Week 11 was spent out of Mumbai, travelling within Paris, Versailles, Brussels, Ghent, Brugge and finally a quick weekend trip to New York, to run errands, catch up with friends and run the Half-Marathon. In short, the week was a gist of my life at the moment, shuttling between both my homes/ work places, with some travel in between :)
The Diary notes below, are from Week 12; the first half of which was spent in NY and the remainder in Mumbai.
1. The week started with my fifth Half-Marathon (4th NYC Half Marathon). Having trained on treadmills all season long, this was my first outdoor race of the year. I crossed the finish line at 2:39:42, not my best time so far; in fact, it's 40 whole minutes slower, than my fastest half ever, that I ran in 2007. Need to pick up on the training.
2. I landed in Mumbai, on Tuesday night. Parents, as always, came to pick me up at the airport and we came back to my place for the night. Adorable Mum had brought along 'ghar ka khana' for me, so after some catching up and a satiating dinner, I called it a semi jet-lagged night.
3. Mum and co-workers think I am more tanned after the one week vacation, than I ve been after moving to Mumbai for the past two months.
4. Wednesday, the team rejoiced as 'Boss' was back in town. Before they asked 'How are you?' they wanted to know, 'Where are the chocolates?' Strangers, who I've barely spoken to before, came to my desk, inviting themselves to the 'foreign made chocolates'. Gradually the bag of Ghirardelli Squares, depleted itself. The updates were given, more fun-related than work-related. A fun second-first day at work!
5. The gym instructor is elated. Turns out over the brief vacation, I actually lost a kg. All the more motivation to keep going at it :)
6. The sis-in-law is tying the knot. There is much excitement all around and a lot of planning to be done. Soon tickets, shopping, designing, etc will take over our lives. Thursday night dinner was with sis-in-law and the new bro-in-law to be. A fun-filled dinner, that included lot of catching up and getting to know the new bro-in-law, at Parabola, in the Rodas Ecotel at Powai. Looking forward to many more such evenings, before the wedding frenzy sets in.
7. Word has come from the client's side (Mumbai International Airport Ltd) that "The joinery detail package is one of the most sophisticatedly drawn and comprehensively detailed one, that we have received from L&T by far". Boss and her team, are now taking a bow!
8. Office administration is hilarious. New hires abound, coming in, by the dozens, each day and no place to sit or work station to work on. Its funny how every day they scout around the whole office, asking around if someone is out today, so they can grab their desk for the day. Makes for our daily dose of 'musical chairs'.
9. Two more friends are visiting next week from NYC. Mumbai continues to be my new 'social convergence' point.
10. Black Forest cake to celebrate Martin's Birthday. The usual cake-smearing on the face and the magic candles that never blow out. This time we even had wafers, so it was right out of a kiddie birthday party, all with paper plates, wafers and cake :)
11. Big big big showdown with two senior management officials from L&T, who needed to be shown their place. Political games abound here, as they do in most other work places, but this time, as they say, the water had gone well over. A lot of arguing, finally gave way to some reason. Not one to give up so easily to injustice, I stomped straight, into the Project Director's office for clarification on issues that the fight had revolved around, only to be told, I was absolutely correct in my endeavour.
The Project Director also added, that the old school-ers at L&T needed to get their act straight and that I had nothing to fear, in standing up for what I thought should be the 'process'. Big high, winning this, I must arrogantly claim. After all, its not every day that I get to brag, having successfully argued out two gentlemen, much older than my dad, with tremendous experience, that I seriously doubt now :)
Overnight, there seems to be a 'hero' status in the office, post-issue.
Dubey - the office chai-boy summarised it when he said "Madumm, fataa-fat angrezi mein baat karre jaa rahee theen; bilkul Jhansi ki rani lageen. Bahut accha sabak sikhaaya Madumm-ji ne un khusat buddhon ko aur unhe chhup karr diya." When a colleague asked Dubey, how he knew all this; he innocently replied "Hum kitchen kee deewar se kaan jo lagaaye sun rahey they na"
:)
12. The air is pregnant with Ganpati mantras. It's beautiful, as if the whole city is in a state of solemn divinity and utmost devotion. I wake up to an 'aarti' that comes from a 'pandal' behind the hills somewhere and sleep to one; that is possibly being said in the house next door. A thrill that will last only for a few more days, I know.
13. Ganesha came this year with Ramzan, hand in hand, both on the same day. As I went home from Mom's place, I saw on either side of the road, two contrasting yet connected experiences. On one side of the road, devotees marched, bringing in their ganpati idols, all veiled up, since it was the day before Ganesh Chaturthi. On the other side of the road, multiple men bowed, wearing white caps, in tune to the 'azaan', as they started their first 'roza' for the Ramzan. The dichotomy took over me so overwhelmingly, that I missed a great photo-op. No regrets, however. I dont think the camera could have done justice to the moment, anyway.
Definitely another 'Mumbai moment'!
A few times in the past, such concurrences have occured, that have made me think, if calendar's can synchronise so well, why do people then, refuse to? And then come along, some people, who astonishingly defy all borders. I have new found respect for Salman Khan's tolerant religious practice, suddenly, who (as the news channels flashed), broke his 'roza' before taking his ganpati for 'visarjan'.
Overnight, there seems to be a 'hero' status in the office, post-issue.
Dubey - the office chai-boy summarised it when he said "Madumm, fataa-fat angrezi mein baat karre jaa rahee theen; bilkul Jhansi ki rani lageen. Bahut accha sabak sikhaaya Madumm-ji ne un khusat buddhon ko aur unhe chhup karr diya." When a colleague asked Dubey, how he knew all this; he innocently replied "Hum kitchen kee deewar se kaan jo lagaaye sun rahey they na"
:)
12. The air is pregnant with Ganpati mantras. It's beautiful, as if the whole city is in a state of solemn divinity and utmost devotion. I wake up to an 'aarti' that comes from a 'pandal' behind the hills somewhere and sleep to one; that is possibly being said in the house next door. A thrill that will last only for a few more days, I know.
13. Ganesha came this year with Ramzan, hand in hand, both on the same day. As I went home from Mom's place, I saw on either side of the road, two contrasting yet connected experiences. On one side of the road, devotees marched, bringing in their ganpati idols, all veiled up, since it was the day before Ganesh Chaturthi. On the other side of the road, multiple men bowed, wearing white caps, in tune to the 'azaan', as they started their first 'roza' for the Ramzan. The dichotomy took over me so overwhelmingly, that I missed a great photo-op. No regrets, however. I dont think the camera could have done justice to the moment, anyway.
Definitely another 'Mumbai moment'!
A few times in the past, such concurrences have occured, that have made me think, if calendar's can synchronise so well, why do people then, refuse to? And then come along, some people, who astonishingly defy all borders. I have new found respect for Salman Khan's tolerant religious practice, suddenly, who (as the news channels flashed), broke his 'roza' before taking his ganpati for 'visarjan'.
14. Moved into my third, and what I desperately hope, is my last apartment here at this stint in Mumbai. This one is slightly smaller, but has the best view, from the bedroom balcony. The Powai hills sprawl right outside and it being Monsoon, they are sprinkled with light green all over. The place is on the 13th floor (yes in India, they still have 13 floor) and awaits visits from friends and family :)
15. How many of you girls, have had your eyebrows done by a man? And a 'mast' hot oil 'champi' complete with some sort of hand massager that vibrates the devils out of one's head? I was funnily exposed to both of the above, over the weekend. Being a day before Ganpati, most salons in the city were closing earlier and my desperate hunt led me to a random place, where I decided to entrust my eyebrows into a strangers hands. The stranger turned out to be a 20-something young boy, who seemed to resemble the others of his clan-types, hanging out at the ice-cream parlour next door. And what a splendid job he did!
Similar story with the oil-massage place. The young boy giving me the 'champi' promised that I would dump my regular massage place to come to him all the time.
I guess, you never really know what lies out there, until you get out of your comfort zone.
16. Sunday morning, after a somewhat difficult 14 miler on the treadmill, I was ready for Ganesha. Mom and Pops came over and the three of us, left for a cousin's place for the first 'aarti' of the day and some tasty vegetarian, Ganpati festival food. The next stop for 'darshan' was at Snehi's Mom's place. To my disappointment, little Ira was fast asleep, still wearing her tiny 'ghagra choli', but that didnt stop us from sitting literally on top of her head and laughing out loud, as we caught up with each other.
Week 12 in pictures is here:
Thank you for reading the diaries and also for the numerous 'encore' emails and replies that make me pen these episodes down and share them with all of you.
As a dear friend Shagun, said in her email to me, earlier this week; it's nice to know that through my emails, you can journey into a more irregular and shall I say 'differently disciplined' world, that seems to function of it's own accord :)
The updates will be more regular now that Week 12 has passed and I am finally re-settled in, back in my Mumbai life.
So while I hope all of you are having a good day and being good, I shall sign off now, since the 'kaanda bhajjis' (or pyaaz ke pakode, as some of us know them) and 'chai' await me :)
Shweyta
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