Seahorses and empty houses

What does a seahorse symbolize?

In the last couple of weeks, I have been asked this question often. After my diligent Internet search, I believe the answer is that a seahorse represents an independent, free spirit; unattached and untethered. Yet, seahorses have a strong protective instinct towards their family! Going by this, seahorses and I are a perfect match, and for that I am glad!

It has been a while since I felt like writing just for myself. Whatever writing energy I had in the past two months has been directed towards reports, plans and exams. Hey, I am a student, and I have the right to bitch about it! But there is definitely something about the Halloween weekend.This post celebrates just about a year of writing for me, and I am glad to have stumbled into the blogosphere. The blogging experience has often been like talking to the *imaginary* friend. The idea that someone may read what I am saying and understand what I am feeling is quite liberating, and exhilarating! Oh yeah, and it is often very scary! But somehow, its working out for me.

So what has changed in a year? A lot, but definitely not enough. Did I change? Yes, I learnt that I should know how to pick my battles. Like the prayer goes (read below), I hope I have learned that fighting a one sided battle for some things does not really help. I love a good fight, but indifference? That just pulls me down and I am not going there anymore. In no way does this mean that I run from my fights, but it just limits the resources I put in them. I don't know about gaining graceful acceptance (actually I have been told I pretty much suck at that, at last check); but, well, hopefully I have time left still. 

There is something about an empty house with a sleeping cat who refuses to acknowledge my presence, and also refuses to leave that makes me write. A year ago, it was a house with two roommates sleeping inside.

Nothing really changes, does it?

For anyone who is interested, this is the (commonly accepted) original version of the Serenity Prayer:

"God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.


Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as He did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next."

Mera Bombay, Aamchi Mumbai!

Which is your favorite city? Mumbai!

Where are you from? Bombay, and Ajmer!

Do you want to go back to India? Yes, to Mumbai!

What do you call the city? Mumbai or Bombay? 

I call it my city, my home.

My city has such a firm foothold in my heart that these answers are very easy! But the one question I have not yet been able to address eloquently is why. Why do I love Mumbai? One would think that reasons would come pouring out, but surprisingly, they don't. 

The real reason is so intrinsically tied to the Spirit of Mumbai, that elusive lady who wraps you in the cocoon of her charm even before you realize it. She is strong, sensuous, scandalous, surprisingly sweet, oh and she is fast! Actually, I don't think she travels at anything less than breakneck speed, and somewhere along the way she invented the "time is money" motto that rules life in her city. She gets hurt often - riots, bomb blasts, floods, shootings - but her recovery rate, like everything here, is accelerated! 

Emotions run deep in Mumbai - may they be joy, victory, festivity, or anger. Mumbai does not celebrate any festival half-heartedly, we are crazy about our Govinda, we pray and then go eat at Mohammed Ali Road during Ramadan, we love our favorite Ganpati bappa, we burn Raavan's effigy on Dussehra, we dazzle on Diwali, we adore the midnight mass on Christmas, we party to bring in the New Year, and we are awash in color on Holi! If that is not enough celebration, we also also do our Sankranti, Easter, Chaat Pooja, Hanukkah, Navroze, Rakhi, the Prithvi Theatre festival, the Kala Ghoda festival... and on it goes!

And before you tell me, yes there is Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum. Yes, the trains are crowded. Very crowded. The traffic is terrible. I also know about the potholes. Yes, sometimes not speaking Marathi can be a problem. Yes, the heat and the monsoon floods. The hawkers and the beggars. Blah blah blah.

Did I ever say it is the perfect city?

There are numerous reasons why I love Bombay, now that I think of it. The problem is, if I start listing them out (I tried), it reads like my personal Lonely Planet guide to Mumbai. That simply does not capture the friendliness of the people, nor does it capture the calm feeling of sitting by the sea with the breeze in your face, and it absolutely does not capture the whirlwind of colors and lights that decorate the city! There is this energy that sustains the city, gives it that extra zing, and pulses in every nook of this metropolis. The word on the streets is survive, and the word in the boardrooms is succeed; both often interchangeable.

I miss the trains, with hands that extend to pull you in, the aunty who grabs you tightly because she is worried that you may fall off, the "I am living an adventure" feeling when only about a fourth of you is actually in the train! I miss the freedom of being able to walk out at 2 in the night and take a rickshaw ride along the sea on Carter Road, saying a quick prayer at Mount Mary, and returning home again, perfectly safe. The bargaining sessions at Colaba Causeway and Linking Road. The revitalized feeling I get after spending an hour in my favorite Agyari. I miss eating coconut ice-cream while sitting next to a celebrity, and other similar small pleasures!

Oh, and I deeply, viciously, miss bombil fry and Joey's Pizza. 

This and more, is what I love about Mumbai!

ऐ दिल, है मुश्किल जीना यहाँ; ज़ारा हटके, ज़ारा बचके, ये है बम्बई मेरी जान!

dangers and desires, in the dark

Some conversations in the middle of a lonely night bring about more revelations than hours of chatting in the sunlight. There is something about the sinuous embrace of darkness which makes thoughts easier to share. There is an illusion of safety which allows hidden feelings to bubble up, over and out. No wonder, moon-lit nights are preferred for stealth and serenades alike!

I believe that we all are alike in our desires, deep down. Unless you are a misanthrope, we desire to meet people who are similar to us, emotionally. Oh, there is a complementary 'opposites attract' theory also. As I see it, these opposites stem from the same source, and therein lies the similarity.

'Its a dangerous thing to know someone like you (or me) is out there.'

This remark of a friend made me think how vulnerable we are to this innermost desire of finding people who 'connect' with us. I hope you are lucky enough to find such people, may they be friends, family, a teacher, or a random stranger on a train; and that you are smart enough to realize it. The bumps on the road ahead will be less bumpy thanks to all the extra support you have under your tush!

Along with the charms of such cozy links, come the dangers of being open and vulnerable to another person. It ain't easy to let go of the inhibitions, and once I let go, I expect the same from the other person. An inability to do so, is danger #1. The thought of rejection, as if the other person doesn't care, is danger #2. The painful part is, that rejections bring back all the clamps and inhibitions, multiplied. That after this cycle, I will withdraw even more into my emotional shell, is danger #3. These people are in the trusted circle, so any backlash in unexpected. This unseen danger, is my danger #4.

Now why am I gushing on about this?

I have been blessed as at each stage of my life, I have found people who I could share my innermost feelings with! Oh sure, this has backfired a couple of times, leaving painful scars. Time goes on, scars heal. New places, new people, new friends meet. Old friends call, chat and email. If you are lucky (like me!), these intrinsic connections remain.

Live, love, laugh; and life goes on!

I Love SF

Its been a month since I have been in San Francisco and I am luuuuving it! The energy and the diversity of the city remind me of Mumbai (my one true love), and so do the beautiful views of the SF bay. Moreover, the last few weekends reminded what it is like to live in a city again! Oh, and I found my own place to stay. So glad the search for that is over!

One of SF's claim to fame is the super-liberal environ in the city and there is no better celebration for that than the Pride Parade! Oh. My. God. - It was such an awesome experience! We walked on the streets and took a look at the very colorful lives and the history of the LGBTQ community in San Fran. There was real 'pride' here, with thousands of people along to support the rainbow movement. There were also random Christian preachers holding loud debates with the non-believers, magic brownie vendors, some very very hot gay couples, some not-so-hot naked guys and plenty of ladies displaying their charms. It was an over-whelming, sense-saturating, super-fun afternoon and I am so glad that I was a part of this quintessential SF experience!

And then there was the food adventure. Apparently, finding a nice place (close by) to sit and eat lunch on the Pride Sunday is next to impossible. So we ended up walking through a maze of streets trying to find places that Google Maps assured us would be there, only to find them shut or not open for lunch or sometimes, not existing at all! Eventually it all worked out and we ate and wine-d and beer-ed our way into a perfect Sunday. All the more reasons to love SF!

Blown away!

I am blown away, by a cold summer breeze.

It is a new place with some old friends and lots of new people. Life's changing a bit. I am in a new city, and I am loving it! Spending a year at KGI can really drain you. But an internship ain't easy either. I now get to work at 8 AM (oh my god!), hope that coffee will help me stay awake through meetings, grab a quick-ish (but yummy) lunch, go back to coffee + reading stuff and then hope I don't miss my shuttle! Get home, hang out with friends, enjoy the Lakers win with some good wine; these seem to be the good times. Then I crash, and now I understand why some 'old' working people don't want to do late nights.

What else is up? Well, another realization: I freaking hate house hunting. Hate it. Especially when I am being picky, and there ain't much choice to pick from. Grr... And the cold breeze... I kinda like it when I am all cozied up, but when its unexpected.... Brrr...

We went to a street fest in downtown SF last weekend. It was the Haight-Ashbury street fest, and man, it was an experience! The area there has a colorful history- it was (probably still is) the center of sex, drugs and roll n' rock in the 1960s. It had very interestingly named shops/hotels like the Vapor Den (sells legal pot), Amoeba, Mad Dog, the Grateful Dead house and many more. Look it up :)

Now my first week here is over, but the mind-fuck I was stuck with earlier simply doesn't leave me. Its the same stuff over and over, all sad and soppy. Brain, get out of here before I drown you in alcohol. Consider this fair warning! This reminds me: A, K and yours truly had an interesting night out partying. It was a great send-off guys (even though it wasn't meant to be one!), and I miss you all! And I am super-sad that I am missing AR Rehman's performance live in LA :(

Ta-da till the next!

Free fallin'

I am falling and I am flying high....

I can't decide which! My brain switches from one to the other without warning!

For the past week or so, I was hit by the worst case of nostalgia/home-sickness/feeling sorry for myself in a long time; and then I had an amazing Friday. One hour and five minutes was all it took to flip my luck on its head! So now, Dee is going to spend her summer in San Francisco, and is super excited about it! But a part of me is sad, there were certain aspects of staying back in Claremont, which promised to be as much fun, though in quite a different way. There is this contradiction in me which I have not been able to figure out yet: I am so unattached to so many things/people, and so attached to only a few. I am not even sure what the selection criteria is; it just is!

The past couple of weeks have been an endless series of people moving in, people moving out, people graduating, and moving on. Two weekends = Two graduation ceremonies! Standing next to these fresh graduates (with stars in their eyes :P) makes me proud of what they have achieved. I am looking forward to when I will ask them to be with me for my graduation. There is change in the air again; it's exciting, fun and scary at all once. Then last weekend, we got together (B, C, K, R and me) to go to Solvang. It is a pretty little town with original settlers from Denmark. Yummy Danish food, great trinkets to shop for, a cycle surrey ride thru' the town and some wine tasting. Throw in a beautiful drive by the coast, a gorgeous lake and a waterfall; with great conversation, laughter and Skip-Bo --> supreme perfection.

My biggest hope amongst all these changes is that this tenuous thread of friendship should not die off. It's very easy to let time and distance do their evil magic; it takes a lot of sweat and effort to maintain relationships. It is something that is weighing on my mind. Not to say that I am an expert in this; actually, judging by the present state of events, I suck! But I want a chance to try, and (hopefully) to try again. Maybe I will get one, maybe I won't. This time, I want to make it work better!

So now, for my own sake: Fingers crossed. Also, I am putting the smile back on!

Snip-Snaps from the months past...

Looking back on my posts, I seem to have missed a few steps between doing crazy fun stuff and bidding adieu to my seniors. Which was fine till I had the all-powerful excuse of KGI wringing the life-blood out of me. Damn, but I miss the place and the pace when its all over for the semester. After a year, I am glad that I am happy to be here, anyone who is still having doubts has been undergoing unnecessary torture! 'Coz this is the place where people have wacky ideas and do super-fun things together, like 12 girls setting off on a chick trip to Las Vegas! Woo-hoo!

Ah, the pleasures of not having men along with you. No one to hog the shower, nobody to protest when you spend time to get your make-up 'just right', being with people who appreciate sexy heels, no waiting in lines anywhere, bartenders getting you your drinks first, even better- guys offering to buy you your drinks, and the best part: girls encourage you to shop. Till you drop. Then they pick you up, get you a coffee, and send you out again on a mission to activate the pleasure centers of the female brain. If all those benefits don't sound enough, we also heard lovely comments like "Oh Ladies, you make this place look so pretty!" Sweet!

Vegas was exactly like it is projected to be, just much more alive and vibrant; and smack in the middle of bloody nowhere. Actually, that sort of makes it all the more impressive! Vegas has this way of luring you in with her charms, and spinning this fantasy web all around you. She tempts, and there is no escape from her temptations! The KGI ladies ate, drank and danced our shoes away. Then, to refresh our tired eyes, we went to enjoy the "Thunder from Down Under" which is basically a show with very hot, almost naked Aussies! Lasciviousness at its sizzling best! Mmmhmm. To top up the experience, the two bawis stayed up gambling little bits of their money away all night long! Hell yes, it was crazy, and worthy of being turned into a Kappa Gamma Iota tradition!

Oh, did I mention that the evening before going off to Vegas, I went to see John Mayer, live in concert? No?

Now that was another amazing experience. The crowds, the music, and the artists! Such energy! As with all great artists, his passion for creating music shows. At the end, JM treated us to a guitar solo which was smokin' hot, both musically and literally! The guitar was down on the ground, JM's intensity was palpable, and it was simply awesome. Very very wow!

There is more to come, a mish-mash of words and emotions waiting to be let out, but I thought these two good times deserved their own post. So here it is, with the pakka promise of more!