24th view

In my relentless quest for weekend adventure (that includes my "exciting" circuit of malls and restaurants and coffee shops on weekends), today (a simu-weekend cos it was ganesh chaturti, hence a day off) i resolved to go where no sane mall-hopping bangalorean has deemed to go before.

The highest point in Bangalore is not a peak, its the government utility building in the heart of the urban jungle. All of 25 floors tall. And today's mission was to see how the view was from the top.
And so, with P in tow, i ventured into the building. Noticing the "marriage registration" sign for the 10th floor, my mind began conjuring up images of baazigar, with srk throwing shilpa setty off the terrace of the building. I hoped that P wouldnt attempt the same, cos he was hinting at doing something of the sort if i didnt stop dragging him around town like this.

So we made an attempt to get into the only working lift of the 4 that were there. This involved a complicated activity of nimbly jumping into the lift before the doors closed on you. The doors were opening much before the lift touched ground. Mighty impatient lift that was !

Once inside , we press the 24th floor button. the chap in the lift with us presses 23. He disembarks at 23, we got out at 24. We looked around at the bare walls. There was nothing -we were in a corridoor 4ft by 2ft surrounded by some ancient looking doors that were locked. Turned back to summon the lift. Turns out there are no buttons to call for the lift (cold sweat breaks out)

So we were stranded on the 24th floor in a tiny closeted space with no means to get out and getting claustrophobic by the minute. While P was thinking which of friends lived closet to MG road so he could come and rescue us, I was thinking of which of the locked doors would suddenly burst open and a raging lunatic would jump on us.

After 5 minutes of this, the lift magically came up and rescued us. All relieved and in smiles, we got off at the 23 floor which turned out to be the computerised railway booking center. All three counters of it. And surrounded by bags of cement. And just 1 man manning it. Talk about "buzzing with activity"!

So we sauntered around the 23rd floor, and took in the view from the windows. And breath-taking it was. Great views of MG road , INOX, all three malls, a fabulous view of UB city. We spent some time there, happily clicking away. And then rode the lift back safe ground.

Next weekend we plan to go back to the 23rd floor and check out the view at night (though P doesnt know this of course ;-))

It happened one Morn....

A gal woke up one morning and realised that she was terribly out of shape and in danger of competing in girth with the friendly neighbourhood aunty.
She resolved to go jogging every morning. With stead-fast determination, she put on her Urban Uoga outfit (bought the previous weekend) and laced up her Nikes. She strode out of her 6th floor flat and walked.... right into her lift.
Whoops ! Blooper...what self-respecting jogger would take th elift instead of the stairs? she thought to herself.
Anyways, she rode the lift to the ground floor and walked out to the colony park. Looking around her, at the people jogging , excerising and walking , she felt sufficiently motivated. She plugged in her i-pod and to the beat of "free falling" she started jogging steadily around the park. 2 laps and a few aching muscles later, she felt pleased with herself. Aah life was good!
She took the lift back to her flat... what the hell, after all that exercise, she felt she deserved the lift ride.
She walked into her apartment and looked in the mirror.... aah that glow of health (or sweat ) felt like a literal pat on her back.

"Shinta..... iv made pooris for breakfast, come have them while they are hot" yelled Y from the kitchen.

And with that, all my resolution for a healthier lifestyle took a flying leap out of my 6th floor window.

Its been 2 months now, and my Urban Yoga outfit and my Nikes still miss me!

Books on my shelf

Punjabi - no excuses

Thats "Jab we met" for you. In-your-face, no-holds-barred, brash, loud punjabi-ness. Each time I watch the movie, I find a new, fresh and appealing angle to it. And when I watched the movie for the 4th time today, it was the vivacity with which the Punjabi family of the girl was portrayed that hit a note with me.

The break-into-song-and-dance-at-the-drop-of-a-hat routine is by now a familiar one in every and any hindi movie. Whats different is when the movie maker decides to show something more earthy, a personal touch, something like what director Imtiaz Ali does in the scene where Geet's family is shown making lassi in washing machines. Simple, blink-and-you-miss-it, yet so appropriate!
The movie has refreshingly different punjabi songs, more like folk music , without inane remixed numbers and none of that "say shava shava" or suchlike inserted into its lyrics.

And from a female standpoint, what a nice way to mix and match patialas with t-shirts, and mojris with jeans! Verrry veery nicce I say ;-)

"White lilies" - a short story

She looked down her hands. Her fingertips were red and raw. It was the result of biting them for the most of the afternoon. She had tried taking long breaths to calm down. It didn’t work.
Her face, however seemed composed, it was almost as if she had expected that one day it would come to this…..

Two months ago, the moment she saw the little positive sign on the little thermometer-shaped tube, she knew that the unthinkable had happened. The little’+’ took its own time to develop ….it seemed to be teasing her...and then when it finally took shape she realized that the plus sign had just changed her life.

The right thing to do was to tell him, after all, wasn’t he the one who had decided that just because he had a terrible fight with his wife, he had the right to barge in her apartment at any time just as he pleased. And it was one such night that set off the present chain of events.

After a week of anxiousness and uncertainty, she finally told him. His instantaneous reaction was to throw his glass onto the wall where it shattered, spreading scotch and water on her carpet. His reaction unnerved her. For some time now, she had held a faint glimmer of hope that he would perhaps be happy. Now she realized how foolish she was , hadn’t she known him well enough ?

But he could be counted upon to be extremely efficient. It was he who decided on ‘Women Now’, which according to him, could be trusted upon to “do a neat job – it will be as simple as getting your teeth cleaned”. He also impressed upon her the fact that post-session, they sent to the patient’s home a bouquet of white lilies with chocolate. He was particularly impressed by the idea of chocolates.

During the week before her session, she could only think of little baby rattles and the sweet smell of baby powder. She was being silly. She tried to sleep at night, and after bursts of fitfull sleep, her pillow would be damp in the morning.

The next week, at Women Now, she sat in her bed, strangely calm. She closed her eyes and prayed for the child that would she would never know.

She sat up in her bed at home that evening; he was sitting beside her and he was telling her how brave she had been, all the while munching on some assorted chocolate that had just arrived in a parcel. His phone began to ring. It was his wife. “Sweetie, Ill just be back” he said as he pocketed a chocolate wrapped in red paper and walked to the hall

She looked down her hands. Her fingertips were red and raw. It was the result of biting them for the most of the afternoon. She had tried taking long breaths to calm down. It didn’t work.
Her face, however seemed composed, it was almost as if she had expected that one day it would come to this…. She picked up the bouquet of white lilies lying beside her and held it against her cheek. It felt so soft…she thought as a tear drop flowed on to a petal.


- Shinta

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Mall

There's a Lifestyle and a Spar supermarket that've just set up shop next door. Though I try not to be be a mall rat , the "call of of the mall" sometimes beckons and I have to answer it. So today I will venture forth into my neighbourhood mall and see what its got.

And then some more ....

After yesterday's food rampage .... today turned out to be just as good a food fest as yesterday. This time round it was Andhra food .... think Red Chillies ( the extreme kind ! ) , meat slathered in some potent red paste .... you get the picture .
A few mouthfulls and smoke was bursting out of my ears , my tongue was just short of being on fire,,,, but you know , in a GOOD way ;-)
Todays lunch was on our AVP , who was brave enough to suggest a treat at his expense , after knowing very well how poor we left our managers yesterday. After tasting all from the biryani to the "ponnu " , I decided to take a time out.

Dont hate me dear stomach ...

Food Porn

Today was a day of indulgence ... in chinese food - the variety that has oodles of soya sauce, chilli ( even tomatoes in shezwan noodles ;-))
my team-leads' recent promotion to managers led them to this necessary evil ( for them!) .... a treat at "Chopsticks " the one & only chinese restaurant in E-city. Nice place ... ... the hotel that houses Chopsticks used to have a garden area which wasnt utilized for long , untill someone realised its potential as a restaurant , and thus hotel management proceeded to invest in cartloads of "chinese" lanterns, fans , and some bonsai bamboos ( you know , the ones you get in those mini glass beakers supposedly providing the required yin & yang ;-) ) ..... all of the above sourced from National market ( where else ?) .
Truth be told , nobody gives a damn for authenticity or feng-shui ... when the food is YUMM ...
and that it was ! and we pigged out like .... err pigs . And who can work on a full stomach ? no not one of us could withstand the effects that the mega meal had on us .

Greasy chinese - definitely not conducive to the workplace .

PS- what's chicken in oyster sauce anyway ? sauce thats meant to look like the goo that you see inside an oyster ? hmmmm

Roomie takes a bad tumble :-((

Sometime around 11 pm Sunday night , roomie Y lost control of her steering wheel and hit the boundary wall of the Dairy Circle flyover while travelling from Bannerghatta road to Koramangala. Due to the impact ,the santro hit the opposite wall and came to a rest on its left side

( pregnant pause to digest this ;-/)

The incident left Y with a broken nose , bruises and a hairline fracture. In spite of being injured , Y retained her good humour and the patent Y jokes ... when asked by the doctor whether she had been drinking, she did her signature 2-thumb-shake-in-the-air by way of saying "no". It pretty much summed up how she took the whole accident in her stride and put all of us (especially roomie Aax , who was with Y after the accident ) at ease.

Y's dad arrived on Monday and several rounds of jokes from him convinced us that the Lobo family really knew how best to find cheer in a gloomy situation ... uncle had this theory that Y was distracted by some cute boys on the road , and in waving out to them , she may have lost control ..... :-))

Y is now at home in Goa with family , hopefully she will rest like she ought to instead of running around in circles like she is prone to doing .

Take care , dear , get well soon !