Feelin' So Fly Like a G6

What kind of a song is that?
Goddamn catchy-ass song, I'll tell you that.
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I have been feelin' so fly like a G6 lately. An Aunty-less PG has both advantages and disadvantages. But mostly advantages. Akanksha darling's always having her own trippy little party, and sometimes I join her. The fridge is stocked with bottles that aunty would not approve of. The TV is ours, and RID of all the Hindi soaps. Basically, it's heaven, but without home-cooked food. (I should learn to cook, you say? Well, perhaps. But we're not allowed to use the gas for heavy duty stuff. Except for Maggi. That's my excuse.)
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Thankfully there is an umbrella man who takes care of my dietary concerns. Who is this umbrella man, you ask? Does he have a PhD? Is he a certified nutritionist?

The answer to all these questions is 'No, not in the slightest.' Except the first one, the answer to which is: he is the man who brings food and serves it under an umbrella on the roadside to the hungry masses.

It's not as bad as you think. In fact, it is quite awesome. I get a home cooked meal of 3 sabjis, roti, dal and chawal with papad and pickle and all for 35 bucks. And Umbrella man's wife is fond of me so I get an extra papad sometimes. What more could a girl ask for?

Others in my office who would generally turn up a nose at such a thing, have warmed to the umbrella man too. He is now very popular amongst us. All. thanks. to. me. Yes, I'll have that extra papad please.
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What else has been happening? Office party at Hawaiian Shack. That was good fun. We all danced the night away and I stayed over at Shuchi's. Oh, and Divz Sooch and I went to Al's after work. Divz and I wanted some colour in our hair, and there's this great hair salon in Bandra called, 'Curl Up and Dye'. Hahaha, isn't that cool? And Raymond, the guy there is a genius. I cracked enough Everybody Loves Raymond jokes to ensure I got the best of his talent, and I left with three colours in my hair (no, I do not look crazy.)
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This is also a goddamn catchy-ass song.


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So HeMan, Sooch and I were supposed to go see the circus (yes, you heard me right), this Tuesday evening, and I was really excited and all that, but someone did not quite follow up, and we couldn't. *disappointment*.

Anyway, we met for lunch at phoenix instead. (I love phoenix mills. It is my happy place.) We didnt have enough time to go to the tarot card readers, because of work. Divz, when you're back we'll do that, and get a reading for HeMan as well. :D silly things make me happy.
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Work been quite crazy. Neck deep. But now I'm going on leave!
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Yes, I must tell you. I leave for Dubai today, (yay!) and shall be back in Bangalore in Jan. Tammy is getting married (!!!!!!) I will be there then, and then there are other plans which I will tell you about later. (because y'all are all dying to know)

And that is the end of this horribly written post.
So byebye for now.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! :)
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He-Man has left the Building

It's all very sad. But what can you do. He's blazing off to the UK, to bigger, brighter dreams.

I will miss the after lunch walks for his lunch-break cigarette, and his benign "Heh?"s in response to nail polish discussions (and mostly anything else we said). But most importantly, I will miss his lunch, which I polished off everyday for two months without his permission (Take pity on this poor home-food starved MM). Sigh.
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He did send us this beautiful e-mail before leaving:

Dear friends,

I have finally conceded to the treat idea.

It would be my pleasure, nay, HONOUR to treat you all, Sweet Shuchi, Darling Divya and Marvellous Madhu, to a wonderful dinner at The Tasting Room/ Spaghetti Kitchen/ any other place that would blow a hole in my wallet.

Date: 13. 12. 2010

Venue: Your choice

Time: 7pm onwards

I take this opportunity to extend a hearty invitation to you all. Truly, I have realised your worth now, only as I am leaving. The buckets of tears I have cried upon this realisation are stored in my bathroom at home, to remind me of what I am leaving behind.

I also request you to each pick up one item from any of the stores in Palladium (preferably the more expensive ones like Zara etc), as a personal gift from me, simply for being the amazing people that you are.

Spending time with you has brought me much happiness.

Hugs and fond tears,
Himanshu

After a heart-string tugger of an e-mail like that, well, you gotta forgive him for leaving. He's gotten a bit cheesy in places, (Marvellous Madhu? Buckets of tears? seriously?), but the gist, on the whole, was very satisfactory.

(Disclaimer: The fact that we have access to He-Man's web-mail should not raise the slightest of suspicions regarding the authenticity of this e-mail. We are not like that.)
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So Spaghetti Kitchen it was, where we bid him a fond farewell, with, well, not tears, as would have been more appropriate, but with uncontrollable laughter about the White Fang incident, (really not appropriate) and about the humble beginnings of Himanshu Marketing Pvt Ltd.

He-Man really did blow a hole in his wallet, this post is mainly to thank him for that. All that sangria and other expensive stuff was worth it! Wasn't it, Himanshu, wasn't it? Doesn't this post make it all worthwhile?
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Yum Yus imitations, McD, the Umbrella man, lassi, chai. Watching Eat Pray Love and weird Switch movies. :D Manchester United Cafe, Comedy Club, Movenpick. Getting lost in the parking at Phoenix.

He Man, we well miss you and your lovely red car!
And I already know what your reaction to this post will be: "Kuch Bhi." :P :)
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Mango Nails

are the result of that shopping spree.

That, and these:


Three girls after a long day's work + an empty mall after closing time= lots of entertainment for the cctv cameras.

I can't figure out whether my nails are utterly hideous or refreshingly funky.
I'm living on the edge here.
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Adi came to visit us at work yesterday. He missed us so intensely, that he just had to come and see us, before he died from the pain of it all. Oh, and also he had to collect some documents from HR :P Confused about my nail polish, I decided to get Adi's perspective.
The verdict: "You joined Shiv Sena or what?"

After that delicate response, of COURSE, I will mention here that Adi is afraid of butterflies. I have linked this to his FB profile, in order to further embarrass him.
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I feel more like Nickelodeon than Shiv Sena. Which is good thing when you are having to write banking letters. My job has only recently started being this hideous. It is just a phase. (I keep telling myself)
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I will continue to be girly in this post by telling you about the perfume I bought yesterday.

Nina by Nina Ricci. The bottle looks like an apple. The bottle is half the buy. Really. I am fascinated with perfume bottles.

While buying perfume, one needs to be quite shameless, in order to strike a good deal, asking shop attendants "What can you give me with this?" (freebies, of course)
When they show you something- anything- whatever it is, wrinkle your nose, and say:"Is that all?"
Whereupon they will fall all over themselves to give you more bags and vials and free perfume and such. That's just how it's done. *shrugs shoulders nonchalantly*

Sooch, Divz and I were talking about how perfumes transport you back to the time you used to wear them. A whiff of something familiar, and you're suddenly in a different world altogether. A world that your life used to be.

Before Nina, there was

Weekend by Burberry (which ironically, was my starting-to-work perfume) and
Incanto Shine by Salvatore Ferragamo (which I used for quite a while and reminds me of a host of wonderful things.)

I only hope that Nina Ricci won't remind me of all the banking letters.

Mita just caught me at the printer and said "Wow, what is that heavenly smell?" Yay. Makes it all worthwhile.
Smelling good with Nickelodeon nails. I'm sorted.
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This song is stuck in my head after a long time. I've been playing it on loop and listening to it while I sleep. I've been having the most fantastic dreams because of it, and I find it very difficult to wake myself out of them.


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These are artists from the Sketchbook Project. Having a look their work really helped me get started.

With my topic, 'Help': The Monster Book
I LOVE this stuff! His illustrations are so detailed and disturbing. In a good way.

Make Mine a Double. I love the idea, it's simple and effective. Love it.

The view from up here. You have to check this out. I love the concept. And the execution!

You'd be home by now. Ah, whimsy! I love.

Science Project Gone Wrong. Bev's lovely work... First blog that I saw :)

There are lots more, that you can check out on the Art House Co op Site.

Such inspiration. I'd better get a move on with mine.
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Guess who's back

Tell a friend.
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So let me start by regaling you with the tale of the 300 year-old cabbie. Because that's what this blog's all about, isn't it?

I had the gross misfortune of journeying in his cab this morning. He refused to take me at first. I should have just walked on, but lately I have taken to questioning any cabbie-refusals with a "Kyun? Phir kyun poocha?" (by which I mean, Why? Then why did you ask me where I wanted to go?) My Hindi is still horrific, if anyone would like to tell me how I can make this dialogue more effective (read correct), please do.

And then I shout at them in the middle of the road.

This usually works.
As you can imagine.
If it does not, I take his number down, and tattle to the Traffic Police on their website.

I've become such a ray of sunshine since you saw me last, haven't I?

So this man. Daft as a coot. Dafter, if possible.
The driver of the Knight bus in the third HP movie. Same glasses, hair, driving skills. Just the mumbai cabbie version. Our conversation:

"Mahalakshmi se right lena hai na?"
"Nahi bhaiyya, straight jana hai"
"Ha ha. Right jana hai. Pata hai"
"Nahi!! STRAIGHT STRAIGHT. SEEDA."
"Ha ha beta. Malum hai. Mahalakshmi se na, right leke, seeda worli jayenge."
:|

Oh, and his reaction times. Alarmingly slow. This pedestrian has happily jaunted across the road and is already walking on the other side towards Mc Donald's. FIFTEEN seconds later, our driver wakes up and brakes furiously, yelling a volley of curses at the long-gone gentleman and the wide-eyed child who's been observing the incident. The bus behind us brakes just in time. Nobody dies, life goes on.

When we parted ways he said:
"Mere paas dus rupai ka change nahin hai" (while waving a 10 rupee note in the air)

Scary thing is though, he knew all the traffic cops we passed. Good thing I didn't complain on the website.
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He was actually taking me to this place where I volunteer every Tuesday morning before work. It's a Slum School run by this NGO called Muktangan. Got there in one piece, thankfully. 9 to 9.45, I take the Library hour for a group of seven year-olds. It's not changing the world, but it's something.
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Recent events for documenting purposes:
XIC reunion, classmates and the Girls. Fun fun. More soon.
The AA night for which I was almost kicked out of my PG, which was most definitely worth it.
Coping, not panicking.
Divya Sooch Himanshu outings have become a regular, that I love.
Blore break-
The break up.
And I think that takes care of Oct- Nov. Now I just have Jan-Sept to document. :/
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Okay. what I really wanted to blog about, was this project I'm taking part in.

It's called "The Sketchbook Project" and it's run by the Art House co op.

Basically, they send you a sketchbook with a topic and a bar-code, you fill it up and send it back to them, and they exhibit it in galleries and museums in 5 different cities across the US.

It's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks.

Every time your book is viewed, you receive an e-mail or a text message alerting you what city it was viewed in and the first name of the person browsing through it.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view.

28787 artists from 94 countries around the world are participating. The tour starts February, 2011

My topic is Help!
I've tweaked it around, to be:

Help!
In everyday situations.

So I'll be putting the stuff that I do up, and linking to other sketchbook progresses that I'm loving.

Oh, by the way, I sketch nowadays. I love it. It's such a new creative outlet. I love having colour, and art, around me. That was the thing I loved best about Amsterdam. (The office sent me, but more about that later.)

And I can't tell you how much I am living through this project.
This is the stuff I want to do with my life.

A Long, Scruffy Post About The Now

Off the top of my head:
I traveled by bus the other day. On the way back from college. *dances* And was thrilled to part with just a five rupee coin, instead of the usual forty bucks. And was very proud of self because Ive never been able to travel by bus in Bangalore.
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I should perhaps stop here to tell you that Im now in Mumbai, studying at St Xaviers (yes, that place where they shot Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na! *does excited dance* Forgive me. It's the only Hindi movie Ive been able to watch twice, apart from Lagaan) and Im doing a PG diploma in advertising and marketing, and Ive been here a month and many adventures have happened that I havent written about.
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Now that that is out of the way, we can get back to the bus. It was awesome. Ok maybe not awesome. Maybe there were lots of people coughing and sneezing. In your face if they could. And maybe there was one man in a surgical mask which made me get to thinking that i should possibly be worried and wearing one too. And maybe there was a man in a netaji cap who should probably have used some deodorant if he didnt want people around him to keep fainting. Maybe. But still. It was awesome.
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Better at least than traveling in a cab whose driver is the stupidest man on the planet. I swear, I am NOT joking, I should have taken a picture, it'd have gotten me millions. Westside to Bachelors, should have been 13 bucks, you dont want to HEAR the exorbitant amount he charged me because he was too dumb to know the route.

Because of recent swine flu scare I have been severely instructed by the 'rents not to use any mode of public transport, and to use the cabs everyday and to wear a mask and not to breathe too much if possible.
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But most cabbies are quite nice actually. Really nice in fact. Better than our local autodrivers most definitely. Always ready to help, making friendly conversation, not laughing at your broken hindi, sharing tips on how to prevent swine flu. In fact, people in general are more friendly there than here Ive noticed. When I landed at the airport this time I forgot I was at Bangalore and "No thank you plus smile"-ed at a dude who asked me whether wanted a taxi. Whereupon he sniggered at me and muttered something offensive in Kannada. After which I realised that this is not Mumbai MM, the appropriate response would be loud tsking and a rolling of the eyes before glaring at said man.

Havent you noticed that in Bangalore, being friendly doesnt work well with most of the people you have to deal with? I had to rewire my entire system after we moved back from London when I was eight. We do have our good qualities, but being civil and genuinely friendly to strangers is not one of them.
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Also, Ive been able to pick up Hindi much quicker than it took me to learn Kannada because people arent constantly correcting, judging and critiquing what Im saying and then laughing at me. Here they just take my broken Hindi and keep talking to me, I swear Ive gotten so much better at it. Soon I will be able to hurl abuses at the occassional foolish cabbie in fluent Hindi.
I tried talking to my mum in Kannada over the phone the other day and all that came out was broken Hindi. Funny how things change, in the beginning, I'd talk to the cabbies in Kannada not realising until they turned around and stared at me questioningly.

I like Mumbai. :)
I love Bangalore too though. This week break thanks to Swine Flu Scare has been too short.
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Back to the PG tonight. I stay in Tardeo. On the 29th floor, three sides sea facing, in a flat where the rooms are all painted bright and wonderful colours. My roommate is a sweetheart. I have it gooood. This I have realised this more deeply after a month in Mumbai. Accommodation is really expensive here. But we found a gem. PG aunty is Nepali, who married an Iyer, so she cooks us nepali achaars and otherwise south Indian type food for a very nominal rate. Her kids are all grown up and away, so their beautiful penthouse is ours for a year. :) I have the blue room. Just in case you wanted to know. There is also a pink room, a yellow room and the hall is orange and green. And although this sounds tacky, it is really not. :)

Lookit that. Im missing the place. Seems like I have two homes, for the now. :)

Anyway, while she may be really Brahmin with some of her rules, dont touch the used plate to the table, dont touch food in the pots once you've started eating etc, she's really decent about curfews and the like. Osh and I walked in at 4am the day we'd gone to Pune (that was loads of fun, the Hard Rock Cafe there is to die for, and try their mashed potato with gravy. Drool. Also there's this shop called Babe there. If I die and go to heaven, I hope I will wake up to find myself in Babe. Very afforable fantastic fashion. Needless to say, we went a little crazy. Im also in love with Pune. Everything is so much nicer and cheaper there. Of course there's the swine flu and all as well. Balances out.) And I walked in at 2am the day our class went to Zenzy's, only to find her watching Hindi soaps with her mum and her sister who've come down from Nepal to visit. Is she ever one for Hindi soaps.
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Incidentally, we saw Abhay Deol at Zenzy's. He was with two guys in this room at the back where Something Relevant was about to start playing, and the room was empty, ad me sai and shashank walk in and see them there. And we nod at each other and continue to stand there for the longest time the three of us whispering about whether we should actually be there or not, until people started to fill in. I'll have to admit, I didnt know he was an actor, havent seen him before, I only knew because they told me. I need to really watch some Hindi movies.
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I have glimpsed quite a few celebs here in Mumbai actually. :D The other day as Shanks and I are walking out of college, we turn around to see Rahul Bose walking behind us. :D
Our college has a lotta celebrities visiting it. Abdul Kalam came. And Hilary Clinton and Aamir Khan. Heavy security. The day we had Vivienne D Souza's class. She requires an entire blogpost for herself.
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College is nice. I miss my little gang or whatever you might call it. Sweethearts, although they would be greatly disturbed if they knew I was calling them that. Shanks from bangalore of course, Keegan, really musically talented and all, Savio, funny guy, easy to talk to "brand of our class", Arjun also plays the guitar and all that, fun to talk to, Mandar co- Paparazzi and entertainment provider. :D I actually miss it all! Ok, now Im ready to go back. Then there's Yashad whose funniness I miss greatly. And Shreyas and Dorita and Apoorva Sneha and Neha, my comp partner Harsh, who's lots of fun, and lots of other wonderful people that Im just getting to know.
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And Malhar has been postponed to next week. Im excited about that, will probably blog about it when it happens. :) Oh and the Xaviers building, is beautiful!! I just love it! So Harry Potter esque. :) I only saw it because of Malhar. The XIC building isnt as splendiferous. Plus we have to climb to the third floor everyday. Blah. That bit sucks.
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So Week One was running around trying to find accommodation with mum and dad. Mr Vikram is a character I will not easily forget. Perhaps I will blog about him later.
Week Two was hospital with Malaria/dengue/mild viral hepatitis, the docs cant make up their minds.
Week Three was college, horse carriage rides with osh sai and shanks, visiting marine drive and gateway at midnight, eating at roadside restaurants and getting caught in HEAVY rains that only Shanks umbrella could withstand :D
Week four was Josy Paul and Vivienne D'Souza and some worthwhile teachers and Malhar and practice and all that. Oh and Mr Samir Chadha who I found out, worked on the Orbit cow ads!! :D He was one of our guest lecturers.
Week Five swine flu holidays and back in B'lore for a week and it's not nearly enough time for anything. :( Blah. Not nearly enough time.

I have just realised now that we have a LOAD of assignments due pretty soon, and I'd better buck up and finish them or I am going to be in a lot of soup.
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I have the feeling too many drawers open.
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