leave for goa in a few days. a&s have already bought some boardgames to bring along so we can play at the resort. she said she'd go back to the store tomorrow. i said she should give me a call when she's there so i can tell her what's good and what's not. i feel useful :).
khan market happened for the first time today. it was great. busy and crowded. a million shops but not one that sells you what you want to buy. the usual :).
agreed that yoga, massage, swimming, walking - all in the last 24 hours must have contributed to tiring me out yesterday evening, but i was fine when i left work. then followed an hour's drive back home. even if the roads were not terribly bumpy (except in places), and even if the ac was on (though it was devastatingly hot outside), i slowly died in that hour.
came back, plopped down on the bed for the 20 mins i had before more yoga. thankfully, there was time for a mango milkshake (with real alfonso mangoes - i have renewed love for alfonsos now, especially in milkshakes). but i still couldn't do all the yoga i intended, cos i was hurting already from afore-listed exercises. my yoga instructor left when i assured him i could do the pranayaam on my own, and i instantly went and plopped on the bed again - with some ice this time.
in minutes i was asleep - and this was at 6.30pm. was woken up to eat dinner. ate some fantastic eggplant, aloo beans and rajma (ooooh it was delicious) and instantly returned to the bed. got off it this morning at 7.
that's 12 hours of sleep. i never sleep 12 hours. 9, maybe 10, not 12. all from that one drive home? isn't that nuts?
p.s. i also awoke at 3am from a most interesting dream. decided to somehow type out bits and pieces so i would not forget it. the process of opening one's eyes to look at the glare of the laptop is something else, in the middle of one's sleep that is, and when it is pitch dark otherwise.
there is a person with the same name as me who works for a bank in singapore. often, i get mail that was intended for her. this time, the mail seemed to be of some importance (well, not really - it was about party plans for a weekend :) so i thought i should write back to the sender saying i wasn't the intended party.
here's what i wrote (to sender and to the namesake, at her work email):
Wrong address. Sorry! :)and here's the response i received from aforementioned sender:
X – I think I might end up getting a lot of mail intended for you. I do try to tell people that I'm not the person they're looking for. Maybe there are other Xs as well whose mail I might be getting.
Best,
You're very kind..I never write such polite emails when people email me by mistake - not that I'm rude, but not this polite! This is gonna change my life..Apologies for emailing you ..it may not really change his life, but that he so embraced my politeness is definitely going to encourage me to be polite the next time and the next... the world needs more of these people, for sure!
thanks
tragically, i haven't played grab ever since i left. i have found some pleasant alternatives though. now, i am forever looking at words around me to see how they could be rearranged with a letter or two. and there is never a shortage of words around me, of course.
yesterday, for instance, i came up with these -
table - ballet
salt - slate, tales, tails, etc.
seacod - coasted
medicos - comedies
maggi - gaming - imaging
...
(there were more, but i'm forgetting now)
isn't it a good thing that the world is filled with words? earlier i was only obsessive about numbers - taking any two and thinking up all sorts of relations between them e.g. edit distance between my license plate and theirs etc. and, of course, the world is filled with numbers as well. now i am kept occupied on all long drives - to gurgaon, noida, etc. if nothing else, there's the sudoku. in fact, there are plenty sudokus because there are plenty newspapers.
on the topic of newspapers, i just love indian newspapers. they talk about everything - from india news to celeb news to fitness regimes to interior decoration to how to prepare for a speech... etc. and more importantly, i can understand and relate to it all. (not the celeb news - that's most fun for not being able to relate to :).
these days there's tons of excitement over "kaun banega rashtrapati?". sonia ji is, as usual, playing her games, and the rest of the country is, as usual, allowing her to. anyway, spice adds to variety in life :).
today was my first working day at idiscoveri. a week ago i had visited their office to understand what they do and what my responsibilities would entail. a day before that i had talked to shweta (a founder) about what i could potentially work on at the organization.
although i had started work - designing language curriculum for grade 4 students - last week already, today was my first day as an employee (of sorts). in a matter of minutes i had a desk, a chair, an internet connection, and a friendly neighbor. another few minutes and i had a notebook and a pen (a reynolds ball-point, mind you... not just any old pen). the atmosphere there is perfect. people are friendly, smiling. they are chics all over the windows to make the sunlight a lot milder and a lot more beautiful. there is water, tea, coffee whenever you want it. a cafeteria that rocks - the food is no richer than food made at home, and everyone washes their own dishes. water was bisleri and chilled, so i had no qualms drinking it. there is a library downstairs that has the most amazing children's fiction. it's a good thing i'm such a fan. i have borrowed a book for my own reading this weekend - ruskin bond's "treasury of stories for children".
at 3 there was a farewell (cake and all) for someone who was moving and therefore quitting. that was nice. i didn't get introduced to everyone today, but that's alright. as long as they are all smiling faces, i don't care much for their names.
the downside is that the office is a good distance from home - it takes me 50 minutes when traffic is good. possibly double that when traffic is bad. but i won't be doing the commute for another 10 days or so, so not a big deal. i'm almost sad about that now...
as for the work - there is something oddly fulfilling about creating curriculum that is to be used in schools to teach 9-year olds. it is by no means a daunting task, nor challenging, to create something. but it does mean a fair amount of work to create something that would work - from the perspective of the teacher as well as that of the students. it is also very meditative in some respects to be working on english. i get to read the poem/short-story/book etc. and really think about it, about the reading process, the comprehension process, how the work can be extended by the students, etc. yes, it is a very fulfilling experience.
and this when just two days ago i was whining about how much work there was to do, and how i was just completely unable to get myself tuned to it. now, i'm very tuned. i also love my supervisor, my workplace, and the food :). as well as the abundant presence of people everywhere that gives me so many many opportunities to interact with humans - the chowkidaar, the receptionist, the librarian, the cooks, the chai-wala, the tech assistant, and all the people who work there.
i'm done.
i am assuming the role for the time being :). numbers might help convince. yesterday, i did 3 hours of yoga in the day (morning and evening) and started my swimming for the summer with a 0.5 hour swim. i also got a massage that lasted 1.5 hours and did its share of burning calories passively ;). my chinese dinner didn't help though, with the abundance of oil, but at least it was filled with tons of vegetables.
the swimming pool at the gymkhana is so very spiffy. they have proper changing rooms, and proper showers (like real bathroom-like showers) and a common area inside with chairs, etc. to sit in, dry your hair, etc. etc. i was most impressed. looking forward to a summer of swimming there already.
i wish the chinese restaurants there (in the u.s. that is) would learn to make fried chili potatoes. they so rock.
it's hard to believe i've been in india only 8-9 days. perhaps i am over-accustomed to doing 3-4 week stints, such that i now feel most of my vacation is over already. on the contrary, there is so much time, still, to do so many new things, learn so much more. cheesy as it may sound, i am loving the process of self-discovery... meeting new people, to learn new things, asking the right questions, exploring the diversity around me. i have to say i have met a more diverse set of people in the last 10 days than i have in years at stanford. even if all of these people (but one) are indian. a quick recap:
yesterday we had our first showers, and the world has acquired a greener hue... all is green and beautiful (see smugmug for more). it was even almost cold this morning, when it rained cats and dogs. the sound of the rainfall is sheer music, and when the leaves resonate due to the ferocity of the wind, one is transported to another world. no honestly....
i would have spouted more poeticness (much scope for more poetry, in any case :) but i just got called to the dinner table.
oh, and i saw aitraaz today, which was more than mildly entertaining. i thought the movie was quite fine, but it could just be me.
a quick update for posterity:
my routine, these days, involves much yoga, walking, exercises, swimming (soon to take effect), and possibly biking (in the gym). other than that, i am trying to fit in some time to do some work as well! i sleep in two installments - from 12am to 5am and 2pm to 5. i eat good, wholesome, healthy food - no fried samosas, thank you - and even ordered steamed vegetables at an indo-chinese restaurant yesterday! i also have a tanpura plugged in permanently (though occasionally replaced by "good night" to get rid of mosquitoes) and turned on often.
it's 2.15 now, i shall get to business.
stefanie maria graf. i was a fan, and always will be. there is none in the game of tennis as graceful as you, nor will there ever be.
is hot and humid. the temperature in the daytime stays in the 40s (easy 100s), as a result of which i am mostly indoors - so much so that i have not experienced the peak of the heat since arrival. the minimum temperature is still in the 30s (early 90s), so we go for our morning walks at 5.30am (getting up at 5am would have seemed a certain impossibility in my other life...) when the heat is least unbearable.
there are other pluses one owes to the heat, however. the water, for instance, is always at showerable (or bathe-able) temperature, and it is certainly most satisfying to be able to avoid expending energy to heat water. in fact, it is the funnest part of my day. i get to eat my two favourite fruits - mangoes and lychees (yum!). and i don't need to walk around in a comforter. life, as i see it, rocks!
the city awaits pre-monsoon showers with much desperation though. naturally. t is comfortably ensconced in a houseboat in the most pleasant valleys of kashmir for this week, and i'm so j. she will be back, and man, won't it be a shock - muahahahahaa :).
well, delhi is little more than heat, for me at present, and as for the heat - that was all i had to report. i'll keep you updated on the showers. until then, over and out.
p.s. i heard the bay area is super hot these days as well. imagine that temperature in the night, and worse!
i'm home. and for once, not subconsciously running a countdown, and that's the best part :).
la was wonderful, with the kids. took lots of pictures (lots and lots), more when i realized it was getting me out of doing house-work, muahahahahaa :).
the journey from la to delhi was amazingly smooth. i had an entertaining, enlightening conversation with the person sitting next to me - a 40-something romanian, living in la. i told him how i really wanted to see romania, after the advertisements i saw in the national geographic traveler. he's a die-hard traveler and has seen 61 countries. it was lovely talking to him about his experiences. frankfurt was awesome as well, just for the german i got to hear in plenty.
i got home, unpacked, had tea, talked to my parents, did back exercises, and then from 11-7 just slept :). i have set up my marvelous little netgear router so that i can blog in bed :).
delhi is suffering from a heat wave these days. it was apparently 45 degrees today, not that i experienced any of it. i was just indoors all day, and the fan was enough for me. right now life couldn't be more perfect, especially with the radio playing off the tv - all these wonderful old songs.
that will be all for now. i hope you're all having a wonderful time...
am done reading the set of short stories. some of them were mildly touching, some of them were blah. i felt like they all sort of had the right build-up, but seemed to simply fall off the edge without a good enough climax.
anyway, this book was a birthday present to me 6.5 years ago. i am pleased to say it has finally been read, that's all.
a while ago, when trb and i talked about the namesake, she told me about her favorite part of the book that had been omitted in the movie. she told me it was at the time when ashoke had come to the u.s. married, with wife in tow, and how he did not fully value her presence until he went with her to his previous landlady's house and she looked ashima up and down and called her a real lady... that from that day on, he had started to love and respect her.
as i was reading the book, i was looking forward to reading about this episode. but it never came, and i was soon done reading the book. how mysterious, i thought... perhaps i had simply skipped that part unknowingly somehow.
the mystery was solved shortly after, as i embarked upon the interpreter of maladies. i thought it would be an easier read now, since i was already very well acquainted with her style of writing. by some luck, i started from the last story, because the last time i had started from the beginning, and not gotten very far. it is this last story that had caused trb's memory lapse, this is where the above episode was from.
i love it when mysteries get solved almost as soon as they are created. so it is with keys, at least mine. soon as i happen to declare that my keys are mysteriously lost, i find them staring back at me. somehow. and it always seems like such a miracle :).
