Same Shrub, Different Colours

Another Week Off

Sometime in the beginning of September last year, I had taken a week off from work. To work on my essays. This time around it's to get the paper work done for the admissions and also because I just don't feel like going to office. I'm quite happy with myself. I'm back to planning things. And since I never was a planner of any sorts, it's new and exciting to me. And I'm back to jogging again. Yes, I have that urge every six months or so and then it gradually subsides after a month at the most. 

Today after I came back from my jog, I saw the sky brilliantly coloured by the setting sun. The weather has been like the Bangalore of old since yesterday night and it all added up to bring a smile to my face. Strange, how when things are going well, everything feels all the more beautiful.

Bunk

I called up my boss at around 11 in the morning and told him that I was not coming to office. I mumbled something like not being able to sleep last night owing to the frequent power cuts. I don't know if he bought it but nevertheless he said 'Haan haan theek hai'.

After having cornflakes for breakfast I decided to take a short nap. All my roommates had left by then and I was tired of facebook-ing and chatting. I woke up at around 1:30 and suddenly had the urge to play the guitar. So I plugged in my Fender, opened the lyrics and started singing Hey There Delilah. I don't know if it was the setting - having the entire house to myself and with nothing else to do in a hot afternoon, or the song, but I really got into the zone. Alternating between the YouTube and the lyrics page, I slowly started playing it - para by para. Once I had the guitaring right, I turned to singing it as good as I possibly could. Soon I found myself singing 'Oooooooo it's whatch u do to meeee' at the top of my voice. With the guitar strapped on my shoulder and the laptop placed on the chair, I was utterly and totally happy - singing as if I was singing it to a girl. So for the better part of 2 hours, I kept singing and listening to Hey There Delilah. It was only a power cut at 4:30 which made me take a break. I went out, smiling to myself, had a mango shake and came back home. I switched on the amplifier, opened the word doc which had the lyrics (although I had almost memorised it by then) and sang it for another time. The bunk was worth it.

Yessss

It was around 6:30 in the evening when my cell phone rang. Call 1. I got up from my desk, started moving towards the reception and picked up the phone. 

Is this Atish

Yes

Hi. This is ....... calling from the Darden School of Business. We are pleased to offer you admission to the Class of 2011 ......

Everything thereafter was a blur. And I remember saying nothing more than a 'Thank you so much' and 'It's as good as surprises come' to her 'Ya, we like to call people a day before the official announcement'

I let out a silent 'Yesssss', rang up my parents and sent out a mail to the five people who form my family here in Bangalore. A minute later there was another call. Call 1 again. My heart skipped a beat. It was a mistake. I have been waitlisted or worse, not offerred admission. So they are calling to apologize. I pressed the green button on my phone. It was my friend from Vancouver. 

I had played this scene so many times in my head that now when it had actually come, I found myself not reacting much. I wasn't restless. There was immense relief and the knowledge that I wouldn't have to start revising my data structures and algorithm fundas in search of another tech-job. But like most occasions for which you have waited a long time (and I mean really long), this one too left me a little numb. The long blog post talking about failures, success, balance and chance never happened and will most probably only remain in my head. The pumping of fists and the crying out really loud also didn't materialize.

There wasn't any celebration that Tuesday night. It started on Wednesday evening and got over on Monday morning with a minor break on Thursday. But more of that later. After the longest time, I'm happy in a very different way. In a way which tells me that I might finally have control over my life. It's a state of mind which somehow is not fundamentally transitory which has been the case with most things in the past 3 years. It gives me a chance to change a lot of things. And I had been waiting for this chance forever.

A Wednesday Late Afternoon

Clips on the clothes line against the sky

Clips on the clothes line against the trees behind

A close up on the bunch of coconuts which keep falling every now and then on our terrace with a loud thud 

I realized that keeping your hands steady while holding the camera above your head is not very simple. But I guess my Canon has pretty good image stabilization, for this came out better than expected

Spotted this on the house next to us. Was wondering if there's a story behind it. Some sort of a guard? A watchman maybe?

Brightly colored electric wires. This one was taken from the balcony

Another one taken from the balcony. Again, had to hold the camera up. But this time had the support of the railings to steady my hands

A Weekend With My Friends

Very often, the build up to an event is the best part of it. The anticipation, the countdown, often bloats up the real thing so much so that when it actually happens, it doesn't turn out to be as grand or as amazing or as memorable as we thought it would be. Last weekend, however, was not one of those occasions.

From O'Hare Airport to the Greyhound bus stop, we spent the better part of the ride trying to figure out when was the last time we had met. Was it at her cousin's marriage in Delhi in 2003-04 sometime. Was it during one of her trips to Bokaro. In the end, none of us could remember and we settled for 'a long time'. For about two hours we chatted non stop. About what we have been upto. Parents, people we are in touch with, people who have somehow got lost, complications - everything. Then they arrived. Husband and wife. He cracked his usual silly jokes and she told us about the baked chicken and banana cake she had brought.

After roaming around downtown for a while, we headed to a Chinese restaurant. She placed the orders and the rest of us mostly approved of whatever fancy dishes she wanted us to try. The talk mostly revolved around marriage, family, responsibilites and how things change after marriage. Husband and wife were all mature and talking eloquently about family, acceptance, and adjustment. She made her point about settling outside India and the new equation it brings forth. She was more passionate about all of it. She had all the whys. I just listened and concentrated on my Samuel Adams except for my occasional one liner which at times seemed profound. At least to me.

After a brief stop at Melting Pot for a Yin & Yang chocolate fondue, we decided to head home. I kept shouting for alcohol but the shops had already closed.

Saturday, and Chicago came up with a bright, sunny, 47 deg F weather. Cheesy, touristy snaps around the Bean, pizza at Giordano's, hanging around Navy Pier, a 'free hug', an impulsive decision to go for a $5 '4-of-us-together-sketch' - the day went by like a dream.
We went back home to recharge ourselves for the evening and finally managed to buy alcohol. At home, I made the drinks while the others busied themselves getting high and dancing. I took the opportunity to make videos of my friends singing and dancing. Hardly have I seen people sing so out of tune as these guys did - karaoking to Socha Hai from Rock On!
Anyway, high on vodka and very happy, we left for dinner. The sushi was good and I did a decent job of eating with chop sticks. By around 11, we were inside a club. In context, it wasn't the best part of the day. But although I never really like hip-hop music, the tequila shots and random gossip with my friends made up for that. We stayed there for a couple of hours. By that time I was quite drunk and so managed to climb up an escalator which was coming down thus fulfilling one of my long standing desires!

We were meeting after years. 3/4 years in some cases. And yet, there wasn't an awkward moment. No silences. No uneasy pauses. We never ran out of things to talk about. And at the same time we didnt have to make small talk. It was amazing in every way you look at it. She was turning out to be the best host ever. It was the kind of reunion where you didnt have to think before talking. You could say anything you felt like saying. You could even go ahead and talk about things you didn't like about someone without being misunderstood. You could laugh on the silliest of jokes and the next instant talk about 'important' things.

Sunday was always going to be laid back and lazy after the Saturday we had had. And so it was. It was a Bangalore like morning. The sun rays streamed down the open blinds as I lay on the bed. Tea was served and I slowly woke up - letting last night's hangover to leave me. We went out, had brunch and met the guy who's car my friend was planning to buy. Most of the talk was about when we would meet next and since I was the only one staying in India, all attention turned towards me. It felt good to be wanted. It felt good when they said the next meeting the 3 of them would have in a couple of weeks time wouldn't be the same without me. I don't remember the number of times she asked me 'next kab aa rahe ho' to which I never had any answer. We left them at around 5 as they were about to board their bus. The two of us decided to take a walk and then watch a movie. The movie was rather long and not as good as we had expected. We came out of the hall and walked for a bit before going to a Japanese restaurant. I guess it was beginners luck because I did worse with the chop sticks this time around. Or probably it was the sake. We had sushi once again.

By the time we came out, the streets were quite deserted. She said that I hadn't clicked a single photograph throughout the day. So we took turns posing and taking snaps before deciding that it was time we head home.

I think we were mostly quiet during the ride back to home. It was perhaps the realization that two wonderful days had gone by and next morning we would return to our lives. We talked about the two who had left us in the evening, about a few other friends and about ourselves. She booked a cab for 6:15, I packed my luggage and then went to sleep.

The ride in the morning was lonely. I had been thinking about this for months and now that it was over, I couldn't help but get a little sentimental. All of us have vastly different lives. We work in different industries, have different tastes and live in different places. I dont know when we will meet next and if it would be as special as this one was. But for what it's worth - this one was magical.

Another Saturday In Minneapolis

I stood there watching the man kite skiing on the frozen Lake Calhoun. The temperature was a shade above zero, the wind lacked its usual bite and the sun was out. With just about 3 weeks to go before I head back to Bangalore and the weather finally obliging, it was my best chance to spend some time wandering about Minneapolis. People were out with their dogs and skiing gear. Some had in fact pitched a tent in the middle of the lake.

"How deep is it", I asked the guy who had managed to bore through the ice. "2 feet or so", he replied. "Just wanted to test if this thing works. It does!" he shouted back as he put his drilling machine in the car. I walked along the shore for about half an hour and then stood on the sheet of ice covering the lake. It was one of those rare moments when your mind doesn't wander. There was nothing that I was thinking about. Not friends, not family, not job or career. I stood there, looking at the kites and letting the tranquility of the place flow over me.

My next stop was the Orpheum Theater. I got down from the bus in Downtown and found the Minneapolis Orchestra Hall to my right. I went there and asked an elderly man if he knew the directions to the theater. "Go 4 blocks down to Hennepin Avenue. It would be on you right". Good, I said to myself. I would make it in time to get the tickets.

Spring Awakening, kept me mesmerized for 2 hours. It was like an assault on my eyes and ears. I wouldn't attempt any sort of review here but from the rock-ish music (especially the use of the cello) to the lighting which was at once bright and subtle (if that makes any sense to you); from the explicit and near grotesque portrayal of sexuality to the energy with which the actors performed - it was unlike anything I have ever seen on stage.

The show got over at 4:30 and it was only then that I realized that I hadn't had anything to eat during the whole day. I decided it was time to head back home.

Roaming around alone has a certain appeal to it. I have liked it on the two occasions that I have done it recently. Today, and on the 24th of December when I roamed around Washington DC. It lets me be very instinctive without being bothered about anything else. It gives me more freedom to do whatever takes my fancy without having to explain it to anybody. I reached home at around 6:00 to find my room mates on the verge of calling 911 since I had left with the word that I would be back in an hour ! I told them what I had been upto as they listened in slight amazement. Anyway, it was a good Saturday morning. The next one, in Chicago should be very different yet very memorable.

Images From A Saturday Morning

Right next to my apartment

A dash of colour amidst the white

It was 9:30 but I didn't see anybody outside the house. Good for me though. They would have thought I was crazy clicking pictures of houses in this cold.

For some reason, this caught my attention. Maybe because of the colours.

It's so cold that even the trees need protection. Or maybe it's something else I don't know about? Had it not been for the little green popping out of one of the sacks, I would have had trouble figuring out what they were!

A Day & A Half In New York

New York, in one word, was seductive. It was like tasting a drink. Just taking a sip and imagining how the full glass would taste.

The mist that engulfed the city added to the charm. Walking through the fog which would suddenly break down into rain, the smoke from the roadside stalls, the little potholes which were beginning to get filled by the sporadic rain, the skyscrapers which would disappear into the smog, the people - fashionably dressed, the transient nature of my stay; all of it combined to give an almost ethereal feeling. You hear so much about a city and you know that a day and a half is never going to satiate you. Especially when it's NY. And then you actually go there and feel its pull. And I don't mean the tourist spots. What got to me were the possibilities that even a first time visitor like me could see. The life that could be felt everywhere. In the subways and on the streets. Inside the tall buildings and the yellow cabs.

I spent the night of 26th December with my friends. Roaming around Times Square. Like a first timer, I kept looking around the lights around me and clicked photographs. We then got drunk on Bourbon. So much so that my friend was in no state to walk up to the PATH station that would take us to our hotel in Newark. We therefore called up our friend who had stayed back in the hotel. He came and picked us up at 4 in the morning.

We got up at 11 the next day, checked out of the hotel, had poha at another friend's place in Jersey City and went sightseeing. The other 3 guys with me had been to NY at least a dozen times and understandably were not much enthused by the sight of the Wall Street or the Brooklyn Bridge. Nevertheless I forced them to tag along with me!

We had a 6 o' clock movie to catch. Ghajini. And apart from Asin (who I thought looked gorgeous) and the comic/romantic part, I didnt like the movie. Anyway, we got out of the hall at around 9 and drove to Mithaas at Edison where we had Gujarati Thali, Chole Bhature, Raj Kachauri and lots of sweets. Our initial plans to head back to DC after dropping our friend at Horsham were put to rest once we reached there at 12 and realised that it might not be the best idea to drive through the dense fog at night.

For 2 days I kept imagining what it would be like to live in NY and experience all that it has to offer. I wanted to walk the streets with the camera in my hand for a few more days and get a feel of the city. To visit its cafes, listen to its music, eat its food and talk to the people who live there and then write about them.

I won't say that I loved NY. But it sure made me want to come back. Not for a day or two. But to stay and experience it. NY left a feeling of yearning in me.

On The Road

For someone like me who's traveling by road in the US for the first time, the experience couldn't have been any more different from what it is in India. Automatic gear, lane driving, wide roads, no cattle, no villages or small towns in between. It becomes boring after some time. I was sitting next to my friend who was driving and was continuously falling asleep. But in the stretch between Horsham and Baltimore, there was a bit of traffic. And it was the better part of the 4 hour drive.

The dog in the front would keep poking its head out now and then. And the one in the back would disappear behind the tire. Thankfully the traffic was slow and I didn't have anything more interesting to do. So I waited and finally managed to get the shot I wanted.



This one was more interesting. The first time I spotted it, I was in the middle of my half awake half asleep phases. By the time I had my camera ready, it had overtaken us (our lane was slower). 15 minutes later though, courtesy some very innovative driving from my friend, we were again close to the small truck. I couldn't get the angle I wanted but nevertheless, this is what I clicked.