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24 Aug 2009

Interesting Articles

http://www.bpic.co.uk/articles.htm

Kerala - God's Own Country

http://qfchk.com/2009/08/kerala-the-gods-own-country/

Ganesha Chathurthi

One of my favourite festivals. I love the festivities, the goodies, the 'seeing 101 Ganeshas for good fortune' and other tales that go with it. I even love the noise & fanfare on the streets that goes on for days. There's something about this festival that's so cheerful, so colourful, so beautiful.

I remember the bus journeys in my Mumbai days where I'd pass by hundreds of Ganpathi idols all along my way from home to office. Each 'pandal' decorated, predominently with flowers, loud music blaring from each tent singing praises of the Lord. It's not so much different down here in Bangalore either, except that the number of 'pandals' is probably lesser. Now that I've moved to this new locality, we have atleast 5 different groups organizing the celebrations, so it goes on for days - 3 days per group, one after another, at a minimum.

Then there is the Ganpathi Visarjan, which is equally grand... as you take a procession down the road, the assorted music & the street dance, all the people, it's simply amazing.

Ganapathi Bappa Moraya!

23 Aug 2009

Rambler's Paradise 1

What's awful about late mornings? First of all, you have lost time and there's a long list of To-Dos, then there are people who have their own addendum to it. Sigh!

What makes it worse is while this is happening, you actually really needed a peaceful day, in preparation of a big day ahead.

If you're thinking Murphy, beat it!

Beautiful

To quote James Allen, "Let there be nothing within thee that is not very beautiful and very gentle, and there will be nothing without thee that is not beautiful and softened by the spell of thy presence."

Caterpillar

I'm not a worm, I'm grossly mis-understood. I'm not ugly, I'm still a growing baby. Once I free myself from this cucoon, the world sees the real me. Then, there will be praises galore!

It's the slow & hard processes that make one beautiful. As a butterfly, I'm no different. When I flitter by in colours vibrant, no one will remember what the young one looked like!

There will only be smiles... One of mine & many of all who love me. In the end, all that matters is aesthetics of the present. The struggles will be long forgotten, the ugliness erased from all minds!

Scream

I saw you the other night...
Outside the bar, through my window

And then I've seen you everywhere...
In my beer, in my chicken

When I went home that night...
I saw you in my dreams

If you don't stop scaring me like this...
I will S.C.R.E.A.M!!!

Offbeat

When you didn't call...
I thought you were coming

And then you called...
It broke my heart!

Now, that's offbeat!

22 Aug 2009

Three's a crowd

At the start of yesterday, I saw a family of husband, wife & daughter, on my way to work. At the end of yesterday, I saw a family of the same composition.

Picture this. Dad's kick-starting the scooter & mom's seeing off the kid. Kid's leaving for school. Mom chides the kid "Don't get into any fights today! Remember what I've told you". Kid meekly nods.

I looked up, expecting to see a naughty-looking boy. It was a fat girl. I bet she was being teased in school & must've found her own way of dealing with the situation. I'd have been proud of her were I her mother. He he he! Bully family, eh? Much needed in today's world, I suppose.

Scene at night. Sitting with husband at TGIF, drinking Hot Chocolate & eating Chicken Wings. Father's upset that it's a dry day & he's not getting any beer. Mum seems a little disappointed too... whether it's to see her husband upset or she wanted beer herself, I do not know. The kid seems quite meek. If I'd to take a guess at interpreting the look on her face, I'd say, "Hmm... now that mummy & daddy aren't drinking, I guess I can't really order anything I want to. Plus I've to behave myself now. Sigh!". Sourface family, shall we call this? Everyone's sad, for one reason or the other - all boiling down to it being a dry day!

21 Aug 2009

Friendships

I took a rick home today. I always feel obliged to write when I meet a rare in their species. This story is slightly different though.

I was in a bad mood, so I refused to board any auto that charged me anything extra. Three guys later, I walked a few feet and saw 2 autorickshaws parked one behind another. The drivers were in deep conversation & I nearly didn't ask them when the younger of the two asked me to board the 2nd auto, agreeing to take me where I wanted to go. I am not sure if he heard me before he said yes but I was glad to find someone who wasn't trying to cheat me, so I got in.

Now, the second auto did NOT belong to him. On the other hand, it belonged to the old man who was with him. As Mr. Old started his rickshaw, he asked Mr. Young if he was going to 'come home' after work. Mr. Young says he can't because he has money problems!!!

That short exchange really tugged at my heartstrings! I mean, here's a guy who's got cash issues but willingly lets his friend take a fare instead of him. Isn't that really sweet? How many people show such unselfish attitude these days? Self-proclaimed "best friends" turn their backs on you in the face of hardships and here are two men belonging to the infamous auto-drivers category, showing such a show of affection!

If you're wondering if Mr. Old really deserved that generosity, let me hasten to tell you that he's by far the most honest driver I've ever met driving the 3-wheeler! No tampered meter, it cost my 34.5 bucks to get home. No long-winded routes, he took me down the shortest route, without me having to direct him. No grumbling that he didn't have change, he returned the correct change without a word of complaint. No asking for excess fare either at the start or end of the journey, not even when I said I needed to break a 100 rupee note! He was such a simpleton that I was tempted to pay him 10 or 20 bucks extra. I did not, however, as that would be spoiling a good apple!

I thanked him & got off with the best of feelings in my heart. I intended to browse my email on my way home, with my mobile, so I didn't have to get online. However, this little scene that I witnessed touched some raw nerves, unearthed some emotions that made me feel like I needed some quiet time without getting on the internet or worrying about anything else. I just wanted to revel in their beautiful friendship.

17 Aug 2009

Cold Turkey

A friend once told me...

If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours, if it doesn’t, it never was yours.

Yet, we find it so difficult to set free of what we believe is ours, especially when we're unsure of it!

I found varied interpretations & reactions on the Internet. Someone 'let go' of one who they loved just to see if this works. The one who was let go says that he was hers to begin with but lost faith in her when she acted so foolishly. Someone else says, if it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it! There's more. All you have to do is google the above statement.

Personally, I think that it makes sense when you've been left for unfavourable reasons like chasing dreams, time, success, etc and are finding it hard to accept what's been handed out to you. It's not your fault and probably not his/hers but that of a situation one of you could not favourably conquer. Then, you wait patiently to see if the other person will come back or you'll only manage to push it further. Again, it's just another perspective - one that works for me!

To end monologue, here's a funny note I found out of my search...

Now Is Forever


I'm sitting on a swing hung by the mango tree, feeling the wind in my hair. It's a different feeling from when I had longer hair, like a gentle caress of my short curls.

My mind is clear of thoughts as if a reflection of the light blue skies peeping through the mango leaves. This is what the present feels like! Totally devoid of thoughts from the last minute or before, completely unaware of the next moment or after.

I do not try to capture the moment for I know it's an effort that will bear no fruit. I hum a tune happily as I swing back & forth, challenging gravity with the aid of speed. It seems as if I'm winning because I'm going higher with each push. I know gravity will have the last laugh, I can't stay up forever but I will enjoy my victory for the few minutes that it lasts.

As I slowly return to a safer state of swinging and what is supposedly a saner state of mind, I realize that I have captured time. The memory of the minutes I have just lived has been frozen in my mind, preserved for times not so happy. I can relive these few minutes a million times again, in a different place & time, and I will feel the same happiness envelope me in a bear hug.

Time is like a bird of flight. She cannot be captured and kept in a cage, for she has to run. If let go, she will come back to you when you call out. Cherish the seconds as they turn into minutes or even hours, with an involvement unblemished by stains from other minutes, and they will stay with you forever.

16 Aug 2009

A Place Called Here


I read an old friend's blog today & it made me realize how far I have gone from what I used to write. I miss that! She has continued to write since the early days, albeit with intermissions of varying lengths. What struck me was that the style and the mood has been preserved while the writing itself has improved by leaps and bounds. I envy her, really do!

Along the road I've taken, I've varied my priorities numerous times. Each time, writing has taken a back seat. On many occasions, it's been primarily with the intention of swimming with the tide and getting to the safety of the shore as soon as possible. At times, it's been the ups and downs of emotion, which set the mood and altered the style entirely. When I turned back one day, I'd walked so far away, leaving behind my happier days and found myself at a loss for the pretty words that constituted my style.

Nevertheless, I'm writing again. A different style, less creative and less imaginative, mostly reflections or ramblings acting as some sort of an outlet to the pent up conversations in my head. Maybe, in time, as the mind empties into these blogs and the cobwebs are cleared, I will be able to retrace my path and reach into the almost forgotten corners. As Cecilia Ahern might say, one day I will go to 'A Place Called Here' and find what I've lost.

15 Aug 2009

A goal

It's amazing how much drive one has when walking towards a goal. When the goal is achieved, the energy just fizzes out!

I was farming with an obsession that was driving me crazy because I wanted to buy a house. I bought a small house last night, in Farm Town, and somehow the interest suddenly dwindled. Now, I tend to my farms because I have them but I sow seeds that take more than a day or two, to grow.

Well!

13 Aug 2009

Bheegaroota - The Post-Wedding Luncheon

I attended a luncheon yesterday. Bheegaroota - the non-vegetarian lunch party post-wedding - a speciality of the Gowda community. It was just as I expected, an amazing variety of chicken, mutton and biryani. My favourite, Ragi Mudde (Ragi Balls, in English) was there too. Yummmmmm... Heaven!

The experience was slightly marred by an elderly woman sitting on my right. She seemed very intrigued by what I was eating and how. A few glances in my direction later, she asked if I was used to eating ragi mudde. Duh! I replied politely, in the affirmative and continued to enjoy my meal. When the ice-cream was being served, the guy forgot me, so I called him back & joked about it. She says, "hmm... well, I got ice-cream but I think you need it more than me!". What's that? I need it more than her? She had her ice-cream, mind you. So she wasn't offering me hers because she didn't want it... I don't know what that was supposed to mean. Weirdo!

She was beginning to annoy me at this point. I decided to ignore her for the rest of my meal and turned to my left, to have a conversation with mum. A while later, I heard one of the guys waiting to clean up, sighing with disgust and saying something to her. I turned around just in time to catch the old one washing her hands into the plantain leaf, with the glass of drinking water placed on the table. That is so sick! It's bad enough that some people wash their hands into their plates but a plantain leaf? The water just drains off onto the floor, wetting the table & the paper, with all the dirty stuff.

Poor cleaning guy looked at me & mumbled something about having to clean that mess. Well, what can I say? Some people are just plain insensitive and selfish! If you're already that today, you only get worse as you get older. Pity!

Flashback Aaj Kal

Flashbacks are an age old tradition in movies. The way they are shown in movies has changed over time.

My favourite flashback narration is in the movie ALAIPAYUTE. That was the first time I had seen that kind of a story-telling. The story was in the present but kept jumping off into the past. The switch between the past & the present was so subtle & yet one wouldn't lose track of which is which. It was understandable. When the past and the present merge, it is so seamless! Since then, there have been other movies that have adapted this method with slight variations. They all work just as well.

Another movie I loved for the way the various tenses were merged is TEEN DEEWAREIN. The story is of 3 criminals in jail, strangers to each other, and a reporter who is writing a piece on their lives. The story goes back and forth between the present and the past of each of the jailbirds as they narrate their story to the protagonist, in a very ordinary flashback method. The beauty of the narration is when each of their past merges with that of the other 2 and slides into the present, making the 3 strangers party to a single event in present. It's amazing the way the writer has merged their past and in doing so, merged the present, with utmost clarity. The plot thickens when the journalist's past pops up where theirs seems to end, merges with theirs and the present is one big concoction of her today and that of her subjects.

The climax is where the con-reporter-actually-revenge-seeker girl connects the dots, linking all the pasts and relates the tale of her sister's accidental murder some months ago. Characters spring up suddenly, that have very little screen presence, yet played an important part in the movie all along. A lot of subtlety and a wonderfully woven tale, I think.

It is a Nagesh Kukunoor movie. I'm a huge fan of his and have watched all his movies, except the latest commercial flick, which was a big failure anyway.

Another one of his movies that I loved is the DOR. It is a remake of a Malayalam film. Hardly much of a flashback but that one too starts off in the present and takes a peek into the past every now and then, just enough for the viewers to understand the background of the story.

I watched LOVE AAJ KAL a couple of nights ago. As the name suggests, it's about love aaj (today) and kal (yesterday). There's a parallel drawn between love in the yesteryears and in today's world. Like all love stories end, the movie goes on to prove that no matter what has changed across generations, one thing that remains constant is that love cannot be beaten, matters of the heart always rule and should. The best part of the movie is where the older man tells the younger one that the latter reminds him of himself in his younger days. The flashback has the younger actor doubling up as the older guy in his younger days. The story has been narrated very well and the double role play is another first time, another amazing flash of originality!

A dash of creativity can do wonders to an ordinary act. There were the days when a flashback was a mere narration of the past, one character to another. Now, it's a whole new arena for story-telling.

11 Aug 2009

Set the trend

I love cycling. I used to cycle to school, then to junior college and tutions. I stopped when I joined Engineering college. This, I picked up again, a few years into my job. The reactions were varied. A lot of people thought I was crazy. Now, cycling has taken up in a big way!

I had a fetish for piggy banks some time ago. My husband, my best friend & I searched all over the place for a piggy bank but it was hard to find. I would buy one whenever I could find them and I'm now the proud owner of about half a dozen of those & over time I stopped buying any more. Today, there are piggy banks of all shapes & sizes in the market!

Last year, it was 'bunny slippers' or carpet slippers. Bro, Ullas & KS bought me one or more pairs from Thailand, Germany, Australia, London... and eventually I had enough to share with mum, mum-in-law. Today, you find them being sold in every street corner!

Some kind of a trendsetter, am I, or what?

10 Aug 2009

Italiano Cuisine-o Anyone?

My husband and I planned to check out the new Forum Mall in Whitefield this evening and then head straight to TGIF for some nice beer & Mexican food. In Forum, I changed my mind & decided to visit Baskin Robbins, the Chocolate Lounge, practically every eatery we saw. We finally zeroed in on Toscano, the Italian restaurant.

Mistake #1: Never do Italian when you initially planned Mexican. The former is bland whereas the latter is spicy. It's a mental setup change, like a culture shock!

The ambiance seemed good, dim lights, candle light dinner, quiet music & un-hassled waiters. We ordered a wine mocktail for me (Cranberry Sangria) while Ullas had water, as he was going to be driving. It was good. It looked like it was going to be a good dinner, after all and we were both thoroughly enjoying it. We had a nice conversation going on when the starter arrived.

Mistake #2: Understand what you are ordering. When you ask for 'smoked salmon', it's going to be just that. "Smoked" Salmon, not cooked!

Yeoww yeoww yeoww, it was awful. I loved the apples, even the lettuce in the dish but the salmon itself was awful. It was raw & just smoked... ugh! It left an after taste that felt like a dead animal inside in my mouth. I love fish but I just hated this, it nearly made me want to throw up! My husband, on the other hand, who hates anything that smells in his plate, ended up finishing my share of it too. And then admitted that he didn't like it either. Now, that's one thing we will never order if we ever went back to Toscano!

Soon after, the Wood Burn Pizza a.k.a Toscano Pizza arrived. Well, wood burn it was. It tasted like wood that was burned! The crust was really hard. Both of us could not cut it with our knives & we eventually ended eating with our hands. It didn't taste too bad but it didn't taste like chicken either. We got a doggy bag home for Lucky... well, she liked the crust, so I'll still say the wood Pizza was not too bad.

The husband had ordered chicken Risotto. I jumped in to taste it and aww aww aww... it tasted like steamed rice and bland chutney. Poor baby, he finished the whole thing. I would've vomitted right into the plate if I had any more of it. Awful, awful, awful Risotto. If you ever want Risotto, visit 100 Ft Boutique on 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar. Never try Risotto at Toscano.

We were done & we paid. Yeah, they charge the illegal 10% for 'service charge' too, so we didn't have to tip them. The experience with the food was so bad that the moment we walked out of the restaurant, it felt great! We felt like we had suddenly stepped out into a brighter world. Of course, there was more light outside and it was brighter but that was not what this was about. We felt lighter, less stressed. That's it guys, I'm never stepping into another Toscano again. Bad italian-oh experience-oh!

Next time I want Italian, I'm heading to Little Italy. However, something tells me I'm not going to be eating Italian for a long time to come, after today!

8 Aug 2009

Move on ye broken heart

They say women are complicated and yet I've only ever seen complications in relationship with boys. With women, it's either 'she is my soulmate' or 'she is a bitch' and that's it! With boys, it's so different. Ego, guilt, money... so many things concocted into a simple relationship that sometimes even getting out of one can be quite tricky!

A friend of mine recently broke up with someone really close. It was hard. Just watching her go through the whole thing was heartbreaking.

I remember another story of a girl that I heard some years back. Her husband used to ill-treat and humiliate her all the time. They nearly divorced but a day before she was to leave to the US on a work assignment, he came back & she just threw it all up (for the second or third time). The guy never gave a second's thought to his "wife's" career or feelings. The lady, on the other hand, just threw up everything to make it work. Fortunately, for both of them... the result was a happy ending.

I can't help but remember my write-up on the movie called 'The Holiday'. Jasper - the guy who left his girlfriend to marry someone else but kept claiming that he needed her (the first girlfriend). Why do men do that? To salvage their guilt, says a friend of mine... and they need a "sounding board". That is so selfish & cruel to the girl being dumped! The girl in the movie manages to shrug him off her back but it doesn't always work that way.

Moving on becomes difficult enough when only one of them have moved on. It gets worse when the one that's moved on, keeps rubbing it under the nose of the one that hasn't.

Some enterprising youngster ought to come up with one of those whips to keep people going. Everytime they buckle, you crack the whip & whack them back up... "Go on girl, keep going!"

Appa's 60th: The D-day

Amma woke up early that morning, as usual. The 3 of us lazy kids slept in, till about 8AM. After we woke up, amma brought appa upstairs to see the gifts. It was quite funny. Every time appa came up, we had to run looking for Sadhu. By the time Sadhu came back, appa would've gone down again. It was like trying to put frogs in a basket!

When finally all of us did meet, we showed him his gifts & he loved it! The whole setup was nice, everyone was happy. We cut cake, took a few pics & shot some videos... it was classic. Appa would've liked to have Lucky there & so did we all but we couldn't possibly leave her at home, while we went on our day trip. So, we had to make do without her!

At 9AM, we were all trooping out of the house & started off to Innovative Film City at Bidadi. Surprise, surprise, it is just a stone's throw from bro's office. he he he! We reached there just as the place had opened up. Also, because it was a weekday, there was hardly anyone. In fact, we seemed to be the first bunch of visitors. We bought ourselves the best day package we could find & went in.


Our first stop was the pottery man. Sadhu & Ullas made pots, while the rest of us had fun watching them dirty their hands & struggle to make intricate designs in clay! It was fun walking around and it wasn't crowded, so we had all the time to check out everything. Plus no standing in queues. We got some good pictures in the mock-up of the police station, radio station, hospital, et al. Sadhu & Ullas played paintball without paint... they looked quite something. Sadhu won, at the cost of a couple of bruises... but as they say, no gain without pain!

The rides and go-kart were highly overpriced and might have been more fun if there was a crowd, so we skipped most of it. There was also mini golf, an artificial beach and similar stuff which we decided to bypass. Ullas absolutely loved the skating rink, even though it wasn't big enough and he couldn't use his own skates, which were warming up inside the car. Umlimited skating for 100 bucks is pretty worthwhile, I think. Especially for someone like Sadhu, who was learning the ropes for the first time. She fell a fair deal and hated it in the beginning but I think she liked it better as she learnt to balance herself. I was too tired to do it, so I saw with amma and watched.

The dinosaur park was one place where we totally freaked out on the photographs. My favourite is the one where one of the dinosaurs whispered something into Ullas' ears. Mmmmm, I wonder how that happened!



Appa loved the museums best. There was the Ripley's museum, the wax museum and the haunted house. The tongue twister in the Ripley museum is a must-do for all! Do it to know what it's like. The wax museum was in no way comparable to Madame Tussaud's, of course, but there were some good ones. What I loved best is that some of the best people in history are short in the museum. Whether they were short in their real life or not, they definitely made me feel proud in the museum. he he he! The models and the setup in the haunted house are well done but the timing is really bad in some places, so not scary. The noises in the last house & lighting are pretty well done. The chick at the ticket counter tries to hype it up a bit but we chewed her head off and headed straight into the house!

We skipped the fancy restaurant and settled for some very expensive masala dosa and Jeera rice, which was quicker. In the end, Ullas did the Bungy jumping & put up quite a brave show, even though he insistence that we ought to do it to know how it feels, clearly indicated that he didn't feel quite so brave. The Bob's pacer was like a live video game. Sadhu won both rounds. Well, it was a day of victory for her all along. What can I say?

The ride back was pretty traffic-free too, fortunately for us. Amma & appa headed straight to the kitchen and made coffee & snacks for us, while we kids hit the sack right away. It's amazing how much energy they have at 60! It's funny how little energy we have at half their age!

All in all, it was a fantastic day. The only sad part was that Lucky had to miss all the fun!

The story is not complete if I did not mention the yelling match in front of Shekar Hospital, when a silly old doctor reversed into our car! It had a funny ending because everything went kaput the moment appa appeared on the scene. The cop was appa's friend and the doc was the one who'd operated on appa sometime back. To save him from any embarassment, we had to leave. To quote a friend, "It was anarchy".

5 Aug 2009

Appa's 60th: The Preparations

I realized only a week before the birthday that it was appa's 60th! Whoa! Fortunately for me, appa & family are not too orthodox, so they didn't expect a shashtipoorthi (no way I could've pulled that off within a week). However, I was determined to make it special. The week just flew by & nothing got done, except for some initial conversations I'd started off with Sadhu. She had some ideas for a day trip & for the gift.

On Saturday, it was decided that we'll get all the shopping done.. the decorations, the gifts, the clothes, et al and on Sunday, we will relax, in preparation for the D-Day, which was Monday. By some strange quirk of coincidence, all of us were free & available on a weekday. Appa & amma retired, Sadhu finished college, Ullas & I were on leave! Nice, eh? Well, anyway... the Saturday plans didn't work, thanks to the husband falling ill & we had Sunday to get everything done.

Come Sunday morning, Sadhu's nearly reached the meeting point while the husband & I are struggling to get the car started. Stubborn thing refused to budge (later found out that the battery had given up). Lucky was mighty pleased that we got back home within 10 minutes. It was short-lived, however. We left on bike, with me barking instructions to Sadhu along the way. She ordered the cake & picked up the card by the time we got there. We bought a sari for amma from Kalamandir in Jayanagar 4th block, placed an urgent order for a B&W framed photograph of appa & amma from their younger days, gobbled a quick lunch and started making plans for the day trip on Monday. Plan A seemed okay but a plan B wasn't just working out. After a lot of attempts, we gave up on plan B. Sadhu left after vain discussions on where we could get an easy chair for appa... or one of those chair-desk combos which he could use for his writing. Sigh!

On the way back, we dropped in at Fab India at Madhavan Park to pick up kurtas for appa and guess what we found?? An easy chair... wooo hoo! We were excited. I sent across the picture to Sadhu (mmmm... Mobile technology) & she liked it. Got back home with the kurtas and while Ullas had a quick snack, I did some farming. The car was fixed & then it was a mad rush again!

We had to pick up the cake, the photographs, the easy chair - all before 8.30PM. A crazy traffic ride & we reached Jayanagar around 8PM. I ran into GK Vale for the pictures, while Ullas rushed to Sweet Chariot for the cake! At GK Vale, I hurried the sales people at the counter for my pictures, paid, all the time on phone with the guys at Fab India explaining to the guys that I'd be there in 10 minutes to pick up the easy chair, could they please have it ready? The framed photograph was awesome. I came down & called Ullas who was struggling to get the attention of the guy at the cake shop, because there was another customer before him. We got into the car at 8.26PM & hit the accelerator towards Fab India.

I reach the shop, only to find the door locked & the security guard says the shop is closed. As luck would have it, the shutters weren't down yet & the sales guys could see me through the glass door. I waved at them & explained that I'd called beforehand. The guy opened the door, packed my chair & billed me at top speed, even keeping a customer who was already at the counter, waiting. Then, he came down with me to the car & helped us load the piece of furniture into it.

You'd think this is it & we can now go home, right? Nope! We still had to get the decorations. Ullas had called Sadhu while I was at Fab India & found out that we could get the stuff at BDA Complex in Banashankari. It was 8.45PM & I needed to get home to watch the grand finale of Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. Sadhu texts saying the channel isn't tuned on their TV... grrrrrrrrrr! I was beginning to get frustrated. Bought our balloons & candles, had some comfort food & were walking towards the car when Sadhu says she's managed to tune into RKS. YipppeeeE! The day just couldn't get any better.

Rushed home & while Sadhu and Ullas unloaded the car with all the stuff, amma & I watched RKS!

We then arranged the stuff on the chair, bloated the balloons, covered it all up with a bedsheet & went to bed.

That was one mad weekend but it worked out so perfect. I still can't believe we managed all that in a day! And it was totally worth it... read the next blog to find out how it went!