100th!

PrePost Note- Formatting has gone crazy, AGAIN! Someone HELP! 

This is the 100th post on this blog! I'm not sure of blogger counts the drafts which haven't been published, but well, I had 99 posts until this one. So. 

What's been up?

There are about 30 things on my to-do list (I am a compulsive list maker) and my schedule for the last week (when I was supposed to have struck off at least 8 of those) went completely OFF  because, well, I chose to be lazy and not do anything. So I have now officially hit the panic button. Must regain calm and composure. Ok. 

On the shopping front, the most important bits of shopping are yet to happen. I must get myself an LBD and shoes, which I am happily procrastinating in the hopes of magically becoming super hot in like a week and therefore get a dress which fits better. I ALSO have to, have to, have to, have to buy 2 pairs of jeans which I have procrastinated since ONE YEAR for the same reason. My mom yelled at me today for NOT buying something. Can you believe that? Someone being cross with me for NOT shopping for a particular thing? 

Oh talking about shopping, I have shopped a bit. Bought myself two cloth material thingies from Dilli Haat (out of which I intend to make kurtas). Whee! They're absolutely gorgeous. I LOVE. 

I NEED to get a haircut. Before that, however, I need to ask reliable Delhi friends where I should get my haircut from. Reliable Smimp has suggested a couple of places. Will refresh memory. I like the fact that I'm getting to know this place. As in, I like knowing about places- what's good where, having favourite places etc. Apart from the coolness factor (think of me in a conversation where I go, "Oooh, yea I know, that place is amazing. But you should also try this one." and "Yep I've been there! But I liked [   ] more.") it's in someway... me. Moving around and exploring different places is how I've grown up. I've moved around a LOT and have been in 7 schools (that I can remember) and one junior college. While variety could be the spice of life, at times I regret not having known people for a long time, or not having "childhood friends" with whom I'm still in touch with, or for that matter a place I can call "home" with all my heart. I really don't have a "home". They're all houses, all over the country. And the fact that the four of us (Mom, Dad, S and I) live in four different cities/towns, doesn't make it any better. I can't meet my "family" when I go "home". So when I go back to college, I won't be saying "Home was good. Yea, had an awesome time with family", but "Yea, Delhi was fun and it was good spending time with Mom." Not that I'm complaining, but this is how it just is. It's one of those things that I guess most people take for granted- having a place to call "home". I think the closest that any place comes to being home to me (consistent with the saying "Home is where the heart is"), it would be Bombay. I love Bombay. I love everything about it. It's the place I've spent the maximum number of years of my life (6 years). Those were my formative years. I can't say I made "many good friends for life" during my years there, but at least one, may be a couple. Whenever I go to Bombay, I feel elated. And somehow, it feels like I'm wanted there. It's that warm, fuzzy feeling of familiarity. Yes, that's right, Bombay seems to be the place I'm most familiar with. Bombay has MKG, the awesomest colony in the world; where Latika and I would go skating ALL OVER THE PLACE, would play badminton,  go cycling early in the morning during holidays, play hide and seek with the rest of the kids and I was always a "kachha nimbu", where we'd have SBI v. IDBI cricket and football matches, where Latika and I spent numerous afternoons playing house-house in the park, on the slides (the steeper, longer slide was my 'house' and the shorter one was hers), where we used to act like models on this rock fountain between G bldg and H bldg and pretend we're being photographed by papparazi, where all of us went for fun art-and-craft classes conducted by Kalyani Aunty. Bombay has Elite, the place where I bought all my clothes from, even my famous "paper pants" :)  It has Bombay Blues, the place where I went often with friends; where my standard order was nachos and lemon/peach iced tea. It has Bandstand where Dad, S and I would go on drives at night with Saathiya playing on full volume in my green Santro (which is now gone). It has Society, where I bought Lindt chocolate from. It has Archies right in front of MKG where I bought all my letter paper sets from. It has Amardeep where the whole of MKG bought every-damn-thing from. It has Juhu Beach which I could see from our terrace, from where (the terrace) I'd often watch the most beautiful sunsets ever with Latika. It has BEST, which I used a couple of times even as a 10 year old, all on my own (without having anybody to show me how to and take a zillion precautionary measures like I have to here in this, no offence meant, unfriendly city). It has autos which use the meter- ALWAYS. And autowallahs who're nice. And people who're friendly. It has monsoons. It has ICSE schools all over the place. It has Fort, where you can get books for like Rs. 20. It has LINKING ROAD! It has Juhu Road and Carter Road and BANDRA and Santa Cruz and all the places I was so used to and loved.  So yes, that way, those few places in Bombay seem like home to me and deeeeeep inside,  I am a Bombay Girl. At least, I want to be a Bombay Girl. 

On the other hand, probably Bhubaneswar (Bbsr, henceforth) should be home since I ethnically belong to that place, was born in Bbsr, both my houses are there and my Mom lives there now, though I've spent only 4 years of my life-when-i-can-sense-things there. Most things about those four years, I don't want to recount. What I do want to remember and celebrate are the two friends-for-life that I have taken back :) One is supremely protective of me and the other, well, I share a lot in common with the other (wink, wink). I love them both soooooooo much. Thank you, girls. They are the ones responsible for making 11th and 12th enjoyable for me. The funny thing is, most of the people I know in my Bbsr school, called me "Mumbai Matinee" in jest. I was the new girl who'd come from Bombay. The snobbish what-does-she-think-of-herself big city girl who spoke English all the time. Some of them still call me "Matinee" when we meet :) Somehow, I really like it :) Makes me feel like I'm from somewhere, that I belong somewhere. 

Well, anyhow, now Bangalore is "home" to me because I spend 9 months a year there. Delhi has become my "vacation home" because it's convenient for me to intern here. Bombay is still home in my heart and I do all that I can to keep it that way :) The only entity(thing/human/place) I have wept so much for is Bombay. Hence the fondness. 

AND S is now in Bombay. There. That just DOES it. How can Bombay not be my favourite place? 

P.S.- Turns out blogger does count unpublished drafts. But well, I don't care. This is 100th! Hmph. 

It's been long week!

NOTE: None of the beach pictures have been photoshopped or edited in any way (apart from being resized). The others have only been edited to adjust the contrast and lighting. That is it. They are REAL pictures. The beach pictures are straight from the cam! Enjoy!


I am back, folks! I am back! Okay, calm down, take a deep breath. Hmm. Yes. Better.

The trip was great and the reunion was pure fun. Whenever I was in the middle of something exciting, I would keep thinking- “I just HAVE to blog about this. This is crazy fun!”. Now, however, I am almost at a loss of words. I don’t quite know what all to say. There’s just so much that it would be unfair to say some and leave some. Saying it ALL isn’t feasible, considering the condition of my fingers after eating 75 billion hot-hot-fried-in-ghee-samosas and playing 11342 carrom matches and infinite rounds of Bluff and Rummy and eating cotton candy at the beach after eons and what not. So I’ll just post some pictures and say something about them. Fair enough or what?

Panchlingeshwar

Credit: Me and only me :)

This is 'Panchlingeshwar' which is about 1.5 hours from Balasore. This temple-type-thing is up on the rocks of a certain hill. We lost our way while driving to this spot and spent about 45 minutes going round and round in some tiny villages. That was.. erm... some experience. The walk up the hill was enjoyable though. It felt a lot like Manali. Dad and I were quite fit (hey! I do pilates, okay?) and could walk up without getting very worn out, but S and Mom were, *ahem* a little slow and resembled zombies by the time we reached the actual spot.

Credit: S, edited by me

This is a shot of the hillside taken by S while we were on our way down. Pretty, isn't it?

Khi Ching

Credit: S (or Dad.. don't remember!), edited by me

This is the Khi Ching Temple which is about 5 hours from Balasore. So that day, we travelled for about 11 hours (including breaks) by car and spent about 40 minutes at the actual place. It was worth it though. We did see some interesting sites.



Credit: S, edited by me

This is the top most part of a buried temple. Why aren't they excavating and digging this place up?! Ridiculous! A temple is buried right there and no one bothers to unearth it. Shame on the Archaelogy Department.

There was a heavy metal (no, this isn't the 'heavy metal' effect. heh) rod out there. Folklore has it that it belonged to Bhima and has been there since ages and if you pick it up and take 3 rounds around the temple-top then your wishes are fulfilled. Dad and I did that together and gosh that was fun! It was back-breakingly heavy (if at all there is such an expression), but then again, I had my pilates techniques of pulling belly button to spine and activating the power-house working for me!


Credit: S, edited by me

There was this little museum at there where we saw this very fascinating statue. Prosthetic legs are nice :) Khi Ching was built in 940 A.D. out of pure granite rock (I suppose).
Why were our ancestors so fascinated by busty ladies? I saw them in every carving I saw on every temple! Our culture... sigh! (srcoll down and check the Updates for more!)




Credit: S, edited by me

Another one. All very pretty and intricate work, but even more intewesting poses.

Chandipur



Credit: S

Sunrise. Shot taken from our room. Absolutely NO photoshopping. It was really this wonderful.



Credit: Dad

The blue sky and the waters. This is a gem of a picture. One rarely finds such clean, blue water in India.

Puri Beach- My favourite beach in India.



Credit: S

Fishermen! We saw many interesting sights at 6 in the morning at our very own beach. The beach, the Jagannath temple and the swing in the second floor of my grandma's place are the regulars where all of us hung out when we were little.



Credit: S



Credit: Cousin

Isn't this place just awesome? (did you notice how clean the water is?)

My ipod(s)!!!



Credit: Me and me!!

Yes! I now have not one, not two, but THREE ipods (2 gifted by my aunt(mami))!! Isn't that just the ultimate? Well, i listened to a lot of music on my trip and even found a topic to talk about with my younger cousin (bro)- Floyd and psychedelic rock in general :) He plays the guitar, the sitar and what not. AND he's got this awesome hair which fascinated all the other cousins :) Yea, we cousins and uncles and aunts had truckloads of fun this time.



Credit: Me

I just could NOT leave out the lovely sarees that my aunt(masi) got for S and me. They have special Lucknowi work done and the colours are the most beautiful ones!


We even went to the Sun Temple, Konark. I thought everyone must already be knowing about it and would've seen pictures and blah blah, so didn't post anything on that.

Well, anyway, that was MY holiday. One helluva week. Loved every bit of it.


UPDATE!!!!

So yes, on being asked by S, I am doing this update.

1) The statue up there has 'prosthetic legs' because this legendary person called 'Kala Pahad' (which literally means black mountain) had gone all over Orissa destroying the famous heritage sites. So the 'legs' have been put to support the statue.

2) So, okay I WILL after all this fuss post some pictures from Konark since S believes her photography at it's best has been manifested perfectly in those pictures. Right-ho.
So here they are.



Credit: Dear old S

(FYI, none of them out there are family)



Credit: The Missy (S)

This is a shot of the marvellous carvings on the temple. These carvings depict the various poses in some Indian Dance. I am not sure if it was Odissi or Bharatnatyam... er.. but yea it's one of the two!



Credit: The Sag. S.

This is a shot of one of the wheels of the chariot which is also a sundial. It was very interesting to watch the guide tell us the exact time using this sundial. There are little beads which tell you the EXACT minute. How cool is that?