Of thrills and spills

A long time ago, when I first came to the US, I landed loaded with dreams and aspirations- because after all this IS the land of oppurtunity, or so one had been sold to think. And this many years later, its not that I dont think it isnt. Really, one can accomplish anything one wishes to do so. Be it careerwise, academics, sports, arts, crafts, technology....you name it and there's a shiny avenue for it. So whats the catch? I mean really, the one lesson I've learnt is everything comes at a price. No, not always a monetary price.

Thus far, I've tried my hand at sky diving, bungee jumping, hand-gliding, trapeze-ing(much as it looks fancy in cirque-du-soleil shows, my god- the hands hurt, even with gloves!), white-water rafting, canoeing, kayaking, parasailing, paragliding, snow-tubing, skiing.....yes been there, done that. By far, the one fear I have tried to conquer is that of water. From learning to swim to all the water sports, I have tried, really! And I am coming close to saying that I am just not comfortable with water. The only element of nature that I find quite challenging to commune with. So what now?

Well, true when I think back, while it sounds impressive, I can honestly say these arent the times that make me feel fulfilled or that I accomplished something of substance. The times that come to my mind which make me feel truly fulfilled is the time I have invested in people. The bonds that have been built and nurtured- be it in the real or virtual world.

Having come here on my own, every connection has been painstakingly built- over time, with effort and patience...like a sculptor or a mason. For every successful bonding, there have been quite a few failures. Decidedly. But I have also learned to let go and move on. Its a matter of concluding that it was good while it lasted.

Recently, my friend's daughter talked about wanting to go on a hot air balloon ride. Thats how this post came about :-). My most romantic notion back then was to go on a hot air balloon ride in Napa valley. When I visited the lush green expanses of Napa Valley one summer, I made a note of the Hot Air balloon ride company's details, so I could revisit whenever I had a suitable partner and we needed a cosy two-some break. That has not happened yet, but I know I will get to do the hot air balloon ride, some time, some where, some how. No hurries. Maybe when Durga's pretty daughter N, turns 13, which is when she plans to go on this ride, I might be her partner, partner in thrill. She has a piggy bank collection going just for this. Everyone needs to be saving for a thrill ride, absolutely! I need to start mine soon.

Thrills could be from roller-coaster rides, or from emotional ones- but for now, I am happy to (to borrow a phrase from Tharini's recent post, which I absolutely loved) "hang out in the space between my thoughts".

Two's company

This past week/end has been an unusually hectic one. Work has been busy, some paperwork to be taken care of, and then a surprise visit from an old friend over the weekend.

Its too early to claim, but it must be a season of getting together with long-lost friends. After the dinner out in downtown DC last month with a long-lost ex-coworker, that which I blogged about earlier, here's one more.

Had one of these days? Back in Pre-Univ ....staying past the normal hours of a particularly interesting trigonometry or calculus class, working out some of the exercises, like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together? The thrill of a challenge, the excitement over a succesful solve...sitting under the trees of a college campus lawn. Or walking over to a buddy's house, on the porch and working out the last kinks of a particularly difficult problem? Those late nights, with hindi film music providing for a background score, long discussions ranging from the wonders of algebra, the boring notes of physics, the debates on whether differential calculus was better or integral, whether microprocessors were a boon or a bane.....coffee, respective ammas dishing out piping hot food, served right where you were sitting...room service at its best.

My dear friend S was one such. We both knew what we wanted to graduate in. We had the same goals, we studied together but landed in different colleges for undergrad....and once we graduated, it appears, we each parted ways. Each on a different track, parallel but never in touch.

After all these years(10, to be exact), I miraculously got back in touch with her. Surprisingly not through orkut or facebook, gtalk or blogs....it was by sheer coincidence and by unconventional means. Over the past year, we've corresponded. And she surprisingly was able to come to the US on a year long project to NC, she works in Bangalore. On a busy thursday afternoon, I get a call from her.

She : "What plans for the weekend?"

Me : "Oh, nothing- as usual!"

She : "Hm, well a colleague of mine is visiting his cousin in DC, he wants to know if I want to carpool, should I?"

Me : (amidst balancing a celebratory jig and whoops of joy) "OF COURSE, YOU SHOULD!!!!!"

She :(calmly) " Alright, send me your address and I'll print directions. I'll call you when I start driving from here".

As I hung up, an email from our corporate informs us that if the weather gets too inclement on Friday, we could stay home and not drive under bad road conditions. Schools were declared closed prematurely, it was supposed to ice and rain all day on Friday. I pretended to ignore the severity of weather related warnings.

Thursday evening, after finishing my last gym workout for the week, I decided to finish all my weekly grocery shopping chores. The pantry was stocked up, milk and dairy rations refilled....a good part of the evening was spent in cleaning the house, new sheets for the guest bed and a fresh vase of flowers.

Come Friday morning, thank the Lord, the weather was not as bad as was predicted. It was dull, cloudy, and wet. But not torrential rains or ice storms. As she drove her rental car at 11:30 that evening into my driveway, it all dawned on me. The last I had seen her was at her wedding 10 yrs ago. Then I'd left for Singapore and onwards to the US, she (I assumed) settled into a career and family life. Now, here she was....on her first visit to the US, having driven 5 hrs on her own, in not so perfect weather...just to visit me!

Its been an amazing weeekend, as I took her around to the tourist spots best visited during these cold months...Luray caverns, Ikea (I know! But she wanted to go, and I had to hold her back from plundering the place!) and a museum. While we watched Sa Re Ga Ma and Boogie Woogie on Saturday night, it was like old times. Music, TV, a simple special meal of pulav/raitha and rasmalai- gossip, laughter, catching up. I swear, we had no time to reminisce cos there was so much to catch up on. We probably need another weekend to go down the memory lane.


“Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.”
~Henry David Thoreau



Footnote 1 : Last weekend, I managed to catch Jodhaa Akbar in the theaters, a girls outing. I'd recommend it for those a. Who can enjoy screen after screen of HR, in royal glory or b. Enjoy historical period love stories or c. Both a and b.
For attention deficients like me, C would be the right answer.

Footnote 2 : Sadly, I finished the entire series of 8 books in the Mma Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith. I say sadly, because this experience and excitement of having so much to read is very rare. Usually its an uphill struggle to find ONE good book to read, leave alone this many. But I'm already in the waiting list for the next in the series thats due in April. All in all, its been an enjoyable series, I love all the characters, and have fallen more so in love with the Botswana thats described in the book. It really says a lot about the writer.

“Don't be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”
~Richard Bach

Chai and chitchat

Over some moist carrot-walnut cake with a toffee topping and green tea with honey on a lazy Sunday afternoon, here's something to aimlessly ponder about :

















A strategically located traffic light around the corner from our office campus, is a good spot for the likes of me to look around and entertain myself while waiting for the light to go green. Usually I find girls/women busy with their make-up. A dab of concealer here, a brush of mascara there, a touch-up of lipstick and time for the lights to change.

About a couple of times, recently, I have noticed some guys in their cars whip out.....I am not kidding....one of those modern shavers and merrily get rid of their 1/2/3/4 day old stubble. With sweeping movements while peering into the rearview while they went about this whole shaving process casually, I continued to peer shamelessly...I am told this isnt so rare, this isnt a new thing. Apparently a lot of men shave, much like women have achieved a name for themselves for fixing their makeup while waiting at traffic lights or behind the wheel.

Especially on the turnpike. I would say 60 percent of the women drivers are still applying makeup, doing theirhair, adjusting their rearview mirrors so they can look at themselves.I think it should be listed as a contributing factor in crashes:'cosmetics.' ~ Dave Barry

A weekend trip to the local Korean market for weekly stockup of vegetables and fruits is a to-do ritual. Now if one knows these markets well enough, its a store where we desis get to indulge in all the vegetables unheard of in regular grocery stores but those that we generally crave for. Cannot be avoided, despite the mixed aromas that emanate from within. Amma almost always came to this store with a shawl that she'd cover over her face and nose even in the peak of summer. Now a weekend morning is usually a busy time at this store. Hordes of families with a common cause. There's carts being wheeled around, spouses hand-picking bhindi, loading up bags of karela and tomatoes, potatoes and onions, apples and pears, young and old, fast and slow- one and all rushing about their chores. Amidst such pandemonium I usually find two desi men(not the same two every time), babysitting their kids and/or carts, while their wives are scurrying around loading the cart, these men almost always find it the right time to catch up on office gossip. Be it their annual reviews, some latest updates on their projects, some deadline or an ex-coworker that didnt exactly move on to better things, right next to the squashes or the korean pears is where they'll be parked. Once in a while, they kindly oblige the customer that needs to pick pears or needs some more plastic bags by randomly thrusting one in their hand and dismissing them. Sometimes they even move their carts and themselves to some other strategic location like next to the vat of coconuts(another high demand item of desi customers!). You know, much as we women are maligned for gossiping, I cant see any two women standing in a crowded sabji mandi catching up on the latest gup-shup.

While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and
trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called
theory, or idea, or fact. ~Andrea Dworkin 1946-

Points to ponder : How come invariably every joke, every dig about dangerous driving is about women applying makeup behind the wheel? And how come women and gossip are used synonymously every time and across many centuries?

The master of soul

This weekend I was watching the latest episode of Sa Re Ga Ma- Lil Champs. The theme was "Classically Mild". What has been Bhaavageethe in Kannada music for a long time. That perfect hybrid of classical music simplified for the masses. It also ties into Sonu Nigam's latest classical debut album of the same name. One of the participants sang "Laaga Chunari mein daag", that masterpiece rendition by Manna Dey, Raag Bhairav.

For as long as I can remember, I have had the Golden Collection of Manna Dey in either cassette or CD format. It has featured in my all-time favorite music collection, that which I have transported across three countries and many states in the US. If I could laminate these for posterity, I would. Manna Dey has reigned supreme as the master of soul. A genre where very few have ventured, much less : been proficient in.

Due credit also needs to go to the master lyricists during the era that enabled Manna Dey to vocalize that which they have penned.

"Kori chunariya aatma mori mail hai maaya jaal
Woh duniya more baabul ka ghar,
Ye duniya sasuraal"

Or the haunting melody from Kabuliwala "Aye mere pyaare watan.."

"Tere daaman se jo aaye, un hawaaon ko salaam
choom loo main us zubaan ko jis pe aaye tera naam
sab se pyaari subah teri, sab se rangeen teri shaam"

And "Poocho na kaise maine.."

"Ik pal jaise, ik yug beetha
Yug beete mohe neend na aaye
Poochho na kaise..."

Evergreen "Sur na saje.."

"Sangeet man ko pankh lagae
Geeton mein rimjhim ras barsae
Svar ki sadhana
Parameshvar ki
Sur Na Saje ..."

And finally my all-time favorite "Tu pyaar ka saagar hai.."

"Ghaayal mann ka paagal panchhi
Udne ko beqaraar
Pankh hai komal, aankh hai dhundli
Jaana hai saagar paar
Ab tu hi isse samjha
Raah bhoole the kahan se hum"

'Aye meri zohr jabeen' from Waqt, or 'Kaun aaya mere mann ke dwaare' are all timeless melodies, lilting, soothing and chockful of meaning.

To end, no writeup about Manna Dey can be complete without this beautiful song :




And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Day Is Done

Icy Trail Mix - 3

For about a week now, we've been assailed with ice storms, snow showers, windy winter days(winds gushing upto 40-50 miles an hour) and extremely cold temperatures. No, I am not complaining. What I am doing is waiting for severe weather to pass. It would be nice to see my buddy, the sun again. That I am missing him, is putting it mildly. There's a lot to be said about getting your daily dose of vitamin D through sunlight.

So what I've been upto is mostly lying on the couch and finishing up Mma Ramotswe books one after the other. I am at Book 5 right now, that would be 'The full cupboard of Life'. I love the title...a full cupboard of life. Various shelves equivalent to our stages in life. Some stages are filled, some empty...just like our lives. Awesome metaphor.

I am still immersed in the series, which is quite impressive. Off and on, I am able to predict whats going to happen next, but those are few and far between. Enough to keep me going.

Recently, I received a forward from an ex-coworker called the "How well do you know me" thread. You had to forward the questionnaire(with about 10 questions) to your friends who had to answer them. And once they replied it was entertaining to see what your "friends" know about you. Universally all of them replied that I was a rebel in every sense of the word, no conforming to rules whatsoever. And universally everyone declared reading was one of my favorite interests and I would surely bring a book if I were to be stranded in a desert island. I guess I should take these as compliments?

Now the oddities were questions about my favorite color which ranged from purple to red, blue to black. One friend declared my favorite food was a south indian thali and that I drove a Benz. Thats when I started having doubts if she really knew me or if she was referring to someone else. Cos south indian food would be the last item in my preference list, I am SO not a rice/sambar/rasam type of person. Anyway, all said and done, it was definitely interesting to see what your "friends" know or think they know about you.

Many times I felt it was like that three blind men and the elephant story. Each person, depending on which stage of life they have known me from, is how much they know about me. Very few get the entire picture, or are even interested in it. The other point I observed was some people that have known me at a different stage in life prefer to assume that I have not changed one bit from that time of reference. Like the world stood still and so did you, frozen in time. They would not wish to admit to themselves that it is possible that a person could have changed- hopefully for the better.

Hm, food for thought, eh?

Alright, back to my books. I havent been stranded on a desert island yet, but swimming in an ocean of potential reading material is exciting enough!

Here's to the beginning of a...

.......long and enjoyable time with Mma Ramotswe. I just finished reading "The No 1. Ladies Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall-Smith. And there's no stopping. I intend picking up the rest of the series soon enough.

The friend that I mentioned in my earlier post, the one I had dinner with, remember? Well he recommended the author and this book. I lost no time ordering it and very soon I was well on my way into reading it, despite it being a work week and along with all other commitments. And as I finish it, I yearn for more...more of this wonderful, warm, buxom woman detective called Mma Ramotswe. What is enticing is the locale...the wild and awe-inspiring Botswana, where the entire series is set. Mma Ramotswe's love for her country, her simple pleasures and her admiration for Miss Marple of Agatha Christie. Simply charming. The author has a way with his words, while its about the cases that Mma solves as the first and only woman detective in Botswana, much of the beauty is from the characters that are defined, it feels like characters from our own lives, people that we might see and encounter anywhere in the world. That is what makes the entire plot so endearing. Africa never sounded so enticing as the author has managed to achieve through his words - fluid like water, smooth as silk, rich as chocolate. Lipsmackingly delightful!

Onto the next :

Tears of the Giraffe
Morality for Beautiful Girls
The Kalahari Typing School for Men
The Full Cupboard of Life
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive

*rubbing hands in glee*...I am sure set for the long haul.

Dont disturb me people!!

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book! When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817), Pride and Prejudice, 1811

Footnote : Aside, I also managed to finish Intern by Sandeep Jauhar, upon NN's recommendation. The NY times review is quite comprehensive and accurate, so I will not bore you by repeating the same. Also, I need to get on with going back to my pile of Mma Ramotswe books, remember?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/books/11book.html

Oh for a book and a shady nook...
John Wilson (1785 - 1854)

Alright, enjoy the wonderful weekend.

Linked with a tag

Dotmom has tagged me. This really was a simple one. After all, who does not like old wine in new bottles?

So the rules go thus :
Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

Ready?

Family : While I pepper a few posts with random mentions of my immediate family, this by far has to be the all-encompassing one. Almost like a genealogical expedition. (I plan to adopt Dotmom's excerpt style for the same reasons, to give a glimpse of what the post entails. Readers of course are urged to indulge further.)

"Very early on, life consisted of being spoilt by ggmom, grandparents, ggmom's siblings and their spouses. A palatial ancestral home. Servants. Half-day school. Force-fed lunches. Small game with ggmom. Afternoon nap, sharing her bed. Milk and then playtime! And how."

More here

Friend : My friends. That is my support system while I am away from my immediate family. I some times refer to them as my crutch(es). One post that does come to mind is this one...

"I believe I am a moderately materialistic person. While I dont splurge(too often!), if there is something that catches my fancy, I do try to indulge them. Agreed, I am still trying to cut corners and save for the macro lens(which I had posted about asking for contributions and as is evident, was fruitless) for my more-sacred-than-life camera. But I believe no one should pine for something that strongly for too long."

More here.

Yourself : At least as blog posts are concerned, I believe the tags are the primary ego boosters anyone would need. With tags ranging from asking about one's likes/dislikes to quirks to goals for the next decade, there's not one tag that does not make one sit up and think about oneself. Hence it sure has to be one of them. I pick this...

"I am scared of needles(even at THIS age). There are many stories of me running down the streets of a popular bazaar in my hometown with the compounder close on my heels with syringes."

More here.

Love : Even though she complains that I dont have too many good things to say about her, that I dont make as many posts about her as she thinks I should, I do believe there are quite a few posts that either directly or otherwise link to her. I am talking about one person, very close to my heart and that has got to be my kid sister. I've been meaning to do this for a while, and that is to pull up a list of posts related to her, to prove to her that she has been given due attention. I definitely wouldnt wish to use this tag for this purpose. But Seren, this line has a link to every post about you :-). For the tag, I offer this...

"She was Miss twinkle toes right from the day she was born, and it only aided her case by starting lessons early. By the time she was 5, she was her dance teacher's pet and had her first dance performance."

More here.

Anything you like : For this, I'd like to dig up a post from 2006, the year I started blogging. When I did start blogging, I wanted to improve my writing skills, I really wanted to be writing fiction, a handful of photos here and there and maybe some movie/book reviews. Now 200+ posts and 2 years later I realise its actually turned into a personal journal of sorts, its a lot more interactive than I had ever imagined it to be...all in all its definitely a great place for me to hang out, opens up a world of reading possibilities that I never thought would be possible. So I offer this piece of fiction, for your reading pleasure.

"She comes across a clearing and right in the middle stands a small shed from whence she could hear the sounds of metal. Curious and eager, she tiptoes to the open door of the shed and peers. She sees a bare chested man working and welding inside. He was sweating profusely with his brows puckered and working feverishly on the piece of metal in his hands. She stands there watching him work with wonder in her eyes."

More here.

And thus I am done. Now for the real challenge. And that is to find 5 people to pass the tag on to.

Here goes :
Scarlett(cos its time she be poked into action),
Gauri(who is a new acquaintance, a very entertaining one at that!)
Archana(another new acquaintance, always has a new spin on everything)
SK(you couldnt escape :-)
And....Deepthi.

Now THIS had to have been the hardest part :-).

Dissension in the ranks

Sometimes I can be a mobile time-table. I plan in detail...right from what I will be eating the next day to what time I expect to go to bed. No kidding. Note the irony, some months ago when HHGMom asked me to list the 10 things I'd like to get done in the next decade, I sweated and huffed and puffed. Cos thats how it is. I wouldnt know what I would like to be doing 10 years now or where I see myself that far ahead. But ask me to list all the things I plan to get done tomorrow or the coming weekend and I will recite a to-do list that puts ta-da to shame. Why, you ask? Its probably my implicit belief that I dont have full control over my destiny, that for most part, it is ordained by fate. Heavy stuff eh? Well not really! What happens to each of us in the long run is controlled a lot by the little things we do in the short run? Dontcha think?

If you've hung on this far, good for you, lets move ahead. A friend of mine sometimes calls and says this "Just come over. We'll do something or go somewhere. If not, we'll just chill out.". Okay, this is a perfect situation for someone like me to go into discipline overload and the said friend to feel like he was being admonished by the drill sergeant. My first question is invariably "Ok, how long do we chill? Is this an all-day affair? A couple of hours?". Because you see, I need to schedule a "chill out" time, I even have to schedule a time "to not do anything". I usually watch tv along with doing something else(its my queen-of-multitasking gene talking). Like chatting or cooking for the week or making long overdue phone calls. Watching TV by itself cannot be an activity. Neither can quite a few of my activities. They have to be paired and combined with a few others to feel fulfilled. Still there? No? No, there is no treatment for this kind of obsession. You know, truth be told, for a long time, when that list of quirks tag was going around, I'd cringe in fear that if I ever got it, I'd have to spill the beans.

Though, I solemnly swear I dont have any other such oddities. Seriously.

Well, for that matter, this wasnt the reason for this post. Just setting the stage for the real story. And only the staunch supporters will get to read it, cos those "Oh ye of little faith" didnt believe enough to persist. I am very disciplined in my daily eating habits(healthy wholesome food twice a day, no snacking, plenty of water) , the workout routine and of course work hours. Weekends are a long, predictable list of to-dos. Very boring, I know.

Now once in a while I sense my body and mind conspiring against me. And they follow a very unpredictable schedule for this(not surprising, of course). Thats when everything goes berserk. My body wont cooperate in the gym. My stomach rebels at the daily fixed menu being dished out. And all of a sudden, all my sensory organs crave for one food item. The item for this recent rebellion was.....chaat. Boy o boy, was it a severe case. I tried sleeping over it for a day. The next day, it relapsed with double the severity. Even after a filling breakfast and lunch, there was no stopping. I was continuously hungry and craving and drooling for chaat. Around 3pm, I could take it no more. I decided to tell my boss that I had an emergency and head to the nearest chaat place(some 20 odd miles away) and immerse myself in the soul food. Just for kicks, I called my good friend(Durga) and asked her if she wanted to go(and this after I knew that she and her entire family of four had been down all weekend with fever and cold and cough). Poor girl, if it were me, I'd have banged the phone down and gone back to sick bed. Not she. She cheerfully explained why she couldnt. And she also, as a patient voice of reason, calmly said "Why do you want to drive all that way to eat a bad plate of bhel. Go to your nearest Indian store, get yourself a bhel mix pack and go home and fix yourself some."

Awesome idea, I thought to myself. Thus I drove by my friendly neighborhood desi store and picked up the needful. Once home, I hurriedly set up the stage to mix myself some bhel. I chopped onions, set forth the bottles of coriander chutney, tam-date chutney, tomatoes and the bhel mix packet. Now I picked a huge plastic bowl, by no means can you call these small. They are humongous. I usually use them to wash cabbage or other mass vegetables. Here I poured the bhel mix, the chutneys, chopped onions and tomatoes, some peanuts topped with green coriander and green chilis for that extra oomph spice. And I could serve nearly 5 plates of bhel, if I were a bhelwala.

I proceed to the couch, turn the TV on, tune to Paula's home cooking on the Food Network(note this is just for the background), pick up a ladle sized spoon and dig right into the plastic bowl. No dearie, no fancy plate and dainty cutlery for me. The craving is so intense, I polish off the BIG bowl of bhel in record 5 minutes. AND still found it tasty enough to lick the spoon! Ever seen cats after a meal? They stretch out and doze off. Ya, I almost got there. But remember my "drill sergeant" tendencies? Those resurfaced, once the sadistic duo were appeased. Instantly, I whipped out my laptop and blogged about it, while watching TV and planning my to-do's for the rest of the day, and catch up on lost time(I also should get working on Dotmom's tag).

- a "bhel"ful mint

Shades of gray

For a long time, to me- parting meant I'd never see that person ever again. Everything was digitized- a 1 if I get to see/meet/talk face-to-face regularly, a 0 if they moved away, be it out of town, out of country or out of continent. Somehow it never registered that emails/chat and of course the more recent social networking sites would bridge the gap and make distances seamless. So I'd behave as if they were setting off on a spiritual journey in search of the eternal truth. I'd do lunches and dinners, parting gifts and then bid adieu. More importantly, I'd mentally check them off my mental address books as account closed and move on.

Everything was a black or white. Nothing in between.

Cut to the present.

I recently met an old co-worker, later a good friend, for dinner on a week day evening. He and I worked together, and over the years figured we connected well as friends. From books to movies, travel to food- we could talk for countless hours.

Aside, its a different experience to be in downtown DC on a cold, winter evening and to be that close to the "special house". He was in town for meetings and could spare some hours for a meal. His hotel was located very close to the Mall area, to restaurants, to the Metro and of course right on the political highway. The concierge was extremely helpful and valet parking- courteous and expensive. Armed with a sheet full of handpicked restaurants with plenty of veggie options, we set forth. As we walked the streets, it all felt surreal. Many years ago, when I bid adieu to this buddy I would never have imagined so many years hence, I'd be having dinner in downtown DC with him. Of course, we've been in touch...over email...for some years now. But it was mostly over New Year wishes and Diwali greetings. He has travelled all over the world. From the middle-east, to EU, from Norway to South America. He works as a management consultant and hardly stays at home in his apartment in downtown London. His wife travels extensively as well, so he tells me. Again, an air of surreality hangs heavy like a thick blanket. All I can think for the moment was "who would've thunk!".

The restaurant, true to the concierge's word, had plenty of veggie options for me. The service staff was courteous, noiselessly moving around serving and clearing away. The food and the location was right off what you'd see in gourmet restaurants in food network shows and culinary magazines. Conversation was smooth and effortless. Like fitting into an old glove and feeling the comfort and camaraderie. There was plenty of catch up on, after all how much can one be up-to-date with these new fangled emails and chats?

The only part that hurt was the going dutch part. Expensive couldnt even begin to quantify the price. That, coupled with valet parking and a handsome tip, I can safely conclude, I couldnt afford to do this on a regular basis. But once in a while, for a worthy cause such as this...meeting an old friend, for good ol' times' sake....definitely definitely worth it!

Like that ad says, for everything else there's Mastercard.

So why have I rambled along having started off with something about black and white, 0's and 1's? Well what I meant to say was, now I am quite comfortable in saying goodbyes without striking them off the mental address book. I am willing to wait and bide my time for such chance meetings...when it all feels like nothing has changed. Somehow, sometime, some place, I will run into each one of them. And when I do, life doesnt appear to be as stark any more. Its all about the shades of gray.

And of course, till then there's email and chat, facebook and orkut and such other (s)craps.

TGIF and apparently, the sweet smell in the winter air is mostly nostalgia.