Keeping Track 2011 Part 2

We had just come back from the Bahamas cruise and life was just getting back to the daily humdrum. We worked like dogs on the weekdays and chilled at home on the weekends. Worked hard, play hard had become the name of the game. We spent our weekends catching up with family and friends and sleeping. I don’t remember exactly when but sometime in February or March, Punni called and invited us to her brother’s engagement party in Illinois. I wanted to go. It had been a while since we had seen them. I kept ranting about how she had promised she would come visit us but hadn’t and how we should go see her. The thing is, they live too far away. If only the United States was smaller. Anyhow, they had not decided the date yet but I promised her that I would go.

In the meantime, my good friend K from work asked me if I was interested in going to Paris with her. She had planned a trip later last year with her husband but it had not worked out. This time, her plan was that she would go for a few days, perhaps a long weekend. My gut reaction was a yes. You see, when you are married, your gut reactions usually have to also think about your other half. I told her I was mostly in, but I would get back to her later. I went home and talked to B about this girls trip I wanted to take. His thought was that I should go if I wanted to go. Great, done. I called K back and told her I was in. Before I knew it, we were thinking “Hey, if we are going to Paris, might as well stopover in another city on the way.” We picked London. London and Paris it was. Next, we picked possible dates. Turned out, we were both off around the same time in April. Searching and booking of tickets was done quickly and efficiently. We would leave on a Wednesday and return on a Monday. Done.

Soon after this was planned, Punni called to let us know that her brother’s engagement party was scheduled. It happened to be just Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping Track 2011

2011 has been full of events so far and as I was talking about these events that took place, a patient asked if I kept a journal. I don’t. It would definitely be a good idea to keep track of all that has happened this year, and so much has!

2011 started off quiet with a colder than usual winter and in anticipation of our first cruise. The planning that went into this cruise was something. B and I argued back and forth about going. I, as usual, wanted to go for a full week and B, as usual, wanted to go just for the weekend. Actually, if he had his way he wouldn’t want to go at all. Leaving work for him is too hard. Its not that he does not like to travel, but he is reluctant to leave the daily business with someone else. So after several weeks of bickering and nagging on my part, B finally agreed to go on a cruise. He said two days was okay and I said fine, we will go for four. I think he knows that if he settles for two days off, I will make him take four. And I think he was okay with going for four days but was afraid that if he said four, I would book it for eight. Ah well, we have now learnt to make our compromises.

The cruise was our first ever and as we went through check in and immigration procedures, it felt like we were going away to a far far away land. We found out later that the closest Bahamas island was Read the rest of this entry »

Bread Pakode ki Kasam

Band Baaja Baaraat is the latest romcom and also a hit from the YRF camp. I think the movie resonates with so many people because the characters are very real, the situations very real, and the things they do are what normal people would do like eating Bread Pakoda. It was also funny to see when Bittoo Sharma ordered their lunch, “do manchurian, ek veg, ek chicken, do chow mien, ek veg, ek chicken” That’s usually our order! Everytime, we order from the Thai place around the corner, I say “Two Pad Khi Maos one veg and one chicken” Anyhow, that’s not what this is about.

There is another scene in the beginning where Bittoo Sharma is trying to convince Shruti Kakkar to make him her business partner and swears on Bread Pakoda that he won’t be hitting on her and they will just remain business partners.

I did not grow up in the North and have no idea what Bread Pakoda even tastes like. It looked quite yummy while they were eating it. Ofcourse, as soon as Bittoo Sharma says “bread pakode ki kasam” my hubby says “can you make this at home? I haven’t had it in a long time” I roll my eyes thinking chalo one more food demand. Yet another thing he misses from back home and we can’t get it here. So I asked him to describe what it tasted like.

Here is the exact description he gave me: Read the rest of this entry »

Will Indian languages die one day?

As B and I sat eating the lunch buffet at an Indian restaurant the other day, there were four Indian professionals at a table eating, chatting, and generally having a good time. As we eavesdropped on their conversation, B said something that got me thinking. He said that if this was a group of four Chinese people, or German people, or French, they would be talking in their native languages. But this was a group of Indians and that’s why they were talking in English. I said to him that maybe they all are from different parts of India and possibly may not understand each others mother tongue, so they chose to talk in English which is their common ground. Just as I said that they switched to Hindi for a brief moment and then back to English. B said that they could be talking in Hindi, because it is in fact the national language. Why not Hindi? Why English?

It is true. You go shopping in Mumbai and speak Hindi at a nice department store and they look at you like Read the rest of this entry »

4 this week

So I am already lagging behind on my resolution deal. I am not surprised. To make up for it, I will make four posts this week. This counts as post #1.