ONE SATURDAY

And too many things to do. Sigh.

MUMBAI MARATHON 2012

The Dream Run has, well... been *cough* walked.

Took in all the sights and sounds (and myriad they sure were!) along the way, realised that the 'serious' Marathon is the Half and the Full (all 21 and 42 kilometres respectively).

Here's some pictures:

The amazing Indian Navy Band

MONKEY BREW

The instructions say it all!

LIFE WITHOUT A GOOD BOOK

... is simply unimaginable. Oh, the horror. *shudder*

Currently on my bedside table/ in my over-eager paws:

- The Immortals of Meluha (super fascinating, unputdownable)#

- The Secret of the Nagas (need to finish Immortals first, this is the second part of the trilogy)

- The House of Silk (promising start; presently my second read*)

- The Interpretation of Murder (to be read after I'm thru' with The House of Silk)

- Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn (light reading; my third read**)

* I normally read around three books at a time. Sigh. Yes, yes, I'm a nerd.

** Naturally, follows from the explanation above.





# Technically, on my office desk. Took a cab to work this morning, and didn't drive, just so that I could read en route. Bought myself a half hour of solid reading time. Hurrah!

FEAR

And you thought nightmares = fear. So did I.

Until January 01, 2012.

Here's the lowdown: On holiday, the significant other and I are happily last-minute shopping at a prominent mall on one of (let's call it) City B's busiest streets, when we decide to head back to our hotel and check-out, in preparation for our flight home. It's around 03:30 on a bright and sunny afternoon, when we hail a cab, one of those regular meter cabs that are available for hire. About five minutes into the drive hotelwards, the cabbie gets abusive, drives off the main road onto a freeway, then off the freeway into a rather seedy area, and holds us to ransom, at gunpoint. No, I don't know whether the gun was indeed real, and no, I don't know whether we were merely being small-time conned, but when faced with a gun - you don't really want to find out, do you?

The city in question is very, very touristy; you have about a gazillion people hopping into these cabs all the time. So did we, for a full three days prior to this. And then we landed up with this cabbie. That done, we were about USD 70 lighter, dropped off onto a deserted freeway outside of city limits - forced to find our way back to the hotel in a foreign country, wherein even the street signs were not in English, or any language that we understood.

What did we do wrong? Nothing, apart from the fact that we were sheer unlucky, to be in the wrong cab at the wrong time. Did we argue with the cabbie? No. Did we fight? No. Were we abusive? No. Guess we were just destined to be one of those 'we-have-been-mugged' statistics.

In hindsight, it could've been a lot worse - our passports were on us, we were alone in a strange land. Guess we got off lightly. A week after, we're glad to be alive, and whole.

What a start to the new year.

Nightmares are made of this.

On the bright side, there evidently is a God, isn't there?

BEAUTIFUL CAMBODIA

Just back from a wonderful, wonderful holiday. (Did I mention wonderful?) Visited Cambodia, or more specifically, the Siem Reap province and all the breathtaking sights it had to offer. Yes, yes, Angkor Wat! While I will write more on the place, and all it had to offer, I 'll leave you with some pictures for now.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

A close-up of bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wish you a warm and wonderful 2012, y'all!

WAVES

Waves
lashing,
roaring,
white foam.


Coming in from the sea
to pay obeisance at your feet.


Cooling,
tickling,
playful.


They speak
a language of their own.

THE TREE IS UP ALREADY!

... That's because we're away over the Christmas break.

DEBATE

This one's got to do with ebooks v/s 'real' books.

What's an ebook, anyway? So the dictionary definition may differ (more than) slightly, but essentially it's a lovely book that's taken and put into electronic form, with no way to feel the pages, cool and crisp to the touch. No way to hold the book up to the old olfactory glands and take a deep breath, and inhale the - if I may - aroma. Have you noticed how each book carries a different smell, has a personality of its own? A new book, all crisp white pages has a sharp tang, while an older book, slightly mellow, a warm, musky aroma? At the risk of sounding like I have (more than just) borderline OCD, let's move on... *cough* objectively.

Why would I read an ebook? Umm, speaking for myself, at the risk of sounding geeky and so not with it, I may not. Ever. As of now, I don't. Nothing, and I mean nothing, comes even remotely close to holding a book, turning each page over carefully, popping a bookmark into place, and then... re-reading it once done. Rinse repeat. At home, should you ever visit, you'll realise that I'm running out of space for mundane things such as linen, clothes, random odds and ends... and all because the books threaten to take over the apartment. It's a mutiny of sorts, really.

For the sake of argument, I do realise that reading something online, say right here in blogland, does come somewhere close to an ebook. It's not like you print these pages and read, right? Hmm. But I choose to ignore that. *looks away and whistles*

Convenience and things apart, I like my half hour of bedtime reading; there's nothing that puts a crazy day into perspective better. Unless it's a dog. Hmm. But I digress (as usual). Conclusion = no ebooks for me, not for a loooooooong time.

The dog is another story.

COUNTDOWN

... to vacation time begins.
Fun places, here we come!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Here's to many, many, many, many more!

We love you!

BEING

I amWho I am

No excuses
No pretenses

What do you see?
Rather,
what do you want to see?

THE WEEKEND'S HERE!

Yippee!

Gonna catch up on reading a Tintin (or ten), of course. Now that I've just seen the movie - what else? The first one will be The Secret of the Unicorn - so I can go, hey! now this wasn't in the movie. Or, that bit from the movie isn't here. You get the drift.

Maybe another movie, starring my current Bollywood heartthrob. The hottie. The super drool-worthy cutie, a.k.a. Ranbir Kapoor. *melts into a puddle*

Family time. Very important, this.

Finalise vacation plans. Ooh, fun.

Turn out closets. Get ruthless with self and sort out clothes. (Note to self: DO NOT get sentimental.) Dust furniture. Put up freshly laundered, ironed curtains at windows. Sort out kitchen cabinets. Inspect Tupperware that houses suspicious growth food in the back of the freezer.

TINTIN!

Simply. Loved. The. Movie.

Fantastic animation, brought to life on an IMAX 3D screen. (Have you also felt like you're gonna fall while in the Dome? I always do. Sigh.)

Here's what I saw:

Every teeny, tiny detail - laugh lines around Tintin's/ Haddock's eyes. (Hmm. Girly, to notice.) Tintin's tuft of hair waving gently in the breeze. The Unicorn's scale model with some glorious detail. Waves in the sea. Bubbles. Bianca Castafiore's jewels. Snowy's velvety little nose and beady eyes.

And oh, the movie, too.

BUSINESS TRIP

After ages. Nice.
Good to meet up with people from other locations. It's interesting, the viewpoints you get. The same routine you follow gets a fresh perspective, with new ideas from your counterparts.

Hmm. New things to absorb and learn.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

FRESH FROM OUR GARDEN

Lime soda, anyone?

DIWALI IS HERE

Happy Diwali, y'all!

OFF ON VACATION!

Yes, it's Diwali. Yes, it is festive. Yes, I am finally done with preparations. Of course, as usual, I'm sure I could've done more. In any case, too late now - it's a little past midnight, and here I am, channel surfing (a fruitless exercise, but being the eternal optimist,...) and blogging. And quickly sending/ replying to work mails, because...

... I am off on vacation. Hurrah! Yay! Yippee!

Nothing fancy, just the annual visit to the in-laws, but it's not reason to complain at all. Of course, will put up loads of pics while there *snort* when I'm back. Will blog regularly too. Okay, occasionally.

So what did I do to prep, anyway? Here's the list:

• Cleaned house
• Washed curtains/ changed bedlinen (which we do otherwise too, but it's almost mandatory at Diwali)
• Put up the fairy lights and the kandeel, or paper lantern. (More on that later, remind me)
• Piously lit diyas and placed outside the door (Again, more later)
• Made chocolates. You think? Well, unfortunately this is the one thing that I didn't get down to doing. Sad. So bought these small pouches, bought chocolates, bought diyas and made up packages to give the neighbours. (You'll notice the malls love people like me - note the overuse of the word 'bought'.)
• Bought gifts and wrapped them (LOVE that!), ready to give away with loads of warm Diwali wishes

That's more or less it.

So while I'm away (and possibly too lazy to blog), have a wonderful and safe Diwali, y'all out there!