaguely recall they had a pigs in the yard... I think... gosh I really need to reconfirm all of this with my Mum and sister! And a big dog I think... called Sultan?? Or may be thats from another holiday... a little confused.

More memories are from the years between 1989 and 1993 I think. My aunt and uncle were living in Goa and we'd visit every year - either in October or in December. These trips were in the awkward growing up years! I say awkward because we'd be invited to various family gatherings... and my sister and I wouldn't really know anybody. And worse still was if it was New Years eve... then we'd be dragged off to some Goan Dance thing!!!! And we'd have to dance with people we didn't know - very very very awkward - and the clothes, my gawd... what can I say we were victims of the ugly '80s!!! But besides this, that I now look back and laugh at... Goa was just spectacular!!!!! I remember having some of the most incredible times there with my family! Enjoying the sea and the waves and the sand! The first sunset I remember waiting for was at Baga... I couldn't move towards the car till I saw it go under!! Drinking wine and feni for the first time! Also remember going to someone's New Year party on a boat and drinking a my first whole brandy!!! And then being SO sure that I saw a jelly fish (or squid I'm not sure) swimming in the moonlight!!! Crossing the Mandovi in the car ferrys! Waiting for ages in the queue leading to the ferry... and sometimes taking my uncles cool car light out to cut the queues!! Cocktails and lobsters at some of the loveliest hotels and that too with my family - was just sooperb!!!

After a break of many years, my next trip there was on business... hahaha! And what a blast that was. Chinks and me and the Boss! Haha! To begin with my jaw dropped when I realised we were actually checking in to the Park Hyatt!! And then there was the phone calls to Chinks room to see if she had found all the cool things in the room that I had found!! The rain shower.... the doors that would'nt lock (which I've realised a lot of hotels are doing now!!), the sunken tub, ...and my gawd that bed was just soooooo nice!!! My only regret being, I wish I wasn't there on work! Anyway, things got better and better, because our meeting was postponed and we got an extra day to swim and drink cocktails, and dine at the loveliest restaurants, and go to the casino, and eventually get the BEST frikken massage that I have ever ever ever gotten in my entire life... whoaa!!

Then last year we were back there and I brought in dawn 2006 with Mr. Fingers, Ms. Kat, Mr.Cul de Sac, Ms. Banana and Mr. Heinkel! Couldn't have asked for more! We'd spent the craziest few days with Bert's family and the entire gang from ALL over and had an absolute blast! And that by far was my bestest trip to Goa.

The reason I want to go back now, so badly, is to redo my memories of that happy place and remove the not so pleasant reminders of my last trip there a month ago! It is practically unheard of that Goa could leave me feeling blue... but last month was one time that I was happy to get out of there. Tho' I will always remember the most spectaular sunset that reminded me that "this too shall pass".

Manic Monday...

2006-11-27T00:36:00.000-08:00

I didn’t sleep too well last night and now I’m in a not so sooper mood!

It isn’t a hang over… just a very blah feeling inside of me.

George is here.

The wound feels a bit sore.

The numbness is irritating.

The only thought that’s worth a smile is that my Christmas countdown has begun!

That means I’ll finally see my new nieceling, and of course, play fairy god-mother to the big Pudding!!!

There are so many annoying questions in my head:

Why?

Why me?

Why not me?

I gave up on finding the answers, but the questions just won’t let me be.

... I wish it were a Sunday.

One month in HYDing!

2006-11-20T04:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Faffers,

Its been too long since my last post!

The day after tomorrow makes a whole month since I’ve been in Hyderabad… and its weird how I’ve grown to LOVE this city! One things for sure the people are definitely more welcoming than dear ol’ Bangalore … in my opinion atleast. Over the last few years, I’d begun to think that my social skills were pretty much non-existent and that was why I’d given up on going out and meeting new people… but this month has proved that theory wrong.. and I do believe that’s because of the people!!!

SO much has happened in this last month that I feel like it’s been a much longer time. Packing my bags!!! Excess baggage – shitloads of it!!! Emotional rollercoasters! The sun, sand & sea! Skinny dipping! Wine – in large quantities! Cocktails!! Brunches @ Fusion 9! LOTS of phone calls home – I suddenly feel EVEN closer to my Mum and Anna. Brooding time! The art of make-up classes from Mrs. Tote! One walk at the Golf course! One Salsa class… and I think I’m gonna be a STAR!!!!! Some of the most fun parties (out of my own home!)… Diving into a swimming pool fully clad… high on life and wine and beers J …I wasn’t pushed in, I was coaxed in ..and I’m sure it didn’t take much!!! Its been a crazy month!

I’ve also realized that this entire year is almost over – and I’m glad it’s ending. It’s been a difficult year… not necessarily a bad thing, I know… but I’m not sure if it made me stronger… I feel weaker to tell you honestly. A little helpless sometimes. I think I may be a bit manic-depressive! But then again if I was Mrs. Tote is around to fix me!

There - this is probably why I didn’t post for so long… coz I knew I’d ramble… and here’s proof. Oh, also because I hate using this laptop… I hate laptops… I swear I do! I thought it would be cool to sit in a coffee shop with the whole Sex and the City thing going… but it’s a pain to carry!! Damn I’m losing it.

I won’t be surprised if you don’t come back here!!!

Tootles,

Tartrazina

While Boss is away this Tart will play!

2006-10-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

Part Deux

Told you so... been spending the day faffing! The festivities have begun and no one's in the mood for work ... and we have 3 more days before our office gets a holiday. Half the team is already on leave! The other half are eating chocolates we got from clients/associates! Bring em on!!!

So here's another interesting site I landed on... Yahoo! Time Capsule

I've burried a million boxes in our school field, and I doubt I'll ever go back to undig 'em! So this obviously got my attention! Banana its something that'll warm the cockles of your heart, for sure! (snort!!)

While Boss is away this Tart will play!

2006-10-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

Part I

Came across The Bubble Project via Mathatheist's blog. This is such fun, I hope he never comes back!!!

Seems like there's gonna be a lots more rubbish coming up here... I can feel the blogger being unleashed! Thats what happens when these buggers @ work block MSN, Orkut, and ...hold your breath for this - gmail!!! I'm still in shock...

My body aches!

2006-10-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

I've just had the most fun work trip in a very long time - and now I feel like I used to feel after school trips... the cameraderie, the nerves, the ultimate aim to be the best - and do your best, all in all the complete madness - and in the end missing the entire experience when its all over! Half my office just spent 3 crazy days in Hyderabad to launch one of our projects. We spent 3 sleepless nights with our counterparts from Hyderabad & Bombay, our clients, the event managers, the PR team, and one big bunch of crazy Spaniards - and a lot of drinks to bring us all together like one big happy family! Needless to say I had a fantastic time!!!

After the event was over, instead of spending a depressed weekend in Bangalore, moping around the house, I decided to stay on in Hyderbad with my bestest pal Mrs. Tote, and the wonderful Mr. Tote (in case he drops by here, ever, and feels LOP!)

Hyderabad was good fun. I spent 3 more days doing random things - Iftar parties @ Tote's in-laws! Baby sitting and basically having a blast with Bilal & Urair the cutest 5 & 3yr old brats I've ever met! We spent one "I have no words for it" afternoon @ Snow World - truly, no words... But smells, yes ... Stinky gloves, damp jacket... Oh ya & oversized gum boots! I think the kids were also in a state of shock... Cold shock seemed to have been the strategy!!! We laughed a lot tho, at ourselves and eachother in our Snow World Gear!!! I tried my best to make a sorry ass snow man coz that was the only thing Urair was interested in!

The nights were spent getting mellow with a lot of whisky - wherever we went - Random Herbal Life couple's place - where we got great kebabs!! At Nikki & Nishant's place, saving my drinks from Rufus - their cuddle obsessed lab! At Touch - a swanky nightclub with shocking pink lighting! And back at home!

Yesterday I tried my hand at golf for the first time in my life. The reason this is weird, is because Ra - one of the oldest friends (I remember hanging out with from Class III), has been India's #1 Amateur Golfer, and is presently kicking ass all over the Asian Tour!!!! I've done silly things with his golf equipment, but haven't EVER swung a club! Anyway, I had a lot of fun at the driving range yesterday - but today my body is sore!! My fingers are sore... My waist is sore... My arms are sore... And there's more aches and pains as I get on with the day!!!

But there's one thing getting me through this day ...our new Worldspace thingy @ Work.... Wooohooo!!!!

This whole blogs about me anyway...

2006-10-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been avoiding this for long enough, but everyone else has been so good with responding to the Tag that the guilt got to me!!! And if I don't, Sac will never respond to all the crappy things I usually pass around! I'm also running out of people to tag! So here goes - 8 things I haven't blogged about before:

1. The last song I listened to before I was wheeled into surgery was Gin Soaked Boy. It reminded me of all the goodtimes we've had at EXIM HOUSE! It calmed me down and kept me smiling!

2. As much as I'd love to be a wildlife-wise person, after spending a weekend in the jungle I must admit I'm crap at it - literally! All we managed to do was identify animal poo!

3. I've been having strange dreams about my sister's baby - in my dreams she's already full grown - but like a baby!!!! Anna says it must've been a delayed reaction of the anasthesia!

4. I love cooking... I don't think I've ever said this on my blog. Which I now find strange - coz I really enjoy my time in the kitchen - and I can't believe I haven't said it before! I enjoy experimenting with flavours - Indian and non-Indian - and sometimes this can be disastrous! But my signature dish with my homies is Beef Stroganoff... My Mum's Style, which is YUM compared to some rip-off BS I've tasted at The Only Place & Casa's! I would however like to taste an authentic Russian Stroganoff sometime soon.

5. I can't sleep without the fan on. I can't sleep with a night lamp on! And the orange light on the All Out mosquito repellant drives me MAD! Now I have the coolest blind eye mask things in the world - it has little pouches that don't let any light in between my nose & eyes!

6. On my first day of school I (age 3yrs.) was made to sit on the Blue Box - an old wooden trunk painted navy blue - a.k.a the seat of punishment! I'm sure this thought gives my sister a lot of hope as far as Aaliyah's concerned!

7. I never travel without my swimsuit - regardless of the place or purpose of the journey! 2 & a half weeks after the operation I was in the pool with my niece! I've also been swimming in an outdoor pool in the rain in Dharamsala (HP) with the Himalayas as a backdrop! Needless to say I froze my "what & alls" off!

8. My Doctor says it'll take atleast 6 months for me to go through an entire day without a single thought of surgery/tumour/ stitches/ hospital! That’s less time than it took to get through a day not thinking of my office romance!

Ok, I don't know when or where or who started this tag, but 8 things was just a strange number - why not 10 or 5 or a dozen, or 43 things!??! Anyway, fuck that, I'm changing the tag a bit for the sake of a twist - 1 thing for every year you've been on the Planet! Here you go - Boomsa, Ostrich, Iquew, & Beks. Come ON people!!! One of you atleast!!! Doesn't mean 1 thing about each year... Tho I'll save that for another time!

Not blue anymore!

2006-09-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

I've been back to "normal" life for 2 weeks - my home, roommates, friends, work, and bastard auto drivers! Most of its been good, but for some strange reason this last week's been weird. Not sure why but I'd been feeling pretty "blah" about stuff in general.

But all thats over today - woke up to the sooper news that my sister had a baby girl :-) Last night we were text messaging eachother till way past midnight, and I don't know how but she had the strength to message me with updates of contractions etc.etc.etc.!!!! Anyway this morning - for the first time I woke up without an alarm @ 6:30 to check my phone, and didn't find any update! A few minutes later Sofiya Megan Khan was born!! Apparently she's just like her big sister Aaliyah Emma!!! I can't wait to go home again. Wish I was still there! Damn, I'll be blue again if I dwell on that thought! For now I'm going to tell the world about the new little pudding that the stork dropped off!

ET has left the building!

2006-08-17T01:14:00.000-07:00

Its been a long long while, and I'm SO happy to be back with a keyboard in front of me!!!! My god there's so much I want to say but my fingers are a bit rusty!!!

I had this huge rugby ball sized tumour removed from my insides on August 1st! And I'm kinda getting back to normal now. Surgery went well and the biopsy showed that all was well - yup it was benign, about 4kgs (!!!!!) but BENIGN.. thank God... and all of you who knew, and prayed! …also had one ovary and my appendix taken out… was hoping they’d scrape some fat off too, but the buggers happily left my fat tummy there for me to deal with forever!

The week in hospital was torture! Well after the actual PAIN - contrary to what I expected... to be knocked out cold after the general anesthesia had worn off, I was in and out of the most tiring sleep ever, in fucking agony for the first 24hours!

Well my mum knew all was well when i bitched and bitched and bitched when the family showed up at visiting hours!!!! But anyway, got thru the entire thing and was happy to get home last week! Now I’m getting restless again! Managed to trek downstairs to get to this internet café coz I was just desperate to get online – and these buggers don’t have MSN! Anyway, always happy to blog!

Well, 240 words and I’m beginning to feel tired! Imagine that!!! Lousy, I feel like an antique already! Anyway, I’ll be back as soon as I feel up to it again! In the meanwhile update your blogs people! Make my next trip worth the walk :o)

:o(

2006-07-10T02:32:00.000-07:00

One of the effects of having an English teacher for a father was that we were exposed to some bizzare literature LONG before we (ok, I!) was capable of understanding it! This, for example, was something I could recite by-heart, without ever getting it when I was in Class III!

"Tragedie is to seyn a certeyn storie,
As olde bokes maken us memorie,
Of him that stood in greet prosperitee
And is y-fallen out of heigh degree
Into miserie, and endeth wrecchedly."*

Anyway, it took some Googling around to dig it out, coz there were just phrases that were still wedged in my brain. Bits of it came back to me (and I undertand it now) after watching Zidane last night :o(

* Chaucer's definition of a Tragedy, Prologue to The Monk's Tale

Tribute to DragonVille, LIC

2006-07-06T02:27:00.000-07:00

I miss my old home. The field in front. The steps inside. The terrace. The ladder to the roof. The skylight. The backyard. The jasmine tree. The slanting roof. The tiles. The screachy gate. The tree in front, growing into the window and sometimes touching the ground. The 2 sleeping trees - that folded like touch-me-nots in the night. The stupid whistle-blowing-guards patroling through the night. The choir of crazy howling dogs that only practise between 1:30 and 2:30am! The nutcase neighbours that beat their clothes clean from 7 in the morning! Bruno. And of course, our sweet, sappy, alcohol stealing maid Kanha.

Its been 10 days and I haven't been able to locate the new place on Google Earth yet!

Goooo GERMANY!!!!!!!

2006-06-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Please pray that the cable guy fixes our teevee by this evening. I miss Ballack!

27

2006-06-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

1. I am a Hennessy and it troubles me deeply that I have no relation to Moet-Hennessy.
2. I have never studied in a co-educational institute but lived on the Boys School campus!
3. I spent my (mother's) Root Canal Treatment money on a holiday in Pondicherry, and went to a dental college to get my tooth yanked out a year later.
4. My first (and only) pet, was a wounded sparrow that lived for 3 days.
5. I am the shortest member of my immediate family, and I always thought my Mother was short.
6. At age 10 my vital statistics were - 24" - 24" - 24"!
7. One lonely train ride back from Chennai, I smoked a beedi with an old man sitting on the footboard.
8. I own a trumpet, and after lots of practice, I came quite close to playing Amazing Grace so people could identify it.
9. I've been to Disney Land and Universal Studios - its true Ratty!!!
10. One summer break I travelled from Calcutta to Murshidabad - Siliguri - Darjeeling and back for 2 days for a total of Rs.300/-, we paid a porter 10 bucks to exchange the last torn Rs.100 note we had between the 3 of us for dinner & bus fare home!
11. The first job I got paid for was as a swimming assistant at a club teaching little kids how to swim - I'd like to do this again, full time.
12. Dionne Warrick was my music idol, when she used to present a show called Solid Gold in the early 80's.
13. I wanted a "fish tail" dress after watching the Dianna Ross 'Chain Reaction' video!
14. I've been bitten by some strange South African insect that has left a 3 point scar on my neck.
15. I can whistle The Rose in harmony!
16. In my sporting times I've been on a Swimming Team, Athletics Team, Basketball Team, Soft ball Team, Cricket Team & Football Team - now I only play the fool!
17. I've been a victim of office romance - and I loved it!
18. The first music album that I ever bought was Samantha Fox - Touch me - because it came with a free poster!!! I was about 7yrs.old.
19. I would only buy Speedo swimwear - tho' ordinarily I have no brand preferences.
20. I agreed to "go out" with my first boyfriend only because he held my hand at a movie!
21. I didn't know how to take a print out, until my first day @ work @ Ogilvy.
22. Nothing compares to skinny dipping in the sea.
23. I just got scammed by my medical insurance policy.
24. I am obsessed with my feet.
25. I've been pickpocketed in Dubai & the UK, but never in my own country!
26. I am no big football fan, but I'll drink to Germany tonight.*
27. At 27, I've lived 2/3rds of my life in Calcutta and 1/3rd of my life in Bangalore.

* this post was typed on Friday 09.06.06

Of Travel, Rain, and a Tribute to the Auto Drivers of Bombay...

2006-06-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

After almost one whole month in Bangalore, I finally got out of the city for 2 days. Tho' I'd been quite happy to spend so much time in Bangalore, I was excited to travel again! Except for the packing & early morning flights, I just LOVE travelling. And after a month and a half of not hanging out, people are even happier to see you! So there was much love showered this time!

It rained, and HOW!?!! We took the rain with us from Bangalore to Mumbai - and cooled the city down a bit. When we landed on Tuesday morning, it was - according to a friend who lives there - pretty cool weather: and I thought I'd melt away!!! Even tho the sky was overcast, the humidity must've been 90%! Anyway by the night there was lightening and thunder and RAIN!!! For the first showers of the season, it was quite a downpour. I think the piddly trickles we experience in Bangalore have made me forget the "norwesters" & full on stormy weather I've grown up with in Cal! Anyway, to say the least - my lovely raincoat that works just fine in Bangalore, left me wringing wet in Mumbai!!!

The thing I love most about Bombay are its auto drivers. And each time I return home, I can't help but snarl at these bastard-bitches here in Bangalore! "one & a half", "extra" or worse still "NO!" Here's a tribute to the auto drivers in Bombay - even at midnight on a stormy night - You Rock!!!

A time for Family...

2006-05-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my gran's 79th birthday. Funny thing is her sister (who must be 77 I'm guessing) got her number (7 & 9) candles for the cake (...to save us from burning down the house!), and the wick of the 9 was on the wrong side - so it read 76! In addition to the numbers, they also got her some of those prankster candles that don't go out! Its sweet what they think of doing for each other at that age. I've got a gazzillion pictures of my gran bent over that damn cake, blowing all the candles out, coming up for air and then bent over again, and again, and again!!!! She looked hilarious (coz she's quite tall!) and the table was pretty low. And she just DIDN'T get it!!!!! One more try & I'm sure her false teeth would've landed on her butter-scotch & coffee cake!!! Was a fun afternoon! I mixed them some PIMMS (that Bri'ish stuff!) which SHE (my gran) was sooo apprehensive to try, and then she happily polished off the last glass and all the fruit!!! My gran cooked Khausuey... I know its sad for the birthday girl to be working on her brithday, but cooking in that house is all by remote control - they have a hundred maids!!! (And thats almost true!) And she (remote control) cooks about twice a year anyway!!! Khausuey's one of my favourite dishes, its the burmese taste buds from my grandad's side, and I've got to learn to cook it soon!

My brother and I decided to take a little walk up the road from my gran's place on our way home, instead of jumping into the first auto we found! What began as just a little stroll, that meant about half a km, ended up being half way home (~ 3.5km)! The weather was purfic :) and so was the mood! We caught up on a lot of stuff. Though he's been living with me for the last 3 weeks, we haven't really had any quality chats about life and all that, so this was nice! By default we had dinner together! He's leaving this week, and I know he'll miss me and my dragons ... Mr. Fings be honoured, you've got yourself an entire paragraph on Tartrazina! I'll miss you too... just a little bit ;-)

Youuuuu BUGGEROONIES!

2006-05-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

... yes you! Reading my blog & not leaving comments! You know who you are... and I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!! So go on, redeem yourself - click now, comment.... message... I keep it simple, but you STILL don't respond! hmpphhh!!!!

A Time to Blog... turn turn turn...

2006-05-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

There is a Season... turn turn turn... And THIS is it!! I haven't had so much time to faff since... I don't even remember when?!!! I'm quite happy to have some time to myself these days. Tho' there is work, I can do it at my own pace and not drown in it for a change! But its only going to last 2 weeks, so I'm going to make the most of it - BEWARE BLOGOSPHERE!!

I've been surfing a lot, and generally catching up with MSN buddies that I haven't even blinked at in ages! Good to be an online junkie once again! And of course blog-hopping with reckless abandon!

Life's been good off late, even @ work. There's been nothing to whine about in a while... or may be that's coz I had no time to think and analyze and thus whine!!!

The "love-life" has picked up - ok not quite true ... don't laugh, but this is how I see it... I'm not at the bottom of the well anymore, in fact I'm right out at the brim... walking on the rim... (ok that should be rim, not brim - actually I'm not sure, so you decide!) Its fun up here on the rim! Tottering around! Almost as if I'm wearing stilletos, and walking a balancing beam, flirting even!! Well I'm not falling in the SAME well EVER again, thats for sure! It isn't the same well! And I sure am happy up here! Tho' the water looks tempting... (I'm a fish, can't resist splashing around) ...may be I'll just dip my toes in for starters... then again, may be not yet!

There's a blog I've visited a few times in the last 2 days, and I really loved something she said, so here it is "...I don't know how to like someone and be cool. Well, before the comfortable and secure state. But who's to say it will ever get that far? It might never get that far because I'm a lunatic. And can be completely overbearing. And try too hard to not mess up, rather than being myself - which is probably the easiest way to mess up.
But this is me. Emotional, crazy and extreme. And extremely impatient. And I don't want someone who can handle or tolerate it. I need someone who loves it." ..Thanx NP for that!

First Things First...

2006-05-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

Excerpts From My Head - coz I left the Travel Book in a taxi in Dubai :-(

Fulfilling my past obsession with The Hummer, I FINALLY sat in one! Well, tho' this wasn't the yellow toy truck look alike (I believe thats an H2), this sure was F I N E! This is me and the black limited edition H3!

(sadly the sun had set & my camera is afraid of the dark!)

Now I'm not quite sure whether its for better or worse, but all that mattered to me then was that this was a HUMMER and I was in it!!!!! And fortunately the owner of this beast was enthusiastic enough to take pictures, and even open the sun roof thing-a-me!!

Wish we'd gotten to drive around a bit more! Was nice being high up, looking down at the traffic! ;-) of course I could travel by bus & be up there... but it wouldn't quite be the same!!!

Now I truly must HAVE one!!! ...Dear God, Please send me a Hummer... puhleeeeeeeeeease!!!!!

Tartrazina's Tours!!

2006-05-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back from South Africa and Dubai!

SA is just the most gorgeous country in the world.... Ok i'd say that about any new place i go, but seriously this is just so stunning! The houses are just tooo cute! From some bloody picture book... From the sky it looked like most of them had their very own backyard pools - lucky buggers!

Well we didn't do any wild lifey things there unfortunately, coz most of our days were spent in Malls! What a bummer!!!! But i did dip my feet in the frikken cold waters of the Cape of Good Hope!!!

And saw the Indian & Atlantic Oceans meet and crash and waited for frikken ages to take a good picture of this spectacular site with my sorry ass camera - and it didn't quite happen, coz about 2 seconds after I'd click there'd be a huge splash!!!!! I have a dozen pictures, of the sea - with a white dot in the distance! Can you see it….

We got one day to drive around and enjoy the sites and sounds!! Saw penguins, and ostrich... just hanging around burying their heads in the sand!

Oh, also, South African men dig Indian women! I felt like a bloody star!!!!! Randomly men - young, old, black, white, married, engaged - would just come and tell me how beautiful I am, and I was like, HEIN!?!!! Bloody psyched buggers!! Think I’ll be going back there real soon!!

...and NO i didn't DO anything!!!! But I did get bitten by some deadly insect!! Didn't see it, didn't feel it, but woke up with a bite on my neck, which got quite nasty! I went to the ER at the neighbourhood hospital and sat behind the curtain eves-dropping on some sorry soul crying his heart out over his anti-depressant drugs getting over! I felt like going across and giving him a tight hug and asking him out for a beer, poor guy! I'm glad that there are some "lifestyle illnesses" that haven't become an everyday feature in India!

OHHHH...i went to a strip club called Moulin Rouge!!!!!!!!! I nearly fainted when I walked in there! But thanx to a couple of beers I kinda got used to the whole nudity thing... Anyway by the end of the night, the stripper (by this time with her clothes on) was chilling out at our table, chatting with us!!!

My next blog will be about First Times… do hope I get down to that soon.

I, II & II and a half Stories!

2006-04-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

I Crash Vs Love Actually
... doesn't anyone think that Crash is the opposite of Love Actually. Stories of different people, all connected in some way or the other. Love Actually happiest things ever. Crash - things couldn't get worse!!!! I finally watched Crash last night, and frankly I almost went to bed before the first half - couldn't bare to watch past the Cop Frisking scene. Absolutely fantastic movie.

II Cape Town and Dubai
... eeeeeeeee, I'm going to both! 3 days to go and the excitement's hitting me at last!Got my ticket from Jo'burg to Cape Town! Somehow having an actual ticket in my hands means a shitload more than that e-ticket thing!!!! Just seems more real! ...took a break there, and a lot has happened during the day, its getting more and more exciting! Just checked out the weather for the next couple of days and its seems like it may rain on Friday... wonder if their Met Dept. is as spot on as ours, hehee! Sadly there may not be much of the South African adventure, but I'm quite certain it beats most "Business Trips", considering we're going to study Malls! Aah, at last, I can say I love my job! My god, I've NEVER said that, I think... uuhh, I'm sure, in my whole life... or ever since I had a job! Ok, ok, I'm not going to say I LOVE my job, but I will admit its going sooper coolio right now! ...hmmm, I just think there's got to be something I'm more passionate about, that WILL pay me money, that I'll do sometime in my life!

Alright, if I don't leave now, the lift will be switched off, and I'll be trudging down 13 floors, so part II & a half - Dubai may or may not follow tomorrow!

Economic Times

2006-04-05T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Tartrazina - BA (PyES)! Hahahaha! Biggest joke of my life! Its strange how us uninformed, aimless, carefree spases chose what we wanted to study back then! Not just the biggest joke - but by far the longest - 3 years, at that!!!

I was reading the ET today - I've started reading the ET over the past year, when I realised its not as ugly as the colour of the paper they print on! And tho' I only read whats relevant to me and my work, I sometimes gaze at words that catch my eye! "BoP", was one such word, that triggered off this post today! So it seems after taking Economics for 3 bloody years, I have no recollection of what the term Balance of Payments actually means, or atleast what context!!!!! Off my 3 years in college more than "studying" Psychology, Economics and Sociology, the REAL contributing factor to my life's success (I know you may not think I am from this blog, but in my head, sometimes, I AM!!!!!!!!) definitely was living away from home - in hostels & PG's & with friends! Those were the things that really mattered!!

Infact other than the faces of my lecturers, there's nothing I remember from those classes!!!! I remember more from Psychology classes in school than from college. Tho' I don't regret it, college was such a bloody joke!

As usual, there is no real point that I'm making, just blogging for blogsake! ...wow, time to blog again, finally!

Happy Hennessy's!

2006-03-20T03:56:00.000-08:00

Finally, here's to me... I turn 27 today!

I've just had the most fun weekend in a long long long time!!! On Saturday we celebrated my Mum's 60th and Brother's 21st birthdays, which happen to be in 2 days from now. Quite an occassion with both of them turning milestone years on the same day!! The party rocked thanx to the Rat and her entire family, without whom I would've been lying in bed at home on a Saturday night with my Mum stuck in her own corner of the country and my brother faffing around Chennai!!! Thankew dear Ratty!

It was awesome to have my family and my friends and the brothers' friends all together getting drunken and disorderly, and dancing and swimming till 5 in the morning!!! At some point of time we even had a full on mixer and sound set up, thanx to Snoop! We had everything from Englebert Humberdink to Black Eyed Peas to keep all ages going!!

We conquered our hangovers in the pool yesterday, and then ate seafood like the sea was running out!!

I brought in the actual birthday alone in a train at midnight! We were all scattered around, and had passed out early! Anyway thank gawd for great network coverage between Bangalore and Chennai, for once in my life I was sooo happy to be woken up at midnight to my phone vibrating and ringing under my pillow... uh, napsack! :o)

Its difficult concentrating on work today - I'm in no mood to think Malls and SFT and retail!!! Just wanna get out of here asap! But I'm glad that between Malls and SFT and retail, I've managed to blog!! And then I'm going to read some of my favourites as my very own birthday treat!!!

And I'm not sure how many of you will read this but thanx Ostrich, Banana, Bert, Zoo, BenHe, Rae and Jo for making it to Chennai to party with The Hennessy's! Couldn't have been any better!!!!

...i feel like this is my award winning acceptance speech and also wanna thank ALLLLLL the others that made it... Wishful you get special mention for your class act spassness ;o)

This day 11 years ago...

2006-03-09T05:34:00.000-08:00

...I rolled over and found my Aunt sleeping beside me instead of Anna
...I knew something was wrong, rolled back and went to sleep
...Jiggy woke me up with my coffee with Mama beside him
...Ma told me that Da passed away
...I didn't feel anything.
...I forced some tears out - I figured it was a bit psychotic to not cry
...gulped down my coffee and got out of bed
...saw my Grandma and THAT's when it hit me
...went to church with her ...by which time my eyes were like unstoppable water taps
...got home to a house full of visitors
...I don't remember eating breakfast - which has always been a MUST HAVE in the Hennessy Household
...Rolf, Anna and I stood on the balcony and heard the Boy's school Principal announce my Dad's passing
...I just wanted to hug Rolf sooooo tight, but I didn't
...got dressed and trotted off for my ICSE Physics paper
...I'd saved about 3 chapters to study in the morning ...BAD IDEA!
...ran into teachers and friends who offered their condolence
...It hit me again when I saw Sha
...we sat in the Dining Hall, took a walk on the field, talked a little
...Sha and me were allowed to enter the exam hall 10 mins after the others, didn't have to queue
...They said a prayer for my dad and my family before the bell rang
...Finished my paper in record time... must've been the 3 chapters I'd left out!!
...Came out of the exam hall (which happened to be our Upper Nursery Classroom) and felt this gush of emotion drown me
...Ran home, quick change and went to Sangho's place to study CHEMISTRY!
...Didn't even give the family or my Dad a single thought, for me, right then it was Acids, Bases and Salts.... ugghhh, and I remember not a clue!!!!
...Got home at 6 to glug back another mug of coffee and ran off to Guriya's (I can't remember her real name) place, coz her dad was a Chemistry Teacher... so just in case we needed some help... of course I was beyond all help!!!!!
...At about 9.30pm, Jiggy came to tell me there were some of Dad's Rugby Team friends waiting to see me at home
...I just didn't want to meet anyone, so I took my own sweet time and made sure I got home after they left
...I can't remember dinner either
...Mama, Rolf, Anna, Dax (her boyfriend at the time), Shimana, Putti (her school friends) and me sat in our bedroom chatting
...I'll never forget how devastated Anna Loo was... her tears were enough for me too

Thats a lot of memories for a single day of my life.

Blog from Bombay...

2006-03-08T05:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at the "Sky@ber Cafe" ...yeah thats what this place is called - at Chhatrapati Shivaji Domestic Airport! And the mouse is sticky... eeww! And my bags are piled on two big water cans squeezed in the corner - and there are more water cans under this desk, so there aint no leg room either!!! Anyway, enough whining!

...pause... think.... pause....

...umm, there isn't much to blog about if I don't whine! So here goes...

I'm tired.
I'd like to spend more time in Bangalore - in my house actually... lazing on the terrace. Watering Zu's plants (uhh, na actually may be just checking on the money plants and watering the bamboo!). I just wanna do more stuff at home.
I'm turning 27...
...brooding time. Mints had a baby boy last Thursday. My sister's preggers with #2. Ex-roomie is on detox preparing to conceive! I want one for me too!
There are 2 cute "yeng" Jet Airways staff sitting at the table near mine, and I'm thinking, DAMN THEY'RE TOO YOUNG!!!
I haven't been to the gym in 3 months!
Nobody reads my blog anymore.... and nobody posts comments, uuhh except for some weird Gilbert, Paul & Yugi that post messages in the chat box! ...are you real people???

Following the whines, I think... as I type... and I have some questions...

Is life passing me bye?
Am I working too hard? (hehehe, seriously, just MAY BE I am??)
When will I have babies?!!!
When will my knight in shining armour ride by and sweep me off me feet????! ...I do understand that I should start going to the gym again and shed some pounds!

OK... they're announcing my flight... more soon.

2 weeks or A MONTH!!!

2006-02-28T06:15:00.000-08:00

... just realised its been only 2 weeks since my last blog and I feel like its been a month. Its obviously the travel and work thats making me feel this way. I'm just glad to be home knowing that there's no plan to leave the city in the next week atleast! (so far, i.e.)

Bombay was fun as usual! The boys took good care of us... tho' I nearly got kicked outta bed one night! Also caught up with some other friends. Shamelessly, ate chicken immediately after hearing about Bird Flu! And there's not much more that stands out about the trip, because now I'm back from Delhi!

Delhi was just sooperb! Work was very good, touch wood. And I got to spend quality time with my aunt and her family. AND I GOT TO PARTY WITH THE TOTE, and some other sooper peoples!!! Mrs. Tote pointed out that now we've partied in 4 states... oh I just remembered its actually 5 now! ...don't ask what the significance of it is, its just an observation.

After spending FAR TOO MUCH time with each other The Linguini and I finally got a well deserved break from each other! I went to spend the weekend with my Mum in Mussoorie, and she with her Mum in Jaipur. Was just sooperb to be there after 5 years! Nothing's changed! The air's sooo fresh and cold, cold, cold!! Met the sweetest people there... family life is SO different up in Hill Schools! I do hope that someday I'll teach and live on campus - I miss that life. Also dragged an old friend up there with me, so we got to spend some quality time together - sober, in a train, with no where to escape!

Got back to Delhi and spent the morning rummaging thru shoes shops in Pahar Ganj! Couldn't have been happier! For all the Malls we're selling, I'm still a street junky at the end of the day!

Sooper Totes, Fine Wines & Groovy Movies!

2006-02-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

I'm just getting over what turned out to be a sooperb weekend. What almost began with me being home-alone and spooked by my imagination, couldn't have gotten better!

Mr. & Mrs. Tote called just in time to save me from driving myself insane! While waiting for them I (repeat) watched 2 chick-flicks (as much as I hate the word "chick" how else can one describe Along Came Polly & Coyote Ugly!) And then stayed up a little with them catching up on the goss! Saturday was the usual with work. But I got back to many bottles of wine waiting to be drunk! For all of you who drop by with wine - we finally got ourselves a cork-screw opener (thanks to Mr. Tote)! The rest of the evening was spent listening to some sooper jazz @ The Octopus Garden! Got home and drank some more wine and watched House of D... must watch people, its just SO nice!

Sunday... lazy morning, lazy brunch! Watched The Shining. Visited my grand-aunt and uncle in hospital and really enjoyed my afternoon with her. She's looking stronger and has her sense of humour back, so that was a great sign! Hopefully she should be back home today. Spent another wonderful evening listening to Boomsa and drinking some even finer wine!! The was some really really good shit... Californian White, blah blah flah flah! Then after ages we went to Jaymahal Palace - I love that place! And I finally stayed at The Ostrichouse with The Totes! Was a sooperb weekend, thankew dear Ostrichy & The Totes & The Gander... been a long time, yeah!

Zooo hooo....

2006-02-08T05:48:00.000-08:00

This one's for the benefit of DEAR ZU! Who blogs all day and works all night, and wonders why the fuckeroonie she has to work soooo late?!!!!

I'm done with work, or atleast I've decided I'm not going to do anymore work today, and tomorrow will simply have to deal with the consequences as it may! Oops, it seems I'm losing it! Zoo just pointed that out. Anyway here's proof...

It seems I have nothing really to say! And I guess thats a good sign... nothing's really worrying me right now. No sappy love story. No work stress. No money matters that are worth trying to sort out. No heart break. No new love interest, uhh...addendum* - No love interest. No hang-over. No brother troubles! (There you go Fingers, your day of glory... finally a mention on Tartrazina!).

Nothing worth whining about even! Sigh... this is going to be a pleasant evening! In fact I'm going to meet Rod Steward!!! No wonder I'm so content... will let you know how that goes!

So long folks!

*is this a real word?? is it the same as amendment?

No time to blog...

2006-02-07T04:49:00.000-08:00

...so much going on. So here are some disconnected excerpts...

First off Happy Birthday to The Linguini... before the day is over!
Its 6pm and I'm still hung over... from last night... from Sunday afternoon and karaoke night ... from Saturday's drunkenness under the stars... from Friday night at home... I can't drink anymore and I need shitloadsa sleep!!!
This is the first entire week (since December) that I haven't left the city!!! Yippeeeee!!!! Its good to be home..
I have one 82yr old grand aunt and one 70yr old uncle in opposite wards in the same hospital, and I've been too busy working late and then unwinding (like a cork-screw) to even visit them.
Every night I've woken up dehydrated and glugged back a mug full of water!
I bought myself silver kohlapuri chappals... they look like a bit like cooking foil! I once had sandals that looked like bathroom tiles.
I've postponed my re-entry to The Gym for 6 days so far... I'm doing quite good at the escape game.
I've been having the strangest dreams off late... last night I dreamt I got a new boss and I was just thrilled to be working with her... and then she turns out to be Cyrus' cousin... (he aint a blogger, so I'm assuming he'll never read this... and won't mind me mentioning his name) ...anyway, I'm thinking to myself, WTF is Cyrus and his imaginary cousin doing in my dream???!
Work's going good... the travel has been good - for work and play!
I laaaaav Mahesh Lunch Home (or whatever its called). 10 points to the Tandoori Prawns!
The big sister's preggers again! May be I can get Aaliyah now??! My brother-in-law once made it very clear that if anything ever happened to him & my sister I wasn't the first choice for Aaliyah's guardian - even tho' I AM HER GODMOTHER! Anyway, tho that does depress me no end, reading what I've just typed above, how could I expect him to chose me :-( ...I guess I'll be ready for more responsibilty some day.
Taxes are screwing me over!!! Why do I HAVE to be a law abiding, tax paying citizen? Now I know why people have bitched about these roads and fly-overs and this fuck-all infrastructure!!!! Spit in your eyes you crap-all good-for-nothings!

Breathe... relax... the end.

ARE WE CHILL?

2006-01-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

... I can finally say "we are"! And that makes me so happy!

After years of battling with my heart, I think I can say I've moved on... Well let me not be over confident, but I can feel it - honestly, this time!

HNY!

2006-01-05T02:24:00.000-08:00

I'm taking the easy way out, but I figure I'll never do justice to the awesome NY we had in Goa... I'm still reeling in the feeling!! But Banana's done a rather splendid job capturing the moments pre-post the stoke of midnight that day! So here's her post!

My long over due recap of 2005:

2006-01-03T23:24:00.000-08:00

January - woke up with a terrible hangover on the 1st morning! And decided to quit drinking for a month! And what a lousy month to choose! Had 80 bottles of my favourite white wine chilling in my bath tub when we attended a conference in Bombay! There were ~ 5 bars serving the fanciest booze ever! 2 days after the conference I gave in to ALL temptation - 'twas an awesome frikken trip! And the stress of sending a Christmas parcel ( and letter actually) that I decided rather late in the day was a BAD idea! ...it eventually did come back to me due to postal error :o) "...life has a funny way of helping you out!"

February - Work! Walking in the park with The Gander!! Work! Sting! The Viking :o)

March - OH HAPPY DAY... when I was born!!! Had the most insane Pimps & Tarts party to celebrate the life & times of Tartrazina!

April - I begin to BLOG! And how!!!

May - More work! The excitement of my "phoren" holiday... visa issues, ticket issues, travel agents, money changing, travel insurance - driving me round the bend!!! ...the depressing news that I wasn't illegible for a Youth Travel Card! In the middle there was Joe Satriani to cheer me up! And of course some very expensive sms flirting!!! Thought I learnt my lesson... choose an India number over ISD!

June - Hyderabad.... Dubaaaaaaaaiiii..... London!!!! Awesome! Wedding! Nieceling... cousins... family... far away friends... losing money... beer... beer.... beer... Garlic & Shots... Pitcher & Piano... Billy Blues... moroccan bath... desert safari... Buckingham Palace's 25 ft wide gate... FAME!!!!

July - Reality....phew... exhaustion! Sha finally gets through to me and tells me about her Mum... tears... tears... tears... prayers.

August - Really bitten by the travel bug... Calcutta to spend time with Sha & her Ma. Mangalore , Mysore! And then some more Mysore and some more Mysore! Work sure kicked in!

September - the South India extravaganza continues... with a little bit of Bombay thrown in for spice... met my India sms flirt buddy! Damn, thats when I really learnt my lesson.... keep it simple... LOCAL messages ONLY!!!!

October - Work! Gym! Also, some great work travel to God's own country, and ya obviously more MYSORE!!!! Work! Gym! Gokarnaaaaaaaaaaa... finally home... sea-food & beers... Gym! Gym! Gym! Hot & sweaty Tartrazina meets The Viking again... remembers what its like to flirt in real life :o)

November - Coorg was lovely... minus the 5 flat tyres!! Work! Gym! Peaches... the best hair cut I've ever had!!!

December - Now I'm sad its over :o( ...flew right past me. Deserves a special report, so here goes... My most favouritest month of the year began with Christmas carols & some decos & then quickly got over taken by work, travel, family, friends ... all of which was overwhelming! ~ Bombay was better than most trips! ~ Was in close touch with my best friends from school ... Sha, Shruts and KP... prayers and tears and songs and laughter for Aunty Sita who eventually passed away on December 18th. Eventually made it to the funeral which was like no other I've even heard off... everything was perfect. She had a smile on her face as she lay asleep. Was my first ever trip to a crematorium and it sounds ridiculous, but the whole experience was just beautiful... After which we had brunch at The Tolly Club, basking in the sun and remembering the good times. Everything right down to the burying of her ashes was just such an extraordinary experience. Extraordinary woman.

Got back to work with a trip to Hyd enroute to Bangalore... work couldn't have been more hectic at a more inappropriate time! I mean who wants to work when your entire family is at your home for Christmas!!! Anyway, Christmas was awesome thanx to my darling niecling!!! She's just gorgeous... she is! And then we (me and my homies) were off to Goa for The Rascal's Wedding! And, phew..... WHAT A TRIP! Benaulim beach... blisssss.... beers.... sunshine... waves.... tan... skinny dipping... swimming out faaaaaaar... Nine Bar ...Dominiks ... Coco's .... The German ... foot massages ... raver gear .... going commando ... the most awesome rum soaked wedding cake .... whiskey ... dancing like maniacs ... sunset ... dawn .... pink bellied sea-gulls in the morning light .... dolphins ... puppiesssssss .... The Lady & The Tart ... sand ... sea-food.... MY GOD, I couldn't have asked for a better way to end 2005 and start the new one .... sigh...