Mumbai Diaries - Week 21 & 22-1/2 - Of post-Diwali celebrations, farewells' and 'heavy' hearts!

1. The week started out slow. Monday was Bhai-dooj (Bhaubeej, Bhai Phota) and most offices were closed. Except of course our site office. Most people did not turn up to work and those who did, came, did nothing and left early.

I left work to go to Mom's place, for 'moong ki daal ke bhajiye' and 'kadhi-chawal' with aloo fry sabji. You could say I was home-sick, rather festival-sick. The weekend had been so celebratory that work seemed really dull after. At Moms', the building was still in 'fataaka/ diya/ rangoli-mode'. Friends and family were in and out, visiting each other. The last day of Diwali was drawing to an end and I was thankful that I had managed to grab a slice of it, by coming home today.

2. The team is being really sweet, especially since I am leaving. They say they'll miss me multiple times each day and add a bleak "Who will face the fire now?" kind of sigh to it :) They have also decided that we will all eat lunch together (in a scary 'last supper-y kind of way'), everyday, until I leave.

3. Post-Diwali celebrations continue at work. Some one brought in 'Diwali ka faraal' as it is known in Maharashtra (translates to Diwali snacks) that included the likes of shankar paadas, besan /rava ke laddu, karanjya, chivda, besan ke sev etc. Some others brought in Diwali snacks from their homes in Chennai; murukku, laddus, adirasam etc.

These impromptu, multi-culinary parties in the office, will certainly be missed.

4. Wednesday night was spent with the In-laws, hanging out at the MIG Cricket club and going over some wedding venue designs with the decorator. Dinner was at the Club's restaurant, where we chatted over some delicious 'Chettinad Chicken' and 'Pomfret Tawa Fry'. More wedding planning and then a brief farewell, as all of us are travelling next week.

5. The Dollar plummeted versus the Rupee and I was happily smiling all the way to the bank, as the saying goes :)

6. The all-time favourite movie of most of our generation, 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' recently completed a successful run of 15 years at Maratha Mandir. In doing so, it is the Hindi Film industry's single longest running movie ever, beating even 'Sholay'. Simran and Raj still rock over Basanti and Veeru, I presume :)

7. As destiny would have it, a play I ve been wanting to see for years now, ' The Vagina Monologues' happened to be playing at Prithvi, on the coming weekend. Of course, I am going!!! Also, taking Snehi and Atit along, as part of her birthday gift.

8. Thursday night, Mom and Pops came over to pick up some of my things, to be moved to their place. I vacate the corporate apartment on the same night as when I fly, so most of the moving/ unpacking needed to be taken care of this week.

Dinner that night was my farewell treat, hosted by Pops; at Sanjeev Kapoor's "Yellow Chilli" - a second time for me, but a first for Mom and Pops. I re-ordered the huge 'masala-khakra', 'Chicken-Kadhaai' and 'Paneer Masala' and these were devoured over 'missi rotis', 'naans' and 'rotis'. The mandatory 'meetha paan' ended the family dinner evening, which will be much missed in NY.

9. The office gang, all 25 of them from the Architecture department are going on an 'overnight trip' to Bhandardara, over the weekend.

Saturday night is also Snehi's birthday and I happen to be in town to celebrate with her, after 7 years. Hence the natural choice was to decline the overnight trip invitation and in the process upset the whole office.

This is what I love about India. As intrusive as it may get at times, (personal space-wise speaking), it's the one place where a mass of people (even acquaintances) will be disappointed if one person says 'No'.

Whether you love it or not, Mumbai certainly loves you right back!!

10. Friday after-work, was a special site-visit to see the site-work progress. Much has been said about L&T's construction ethics and quality and all of it is very true.

Sushanta Singh, the Chief Structural Engineer in-charge of the project, took Brian, Cho and I on site, to give us a personal tour, again. As was the case on the earlier site trip, this time too, there was a feeling of special contentment at seeing the 'baby' emerge above ground.

A line drawn on trace paper, drafted in Autocad, was now a proud wall standing. Some structural lessons, photographs and detail-inspections later, we were on our way to watch the mega-columns being poured at-site. The mega-columns as we call them, have a 3.5 m diameter that tapers to 2.5 m at the base of the head.

Post-visit, we left for 'Apna Dhaba', (my American colleagues' after-work hangout) for my farewell drinks and dinner. Much work-related frustration was spilt over drinks as everyone pointed out the differences in the American and the Indian methodologies of work. From character-sketches to real information, all was out on the table, as people dissected the system and it's power players. The food varied from 'chakna' such as masala papad, chicken pahadi kabab, garlic naan bitings to chicken tikka masala and shrimp tawa fry.

Another fun night and a warm farewell.

11. Saturday was Snehi's Birthday. Both of us were thrilled that I was here to celebrate it with her and her family, after 7 years. The birthday dinner was at 'Five', a restaurant I ve been to earlier with Bindu. The Jha's and their close ones, all collected to celebrate and wine and dine over some good jalapeno flavoured pasta, salads, fish and the works. The cake was incredible with a sort of a coffee-chocolate crumb feel to it. Snehi handed us all 'love-notes' with lovely, little personal messages for each one of us. Nice touch, Jha!

Li'll Ira was her naughty self as always and wanted to come home for a stay over, yet again. Each time she mentions a stay over, I dont have the heart to construe another lie to refuse her (since her mom's and my own work schedule wont let us have her stay with me).
So another little lie later, I had to bid good-bye to the little monkey who I will miss the most, when I am back in NY for good.

12. Sunday started with the last long run before the race; a measly 8 miler. Once done, I was up to go shopping for a bit. Both the moms were out of town this weekend, so that meant I had to spend the Sunday doing my own bit, alone. Some shopping later (5 pairs of footwear, in 2 hours), I was ready to meet Snehi and Atit at The Prithvi theater, for 'The Vagina Monologues'. My birthday gift for Snehi, a play that both of us had been wanting to watch for a while now.
While I waited for the Jha-Mehta's to arrive, I spotted Priyanka Chopra's parents. Now I ve been coming to Prithvi since we've been kids and have always spotted celebrities/ actors here; but today was going to be different. Turns out Piggy Chops was going to watch the play with us, sitting just one row in front, that too. My insistence on taking a picture with her after the play, made Atit flee instantly, while Snehi agreed to take the picture and not be in it, lest her 'coolness' factor decreased any further ;) Shameless as can be, I asked Piggy Chops for a picture and she was more than ready to put her arm around me and pose for one.
The play was simply brilliant, a must-see for every one. Interspersed with factual data, statistics and real-life stories, this was one mixed bag of talent, spunk and hard-hitting reality, all in your face at once. Snehi and I loved it; Atit - not so much. Kudos to Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal's production house - 'Poor Bucks' for undertaking this venture and spreading this awareness all over the country, through their performances. I cannot wait for them to travel to NY to be able to see them again.
Dinner was at Alfredo's, where I had'nt been since my architecture undergrad days, so that was fun. The place has'nt changed one bit, only now they offer much more than just pizzas. Post-dinner 'paan', resulted in a random encounter with a school senior, also standing at the 'paanwaala'. Snehi then took me to her place, to say a last good-bye to Ira, who again asked me if she could come home for a stay over. I lied "Nahi Ira, aaj raat ko nahi, aap kal subah aana mere ghar" (Translation: Not tonight, you can come home tomorrow morning). Ira looked at me with her big black eyes and simply replied "Ok Maasi, aap raat ko kehna jaldi subah ho jaaye" (Translation: Maasi, please tell the night to turn into morning soon)
Pure poetry from my little niece. Seems like her writer aunts', all rubbed off on her quite well :)

13. Monday morning was the official day-before-the-last-day at work. Since I would have to say a lot of good-bye's, I thought I'd start early. Last minute winding up from work included, signing off official 'contract release' forms, paying up the mess charges and the most important one being, making sure I took my last pay-cheque before I left :)
Handing off of work responsibilities and last minute knowledge transfer meetings, took up the rest of the work day. The team decided to leave early saying they had some personal work to take care of, which left me a little in doubt, but I didnt give it much thought. Obviously, something farewell-related was cooking, is all I could guess :)

14. Tuesday was my last day at L&T. A day of mixed feelings, mostly sad ones, since I was leaving a place I had sort of developed a love-hate relationship with, over the past 5 months. As soon as I got into work, I was asked by the team, to keep the 4 - 5 pm slot free for my farewell celebration. More good-bye's said during the day, in all three offices. 'The last lunch' as the team christened it, was at 2 pm, where 10 of us sat at one canteen table and lunched for over an hour, laughing, joking and mostly making fun of Amit Anand (our team mate and our local jester). Seemed like Boss's last day was an official non-working day for the team, since all they did that day was run around planning the farewell party.
Finally when all was done, they escorted me to the canteen at 4 pm, where I had the best-est farewell ever. The room was filled with everyone I had ever worked with or even spoken to, at L&T in my last 5 months. From the chai-boy Dubey to the Project Director of the Airport DK Sen, they were all there. A chocolate cake and wafers sat on the tables. I had to make a speech, that I was totally unprepared for and then came the multiple farewell gifts. One after the other, they were handed out to me, all ten of them, as I unwrapped them, one at a time. From a hand-drawn painting to desk accessories (that I should use when I start my own firm, as the team said to me) to Chetan Bhagat's un-put-downable 'Five point someone' to a bouquet of flowers, I was floored by the generosity of this office. Completely unexpected, this was a beautiful gesture on their behalf, especially since everyone had chipped in for these gifts. As I mentioned to my ex-boss later that evening over another farewell dinner, "What I will miss the most about this office, are it's people"
Tuesday evening was spent in a quick gym workout with Nilesh, my gym trainer in Mumbai, who handed over my measurement chart as a farewell gift. He even offered to train me for free when I return to Mumbai next month. More toned and 6 kgs lighter, I guess I have a lot to thank him for.
The latter part of the evening was spent playing Foos-Ball and a silly korean version of billiards called 'Cushion Ball' at Le Meridien's High Flyers Lounge. Brian, Narin, Cho and I, chatted about office politics over Cho's annoyingly slow 'Cushion Ball' game that we finally bullied him out of. Next was 'Foos Ball' which I suck at, so Cho and I obviously lost that one.
Dinner was at The Imperial Palace in the hotel, where we ate some really good dim-sum and sipped Sula/ Kingfisher. Finally it was time to say good-bye and come back home one last time, for a shower and to pick up my bags. The driver was waiting downstairs to take me to the airport; my airport.

Weeks 21 and 22 1/2 can be found here in pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/shweyta/MumbaiDiariesWeek21And2212?feat=directlink

Mumbai, I am still not done with you and of course I'll be back. But probably not to work again, for a long time. My next trip will be three weeks down the line; pure pleasure, no business. But one day I ll be back. And then I ll stay. Just as one should - at home!

As I send out this last edition of Mumbai Diaries, I want to Thank you, for reading or at least letting these spam your inboxes, week after week :) As some of you said, I am happy that you have lived the Mumbai life, vicariously through me, for almost half of 2009 now. Not only have I used this medium to pen down my experiences, in a home re-resided in, but in the process, also realised that here is where my soul truly lies.

So while I shut down my laptop and pack that last bit of luggage, I realise, no airline's baggage allowance will ever be enough, to let me carry everything I want to, from this place. So for now, it's just one 23 kg bag, a laptop and one heart, that will most probably get stamped 'Heavy' when checked-in!

Take care,
Shweyta

Mumbai Diaries - Week 19 - Of closure at work, Birthday 'Jalsa' and my youngest friend, Ira!

1. Week 19 started off somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, confused in a jumble of varying time zones.

An Uncle from the building, has been equating my Mumbai-Newark flight and it's frequency to that of a Mumbai-Pune journey. "Shweyta tho Mumbai-Newark aise jaati hai, jaise hum log Mumbai-Poona jaatey hain."

Thanks Uncle. Though that might seem like a privilege, it entails some amount of strategy; anti-jet lag will-power and contextual re-settling. My globe-trotting friends can vouch for this, I am sure.

2. Mom and Pops stood smiling and waving, under the spacious sprawl of white tents that one arrives under, at Mumbai International Airport. Narayan, the driver came in a little late, just after the Mumbai showers welcomed me home. Honestly and sadly, this was probably one of my first "deliberately getting wet in the rain" episodes in this city. That too in the fading monsoon. Feel like that was something on my list, that I did not check off, in the prime of the rains.

3. Woke up at 4 am on Tuesday morning, more due to the loud thunder and crazy flash of lightning outside, than the jet lag. Seems like Mumbai has been receiving a lot of rainfall over the last couple of days, but the lakes are still not overflowing. There is hope, however, that another day of rain may change that.

4. Tuesday was a warm welcome in the office. Not just for the chocolates I brought back with me from the US, but also because some people genuinely missed me, which was a nicer feeling, unlike last time :)

Took some clarification, to erase the confusion that some people had who thought, I had finished the marathon on this trip.

5. In the gym, the instructor did my monthly 'body measurements' to find a relatively lesser reduction in inches, over this last month than the previous ones. He goes, almost disapprovingly "Bahut khaaya na?" (Translation: You ate a lot, didnt you?)

I replied with a sheepish "Haan aur piya bhi" ;)

6. Wednesday's non-gym night was spent eating Pav Bhaji, Uttapams and Dosas at Shiv Sagar at Juhu Beach with the Jha-Mehtas. L'ill Ira and I played a 'chocolate' game at the end of which she had 6 chocolates and I had 6 photographs of her various moods :) Conversation wandered around Snehi's upcoming birthday and vacation plan, until Ira bit Snehi. Yes, you read that right, b-i-t! :) The little monster never ceases to amaze me with her treasure trove of tricks.

Of course all hell broke loose then.

- Ira bit Snehi.

- Snehi yelled at Ira.

- Ira sulked and cried.

- Then she sulked some more.

None of us talked to her until she came around a little bit and then things were back to normal again :)

The evening ended with 'magai paans' as usual.

7. As annoying as it used to be earlier, I think I am now coming around this another exclusively 'desi' habit; of making sure, that people whom you have just met, have reached home safely.

Snehi never ever forgets to text me each time, we disperse to go home, after having hung out, to check if I am home safe. Wedneday night she did the same, and I responded, but she did not get my text message. This resulted in her frantic text/ call/ email to me next morning. Luckily I called her back this time instead of relying on a text message again, so she knew I was ok, or she was planning to call my 'Mom' as she put it.

:)

Makes me think of the last time someone in NY asked me to call/ text them back after I got home, late at night ? :) Is it just something we do in India ? Or is Mumbai the more unsafe city of the two?

Eitherways, it's kind of nice, in a caring, family sort of way.

8. The time for closure nears. I always knew my contract here, ends Oct 31st, but there had been talk of working until mid-November, to make up for some lost time. However, turns out that my contract will now end as originally drawn up. That means my last day at work here is Oct 27th, since I fly out that night to NY for the Hubby's Bday and our marathon soon after.

Having said that, I have less than three weeks left at work and a lot to do. And of course another bunch of tickets to book, which will make sure that I have flown to and fro between both countries, every month this year, from June - December.

9. The team sulks when they hear I leave on Oct 27th for good. Farewell and post-Boss talks are in the air. I feel somewhat strange too. Not really sure what it feels like, but surely there's going to be a void in the near future.

10. Pizza for lunch, in honour of Saturday :) The rest of the cabin decided to chip in and get pizza and garlic bread for the gang.

Saturday night was to be carbo-loading night again. The Jha-Mehta's and I, met at Powai for pasta and pizza. Turns out Papa Johns' (Yes, that and Pizza Hut are considered family destinations in India) was not serving pasta that night, because of "gas not working" problems. So pizza it was, yet again for dinner. Post-Dinner we went to the local grocery store to do some Diwali shopping after which the plan was to visit my place.

Back home, in my building, not just Ira, but both Snehi and Atit too seemed to be having a great time, in the building garden. Later we came home, making false promises to Ira, that we ll be back in the play area soon. Ira was excited to see "Shetta Maasi's" place as was Shetta Maasi, at having her dear friends over, finally. A photo-session at home followed, with Ira running all over the house and making us run behind her as well.

I gifted her the jacket I bought for her in NY, which sadly, didnt seem to catch her fancy much. Li'll Ira loved the place so much, she wanted to stay back. She even bid her parents good-bye, in the hope that she and I would stay at my place, playing all night. We had to weave some more stories, to make the l'ill one believe that she should go home with her parents and I would join them soon after.

The night ended well past midnight. While we thought Ira would have forgotten about our lie, it turns out she woke up the next morning and inquired where I was :)

As you can already tell from my albums, she is also my favourite subject for photography presently.

This is one baby I will miss a lot when I wind up here :( I hope she misses me as much.

11. Sunday morning started with an 18 miler, that surprisingly was better than I had expected. Post-run, a snack at the club and I was back home, channel surfing, watching the Big B, being interviewed all over, on his birthday.

The plan for the day was to head out for multiple massages, that I so miss in NY. En-route, election mania sweeped the streets, with most of the rallies being from the MNS (Maharasthra NavNirman Sena).

People on the streets often mistake me to be from the 'Press', armed with my D-80, which automatically works in my favour to shield me from any 'unfavourable' activities, even in crowds.

I instructed my rickshaw-wallah, to drive me through 'Jalsa' and 'Pratiksha' (Most Mumbaikar's know what I am talking about :) but for the uninformed, these are the names of Amitabh Bachchan's Mumbai homes).

While both homes were decorated with 'genda phools' from the outside, it seemed like AB was in 'Jalsa' that day, as all the press vans stood around there. Surprisingly, people stood in the sun, patiently, in neatly arranged queues outside 'Jalsa', that made me think they were being allowed inside. The mind battled between wanting to queue up in the hope of meeting AB to personally wish him, or moving on to the rest of my Sunday. If I had some company, I might have done the former, but the relaxation ahead, beckoned me.

The afternoon was spent self-pampering and de-stressing. Evening chai was with the folks, over a lot of planning-talk for the upcoming exciting weeks. I also spent some time discussing the MLA candidates from our area, with the folks, to be able to make an informed decision on Tuesday, next week.

Dinner was at Urban Tadka, where Dad threw me my fifth birthday party, this year :)

The menu varied from Amritsari to Shaami Kababs, Makke di Roti - Sarson da saag to Jalandhari Murgh, until we were super-stuffed. 'Meetha Paan' was the natural culmination to the meal.

Week No. 19 in pictures is here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/shweyta/MumbaiDiariesWeek19?feat=directlink

Big transitions coming up ahead. The end of a routine nears. And once again, it's time for a change.

Yet, there are so many more people on the list, that I still havent met up with, so many restaurants I have yet to try out, so many stores I have yet to shop at, so many elections I still want to vote in, so many weddings I have yet to decide about, so many festivals I have still to celebrate, so many birthday's I have yet to be part of, so much I still have to do, here. And such little time.

So while I go plan my next week, which thankfully is a short 4-day work week, due to the elections and Diwali; you go have fun and take care.

Love,

Shweyta