A Scarlet Fin(ish)

It is that time of the year once again. The time to watch 22 cars charge around at mind numbing speeds to compete for the Formula 1 world championship.

There are a lot of changes this year – the teams have changed, the drivers have changed, the liveries have changed and most importantly the world’s best driver is not racing. Michael Schumacher retired after the 2006 season and I am sure millions over the world must have felt the same heart break as I did when he announced his decision. Formula 1 will never be the same again.

Then came the official announcement that the Fin - Kimi Raikkonen will be taking Schumacher’s place. I can’t think of anyone who would have made a better choice. And the fact that Kimi is drop dead gorgeous is beside the point; he is a fantastic driver!

Sunday’s race started bright and early (at least for me here in India) and to see the Ferrari standing there at the P1 spot was such a rush. The five red lights illuminated and went off to mark the start of what was to be a fantastic race. Kimi dominated it from beginning to end and when he took the scarlet car across the checkered flag, Ferrari fans across the world were ecstatic – me included.

It was a thrill to hear the Finnish national anthem ring out just before the familiar Italian anthem. The Ice Man smiled and won a million hearts.

I hope this is an indication of what this year has in store for us. Here’s to many more scarlet fin(ishes)!!!

Source: www.formula1.com

A belated greeting

I should have posted this entry a long time ago, but couldn’t. So here it is!

On the 15th of January this year our group, affectionately called ‘kutumb’ (family in Guajrati), welcomed it’s newest member. Viral and Vaishali’s new born son – Agastya.

Viral was the first of our group to get married and bring his wife into our lives. And they in turn have brought the first member of the kutumb’s second generation to us.

Since Viral is like a brother to me, I consider Vaishali to be a sister–in–law and their son my nephew. And as any proud aunt, I was thrilled when I first saw him on the day he was born. I can’t begin to describe the joy I felt to see that beautiful little face, so pink and so tiny (this is him when he was 5 hours old).

As all the friends stared at him, we couldn’t resist painting a picture of what he would be like when he grew up. What it would be like for us to see him go through the stages of his life that we have been through. We hoped that he would find friends like we all are. People he would spend a life time with.

I bet he is going to be spoiled rotten by the whole kutumb and we are going to enjoy every moment of it.

"Welcome to our world Agastya! We promise to make it as wonderful for you as we can."

A long awaited lunch

Some plans are made and never followed through. My cousin sisters and I have been promising to have lunch together for years now and it has never happened.

Recently, at a common cousin’s wedding, we once again made plans. But this time it seemed like it would work. And work it did.

The next day 6 of us got together for lunch. Finally! I rank this as one of the most enjoyable family related gatherings I have ever been to.


L - R: Ami, Amrita (ben), Priya, Sonali, Monisha & Me at Mocha

We managed to catch up on what we are all doing, how we got there. We talked about husbands / fiancés, children, our family, work and heaven knows what else. We gossiped and we laughed. We teased each other and we stood up for each other. Most importantly we bonded.

I found myself mentally distancing myself from the conversation and observing the 6 of us, the differences and the similarities. The bantering and the silences; the ease and comfort we shared. No one was sitting in judgment, no pretences were needed. It was an unburdened acceptance of each other.

I think the key ingredient that day was we didn’t meet as sisters as much as we met as friends. When we parted, we were both!

The gathering ended too soon for my liking and sadly we are all back to our lives. 2 of them are in another city, 1 in another country. It will take a long time before all of us are in the same town again. But I’m sure we will meet if and when that happens. And will probably take up from where we left off this time.

I think they will all agree with me when I say that I am really looking forward to that day!

This generation's epic

I come from a generation that survived on the antics of Suppandi, Shikari Shambu, Kalia the Crow and of course Tantri the Mantri. These guys are the much loved characters from the Tinkle Comic series that would be delivered every fortnight to my house.

Along with this I used to get another comic called the Amar Chitra Katha. Not as popular as Tinkle, ACK was a far more enriching experience. Its stories were about mythology and history; they introduced children to great men and women who have had such a vast impact on our lives. They told folk tales and other such stories. But in my opinion the best thing they did was publish the Mahabharat. True, it was a highly abridged version (probably 10% of the real thing), but in comic form it was easy to read.

Thanks to this, as a child I had the pleasure of first reading the Mahabharat; the greatest narration ever written. I don’t know too many people who have read even this abridged version. I find this sad, because this epic holds within it’s words lessons and truths of life that no philosopher could teach. It speaks of dharma – not religion but the way of life.

I remained fascinated with it all my life. As I grew older Doordarshan started showing the Ramayan on TV. Sadly I didn’t follow it. But when they started showing the Mahabharat, you couldn’t pry me away from the TV for anything.

Then a few months ago my father introduced me to a writer (Ashok Banker) who has re-written the Ramayan. I am finally getting a chance to know the story of a human, a prince, a son, a brother, a husband who is now, many millennia later, considered a God.

What’s wonderful is that it is not a one-sided perspective. It is un-biased and refreshing. The language is simple yet eloquent and the flow is smooth.

Dad read the first book and promptly went out and bought the remaining 3 available. When I got my hands on them, I went through all four in a matter of 8 days. Book 5 is finally available in India and I have been reading it the last few days. I just finished it actually! Now the wait for book 6! Part of me wishes I had waited so that I could have read them all together back to back as a whole.

I have a few friends who share my love for reading. So it is natural when they ask me “what you reading?” Suffice to say, most of them were surprised when I mentioned the Ramayan. In spite of being so impressed with the books I didn’t recommend these books to anybody. I frankly never imagined that these friends, some who are much younger than me, would really be interested.

I did give book 1 to a friend who trusts my judgment impeccably where books are concerned. Imagine my pleasure when he called and said he had finished it and wanted to borrow book 2.

A few weeks ago another friend came over to borrow something to read, and asked me about book 1. He was intrigued because of my praising. And then 2 days ago, another friend called me to ask if he could borrow it. I am amazed and thrilled! I know that my interests have always been varied enough for me to enjoy many things. But I didn’t expect this from my friends.

What makes today’s youth get interested in reading historical epics? These aren’t your every day action books, they aren’t love stories, there are no international conspiracies; in fact there is nothing in them that falls into the mould of a best seller.

It seems that this generation isn’t as shallow as one imagined. We are open to the values that these epics remind us of. We are curious to read tales of those we have been taught to revere. And it took the skillful way these books are written to allow this opportunity. If only history was taught like this in school, I am sure we would have all benefited.

FYI… Mr. Banker is now working on a rendition of the Mahabharat. I can’t wait!

Re-visited & Re-lived

A year ago, to the date, I started out thinking that I would blog everyday. I have just about managed one a week (this is my 52nd post on this blog)

I spent a better part of my day today reading my own blogs. They weren’t half as bad as I thought, and in fact going by the comments on them, they were pretty good.

It was pleasant reminder of what I went through over the last year, the people who played a significant role in my life. The feelings I had and the experiences I went through. Reliving moments was enjoyable and revisiting the inspirations was very interesting.

Not every thing was obvious at the time, nor is it today, to people who read my blogs. But I know that the people behind some of the entries know it’s them.

When dad first asked cajoled me into blogging, I never realized that it would become a chronicle for me. For that reason alone I am really happy I did start and kept it on to the best of my abilities.

If I keep it up, next year will be even more interesting.
So thank you dad for introducing me to this world; Mayur for making it finally happen, all my fellow writers at Dud Sea Scrawls for welcoming me to your sanctum and leaving such wonderful comments. My friends, a lot of who read my blog, some of who comment and many who don’t; and my muses who helped me write.

A Novel Idea

The pun in this blog’s title is definitely intended. What else would you call a book called the ‘Autobiography of a One Year Old’?

A fellow reader and dear friend mentioned this book to me a few months ago. When I couldn’t find it in my local bookshop, she sent over a copy and I am so glad she did. This book ranks as the most delightful book I have ever read.

I found the title of the book amusing, but it didn’t do anything to prepare me for the how hilarious the content is.

The protagonist is naturally a one year old, talking about his theories, discoveries and activities as the days go by. He calls his parents ‘hairy’ and ‘smooth’ and is most miffed at the state of affairs around him.

Short of copying paragraphs and paragraphs of the book to share with you, I can’t say anything about it that would do the book justice. All I can say is that I highly recommend it – the author is a gentleman called Rohan Candappa.

Thanks Nim for a very thoughtful and entertaining gift.

Welcome the traveller

To say that my fiancé, JJ, leads an interesting life is the understatement of the century.

This man went from being an Officer with the Indian Army to jet setter in a span of a few months. He quit the Army for a variety of reasons and re-located to Dubai where he joined a company that has a presence in some 50 countries. An individual who had never set foot out of his own country was now flying to Africa one day and Afghanistan the next.

Thanks to my dad’s encouragement, he has started a blog of his own called 'The Traveller'; and I am thrilled to welcome him to the world of bloggers.

J, I enjoyed reading what you have written immensely. Please do keep writing, so I can see the world through your eyes.

Dhuleti

Day 2 of the festival of Holi!

The day started out like it has every year. Rushing through the morning and coordinating with friends.

This year we weren’t just getting together and playing it by the ear. This time we had a full blown party happening...

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Holi

The festival of colors is upon us. Today is Holi, a festival of exuberance that marks the end of winter and the advent of spring.

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Bad luck & Opportunities

How unpredictable life is! Sure we all know this and I do too, but it doesn’t cease to amaze me.

Here I was putting together a plan and strategy for my life when bang! Everything goes for a toss.

As of the 1st of this month, JJ has been posted to Afghanistan by his company. They say he will be there for one and half to two years.

I honestly believed he and I were both finally at stage in our lives, where we could finally get married and start the next phase. But with this development, all plans are going to have to wait for these 2 years at least.

It made me intensely unhappy when I heard about this. Because I knew that it would be foolish for JJ to pass up this opportunity. For those few days I felt rather fatalistic about the whole thing. I resented him putting me in such a position.

I am the kind of person who relies on my friends a lot when I am going through a hard time. But this time I didn’t really talk to anyone about this. It was one of the lowest phases in my life and I couldn’t find the words to express myself to even my closest friends. I just kept to myself, not even talking to JJ (who at the time looked like the culprit to me).

One night we connected online and talked about it for hours. I heard the unhappiness in his voice too. I also heard a note of resignation and this made me feel even angrier. What had we done to deserve such bad luck?

As we talked, it suddenly occurred to me that I could also hear a hint of excitement in his manner. Putting further thought into it, I also began to see the move as the huge opportunity it really was.

Of course it would be good for JJ, and I don’t mean only the money aspect. It was a chance for him to take on new challenges and master them. The networking opportunities, the experience; everything seemed right about it.

Then I thought of my own life; my own career and my own dreams. Here I was being handed time and space to do all the things I thought I may not ever get a chance to and for the first time without a huge price attached to it.

When we weighed these aspects, we realized that if life were a 10, we were getting chance to make good of 9 out 10 things. The only downer being that we would have to be apart for that much longer.

We both slowly accepted this turn of events and are now busy trying to do the best we can. It isn’t easy, but it’s not the end of the world either.

I look forward to both of us proving to ourselves and the world what we are capable of and then getting together to start our belated next phase. We have both put a lot into our relationship. It has been hard, but we are stronger for that. I am sure that when we are finally together, it’s going to be all worth it.