Undated, but somewhere last week
53 Jolly Maker Chamber II
Nariman Point
Mumbai
(NOTE: I’ve begun this post so many times over the past week and I’ve never finished it. Now the dates are all mixed up and I can’t remember what happened when so I’m just putting it down as I remember it. I hope this doesn’t read as confusing as I am right now)
It’s been a crazy few days. You’ll know since you haven’t heard from me in a while. The last time I’d disappeared was because I had nothing to write. But this time it’s the complete opposite. I have tons to write but I’ve had no time at all. You might not believe me, but I have been terribly busy because this week at work it was production week and since Monday it’s been insane. The phone’s been ringing off the hook and the Delhi office has had us on our toes the whole time. When I was writing for Simply Gujarati, it was similar. And that used to frazzle me to no end. It’s the same here. But maybe I’m used to it. But actually no. Every time my phone or the office phone rings, we all hope it isn’t Delhi I’m sure that they are in as much hurry or tension as we are. Doesn’t that happen everywhere? You have someone superior to you who’s sitting on your head with deadlines. That person has his/her own boss and so on. So I guess it’s not entirely their fault. But still. Its extremely stressful.
So let me begin by telling you what all happened yesterday because that’s fresh in my memory.
The morning began in absolute chaos as phone calls kept pouring in from Delhi. They had a lot of queries about the stories we’d sent. Many changes had to be made. I was given a particular format to follow and I did that and wrote my story and then later they told me that I have to write it in a different format. I was really tensed that they might either reject my story or I might not be able to get it done in time. Also, I had sent in a dozen pics for this one story and all of them were rejected. So I had to arrange for a photo-shoot for that story. Plus one of the designers I was writing on, I was told to do a photo-shoot for her too. Timings were not working out and I was losing my mind with the demands of people around me.
Once one photo-shoot was arranged and the photographer went off to handle it, I breathed a sigh of relief. But only for a few moments. I got back to editing my story while still sorting out Delhi’s issues.
In the evening at about quarter to five, my friend called up to say that she was at the launch of a new Planet M store in Churchgate and the cast and crew of the new movie FALTU was to be there. I needed to take a break and so I went and asked my boss if I could go for the launch and he said I could.
I reached there and was so glad that I finally knew someone at an event and I wouldn’t have to stand by myself.
We waited for the store to be launched and for the guests to come. But celebrities being celebrities, they came past six. By then Delhi had begun calling me again, asking me questions about the story and details regarding the photo-shoot.
Finally the ‘stars’ arrived and in walked Jackky Bhagnani with his father and his co-star Pooja Gupta, Remo D’souza and Salman (Yana Gupta’s choreographer on Jhalak Dikhlaja ) I took one look at them, grabbed the press release and ran back to office to take care of the mess that awaited me.
After a hectic couple of hours I finally left for the launch of Tommy Hilfiger Spring Summer Footwear Collection at Olive in Mahalaxmi. Taking directions from my friend and colleague, I reached the place at about 9 pm.
I entered Olive and I didn’t know a soul. I walked around like a ghost for a few minutes before I remembered that I did know someone. The PR guy who’d called me about the launch. I met him and he took me to talk to all the biggies of TH. For a moment I was stunned. More like had a nervous breakdown (for a couple of seconds). I’d never heard of any of the guys out there. I hadn’t had the time to research on the brand or the people associated with it. I didn’t want to say no because that would have been foolish and really immature and unprofessional. Nor did I want to talk to them and sound like a complete ignoramus. I didn’t really have the time to contemplate and the next thing I knew I was talking to the CEO of TH India. I somehow managed to come up with a few questions about the new line, the theme, the need to expand the line, what is it’s target audience, what’s different about this particular line, its inspiration etc. I was terribly nervous as you can possibly imagine. But I made it through.
I’d just about finished than the PR person introduced me to the COO and there I went again. But this time I was better. I handled myself in a much more mature manner and yet again finished smoothly.
And once done talking to the COO I was taken to meet the Chairman, the big boss of TH India and I couldn’t believe my luck. Good luck or bad luck, I have no idea, but there I was chatting to him as though I’d known him for ages. I was really proud of myself. He spoke to me about a lot of things about the brand and I came up with new questions from the things he told me.
It all ended well and I finally made my way to the bar and ordered for a glass of orange juice (I’m not making it up). While I was sitting there and nibbling on prawn starters, I heard some reporters and camera persons call out, “Karan one question please! Karan face this side! Karan this! Karan that!” I turned around and there was Karan Johar, speaking to the reporters and posing for pictures. I was quite excited to see him, and tried to take a pic. Got a hazy one. After him came Shahzaan Padamsee, Puneet Malhotra, Tarun Mansukhani and Ritwik Bhatacharya. It was all new for me, seeing all these celebrities and have everyone around be all chilled out about it as though it wasn’t anything new. Which it wasn’t. Not for them.
It was half past ten by then so I decided to go home. Besides, I was starving. I told the PR guy that I was leaving and he walked me out and handed me a paper bag with Tommy Hilfiger printed across the front. I didn’t peep in at that moment, but smiled and said thank you. It was only when I was in the rickshaw on the way to the station that I looked inside the bag and I found a pair of TH chappals, in pink and black and exactly my size! I was thrilled. I immediately called up my friend and told her about it because we had been talking about it just that day.
So that was my day of celebrity watching, if you want to call it.
And since I’m talking about celebrities, then let me also tell you about this event I went to a day or two before the TH launch. It was a wine tasting event at Sea Princess Hotel in Juhu where four wines of Kimaya brand were being unveiled. There too I sat alone since I didn’t know anyone, but got around to chatting with the PR of that event. We exchanged numbers and she told me she’ll call me about the listings in our magazine. At that event, I saw a couple of actors/ actresses I’ve seen on TV but don’t know their names. I saw Shahzaan Padamsee there too. I’d had three glasses of wine on an empty stomach and was feeling quite light headed at the end of it. So I left early from there and went home for dinner.
On Saturday night we girls went to Jughead’s (Malad west) for dinner and had a fabulous time. The India- South Africa cricket match was almost over and it was a close one. The entire place was alive; cheering for both the teams and it was awesome! We’d had great dinner and later went for a walk to MindSpace and sat outside Barista for a while.
Yesterday, Sunday, we didn’t do much because two of my friends were working since they’d had a holiday on Saturday. Three of us went out for dinner to Andheri to this non-veg place that’s near one of my friend’s office (Aaj Tak).
So that’s all that has happened over last week. I wish I’d written sooner because I had a lot of things to say about those socialite parties. Maybe I’ll write about it later.
I’m waiting for the magazine issue to be out soon since it carries two of my stories. Will post it on FB.
--
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
LIVE from Mumbai IX
6th / 7th March, 2011
Prathmesh Avenue
Malad East
Mumbai
Ok. So I’ve been missing over the weekend. But that’s because I haven’t been at home. Where have I been? With my family. Let me start from the beginning of Saturday.
So Saturday was my weekly off. I woke up at 8:20 am because one of my friends was leaving for work in some time. So I got up and we talked while she had her breakfast. Meanwhile, another friend woke up as well and we talked about the previous day’s events. (I’d gone out with a friend for dinner and had had an amazing time) I told them about that and they told me about all their stories.
After my friend left for work, we didn’t go back to sleep. Don’t ask me why. After going to sleep at 1 the previous night, I was surprisingly bright eyed and chirpy. So anyway, we thought of what to do for the rest of the day. My friend had received a mail about a job opportunity at NCPA (that’s the National Centre for Performing Arts). I told her that the place was right next to my office and if she wanted to check the place out, we could go. Anyway we had nothing better planned for the day, so she agreed. We decided to have lunch there at Subway (yes, we’re Subway fans and she’d been longing for a Sub since a while now).
After lazing around for a while, we finally went for our baths, had our breakfast and when we finally left it was 12 noon.
We reached Churchgate at about 1:15 and went the usual route. We went to Subway first because we were really hungry and couldn’t wait until her work at NCPA was done. So we went to CR2 and stood in line to place our order. It was Saturday and the Sub of the day was Tuna. I’m not a fan of fish and especially tuna. So I ordered for roast chicken instead and my friend took the tuna. We also took a bottle of cold drink and contemplated where to sit and eat because that was just a take-away joint.
I then realized that we were right next to the sea-line and we could sit at the stretch of paved road that bordered the sea. So we took our lunch there and found a spot to sit in the shade. It was like our little picnic. It was beautiful. The sight, the weather, the food and our conversation.
We didn’t want to leave from there. We were content sitting there like that forever. We wished we didn’t have to work. We wished we could eat all we wanted whenever and whatever we wanted. We then talked about how food was the best thing in life and how selfless and un-judgmental it was. How it never expected anything in return, how it never fought with you or betrayed you or how it didn’t matter who was eating it. It didn’t matter whether a girl or guy was eating, whether it was a beautiful or ugly person or whether he was rich or poor. Nothing could get better than food and better than the satisfaction that food gave you. Every other satisfaction had conditions attached to it. But not food.
We finally left feeling really good about everything. We reached NCPA at about 2:30 pm. We walked around the grounds to get to the reception only to find that being Saturday, the office was closed. In a way we felt silly, and anyone in our place would have thought it had been a waste of a day, travelling all the way from Malad to Nariman Point only to have lunch. But we didn’t regret it. We’d had fun and so it was worth it.
We then left for home back to Malad because I was meeting my friend again. And besides I was supposed to leave for Mulund by 4pm to go to my cousin’s place and later meet my parents who were to come today morning.
We reached home and my friend was already there. We were there for another 2 hours before my cousin called to tell me that they’ll pick me up from Andheri station.
I left for Andheri and was there in 15 minutes. I went and stood at the place I was to meet my cousin and my uncle and aunty who’d also come from Goa that morning. After a lot of confusion and pranks and long phone-calls, I finally met them and we headed for Mulund by cab. It took us about an hour or so to get to Nirmal Lifestyle (Mulund) and there we met my cousin. After shopping for about 45 minutes we had dinner there and I absolutely loved it! (I still say there’s no better thing in life than food)
We went back home and got ready to sleep since we had to wake up early the next morning. My mum and dad were coming at about 5:30 am.
I’m not sure how long I was awake or when morning came but when I opened my eyes, my parents were sitting in the living room yapping with everyone.
We had a great time together. Mum had packed a huge bag of food for me and I was thrilled. After coffee we got ready to go to church for the 8:15am mass. When we reached St Pius Church, we discovered that the mass had begun at 8 and we were late for it. So we decided to go for the 9:15 one and went for breakfast to a nearby restaurant.
The church was celebrating women’s day that day and after mass, many women of the congregation put up eatery stalls outside. We packed a lot of food from there and my cousin got all of us (meaning the women in the family) flowers.
Later in the evening, we went to visit my dad’s uncle who stays in Mahim with his family. It’s a family apartment called Star of the Sea and the uncle’s kids all live in the same building, one above the other.
We first went to meet my dad’s uncle who is now a frail old man of about 90 or so and walks with the help of a walker. The daughter who lives with him is married to a guy who makes centre pieces and sets for events like weddings, concerts and the recent ICC World Cup 2011 opening ceremony. We sat in the living room and the sight from where I was couldn’t have got any better. The doors to the living room opened out right at the sea. And right there in front of your eyes was the magnificent Bandra-Worli Sea link.
I went outside into the backyard and just stood there in amazement. The beach was right there, and the sea was incredibly calm and still. There was a withering tree at one corner that had not a single leaf on it, and the sun came streaming through the barren branches.
As we went a floor higher to meet the rest of my dad’s cousins, the view just got better. And finally at about 6pm when we reached the 3rd floor, the view took my breath away. The Mumbai skyline, the sea link, the sea shore, the people, and the setting sun that cast an almost pinkish hue over the skies- I could’ve stayed there forever. I could hear loud music (Devil Woman by Cliff Richard) playing from below me, and I got to know it was the uncle whom we met at the ground floor.
What I also realized after being at my dad’s cousins’ place was that I was the 6th person in my entire family (immediate and extended combined) who was in the line of journalism. Not such a different or extraordinary choice of career, is it now?
After all the visiting was done, my parents and my aunt came to see me off at Mahim station and I saw the anxious looks on their faces as the train pulled out of the station and they waved till I was out of sight. I think they think I’m really brave and have finally grown up.
For dinner we went to our landlord’s place (who’s also a friend of one of my friends who lives with me). Had a delicious and filing meal of Guajarati cuisine.
Well, that’s how my weekend was. Nothing like last weeks shopping spree, but lovely all the same.
Prathmesh Avenue
Malad East
Mumbai
Ok. So I’ve been missing over the weekend. But that’s because I haven’t been at home. Where have I been? With my family. Let me start from the beginning of Saturday.
So Saturday was my weekly off. I woke up at 8:20 am because one of my friends was leaving for work in some time. So I got up and we talked while she had her breakfast. Meanwhile, another friend woke up as well and we talked about the previous day’s events. (I’d gone out with a friend for dinner and had had an amazing time) I told them about that and they told me about all their stories.
After my friend left for work, we didn’t go back to sleep. Don’t ask me why. After going to sleep at 1 the previous night, I was surprisingly bright eyed and chirpy. So anyway, we thought of what to do for the rest of the day. My friend had received a mail about a job opportunity at NCPA (that’s the National Centre for Performing Arts). I told her that the place was right next to my office and if she wanted to check the place out, we could go. Anyway we had nothing better planned for the day, so she agreed. We decided to have lunch there at Subway (yes, we’re Subway fans and she’d been longing for a Sub since a while now).
After lazing around for a while, we finally went for our baths, had our breakfast and when we finally left it was 12 noon.
We reached Churchgate at about 1:15 and went the usual route. We went to Subway first because we were really hungry and couldn’t wait until her work at NCPA was done. So we went to CR2 and stood in line to place our order. It was Saturday and the Sub of the day was Tuna. I’m not a fan of fish and especially tuna. So I ordered for roast chicken instead and my friend took the tuna. We also took a bottle of cold drink and contemplated where to sit and eat because that was just a take-away joint.
I then realized that we were right next to the sea-line and we could sit at the stretch of paved road that bordered the sea. So we took our lunch there and found a spot to sit in the shade. It was like our little picnic. It was beautiful. The sight, the weather, the food and our conversation.
We didn’t want to leave from there. We were content sitting there like that forever. We wished we didn’t have to work. We wished we could eat all we wanted whenever and whatever we wanted. We then talked about how food was the best thing in life and how selfless and un-judgmental it was. How it never expected anything in return, how it never fought with you or betrayed you or how it didn’t matter who was eating it. It didn’t matter whether a girl or guy was eating, whether it was a beautiful or ugly person or whether he was rich or poor. Nothing could get better than food and better than the satisfaction that food gave you. Every other satisfaction had conditions attached to it. But not food.
We finally left feeling really good about everything. We reached NCPA at about 2:30 pm. We walked around the grounds to get to the reception only to find that being Saturday, the office was closed. In a way we felt silly, and anyone in our place would have thought it had been a waste of a day, travelling all the way from Malad to Nariman Point only to have lunch. But we didn’t regret it. We’d had fun and so it was worth it.
We then left for home back to Malad because I was meeting my friend again. And besides I was supposed to leave for Mulund by 4pm to go to my cousin’s place and later meet my parents who were to come today morning.
We reached home and my friend was already there. We were there for another 2 hours before my cousin called to tell me that they’ll pick me up from Andheri station.
I left for Andheri and was there in 15 minutes. I went and stood at the place I was to meet my cousin and my uncle and aunty who’d also come from Goa that morning. After a lot of confusion and pranks and long phone-calls, I finally met them and we headed for Mulund by cab. It took us about an hour or so to get to Nirmal Lifestyle (Mulund) and there we met my cousin. After shopping for about 45 minutes we had dinner there and I absolutely loved it! (I still say there’s no better thing in life than food)
We went back home and got ready to sleep since we had to wake up early the next morning. My mum and dad were coming at about 5:30 am.
I’m not sure how long I was awake or when morning came but when I opened my eyes, my parents were sitting in the living room yapping with everyone.
We had a great time together. Mum had packed a huge bag of food for me and I was thrilled. After coffee we got ready to go to church for the 8:15am mass. When we reached St Pius Church, we discovered that the mass had begun at 8 and we were late for it. So we decided to go for the 9:15 one and went for breakfast to a nearby restaurant.
The church was celebrating women’s day that day and after mass, many women of the congregation put up eatery stalls outside. We packed a lot of food from there and my cousin got all of us (meaning the women in the family) flowers.
Later in the evening, we went to visit my dad’s uncle who stays in Mahim with his family. It’s a family apartment called Star of the Sea and the uncle’s kids all live in the same building, one above the other.
We first went to meet my dad’s uncle who is now a frail old man of about 90 or so and walks with the help of a walker. The daughter who lives with him is married to a guy who makes centre pieces and sets for events like weddings, concerts and the recent ICC World Cup 2011 opening ceremony. We sat in the living room and the sight from where I was couldn’t have got any better. The doors to the living room opened out right at the sea. And right there in front of your eyes was the magnificent Bandra-Worli Sea link.
I went outside into the backyard and just stood there in amazement. The beach was right there, and the sea was incredibly calm and still. There was a withering tree at one corner that had not a single leaf on it, and the sun came streaming through the barren branches.
As we went a floor higher to meet the rest of my dad’s cousins, the view just got better. And finally at about 6pm when we reached the 3rd floor, the view took my breath away. The Mumbai skyline, the sea link, the sea shore, the people, and the setting sun that cast an almost pinkish hue over the skies- I could’ve stayed there forever. I could hear loud music (Devil Woman by Cliff Richard) playing from below me, and I got to know it was the uncle whom we met at the ground floor.
What I also realized after being at my dad’s cousins’ place was that I was the 6th person in my entire family (immediate and extended combined) who was in the line of journalism. Not such a different or extraordinary choice of career, is it now?
After all the visiting was done, my parents and my aunt came to see me off at Mahim station and I saw the anxious looks on their faces as the train pulled out of the station and they waved till I was out of sight. I think they think I’m really brave and have finally grown up.
For dinner we went to our landlord’s place (who’s also a friend of one of my friends who lives with me). Had a delicious and filing meal of Guajarati cuisine.
Well, that’s how my weekend was. Nothing like last weeks shopping spree, but lovely all the same.
Friday, March 4, 2011
LIVE from Mumbai VIII
4th March 4, 2011
Nariman Point
Mumbai
I know I know. I haven’t written in a long time. After the last time I wrote, nothing great happened. I wasn’t inspired enough to write and I didn’t want to write a post simply for the sake of writing, and waste my time and your’s (if you’ve been reading, that is).
Yesterday I wanted to write because I’d had a good day. But then I got too busy. Which I loved, by the way. The past week, I didn’t have much to do. All I was doing was collecting story ideas from things around me. Reading the papers, looking for stuff on the internet as to what all is new in the entertainment line, updating the listings page (that’s the event calendar in the city supplement) etc. All that wasn’t fun at all. I wasn’t even sent on any more press conferences so I could write about new places and about the people I met.
My boss says that in journalism, it’s more important to generate ideas and get them approved than writing a story. Writing anyone can do (I so wanted to disagree with him, partly because not Everyone can write, and I’m the writer, that’s all I am. I got nothing else but my writing skills). But I didn’t argue. I nodded along. He says that I shouldn’t wait for story ideas to be approved. I should just keep looking for more and more ideas and think of how I can make them work in a way that’ll add new light and perspective to it. I’m not saying that all that isn’t important. It’s just that talking to people and finally getting down to writing is what’s better for me. So the past week wasn’t all that interesting.
But yesterday I finally got to work the way I know it and love it. I started working on 3 stories. I won’t tell you yet what they are about. Maybe if and when they’re out in print.
I called up a dozen people with regards to the stories, got good responses from a few, not so needed responses from the rest. But one story turned out to be particularly interesting because when I’d started out, I had just one name. Then it went up to 10, and then to four. I’m hoping that by the time the stories done, I have atleast three if not more.
I then called this sportsperson whose kids I’m interviewing. He was really nice to me. Spoke politely and frankly about what he feels and I really liked him. Not everyone speaks to us journalists properly. I’m not sure why though. Or maybe I do.
For the third story I had to call the secretary first, then the main guy who’s out of town so the interview will be done via email. Like many others. Sometimes that’s just so convenient.
After a fulfilling day at work I left office feeling really happy. I’d left early to accompany my friend who broke her two day fast last evening. So we’d decided we’ll go for dinner to some nice place rather than our regular one.
In the middle of that, our ‘phone woes’ (phrase stolen from my friend’s ‘chappal woes’) continued. After finally getting a local number from Uninor, we discovered that the network was utterly horrible. You had to stand in one corner of the room on one leg and in some weird physically impossible position to get coverage. After being thoroughly fed up with that, we got an Idea number. The coverage was great and call-rates and things worked out fine. And then yesterday, what should happen but our connection getting barred for not submitting some required documents. Our idea lines not in use, we switched to the much hated Uninor number only to find that that number too was blocked. Great. We couldn’t get in touch with anyone. We eventually switched to our Baroda numbers and have been using that right now. Hoping that our troubles will be over soon. This is just too much.
So anyway, we set out for dinner at about 9pm and one of my friend’s dad suggested a good restaurant a little further off from where we were staying.
Let me tell you that by that time we three were 3/4th of crazy lunatics. My insane pangs of hunger, my friend’s unbelievable day of boredom and the other friend’s extremely tiring day at work had left us suffering from partial dementia. I had a mad look on my face when I suggested that I want to eat laddoos, the bored friend walked from one mattress to the other to show me what she did all day at home and the other was ready to kill people. We were at our irritable best and snapped at everyone. But then we also had sudden burst of laughter for no apparent reason.
So there we were, hunting for food. And I say that in a literal sense. We didn’t find the place we were looking for and we were somewhere in Malad west/ Goregaon looking for a non-vegetarian restaurant. After walking back and forth for around half an hour, we finally settled on this one place that looked kind of expensive. But by that time we were so starved that we were willing to pay anything for food (and my bored friend was eating up her words by then).
We ordered for butter chicken and egg curry and once our order was placed, we began staring at our neighbour’s plate of chicken lollipops. Oh what a sight they were.
When our dinner came it was heavenly. And not because we were crazily hungry, but because the food really was good. We ate like cave people and didn’t care about anyone else. Boy was that an amazing dinner. After that we had ice-cream because we felt our meal was incomplete.
We then caught a rick and went home at about 11.
Decided to watch The Social Network before falling off to sleep, but like the past week or so, I fell asleep after just 15 minutes of the film making the total number of films I’ve watched in Mumbai so far to….wait for it…ZERO. I simply can’t stay up at night. A huge huge change from my condition in Baroda. An incredible change.
Right now I’m at work. I just finished an interview with one designer and now waiting for the rest of the people to respond. Will be meeting my friends for lunch at Colaba. Looking forward to that if there’s not too much work load by then.
Well that’s all for now. Will try and be a little more updated on my blog the next time.
Tada!
Nariman Point
Mumbai
I know I know. I haven’t written in a long time. After the last time I wrote, nothing great happened. I wasn’t inspired enough to write and I didn’t want to write a post simply for the sake of writing, and waste my time and your’s (if you’ve been reading, that is).
Yesterday I wanted to write because I’d had a good day. But then I got too busy. Which I loved, by the way. The past week, I didn’t have much to do. All I was doing was collecting story ideas from things around me. Reading the papers, looking for stuff on the internet as to what all is new in the entertainment line, updating the listings page (that’s the event calendar in the city supplement) etc. All that wasn’t fun at all. I wasn’t even sent on any more press conferences so I could write about new places and about the people I met.
My boss says that in journalism, it’s more important to generate ideas and get them approved than writing a story. Writing anyone can do (I so wanted to disagree with him, partly because not Everyone can write, and I’m the writer, that’s all I am. I got nothing else but my writing skills). But I didn’t argue. I nodded along. He says that I shouldn’t wait for story ideas to be approved. I should just keep looking for more and more ideas and think of how I can make them work in a way that’ll add new light and perspective to it. I’m not saying that all that isn’t important. It’s just that talking to people and finally getting down to writing is what’s better for me. So the past week wasn’t all that interesting.
But yesterday I finally got to work the way I know it and love it. I started working on 3 stories. I won’t tell you yet what they are about. Maybe if and when they’re out in print.
I called up a dozen people with regards to the stories, got good responses from a few, not so needed responses from the rest. But one story turned out to be particularly interesting because when I’d started out, I had just one name. Then it went up to 10, and then to four. I’m hoping that by the time the stories done, I have atleast three if not more.
I then called this sportsperson whose kids I’m interviewing. He was really nice to me. Spoke politely and frankly about what he feels and I really liked him. Not everyone speaks to us journalists properly. I’m not sure why though. Or maybe I do.
For the third story I had to call the secretary first, then the main guy who’s out of town so the interview will be done via email. Like many others. Sometimes that’s just so convenient.
After a fulfilling day at work I left office feeling really happy. I’d left early to accompany my friend who broke her two day fast last evening. So we’d decided we’ll go for dinner to some nice place rather than our regular one.
In the middle of that, our ‘phone woes’ (phrase stolen from my friend’s ‘chappal woes’) continued. After finally getting a local number from Uninor, we discovered that the network was utterly horrible. You had to stand in one corner of the room on one leg and in some weird physically impossible position to get coverage. After being thoroughly fed up with that, we got an Idea number. The coverage was great and call-rates and things worked out fine. And then yesterday, what should happen but our connection getting barred for not submitting some required documents. Our idea lines not in use, we switched to the much hated Uninor number only to find that that number too was blocked. Great. We couldn’t get in touch with anyone. We eventually switched to our Baroda numbers and have been using that right now. Hoping that our troubles will be over soon. This is just too much.
So anyway, we set out for dinner at about 9pm and one of my friend’s dad suggested a good restaurant a little further off from where we were staying.
Let me tell you that by that time we three were 3/4th of crazy lunatics. My insane pangs of hunger, my friend’s unbelievable day of boredom and the other friend’s extremely tiring day at work had left us suffering from partial dementia. I had a mad look on my face when I suggested that I want to eat laddoos, the bored friend walked from one mattress to the other to show me what she did all day at home and the other was ready to kill people. We were at our irritable best and snapped at everyone. But then we also had sudden burst of laughter for no apparent reason.
So there we were, hunting for food. And I say that in a literal sense. We didn’t find the place we were looking for and we were somewhere in Malad west/ Goregaon looking for a non-vegetarian restaurant. After walking back and forth for around half an hour, we finally settled on this one place that looked kind of expensive. But by that time we were so starved that we were willing to pay anything for food (and my bored friend was eating up her words by then).
We ordered for butter chicken and egg curry and once our order was placed, we began staring at our neighbour’s plate of chicken lollipops. Oh what a sight they were.
When our dinner came it was heavenly. And not because we were crazily hungry, but because the food really was good. We ate like cave people and didn’t care about anyone else. Boy was that an amazing dinner. After that we had ice-cream because we felt our meal was incomplete.
We then caught a rick and went home at about 11.
Decided to watch The Social Network before falling off to sleep, but like the past week or so, I fell asleep after just 15 minutes of the film making the total number of films I’ve watched in Mumbai so far to….wait for it…ZERO. I simply can’t stay up at night. A huge huge change from my condition in Baroda. An incredible change.
Right now I’m at work. I just finished an interview with one designer and now waiting for the rest of the people to respond. Will be meeting my friends for lunch at Colaba. Looking forward to that if there’s not too much work load by then.
Well that’s all for now. Will try and be a little more updated on my blog the next time.
Tada!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
LIVE from Mumbai VII
1st March
Jolly Maker Chambers II
Nariman Point
Mumbai
Not much to write for yesterday. Had some work to do at office so it was a good day. I felt useful and it felt nice to be busy. Worked on a few story ideas to be sent for approval, and also helped my colleague on one regular piece that she does. Went down for lunch and got a Sub. Now I’ve decided. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’ll have Subs for lunch since the sub of the day is non-vegetarian. I miss my meats and for dinner we haven’t found a non-veg place as yet. Not on this side of the area. So having vegetables or rice-dal daily is getting to me. No doubt even the veg food is good, but I’m so not a vegetable person. My colleague was surprised when she found out that I don’t even take salads in my Subs. So yeah. That’s how it is.
One important thing that I want to mention is what my friend was saying last night just before going to sleep. It had always been a dream for her to work in Mumbai. And only one week later, she’s decided she had been wrong in choosing her dreams. This life isn’t made for her. She hates it. What kind of life is this? You slog all day at work without any recognition, without any acknowledgements and without any kind of appreciation. You get back home and there’s no time for anything else. No time for any of the things you love to do. No time to even talk to the people in your own house. It had been 7 days in the flat and she’d seen this other friend of mine only three times. She didn’t want that.
That’s exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of before I came here. Part of it is still true for me. But somehow, it’s fading away. Not entirely though. I’m scared that if that fear of being here goes away, a part of me is going away too. Because I felt so strongly about all of this. I associated myself with this fear. And without that, I don’t know who I am.
I wish I had some comforting things to say to my friend. But I didn’t. Because everything she said was true. But do I want to accept that now? I don’t know.
Jolly Maker Chambers II
Nariman Point
Mumbai
Not much to write for yesterday. Had some work to do at office so it was a good day. I felt useful and it felt nice to be busy. Worked on a few story ideas to be sent for approval, and also helped my colleague on one regular piece that she does. Went down for lunch and got a Sub. Now I’ve decided. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’ll have Subs for lunch since the sub of the day is non-vegetarian. I miss my meats and for dinner we haven’t found a non-veg place as yet. Not on this side of the area. So having vegetables or rice-dal daily is getting to me. No doubt even the veg food is good, but I’m so not a vegetable person. My colleague was surprised when she found out that I don’t even take salads in my Subs. So yeah. That’s how it is.
One important thing that I want to mention is what my friend was saying last night just before going to sleep. It had always been a dream for her to work in Mumbai. And only one week later, she’s decided she had been wrong in choosing her dreams. This life isn’t made for her. She hates it. What kind of life is this? You slog all day at work without any recognition, without any acknowledgements and without any kind of appreciation. You get back home and there’s no time for anything else. No time for any of the things you love to do. No time to even talk to the people in your own house. It had been 7 days in the flat and she’d seen this other friend of mine only three times. She didn’t want that.
That’s exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of before I came here. Part of it is still true for me. But somehow, it’s fading away. Not entirely though. I’m scared that if that fear of being here goes away, a part of me is going away too. Because I felt so strongly about all of this. I associated myself with this fear. And without that, I don’t know who I am.
I wish I had some comforting things to say to my friend. But I didn’t. Because everything she said was true. But do I want to accept that now? I don’t know.
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