Hello Again

I have been consumed by work. The company I work for , stresses a lot on some elusive concept called 'Work-Life balance'. I have seriously lost track of which is which. Is work = Life or is Life = Work? i felt i just could not go on without taking a few moments to think about. This is one equation everyone tells me I must Master.

Once upon a time, i was the typical engg college-having the time of my life in a heavenly place-give a damn abt the world kind of person. The change been gradual and i never knew when i changed. I've now become the typical B.E-recruited by a big brand-slogging to make myself known kinda person. 'Fun' times in office have replaced FUN time in classes, I miss the college canteen every time i enter the office cafeteria. But i'm still enjoying my life-work-or-whatever-you-will-call-it.

So i've come back to the old love of my life.. writing.. Hello again world.. you'll hear from me soon and often enough now..

@ Home in Hyderabad

we're finally settled.. even though we still dont have a fridge and keep throwing food away every alternate day.. we have a place to call home.. its an amazing flat we have named 'The Disco House' . we have bright blue and yellow textured walls in some parts of the house .. and we have friends with ideal bouncer dimensions.. and we have music and lights.. so the disco house it has become.. :)

our landlord is called Chakradhar.. he is one of the most accomplished men i know.. he owns a grocery / vegetable shop, has rented out two flats with brilliantly coloured walls and also possesses unmatched plumbing and climbing skills.. he climbed up on my roommate's commode to fix her geyser.. what he doesnt possess is good sense and probably knowledge of english.. the lease has our names as MRS ketaki gupta Mrs sneha Dutta and mrs pankhuri patni.. but what the hell

The house has some more absurdities but we're taking everything in stride. It's a new life with the old people I love. And I hope we'll get through it.

Palolem... :)

not many people i know can boast of having been intercepted by police in the middle of the night.. on a national highway

i can.. :P

it was this on time we made a last minute plan to go to Palolem, a.k.a south Goa and in snehaspeak- Non Party Goa

We began our journey well by getting on the wrong train, one that would take us to Madgaon and not Cancona..
we compensated for that by getting off at a station we knew from experience was an hour's drive from the Palolem beach.
Which in turn led to us getting off at the most incorrect of times, 2 a.m .. the Time of No Conveyence in Small Towns..
we were welcomed very enthusiastically by an Auto Manager, who after duly informing his driver "NAI,, Firang nai hain.." asked us for 2500 bucks
.. i leave u to imagine what we felt like.. not to mention we had very bravely come with only not warm clothes and it was chilly..

so we somehow managed to end up at the deserted bus stop.. as luck would have it, the only vehicle there was a fish delivery card.. stinking of.. yes u guessed it..
fish!!
the guy took our request for a ride seriously.. and scurried off to wash his filthy truck and make it a little more approachable..

well.. for a sheltered little child that i was.. this was the biggest adventure i had ever been in.. not that i have been in many..
crossing an interstate border in the middle of the night .. in a stinking fish delivery cart is not something i get to do everyday..
in spite of this tight little knot at the pit of my stomach which was causing me to remember Sai Baba every 5 minutes.. i was enjoying the ride..
the back of the cart was open.. and i could see the road as well as the sky.. i swear i have never seen so may stars..

it was a good thing i was thinking of Sai Baba every 5 minutes.. the police caught us at the border.. Technically , we were not doing anything wrong..
but i guess we looked like ppl who wore money necklaces.. the inspector duly demanded "ledijj ko leke kidhar jata hai?? "
our poor guys were both even tempered and mild..they politely and unsuccessfully tried to explain the situation to him.. we were stuck there..
but since 2 of us had parents in ministries.. we couldnt risk calls at home.. even though that would meet immediate release..

finally after threatening us for at least half an hour, writing down all our names and reg numbers at the back of a dilapidated notebook, and taking our
chief warden's number.. and unsuccessfully trying to cane our stupid looking driver.. he let us off.. it was more than evident that he was trying to
get us to warm his pockets... we had not taken greedy cops into account while fixing a budget for the trip..lol.. i dont know if we beggers even had a budget

it was 4 when we reached the beach.. and started hunting for a place to stay...
everything was pretty uneventful compared to this.. unless u consider sleeping off on a random verandah eventful..

my friends appreciated the happy hours and i think we rated almost all the firang females on the beach..

it was the best trip i had during my stay in manipal.. :)

oh and we broke the shower of our bathroom ..