To the library

Like I said in my last post, my saturday was spent here:



Well, this is the state central library! And I. loved. it. Yeah I'm a nerd that way.



Now, I drove a friend for some work near Vidhana Soudha. The parking happened to be near the library. The library is a beautiful red building which I had seen a couple of times earlier but the thought of getting in never crossed my mind. Now since I had time to kill, I thought why not?



I was a little hesitant to go in at first. I thought I would need a membership or something. So I walked in just to inquire. The guy saw me walking in and said "Madam, please leave your bag here". Yayy just like that I was in! Yeah after that he made some small talk about which part of delhi I'm from (It was probably broadcast earlier that I was from delhi) and what I think about Anna's andolan. After that, I was in.



The library inside, is really something to experience. Well also because it's been such a long time since I went to a library. And also that I generally love libraries. I can just sit in a library and kill hours. You have to experience the library to know really what it is.




The boring one!

I searched and searched and after a very boring book finally found a really interesting one on Indira Gandhi by Dom Moraes. So engrossing was the book that I kept on turning pages after pages and just like that 3 hours were over. And I learnt new things like Nehrus' actual family name was Kaul. Really nice read. I would love to read the rest of it soon.



Correction: I would love to go back to the library and read the rest of it.



The only thing missing was tea. If they had tea, I might have never left. ALso, I was very hungry. But mostly tea. I could have foregone lunch if I could get a big cup of tea. That's how much I love tea and books, especially if they are in a quiet, Victorian, sprawling with books library.

The adventure of dancing men

As I mentioned in my last post, I celebrated my birthday a while back, well, almost a month back, in Ooty. It was a last minute plan, like all other plans. I got my friends together, looked for a place, made a booking, got into the car and left.

The drive to ooty is a little longish and winding. Mostly because I don't want to risk taking my car up the 36 hairpin bends, so I take the longer but less steep route. On the other hand, the drive is a treat in itself as we have to drive through some amazing forests and if we are lucky, we can see wild animals up close and personal, like this guy:




It was three days of relaxing, having a good time with friends, of putting my feet up, of sleeping under the sun in the afternoon in a public garden, and just doing what I felt like. It was three days of (re-)discovering that I have great friends who love me and care for me. It was three days of going where your feet may take you. Nobody cared about watches or schedules.

Not to forget, it was three days of very chilly weather. Now the thing is that I went to ooty last year April and somewhere in my mind, I concluded that "ooty is not chilly this time of the year. It gets nippy in the evenings but otherwise it's fine". Turns out, not fine, extremely chilly. Note to myself: weather changes in two months. Not to mention, multiple layers of clothing followed.

There was lots of tea. Cue: cold weather, good times with friends.




There were conversations around warm fireplaces.



There were layers and layers of clothes and a beautiful property that made this stay all the more amazing.



Like I said, there were lots of moments that we stopped to savor only that moment. How many times have you passed by a field of sunflowers on a highway and said to yourself that "one day, I'll stop to admire them and take their beauty in".




I completely spoilt myself and indulged my sweet tooth way too much. (I ordered and finished both desserts on the right in one sitting)



I was gifted two gorgeous lenses for my camera and this trip was when I unleashed the babies. I came back with close to 800 pics in my canon DSLR and more than 200 pics in my sony. So we did take a lot of pics. I like to say we were perfecting our art.







Now to explain the title of this post. We stayed at this quaint and most awesome heritage property Sherlock. These guys have styled each room after a novel of Sherlock Holmes and the room that I stayed in was called 'Dancing Men' and needless to say, the theme was 'the adventure of dancing men'.

Since I've mentioned my last trip to ooty, I can't end this post without digging out memories from that trip - a trip that was in a very different zone compared to this one but is very special nonetheless.

chai chai...garma garam chai!

I can sum up this post in one line - i love my tea and i love my tea time. Done!

Tea time is the most precious time of my day. I do NOT like to be disturbed during my tea time, not even to open the door. I like to enjoy every sip of my tea, relax and savor the tea, the time, and the quietness of those moments. After all, tea time symbolises the break between all the rush of the day. (I'm guessing that is what a cigarette is to smokers, atleast in part).



After all these years, I've finally settled to a routine of 4 teas a day. For whatever reasons, I used to try to limit myself to 2 teas or try to have green tea (YUCK!!!) and all that jazz. What with all that hoopla about tea not being good for us and messing with our brain activity and stuff.

But, I guess , my brain activity is finally messed up enough to allow me 4 cups of tea without thinking about any negative effects. And, I hate people who call green tea 'tea'. I mean, seriously?? Did they ever take a sip of a 'cutting' or 'tapri' chai?



I like my tea well brewed and with ample sugar. Yeah, sugar is the part that hurts me the most. I'm a true desi and I like my tea sweet. All the maths makes it 8 spoons of sugar in one day which translates to a lot of unwanted and useless calories which translates to more cardio in the gym. And god knows I hate cardio. (I just meant that as a phrase. I'm sure that god, if such a thing existed, couldn't be less bothered about one girl's gym preferences).

So, I'm trying to ration my sugar in the tea that I have at work. Though, tell you what, I cannot compromise on certain things and so the tea that I make at home still gets 2 spoons of sugar. I'm quite non-flexible that way. Bring on the cardio! Or cut down on dinner!



One more thing that needs mention when talking about my tea is the ridiculously and annoyingly low temperatures at which i enjoy my tea. I begin to test the temperature of my cup only after others (if any) have finished their cups. It's a good benchmark. Then also, if I feel that my tea needs more cooling time, I wait some more. It annoys my tea time friends (again, if any). But, I just can't help it. If the tea is too hot, it just burns and numbs your taste buds and you just cannot taste it. Also, it has the added advantage of prolonging my oh-so-good tea time. :)

I need to end the post here. It's time for my chai :P.

The tito's curse

2010 wasn't a great year. Infact, it was disastrous. Horrible things happened - both personal as well as professional. I even fell sick for a month! But then as they say, every adversity teaches us something and we have the choice of learning from it and growing. Not every, I would say but most of them do.

Enough gyan done.

They also say that all's well that ends well. And if we go by this then what a year 2010 was. OMG. The end of 2010 marked the end of the tito's curse. What is the tito's curse, you ask? Well, everyone around me, everyone you know and their sister and brother have been to tito's and mambo's at baga in goa. Except, humble mortal, me.

So, towards the end of 2010, I vowed to end the year on a high note and I set the wheels turning. Afterall, you have to make things happen for yourself, right? After weeks of meticulous planning and plotting and convincing and negotiating and a bit of serendipity, lo and behold, I was in goa with some awesome people. It was slow and ordinary till after dinner on the first day when I stepped into tito's. And then I partied. And how. For the next 4 days, it was a dusk to dawn affair in tito's lane. I slept only after seeing the morning light everyday.

Not to mention that it took me days to recuperate after all this madness but what the hell, it was totally worth it.

Going to goa, staying right on the beach, drinking tea (yes, not beer) all day long and partying all night with the most awesome friends. If I had a bucket list, this would have been on it and I would have ticked it right off at the end of 2010.

one day better spent

we were planning to go out for a very long time. she wanted to take me out of the rut that my life has become and probably get herself out as well. she basically is the adventurous type.."would you come to a lounge/disc for 4 hrs?" "no i dont want to/i have some work/i am not the party types" are the standard replies. "do you want to go to some obscure place for a whole day or two and walk/climb and cover yourself with mud/bruises and get sore feet,legs and body" "now/tomorrow?" is the standard response.

so thats about it as far as planning was concerned.

"i have to head out for the day...do you wanna come or shud i go alone?"..so much for friendship..that too best friends

"count me in" there's nothing much in my life except her right now, so negative answer was not an option

"wake up tomorrow at 5.45 and reach my place..or forget it...ill wake you up"...so much for trust in my 'waking up' abilities

and damn her...she called 10 minutes earlier to wake me up..bloody early risers. i hate it. and what i hate more than that is taking a bath that early. who needs to do that? when you know you'll be covered in sweat(not only your own), mud, dirt, pollution. but the entire debate is in vain and you have to bathe for 'general well being' of by-standers.

turned out to be a futile exercise as we got into the same compartment as the machhi waalis (wow that smell..i can still smell it) and by the end of the journey you cudnt make out where you ended and the other person began. so much for bathing at 6 am.

btw we were heading out for matheran. after the lame start the trip turned out to be good, with the degree of good increasing as the day progressed. after we hunted for food (not literally..she's pure veg..damn them) she wanted to 'do a horse'..forget it was my response..i was not going to ride those creatures in this life atleast..and before i knew it i was on one of them..scared and insecure.

not bad was the initial reaction which unfortunately remained the same till the end. though the fear galloped out.

the honeymoon point was the hit of the day. initially we were little amused that we shud go to the point given the circumstances that were that time. but then turned out to be a good place even for two girl friends who have been thought of as lesbians more than once by more than one person. major heart pouring from my side there. she thought it was a good time to get all truths out of me (chance pe dance as she says) . even asked me to look her in the eye to prove the veracity of my claims. dunno whether i passed or failed. she didnt tell me that.

then came the next high point.. rains..we were walking now..forest on both sides..thin lane and dense fog..perfect setting for that kiss according to me..seconded by her. nobody else to third it. nobody to kiss :( seriously nobody in sight, not a trace of human race..which made her freak out a bit. but then there i was.. her pillar of strength..:)

and then i was like "you know what would make the setting perfect? a chai" and as if a genie had heard me..there was chai and biscuit...it was absolutely heavenly..maybe i could have asked for a spaceship and i would have got that too..

and to end that almost perfect day was the walk on the tracks...

i wish my life was like that track...just keep walking straight...no crossroads...no options...no decisions..no regrets...