The 10 quick steps to eternal happiness

A dear friend on Flickr - ganobristol - just tagged me on this post. Stuff like this makes you stop and think. What does happiness mean and where do I find my happiness really? What makes me happy in 10 quick steps are as follows:

1. Photography - the mood hits me and then sometimes I just know its a perfect shot and like honestly screw what people think about it. Par example, like this one below which is also the subject of a previous post.

2. Rains - Sitting at home and experiencing the rains is what makes me happiest. Ghar pe amma will make chai/kapi and sometimes (rarely actually) bhajia - wah wah moments

3. The sea - Nothing makes me happier than being close to the sea. And I love getting a sun tan so it is all good in my mind. Prawns are my fave sea food and there is something awesome about sunrise-sunset by the seaside.


4. People - Family and friends - make me happy. I have a strong support system who encourages, cheers and holds my hand, figuratively and literally when the chips are against me.

5. Filter kapi - sigh - what would I do without kapi? My life would be an empty, barren husk I know! First thing in the morning, a cup of filter kapi uplifts me like nothing else can

6. Cooking - I am a late bloomer here. I like cooking - the smells, the effort and let's not forget the sweat :P And of course the mostest happiness is derived from people's burps afterwards :):)


7. Reading and listening to music - Two pleasures combined guaranteed to enthrall me enough that I can get blinded to the world outside.

8. The colour green - I loveee greeen so much so that some friends started calling me the 'Green Goblin' at a point!!! I have green earrings and green outfits. I used to have green shoes but they died on me!! :(


9. Whisky - :D I don't think I should say more. Nothing like a small peg and boy is that guaranteed to uplift the spirits (sorry could not resist that one! :))


10. A life partner - Lifetime of guaranteed happiness I have been promised and if nothing else -I get a house and some LV bags in return he says :):)

The one where 'we wait for 3 hours for Chitralekha to show up'

27th September 2009. A 6.00 am alarm gets me up and ready to shower and leave for the Sunderbans. Tigers are roaming about in my head - I am aware that there are extremely slim chances of anything happening but I can't resist the idea of seeing a true blue Royal Bengal tiger. I have seen so much footage of the place and well anything can happen.

T joined me at this stage. For those who came in late, T is my travelling companion for this trip. We have a comfort zone and I am not fazed by the fact that I am traveling with this boy alone. During the course of the trip, people get fazed which was super fun to see...people are sooo curious...anyways that is a story for much later.

We left the Tourism Centre on time and our guide spoke only in Bengali on the bus. We asked around for translations and thus met a very nice family from Hyderabad - all Microsoft :) It took us little more than 1.5 hours to get to the pier where we had to board our boat...


Then began the long interminable wait. 3 HOURS! :o Hot sun, let me correct myself, hot, sweaty sun and it didn't really matter how many liquids we drank honestly! The sweat poured off us even in the shade...highly aggravating and our guide - all he had to say, 'Medem, the boat is coming'. Bloddy it had been coming for the last three hours man!

Well I gotta say the three hours gave me these shots so I won't crib too much :) The boat showed up - Chitralekha in all her glory.


Our journey began into the Sunderbans - beautiful, lonely and serene. It fills you with peace and makes you marvel at nature.


We witnessed the after effects of Hurricane 'Aila' where sandbags had been placed to rebuild embankments. We got people waving at us ...yaay.. :"D Great evening and a lovely sunset full of forked lightning, dal chawal and riotous pink colours against a dark blue sky....

Life in the East of India

Once upon a time I decided I would go to the East of India. Since I decided I thought it best to go especially since I booked them tickets and what not. So I went. I almost died. I had a blast. Two weeks and it was pure bliss. There were places I went to in North Sikkim where I had no network. I spent the time with a friend and realised traveling companions can be annoying. I am annoying to traveling companions...

The friend was talking about writing the blog posts like Friends episodes and having got confirmation that I can steal his idea, will be doing exactly that. Before I start, let me leave you with this...

This is on the way to Darjeeling. Seeing the Himalayas is life changing...you are shocked and awed..

A Tale of Two Cities

This is dedicated to Sheri who inspired me to write this.

I found her as I wandered

Lost in the shadows of an alleyway

In her red ghaghra choli

She razzle dazzled

Her red and gold bangles

Shiny lil diamond stud on her nose

Her red bindi struck chords

In my yearning heart

Her shy eyes refused to meet my gaze

A mystery in the making

I found her as I meandered

In the night time

An avenue with no trees

Neon and bright lights surrounded me

She smouldered and struck a pose

Her little red dress showed off more than it should have

Her glossy black eyes promised nothing and everything

She met my gaze head on without faltering

Just being herself – bold and uncompromising

BMW's n food

Me n Spikey went last to check out the BMW exhibition. Andy Warhol n Roy Lichtenstein have painted a couple of BMW's and they r on display at Jahangir till the 16th. So I decided tht I would go yest and knew if tht if I didn't go then I would never go. So went, and it was theek. Nothing spectacular but theek. Think the lighting was all wrong for that place and the full fundooness of the cars could not be appreciated. Some of the dinkys were way better with one having this on the dinky. She of course was in black n white on tht dinky.


Anyways, we wandered arnd another gallery where we stared at random things n left there soon. Dragged Spikey to Gateway to which he hasn't been to since as a child. He loved it of course! Since I love expounding on town, I did :) The Taj looked ethereal in the nitelite. Phir hum gaye food safari par. That u can to b reading here

Nice day eet was :D

Scary times in Mumbai

I took permission from a friend before I posted this. To me, Mumbai has always been an extremely safe city. I have never felt threatened, scared of the fact that I am walking the street at 1.00 am in the morng or travelling a rick at random time alone in the nite. Then said friend sent me this. Please read - u can write it off as an one-off or be careful or wotver u choose to do. But it makes me angry tht my city has fallen prey to the Dilli syndrome. (No offence to Dilliwalas)

Said friend was alone with a gurl (who was driving) in car and got chased not by the cops but by random goons. Lucky escape did happen but if things had gone wrong, for sure, the friend would have not written this out here

The account reads like a film story and also because the places mentioned are familiar haunts. Read n don't fall hostage to the fear.