Bombayed :)

Yes, I have been Bombayed again and boy, am I overjoyed! :D

The funny thing about being in Bombay after being in Mangalore is that I end up carrying the entire city in my head. The swarming crowds, the "dhandu" conversations on the street, the overflowing locals, the wonderous aroma of all kinds of food being cooked around every corner, the gutter smells interspread with an Armani, the duality of bright blue tarpaulin chawl-roofs right beside luxurious sky scrapers... The heady combination of all that is Mumbai is in my head and I take it with me everywhere!

01-01-2012

At exactly 00:00, 01-01-2012, I got a missed call. From my PSR. :P That was how the new year chimed in :P

My Potts called a few minutes later and it was like a shower of happiness all across from Baroda to Mangalore.

And then a few more Baroda calls later, I slept :) I like you, 2012. You seem simple. :) 

2011

My ode to 2011

Key  words:

1. Discount District
2. L'Oreal and Garnier
3. Travel
4. Barista
5. Sales
6. MBA
7. SCMHRD (Oh? HR? No, we have FOUR specialisations - Marketing, Operations, Finance AND HR - I have specialised in MARKETING - Finally, shortened to: "I am from Symbiosis, Pune.)
8. Salary
9. Sachet 
10. Niti's wedding

Question of the year:


Bhaiyya, ek L'Oreal ka shampoo rakhoge? (Followed by:) Fatafat nikal jayega! Aapko pata bhi nahi chalega kab aaya, kab gaya!

Activity of the year:

Hours and hours of Big Bang Theory, Friends, HIMYM, 3 and a Half Men, 30 Rock, Dexter

Facebook Profile of the year:

Now blocked

Joke of the year:

From B to C to D to C and so on.

Experience of the year:

Well, it isn't one... Goa, 36 hours in Bombay, Niti's wedding

People of the year:

My first boss TC Anil, the BDE I worked with - Jeevan Pinto, my PSRs, Pavitra, my 8 people, Rahul Unkal

Trinket of the year:

The satin  fuchsia rakhi from the Bangalore wholesale market that became my house-key's keychain

Belief of the year:

I am awesome. \m/

Reality of the year:

I am lazy. :P

Song of the year:

Why this Kolaveri di... in more ways than one :P


Rant of the year:

In what way is Miss Precious better than me? Just because she studied SCIENCE? Just because she thinks architecture means putting up Champaner-lookalike pics as her cover photo? Just because she thinks she is some powerful snitch who can ape Lisbet blah blah? Just because she is one little spoilt brat who with her friends calls him "her possession"? :P haha! I have come to love these rants!

Beginning of the year:

My sales diary

Place of the year:

Guess, guess? Undoubtably, Manglore! :D

Most looked forward to date of the year:

27th of every month :P

Bye bye Mangalore

It has been a while since I wrote. Although it has probably been just 2 months since the last post, it seems to me that I have come miles from where I was. I needed to travel those miles and I did it. I have crossed the proverbial bridge, tamed the fire-spitting dragon of anger and stopped walking around like a proud wounded animal. Haha. I sound so dramatic right now, I can start clapping at my own literary nonsense. :P

Now that it is time to leave Mangalore, I have started counting the lasts again. More than anything, I guess I shall miss my darling palace of a house. I love my house in Mangalore. It has everything. It is comfortable. It is fun. It is large. It almost seems like a living spirit, which has been with me for all these months and seen it all - the laughter, the giggles, the endless sitcoms, the sudden spurts of writing, Aishwarya Rai and lots of her :P, Karishma Kapoor and lots of her and a whole lot of products from Garnier and L'Oreal. :) I am going to miss my beautiful house. Dear housie, you shall always be my first and most likely the biggest house I shall live in all by myself. :) And, you fulfilled a dream. I woke up every morning to sip chai while I looked out at coconut trees. I always wanted to do that. And, I did it! Thankoo, house! I shall miss you. Very much.

And then, I shall miss the short distances. Bombay, although it is very inviting, has always been the BIG city. I love small cities. I love that when I go to the airport or the bus stand or the railway station, I always run into someone I know. It happens in Baroda. It happened in Mangalore (probably because I know about 1000 people in the city - all my wholesalers and retailers - by face :P)

I shall miss my boss, because he let me be and held my hand when he needed to. He let me do whatever I wanted to do and yet he watched over me so that he could teach me where I went wrong. Thank you, sir!

I shall miss the retailer chats, the wholesaler Gujju bonding, the packing up and leaving to an unknown destination... I shall miss it all! :)

I shall NOT miss the rain :D and the rickshaw-walas :D :D and the horrrrrrible roads :D :D :D and the really rough bus rides! :D :D hehehehe and the incomprehensible streams of unknown languages be it verbal or on script!

All in all, Mangalore, you have been good to me. And I shall hold you close to my heart because you were city of firsts. :) Muuah!

The best things in life are those which we can chew or sip. :P Dear olives, I love you. Dear fried succulent babycorn, you are so tasty, I can you the burst of endorphins in my brain as my teeth hit the corn. And, ohhh, Dear Dairy Milk Silk, HOW can you be sooooo damn uplifting. No matter how angry I am, or how down in the dumps I get, I unwrap you and ooh! Life is perfect! And, PANI PURI... OH MY LOVELY!! Tu kitni haseen hai, meri jaaaan! I can't wait for the sookha! I can't wait for the next one! And after the last sookha, I order for a plateful of sookha puri :D OOh! And, so many other things too! Dear whoever ate the apple, I can so understand! And, duh God, or anyone else for calling it a sin! Not a sin this! This is JOY! This is FUN! This is my season in the SUN! Hee haa! We have been Westlifed! And I am so bored am posting this piece of nonsense from my mobile! :P Heeh! :P

Baroooodaaaaa!!! :(

If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.