Thursday, August 30, 2012

Onam special

I wanted to post something yesterday, but Destiny had decided otherwise, and so here I am posting today...

So to get to what I was going to say, well, it might be a good idea to start at the beginning.

M had invited me for lunch at his place, it being Onam yesterday. And as I like food* (* - conditions apply - to be elaborated in a moment) , and as K and V were also going, I thanked him for the invitation and accepted it.

After waking up a bit late last morning (the just-five-more-minutes-of-sleep excuse), and having breakfast in the canteen, I went to the library where I came across a book that I wanted to read, and a Wodehouse I wanted to read (revise, more like it), plus a textbook that looked like it would be of some use. I was almost dozing off, and so I decided to go out in search of some chai. I thought I'd also meet K regarding further plans.

And so, RS, K and I were having chai. It was fun, but we had to leave soon. I'd called M, and he said that everyone was there except K & I.

We finally reached M's place, where the dishes for the Sadya were still 'in the making'. With M helping S with the cooking, conversations were flowing all around. In between, we were given little jobs, like closing a bottle and moving a table. (Though K did have to go to the shop to get some things). (We had to make ourselves useful you know ;) )

At long last, it was done, and we were finally allowed to officially begin the feast. Now, though I love food, I am usually a fussy eater. (No wonder I call myself a paradox!) I really loved the Sambar, and with a dash of ghee on it, it tasted simply heavenly. (In fact, the taste lingered in my mouth till dinnertime!). The rest of the dishes (at least, the ones I tried :P) were great too, but at least for me, the Sambar did steal the show.

As we left, I had one regret - that my stomach could only take so much. If only I could have managed another helping...

And so ends the tale of the Sadya...

But that does not complete the Events of the Day (though it was the highlight), but I'll save it for the next post...

Thanks, M. For the invitation, the great food, and for letting me browse through your bookshelves :P (and for reminding me that you still have my books :) )
 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Of this and that

I've been stuck with the opening guitar notes of 'The Ocean' playing on repeat mode in my head all day. For a moment or two, it felt like the song was stuck in head, but the crisis passed. It's been just the few notes from the beginning of the song.

I really wonder why it's certain specific things that get stuck in my head. Like the drumming towards the middle of 'November rain', the 'slurred voice of the children cry' of 'Windowpane', or the opening of 'I walk beside you'. The drums in 'Comfortably numb' and 'Free bird'. No, not the songs usually; but only snatches of them playing in a medley almost driving me crazy till I've heard every single one of them at least one more time.

***

Today, SM said "Hey, you're one big ...", she was going to say stupid (I verified it from her later). Brushing off various helpful suggestions from RS (not reproduced here for reasons of propriety) encouraging her to finish her sentence, she said "idiot". Even I felt that it lacked the punch of whatever she'd been going to say...

***

I have a lot to look forward to this weekend. There are still a couple of books left over from the pile we bought last weekend. Plus there's this one book which is taking me forever to read, owing to the danger to my life if even a speck of dust sullies the page while the book is in my care. Maybe I should find other sources of books, instead of having to face 'mortal danger', but my tastes don't really run to the highly intellectual stuff that most people around me seem to be into...

Plus, my brother & his wife are coming here for the weekend. Now, that is something to look forward to. And the fact that we just did some major house-cleaning last weekend means that there won't be any major work to be done, so I can happily settle down with my books till they come. :)

***

Pleasant enough to visualize the weekend from here. But, there is still tomorrow to be faced and lived through before the weekend is upon us.

Better I leave now to do something about that, so I can get to the weekend without a load on my mind...


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Of U.F.O.'s & I.F.O.'s

The other day I was sitting in a window seat in a bus, and was lost in reading and trying to keep my back straight, when suddenly something brushed against my hand. It was only when I looked up that I realized the lady in front of me had just washed her hand from the window and a few droplets came in from my window due to wind. I was thankful that it wasn't the peel from the orange she was eating that had come and landed on me, but I could not wait to go home and wash myself and the clothes I was wearing then...

Yesterday, I was in a hurry to go somewhere, so I just boarded the first bus that came, and I didn't get a window seat. The woman next to me kept chewing something and spitting out of the window every now and then, while her friend in the window seat in the row before us was also chewing something. However, that window was closed, and the lady next to me was trying to open the window for her friend. But the friend didn't (or maybe couldn't) wait that long, with the result that half her spit ended on the window itself. I was nearly puking there, and I had to make a great effort not to think of the spit-laden window.

If it was this bad for me, sitting safe inside the bus, how much worse would it have been for someone on the road next to the bus, if the spit or fruit peels and chocolate wrappers land on them?

I've had the misfortune of sitting in an auto which stopped right next to a bus at a signal. I was just sitting there talking to my mother, and suddenly, there, on my hand was the 'output'* of someone blowing his nose. I almost developed a Macbeth complex that day, but thankfully a few days of washing my hands helped me get back the idea that my hand wasn't 'polluted' any more.
(* - maybe the programming influence... I was actually going to say 'result' or 'product' :P )

I have seen people throwing all sorts of things from bus windows - from water to biscuit wrappers to fruit peels. At times, people puke out of the window (and sometimes, half of it ends up in the bus and on the window), and wash their hands too from there. As if this weren't enough, people also spit regularly, whether or not they chew tobacco.

I could identify only certain possibilities of what could come out of bus windows, but I'm sure there are more U.F.O.'s to fill up the list of what you can expect when you're on the roads...

And I was thinking the other day that road safety seems to involve almost a full body armour-like covering, as just a helmet will not protect you from any of the above mentioned things...

I think I better stop now, before the images I'm seeing in my mind spoil my appetite for dinner.

Good luck, and may you stay safe!