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/
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
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