A Tale of 2 Cities

Actually, one's a city. The other is a village gone bad.

So here's what it's like when you move from Bombay to Bangalore:

In Bombay, my life revolved around train timings.
In Bangalore, it revolves around bus timings.

In Bombay, I traveled an hour to work each day.
In Bangalore, I still travel an hour to work each day.

In Bombay, things work. Autos follow meters, cops help when they try to gyp you, people are uninterfering and genuinely helpful when you ask for assistance.
In Bangalore, nothing - not one thing - works. Autos try to con you constantly, meters are for decoration only, and cops run away when you ask for help - if they're there to begin with.

In Bombay, the flyovers have already been built.
In Bangalore, they're being built... resulting in endless traffic on narrow, crowded roads.

But but but... oh, the weather. Awesome. Windy, cloudy, maximum temperature of only around 28 degrees C, perfect for tea and conversation and perhaps some Scrabble and definitely some cuddling-up-with-a-good-book-and-a-cup-of-steaming-hot-chocolate. You know?


So now that we've covered that bit, here's a quick update:
1. Quit job.
2. Had pleasant day dealing with movers and packers, ending with my throwing a fit at the way they were trying to pack my music, which in turn has probably resulted in their unloading my cartons at top speed (R17) from the maximum possible height.
3. Said tearful-cheerful goodbyes to Bombay - Bandstand in the evening and Colaba any time of day or night, Leopold's for a last chilli beef and coffee, my favourite Tibetan restaurant in Juhu for atmosphere and delectable food, last drinks with friends.
4. Flew around the country - Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore in the span of a month. And tried out Spicejet and Kingfisher - which, added to my earlier experience on Air Deccan, now makes me the country's fore-most expert on which low-cost airline to take. A post on that soon!

And of course, Kraz and Maverick have tagged me for movies and books, and I need to respond to those, so that too will happen soon.

Watch this space!

Packing, Moving, Posting and Pending

Pending posts:
1. how we made a new mastercard commercial in Goa
2. packing it in in Mumbai

Be patient, all shall be revealed.

Coffee Spoons

I'm a compulsive list-maker. I make lists of things to buy, to do, to throw away, to return, to get back from borrowers, to see, to remember, to make lists of...

So when it's time to take stock of possessions, contact packers and movers, ship everything off to unsuspecting and long-suffering friends while I traipse around the country a bit, what better way to kick off the process than by making a list? So here's the first list of the process. These are the things with which I've measured out my life over the last two years.

1. Music system, double deck (I still believe in making mixed tapes for people) and Disc-man, 1 of. Somewhat battered from 2 years on campus, but still going strong.

2. DVD player, 1 of. First investment after I started working, shows my priorities.

3. TV, 21 inches, 1 of. Brought home in a cab in the pouring rain, and carried up, pictures taken of it being installed in its new home, the modern day deity indeed!

4. Bean-bag, large, 1 of. Comfort-a-mundo!

5. Books, carton, 1 of. Boasting most volumes of Asterix, Calvin & Hobbes, and the rest, an esoteric, ecclectic collection representing book-buying whims over 2-years.

6. Music, carton, 1 of. Rock mingles with jazz, the blues light up the room, and through all of that, childhood favourites - Boots Randolph, Roger Williams and Disney tunes from The Jungle Book.

7. Lamp, tall, black, with orange shade, 1 of. Casts warm glow in shadowy room. Goes with orange bed-spread from Dilli Haat and rust-coloured curtains. Cosy!

Yep, I think it's a good collection of stuff to set up house with again. Looking forward to making new spaces mine. :)

In Which We See That Experience Is That Thing We Don't Learn From

And learn that things sometimes work out in the end.


My experience with flatmates has always been... well, a little [ imagine Psycho theme here] reeee-reeeee-reeee [Psycho theme over; if you're still hearing it, you've got issues].

So what made me think it would be any different this time? Well, perhaps the fact that I've barely met them, and this is just long-distance communication... And yet, already it's reee-reee-reee. Forcing me (and we're coming now to the crux of the matter) to be witheringly, lifetime-scarringly sarcastic. Screwing up, therefore, my chances of someone finding me a home before I actually move.

I'm almost sorry.

So anyway, what this post hasn't mentioned yet is that social gaffes are no longer an obstacle to winning jobs and influencing employers. A change is as good as a feast, as Margo said! The papers are in, the word is on the street, and there's a spring in my step.

Huzzah!

Days Like This...

"Hello, Rabbit," Pooh said, "is that you?"
"Let's pretend it isn't," said Rabbit, "and see what happens."
"I've got a message for you," said Pooh.
"I'll give it to him" said Rabbit.


~ A. A. Milne

Oh! Kolkata!

OhKolkata
Originally uploaded by progga.

Cal. You gotta love it!

And btw, proof of being a true bong lies in knowing exactly where this signboard is located!

Allergies

Since last morning, I've been feeling as though all my bodily fluids have turned to phlegm. I'm sneezing 10 times at a time - body-wracking, ribcage-cracking reverberating sneezes that start at my toes and rumble their way up. I spent most of last night awake because I had to keep getting up to blow by doze. And I'm surviving on hot soup and comfort cocoa.

I think this is an allergic reaction to Bombay. To work. To having to wake up in the morning and drag myself onto a train instead of hollering for someone to make me some tea and then going and sitting outside in the morning sunshine while the doggies cavort around me chasing imaginary squirrels and cats, or get me to throw them the ball. To having to sit in an office with no natural light, instead of spending the morning doing The Telegraph Quick Crossword (By arrangement with The Guardian) To getting home when daylight has died.

Livin' la vida loca sounds suspiciously like "Living in the Virar local."

Co-incidence? I think not.