Happy birthday, Procrastinator!

So March 21 is my first blog’s first happy budday! Wow, a year passed by fast, and I’ve been a *fairly* regular blogger. I said fairly! But there are tons of things I learnt in this last year, via this blog and otherwise. Here are some. Oh! And my blog has crossed 5000 hits! I know that might be a piddly number for some other famous, cool, writer kind of bloggers, but for me, this is big! Back to the list. 

·         People actually read what I write. And even wait for my posts. :-o

·         I truly am a procrastinator. I procrastinate on everything. Sigh.

·         I throw some kickass parties.

·         No matter what, your girls are always there for you. A hearty laugh with them can cure many a heartache.

·         Change is the only constant in life. Relationships change, feelings change, equations change, you change. Not all change is bad. Sometimes, embracing change is good. It opens up new metaphorical doors and all that. Sometimes it’ll open up a new physical door too, like the one to a new apartment or a new job.

·         When a man starts chatting you up five minutes into meeting you, in person or via some sort of technological communication device, chances are that he’s trying to get into your pants. On learning that you are not interested / available, chances are that he will disappear. If he doesn’t, then he’s a good man and you should stay friends with him.

·         Even the tightest, most intimate friendships can develop cracks in them. These are the ones you have to fight for the most, try the hardest with, and will be the most awkward with.

·         Never take anyone in your life for granted—not your partner, friend or family. It’s important to keep making the people in your life feel special. It doesn’t cost anything.

·         Family is extremely important, no matter how dysfunctional yours may be. They will stand by you through it all. The moments you spend with them are priceless.

·         As important, if not more, is the family you choose outside your blood relations. They don’t have to, but they still do. That speaks volumes.

·         The one thing that binds people together, across religion, sex, cast, creed and other such stereotypical demographics is love, and generally, matters of the heart—relationships, break-ups, sex, etc.

·         Marriages and relationships will shatter all over the place, all the time. Do not judge your own relationship on the basis of that.

·         No matter how long ago you’ve lost a loved one, the pain never reduces, the wound never heals. You will still find yourself tearing up randomly on a regular basis.

·         There will be some people (read: friends) who will surprise you with their selfishness and insensitivity. Sometimes, it’s all about them or nothing at all.

·         There will also be a whole lot of people who will surprise you with their loyalty and love, over years and decades. Hold on to these people for dear life.

·         Love is not what they show in Hindi movies. Neither are break-ups or make-ups. There are no Hindi sad songs playing in the background. Everyone’s story is different and yet we all connect. Don’t expect the romance to be alive, day in, day out, year in, year out. But if, even after being together for two years or more, you can look at the person googly-eyed and wonder how you love this person so, consider yourself lucky.

·         Online shopping is evil. It’s so wonderful that it’s awful. Don’t succumb; it’s too late for me.

·         If reading is not one of your habits, you’re seriously losing out—books, online, anything. In the past year I’ve discovered that I can read anything—anything.

·         Having siblings is THE best. Nothing beats that bond.

·         A mother’s intuition is never wrong. Beware.

·       My father reads my blog, pretty regularly. My chats with him are always entertaining, in person or online. It’s a quirky relationship.

·         Being a woman in this country sucks. And it’s unlikely to ever get better. Excuse the pessimism.

·         No matter how forward and open-minded you are / want to be, you find yourself succumbing to peer / societal pressures. It just makes life easier sometimes.

·         I am not as ambitious, passionate or driven as I used to be. And that depresses the life out of me.

·         Whatsapp is awesome.

·         Holidays, weekend getaways, days off, are all underrated. Not that I’m getting or have gotten in the last year, much of any.
·    Life is never as awful or dramatic as it is in your head. Live a little; fun will become :) 

      So there. I’m pretty sure I’ve learnt a lot more, but my memory fails me with my age. Feel free to add more to the list! Waiting to learn some more nuggets. (Oh yea, chicken nuggets rock.)

The ones who make me proud!

As I sit here, passion- and drive-less, stressing every other day about setting up new home, and falling violently sick on the days in between, my friends are out there reaching dizzying heights of success. So this post is about and for those in my life who make me proud.

Disclaimer: Not that the others in my life *don’t* make me proud, but these are big and I want to write about them now.

I’ll start with my oldest friend on this list. I met her when I was all of six years old and my earliest memory of her is the gesture of friendship—sticking her thumb out at me while sucking the middle and ring fingers of the other hand (a peculiar habit she had that took forever to get rid of). My childhood bestie, with whom I’ve been friends with for over 20 years now, Sulagna Ghosh aka Suli, is an entrepreneur and upcoming designer. Her store, Sienna, is one of the prettiest ones around, where you will find clothes, pottery, decorative items and myriad other kitschy things which reflect the kind of person Suli is. She’s recently also designed her first collection of fusion wear, which is to-die-for (There’s a romper somewhere in that store with my name on it). Go to her store in Kolkata and buy stuff – NOW!

Next up is my college bestie, who I also happened to be married to—Rochelle Pinto. Madam (who is the husband in this equation) is now famous. Being a fashion journalist and a brilliant writer for years now, she recently launched her very-own, first-ever book! She co-authored a book with Kareena Kapoor Khan called the Style Diary of a Bollywood Diva, which I have completed. Rochelle has a signature style which is, however, never repetitive—a unique talent. And the best part of the book is that even though you can recognise her style, reading it feels like Kareena is talking to you. It’s a pretty book too—it’s pink! My favourite part—asking Roch for her autograph on the day of the launch in front of KKK :D Read the book, ladies; you’re bound to find some interesting tips in there for the long haul.

If you’re a meat-loving foodie, look no further and head straight to Between Breads in Bandra. This new fun, quirky and yummilicious burger and sandwich joint has been started by my enterprising college friend Reuben Borah and his equally enterprising partners, Paresh Chhabria and Ayank Verma. I promise you, you will be not be disappointed. The lucky friends aka us, had the good fortune of going for a tasting. We quickly returned and gladly paid for our spoils and have been in a food coma ever since. Beef, ham, bacon, chicken; even the veggie burgers taste good. The lemonades have an interesting twist; there are Archies comics strewn around the place (:-o), the decor is happy and bright, and the two good-looking owners will serve you themselves, taking great pains to make sure you’re happy with your meal. Chef Ravi is definitely getting this right. Between Breads is directly opposite Hawain Shack off Pali Naka—you canNOT miss this!

And last but not the least, my marad J Llewelyn Dmello aka Lee is now the Programming Head of 104.8 Oye FM, the radio station by the India Today group. If you’re a Bollywood junkie, or love Hindi music from any era, tune in. I’ve been bowled over by their collection of music way before he joined (I promise!), because out of the blue, they will play some song from your childhood or adolescence that will throw you into nostalgia mode. It may take you an extra minute to tune your car radio to this frequency, but it’s worth it. And when you hear a fun, sexy voice on the spots or ads, you’ll know who eet ees!

You guys make me proud, make me teary with joy and inspire me, all at the same time. How lucky am I!

PS: First time I'm linking pages to my blog - hope it works. Yes, technotards are me. 

Blast-ed Budday

One month and no post—chee chee chee. And I call myself a blogger. But then again, my life has been excessively dramatic lately. In fact I’m thinking of chucking the book I’m contemplating thinking about working on (yes that’s how much I’ve been procrastinating on it) and write a book on my dramatic life. There will be only one book published and I’ll be the only reader, but still.

Anyhoo, the birthday just went by. And my, whatte budday it was. Since I’m ignoring the fact that I’m getting older, and am nowhere near what I imagined what my fabulous life would be like, I decided to party my *bums* off this year. Last year was an utterly crappy birthday, so I more than made up for it this year.

Although I’m currently observing (I actually changed that from doing to observing) Lent—yes, that means no alcohol for almost 50 days; no, I’m not Catlick but I’m doing it out of love and support, sigh—it was decided earlier that I get to take a break from the abstinence on my budday eve and on my budday, of course. (Only much later did it occur to marad that I had managed two days out of this *hyuk hyuk*).

So there we were, a whole bunch of my friends and I, at one of our favourite bars, drinking, singing, dancing and generally making merry. I cut a cake at 12 (I still adore this ritual), got calls from friends and family, and generally was very *happy*. Now obviously, since almost everyone was as *happy* as I was, no one wanted the party to end, even though it was a weekday.

So we headed to a friend’s place, all the girls piling into the car, while the boys chivalrously took autos. On the way, two my *happy* friends wanted balloons, so we stopped and bought a bunch of colourful balloons. We reached said friend’s building and continued taking photographs (of course, over 200 from the night) in the compound.

Suddenly, somehow, no one is quite sure how—a number of unverified reports—a lighter found its way under the balloons and all the balloons exploded simultaneously. Onto three of my girls’ faces and one boy’s arm. Whaa?

Apparently, these were not regular balloons. These weren’t even helium balloons because those don’t explode (some fancy scientific explanation). These balloons were filled with some form of flammable gas, which burnt like a bitch. We rushed the victims to the hospital at 2am and many tears, some ointment and a questionable night doctor later, we wrapped up the night around 4am. “Blast-ed birthday” indeed!

There was little respite afterward because we had to wake up in two hours and go sort out some new house thingy at the ungodly hour of 7am. Made it to work on time, worked all day, got said new home cleaned and then went out again to make more merriment.

Needless to say, it was an eventful and exhausting birthday. Can you blame me for not blogging? Oh and btw, I just turned 21. Okthanksbye.