These happy days are yours and mine, happy days!

Well I must say that as days go, this one has been fine and dandy so far!

A typical day for me goes something like this:

• Get up at some unearthly hour in the morning to one of the following - Taika licking my face or - Taika barking in my ear or - Taika trying to nudge me awake with some miscellaneous article of my clothing that she will rip to pieces if I do not get up and chase her around the house.
• Remain grouchy and sleepy till my morning coffee comes.
• Try and get online only to invariably find that my BSNL connection is, as usual, not working.
• Faff around till the time that I'm supposed to be at work and then run like crazy and get ready.
• Drive like a maniac and curse the living daylights out of everyone in my way.
• Fight for parking space with the watchman. Every single day.
• Somehow get through work - by drinking countless cups of coffee, chatting (online and on the phone), browsing, pretending not to sleep.
• Try and leave as early as possible but normally end up staying till at least 7:30-8.
• Contemplate going to the gym - and decide against it as always.
• Take the dog for a walk.
• Sleep.

Today however has been different - so far anyway:

• Woke up with the absence of tongues (no comments please), barking or clothing in my face. Either all that had happened and I'd slept through it anyway or Taika's just fed up of me.
• Sprang out of bed and ended up having breakfast with my dad which was great as I rarely get to spend time with him.
• Got online because miraculously BSNL worked!
• Was actually ready on time for work for once and was even waiting to get there after 4 days of sitting joblessly at home (I was sick).
• Drove peacefully to work, beaming (somewhat scarily maybe) at fellow commuters and singing to 'Beautiful Day' really loudly. I love U2.
• Arrived at work only to find that there was all the parking space in the world.
• And that the Big Boss B was out of town for the day so there was noone to breathe down my neck and make me all tense.
• Lunch with KC at 'Subway' for which he was only 20 minutes late - a record really by his standards - normally when I'm meeting him anywhere I'm resigned to waiting for at least 45 minutes. And we got free ice cream! And different flavours at that - mint and M&M and tiramisu!
• Even the weather seemed to be holding out - it was nice and breezy when I got out of Subway and started pouring only after I was safely inside office.
• At about 4:30 checked in with the Boss (not to be confused with Big Boss B) whether there was anything to send out. And there wasn't.
• So finished reading 'Tortilla Flat' by John Steinbeck in the one and a half official remaining work hours for the day. (I seem to have become a bit of a bookworm. Read '100 years of solitude', 'Love in the time of cholera', 'Of mice and men', 'Animal farm' and 'Tortilla Flat' in the span of two weeks. No mean feat I assure you.)
• Left at 6 sharp. A lot of people at work shot me dirty looks on my way out. Muaahahahaha.
• Again, the rain obligingly held out till I reached back home. I hate driving in the rain when there's traffic. Though there's something about it that makes me think that I'm in a Jewel video.
• Realized that in about a week, Angel will be back. And a few days after that, Madman will arrive. Hopefully, with a lot of gifts for me.
• Also realized that tomorrow's a Saturday. I love weekends!
• Heck with this kind of day, I may even make it to the gym. Or not. Probably not.

Yep, its been a pretty good day!

Bombay Express

A couple of days ago I was looking through a friend’s college photographs and all of a sudden this big wave of nostalgia came and hit me bang in the middle of my face…college in India is a different experience altogether…not for us are the novelty of spring breaks and Thanksgiving…but just the feeling of being somewhere in between a child and an adult that is indescribable…

I want to go back to the city which never sleeps. I want my biggest problem to be whether to go for my 8 o clock lecture or not. I want to sleep during classes and hit snooze without feeling guilty. I want to be able to drink from 11 in the morning if I want to. I want to go for the 1, 4, 7 & 10 shows of movies because I have nothing better to do. I want to stroll down Colaba causeway and bargain with Malayali vendors for fake sunglasses which I know that I will never buy. I want to sit on Marine Drive the whole night and drink endless cups of chai and watch the sun rise. I want to not have to bargain for cabs and autos ever. I want to go to a pub where I can listen to some really good music. I want to watch amateur theatre and afterwards rip it to shreds and dissect it. I want to fight for the first seat on the top deck of a double decker bus and feel the dusty wind tangle up my hair. I want to feel the panic of not having so much as a text book the day before my final exams. I want to sit on the window ledge of my rented room and stare at the smoggy night sky and daydream. I want to be able to sleep in the afternoons and watch mindless soap operas which seem to be reserved only for that time.

I miss the smells and the noise and the hustle and the incredible energy that surrounds everyday life in Bombay. I miss being able to take off whenever and wherever I want to. I miss vada pav and bhel puri and roadside sandwiches and frankies. I miss ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Gokuls’ and all the shadiest of bars that we used to go and drink in whenever we had no dough. I miss eating in cheap mallu joints where you got the best beef in the world. I miss smoking at the bus stand outside college and the Midday crossword that I used to faithfully do every single day (mainly because it cannot get easier than that). I miss the shoe shops on Kemps Corner and the milkshakes at Haji Ali and the strawberries and cream at Bachelor’s. I miss karaoke at ‘Jazz’ and pickled chicken and spicy pork pizza at Pizzeria. I miss the old buildings of South Bombay – they are so elegantly beautiful. I miss knowing the order of stations from Church Gate to Mulund (Church Gate, Marine Lines, Charni Road, Grant Road, Bombay Central…). I miss the independence that comes with simple things like being able to take a cab alone at one in the morning if needed. I miss the anonymity and the feeling of being lost among the crowds. I miss night shows at ‘Sterling’ and ‘Regal’ and the rolls at Bade Miyan’s after a night at the ‘Ghetto’. I miss knowing that no matter what happens nothing will break down and life will go on. I miss the concerts at Rang Bhavan. I miss sneaking into the hostel to catnap and eating mess food with exotic names like ‘Egg Mauritian’ and ‘Egg Burmese’. I miss wide pavements and wider roads. I miss breakfast at Mondy’s and beer at Leo’s and Starters. I miss not caring what I wore to class and loose jeans and short kurtas and oshos and oversized bags stuffed with nothing. I miss getting drenched in the rains and sitting in cold draughty classrooms and shivering my ass off. I miss Orange and Jahangir Art Gallery and familiar bus routes and Barista and a million other things.

I miss Bombay.

Writer's block

I have to write an invite to Dan Weiden...Dan Weiden! Ok that may mean nothing to most but in advertising terms he's huge...and somehow or the other I have to convince him, never mind why, to come halfway around the world to Madras...and I have no idea what on earth to say...I mean there are all these ideas flowing in and out of my head...actually there are about a million - my head at the moment is reminiscent of a cricket stadium during an India - Pakistan match with everyone pushing each other to get a better view...but on paper...aarrgh...nothing's coming out right...

And instead I think of
- The random guy I met this morning who said he'd seen me at "the blues"...what on earth that is I have no idea.
- The conversation I had with my boss yesterday, which I'm sorry was too weird, where he told me that I was an attractive young woman and hence should be careful of my office interactions. Hahaha.
- For the nth time do I move to Bangalore or not. Great job, money's good, I'd be working with my old boss who I love. What's holding me back?
- Why my shower just does not work like its supposed to. Is a hot water bath too much to ask for?
- I need to take Taika to the vet. I'm sure her ear infection is back again.
- The Christmas decorations that are being put up in my office are just too ugly for words.
- Why I get the worst clients? Why? Why?
- Is million-watt hyphenated or not.
- I need new shades. And reading glasses. And a watch and work clothes. And the money to buy them.
- What in the world do the lyrics of 'Cornflake Girl' mean?
- My presentation war with KC. I can't wait to kick his ass.
- A regular 9 to 6 job. My new obsession is to find one.
- Madman's going to be here for a whole month. Yayy! I can talk to him everyday if I want to. We are so going to kill each other by the end of it.
- Whether my chappals go with what I'm wearing.
- My mother who is a sweety and who I'm really really missing right now.
- Why it is assumed that when people are single they must be looking out for someone to be with.
- When I'm feeling so low that I just want to break down and cry, conversations with Moron make all the difference.
- Coffee. In desperate need of the daily afternoon dose.
- Why we give deadlines that there's no way we can stick to.

One things for sure - I chose the right line of work. I can talk about random things with no end in sight - a prerequisite for my job. There's no way I'd have made it as a copy writer.