I had to look into my blog today and to update it even when it meant stealing time from other activities as I went to work after four long days.
This was a long weekend for me. I celebrated my birthday and treated myself really well. I had a fabulous time this weekend, complete with family time, eating out, meeting family (brother’s family to be precise) and friends and then friends visiting home over home cooked food and collected loads of gifts (the little girl in me had a happy time unwrapping all the gifts and guessing what is what with a funny grin on her face!). There are a lot new stuffs around. And I got a pair of pretty clogs too....
And then I had to write today, on my blog. There were too many mentions about my not updating it regularly in recent times. I realised there are people who like to read my blog and keep looking for new posts. Hmm, it definitely boosts my confidence. And then again on my way to work this morning I got a similar request from an old friend as she complained about seeing only one new post after months.
I blabber to myself, ‘I will write more; writing helps me, it clears my thought and it’s kinda therapeutic’. I call it cathartic!
Hmm...I did that yesterday. It was yesterday ‘Lonely Planet’ and his cute little daughter visited my place from across so many places. (This family really travels and knows how to land up in places so beautiful or dangerous or so out of reach. I really envy them.) And it made me happy ‘happy-HappPPy’yesterday. I am happy not just because I met them or just because LP talked about my blog but I am happy that I could be home to host them, I am happy that I could cook for them, I am happy that it was a special day. Well, it was my birthday and I was home to celebrate the special day. And I am happy that he surprised me with his precision!
Whoa....I gotta be explaining here.....
Talking about LP, I just cannot stop praising him. I have hosted quite a few get-togethers at my place and as a practice I send a standard set of instruction to friends well in advance on how to reach my place (you know, I am so very well organised...umm.. professional!). And now that it’s a regular thing to have friends visiting me from different places, from within Delhi, from other cities in India, from other countries, I almost keep that 10 point list very handy. It’s just a matter of copying and pasting and sending an email and voila (I think) its all clear. And invariably there would be frantic phone calls on the day when I will be busy tossing mushroom in my kitchen or when I will just be setting the table or clearing some clutter in my living room, in the middle of some clumsy last minute preparation or in the middle of a clear-all shower. And I would talk to them muttering ‘was not my instruction on ‘how to find my place’ sent for this, so that there is no confusion’. I least expect such phone calls when there is a step by step instruction. Giving directions and making sure the petrol pump is on the left and that you are facing the road are the least liked things for me. Urgh... And it never so happened all these while that anyone landed at my place without getting confused or without making those phone calls, well, until yesterday.
So, in a way, I almost thought my way of instruction does not work and said to myself ‘maybe I am confusing’. But when there is no room for confusion and there is no other way but to land up at my place if one really ‘reads’ those 10 points, I very sarcastically wondered what made people call me from middle of a ride, is it that they like to call me, or they have a cheap mobile connection or they are simply confused people or they take my step by step instruction lightly and don’t read my instruction before starting for my place.
Well, for the first time in almost 12 months I had a visitor who landed at my place bang on and surprised me. First because he reached well before the time I thought he would (my assumption was hugely based on my previous experiences with my other friends). Secondly, he is not from Delhi and not even from India. And most amazing part, he was travelling with a little kid and used public transport to commute to my place from where he is staying (that seven star place)! And I somehow now know that my instructions work and that the list is very clear and you cannot miss but reach the destination bang on! Hmmm...btw, I have been copying and pasting the same list without any edit all these times just in case you wondered whether I modified or changed anything (oops, making sure I used same instrument for all the episodes...ahh...see, its coming from someone who is into hardcore research!!)
And I am amazed with LP for other reasons also. I met him after a good five years and it felt as if it was yesterday. We have been neighbors once and then I ‘almost’ traveled wherever they went as I would either get vivid descriptions from all the travelogue he would post from time to time or from my own travel plans to visit them (so far all flopped!). Hmmm....
And at the end of it, it brought me back to my blog and I drafted this after a long day at work, from the middle of working on a presentation for my lecture tomorrow.
I will write more, surely, I will. There is a lot to write, so many update, those fermented beans recipes I learnt from my friend from Manipur over lunch today (ahh...my birthday bash is so very long this time!), those tips on Oddissi dance from my bro’s fiancée, those recipes mom ‘taught’ me over that sumptuous luncheon my bro planned for my birthday. I need to write about ‘Oh! Calcutta’ too, I love the place and it seems I was quite a head-turner of sorts that day...or maybe they all knew it was my birthday! About how I ended up with some good French red wine in ‘bad’ state and how I am desperately looking for good recipes to use this ‘bad’ wine! And I will write about other stuff happening in life in general.
So, watch this space for more...if not less!
