To do.....

Long last.....

• I am blogging....


• It rained in Kolkata yesterday and what a rain with proper dust storm followed by thunders. And today morning it was cloudy and soon after I flopped in front of my office computer it started to rain cats and dogs.......ah....I wish I could be on the terrace getting wet.....I so miss our terrace in my ex Jangupura barsati in Delhi. All I needed was a pipping hot mug of green tea and my camera.


• Hot and horrid weather of Kolkata has taken a beating. It had become really unbearable and responsible for a very lethargic me.


• Oh I love the first day of rain after a long and hot summer. I know the monsoon is still ages away but believe me folks at least in Kolkata it is feeling like monsoon has come....


• I went swimming on Sunday, this is after literally a decade. What fun, wish I had got back to it earlier.


• I fit into a very old kurta which is precisely 10 years old and even then had not fit me very well. And now it fits me very well.....ta da!

Pending...

• Get out of my lethargy mode and get back in touch with my friends, especially the Delhi ones;


• Regularly write in my blog....


• Take photographs, right now I have completely stopped taking them.....


• Try and exercise regularly....
  
• Eat healthy-- cut out temptations and fight demons.....(can you hear my sword swishing?)

P.S. This list for some reason reminds me of a conversation that I had with a friend long time back. She was aghast to discover that the guy she was dating had put her in his to do list (like call her, miss her and of course love her)....

Cant wait...

• To vote tomorrow....


• To eat all the mangoes I possibly can....


• For the monsoon to set in....


• For the rains to fall incessantly....


• To jump over puddles of rain water, just like good ol' school days...:)


• To eat Hilsa and her eggs, Bong's version of caviar....

Slowly....

• Getting into the rhythm of living in Kolkata.....when I stay away from Kolkata, I miss home so much....this stint of my working in Kolkata is like reliving nostalgia every day....it was bugging me initially, but now started to enjoy the slow uneventful days and the home comforts as well as the disciplines which haven't changed much for the 30 year old working me!
• N.B. This photo is courtesy google.

How I Am Spending time from 9th to 21st August 2008

Books I read: Not reading any currently, strange for a bookworm!
Movies I saw: Come September, bits and pieces of Hum Tum.
Music I heard: FM mostly.
Shopping/purchases done: Well lots....
Gifts received: Lots again...guys am home.
Food Consumed: Eating at home, ma at her best, loads of nemontonnos as well.
Restaurants Graced: Bedouine and Zee Shan (both biriyani places), Stop Over (rolls), Kim Fa inTangra (China Town), Mocambo and Flury's (Park Street)-- all these are in Kolkata.
Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: Home crowd....parents, brother and usual gang of uncles, aunts cousins etc etc and of course old friends Swati, Sudeshna and Sambaran and a new friend too.
Travel: Will be getting back to Delhi on Saturday.
On the phone with: Nocturnal creatures.
Anything substantial at work: Stray emails and phone calls...apart from that lazying at home.
Harmful activities: Over eating and lazying at home, sleeping till 11 in the morning, nap in the afternoons...oh what glorious life!
Anything creative: Eating (can that be creative?)
Sadness/depression/head & heartache: No time.
Hilarious stuff: General does of hahaha hehehe at home.
Any off beat activity: None
Future plans: None of my own, but my ma has some up her sleeve.
Severe Loss: N/A
Highlight of the week: Home, sweet home, and of course Kolkata.

What I Did Last Week: 2nd to 8th August 2008

Since I am going home today, this comes a day early....
Books I read: Reading a book about a nun, still not remembered the name. Hardly read 10 pages, though those pages were pretty interesting.
Movies I saw: Ugly & Paagli and Shall We Dance.
Music I heard: FM mostly.
Shopping/purchases done: Silver earn rings (4 pairs), one ring (with pretty pink stones), one diamond nose ring all from Chadni Chowk and tee shirts for my dad and bro and will sweets for home count?
Gifts received: A poem.
Food Consumed: Eating at home or not eating at all, yes strawberry cheesecake shake, chicken salad and chocolate volcano which literally had chocolate sauce oozing out, jaleebis with koolfi, sada vada and pineapple juice. Ha made ladies finger/dharosh ka sabji, since it was me cooking veggies (kya din agaya hain life main) that too with curry patta I was very doubtful but turned out well.
Restaurants Graced: China Hut & Kadmi Dukan (Bhogal market), Mocha and Angels in My Kitchen (Def Col), Sai Sarovar Pure Vegetarian Food (Lajpat Nagar)
Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: Usual lot, Anubha’s friend who comes to our house with food/drinks, makes us drinks while we laze around, and lecture him on his future and generally bully our benefactor while Anubha keeps getting mad at the already confused boy.
Travel: Starting today. Going home. Oh yeah.
On the phone with: My parents, brother, cousin brother and of course Swati (though this week I have not been giving her time, either she calls during office hours or I call her when she is in dreamland).
Anything substantial at work: Yeah.
Harmful activities: Where do I start? Seesha/Hooka (green apple flavour) at Mocha and flavoured vodka (green apple and orange—tastes like dream, heard vanilla is dreamier, will have to try that one) on our terrace.
Anything creative: Emailing (can that be creative?)
Sadness/depression/head & heartache: No time.
Hilarious stuff: General does of hahaha hehehe till 1 a.m. and then again at 6 a.m.
Any off beat activity: Five days of continuous early morning waking up (pat, pat, pat my back). Heavy doses of emailing.
Future plans: Someone will come and cook for us which we will have to eat with ‘shonaheno mukh’ (cant translate).
Saw this fabulous meena and jarwa gold set embedded with real diamonds and emeralds…………………………man…………………………. Can I even ever possess something that beautiful? I just touched it tentatively and felt like a princess. But should someone have that kind of expensive thing? That idea rankles a bit.
Severe Loss: Ability to sleep.
Highlight of the week: Curious incident of the owl.

How I spent this week: 19th to 26th July 2008

Books I read: Started reading a story about a nun, forgotten the name, pretty interesting.
Movies I saw: None.
Music I heard: FM mostly.
Shopping/purchases done: Gearing up for today. Going to Chadni Chowk for some jwellery shopping.
Gifts received: One cute flower shaped page marker from Anubha as peace offering.
Food Consumed: Chocobar ice cream, Chinese khana (chicken lollipops and Cantonese noodles), biriyani, mutton bhuna, Anubha’s cooking, jalebis (Aagney’s birthday treat, you have no idea the amount of coaxing he needed, he skipped Christmas, Good Friday, finally could not escape his birthday), chocolate mousse (forgotten from last week), blueberry cheese cake (forgotten from last to last week).
Restaurants Graced: China Hut & Kadmi Dukan (Bhogal market), Moets (Def Col) and Barcos (CP) and any other places which I forget Anubha will remind me and I shall mention later.
Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: My usual friends.
Travel: Home to office and back and the same again and again and again…
On the phone with: My parents, brother, cousin brother, cousin sister, Honey and of course Swati.
Anything substantial at work: Internship lunch. Also got displaced for the fourth time in one year, I am so tired of these shifts. At least this time I have been able to cling on to my soft board.
Harmful activities: Loads, any problem?
Anything creative: Bheja fry.
Sadness/depression/head & heartache: Remarkable cheerful week even in the face of boredom.
Hilarious stuff: Yesterday evening.
Any off beat activity: People are teasing me for a change.
Future plans: Run away.
Severe Loss: Friendship with Anant Asthana. Alveeda dost.
Highlight of the week: Severe hair loss due to mental unstability. Patched up with Honey on his birthday.

What I did last week: 19th to 26th July 2008

Ok guys I had got bored with this end of the week ritual after 2 weeks and had no intention of writing this. But then today morning Muthu wrote such a beautiful piece, that I somehow got back to this. Read Muthu's 'I Did Nothing Today' at http://muthu-booksandbeyond.blogspot.com/ to understand what I am talking about.

Books I read: ‘The Afghan’ and Paul Auster's Leviathan.
Movies I saw: Half of Izajjat.
Music I heard: FM, my old cd containing has John Denver, Jim Reeves, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Savage Garden’s Affirmation, some cd which I had copied called ‘The Other Side’ as far as I could understand it was flute and oh yes Hemanta Mukherjee’s ei meghla din ee ekla for about a 100th time on Sunday mid morning when it was raining cats & dogs.
Shopping/purchases done: Grocery, veggies, nothing to write about.
Gifts received: None L
Food Consumed: 5 Star Chocolate, Chocobar ice cream, home cooked food, chilli chicken pizza, chicken lollipops, Chinese khana.
Restaurants Graced: China Hut & Kadmi Dukan (Bhogal market) Ching Wagh Resturant, Jughead’s etc.
Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: My cousins (Tumpi and Guddu), uncle, Tumpi’s friend and her dad, and my usual friends.
Travel: None, though there was a possibility of going to Dharmshala, but did not work out.
On the phone with: my parents, brother, Muthu and of course Swati.
Anything substantial at work: Time killing.
Harmful activities: Lets not go there guys.
Anything creative: Photo sessions with Smriti (Facebook) and Riya.
Sadness/depression/head & heartache: Big doses of boredom.
Hilarious stuff: General does of hahaha hehehe.
Any off beat activity: Saturday night I was alone in home when around 12.30 the calling bell started to ring repeatedly. Thankfully I was on the phone with Swati, otherwise I would have been scared shitless.
Future plans: None.
Severe Loss: Ability to work.
Highlight of the week: I survived it. Excuse enough to celebrate.

How I spent this week: 12th to 18th July 2008

Books I read: Still rereading ‘Three Men In A Boat’, half read ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ (cant take living in flower houses in my present mood) and finishing ‘The Afghan’.
Movies I saw: The Kite Runner, going to see Kismat Connection today, didn’t get tickets yesterday.
Music I heard: FM, too lazy to switch on my lappie (I call my laptop lappie something like puppy since at point I used to haul it everywhere with me, not anymore).
Shopping/purchases done: A pair of nice cream coloured heels (evening wear) and some long tees.
Gifts received: Leather purse from Ms. Angira Sensarma (the Delhi best friend).
Food Consumed: Karim’s khana (yet again), non-veg platter, double cheese pizza and hot chocolate fudge from Nirula’s, 5 Star Chocolate, Vietnamese noodles, Subbway sandwiches and salad (roasted chicken), Chinese Chat (Delhi’s new cuisine discovery), moong dal halwa, jeeleebis and besan ka laddu from Kadmi Dukan (lately after lunch we have taken to eating sweets in office), Irish sweets brought by our new Irish intern in office (sweet girl she is).
Restaurants Graced: Karim’s, the Nizamuddin one, Subway (Khan Market), The Kitchen (Khan Market), China Hut & Kadmi Dukan (Bhogal market), Golden Bakery (Lajpat Nagar Central Market from which the Chinese Chat came) and of course my regular China Hut.
Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: Angira (JNU),Colin, Anubha, Jayshree, Aparna, Anant, Aatreyee (work), chatted with Muthu, Sonal and Vardhan.
Travel: Sonepat District Court yet again.
On the phone with: Swati—my one and only phone sweetheart.
Anything substantial at work: New job profile: Bengali to English translator.
Harmful activities: Yup…(gulp) loads…sorry…no hold on…ok what the hell am an adult… so no sorry…
Anything creative: Just wrote in this blog. Photographed Ms Sexy Sen Sarma in her new ultra slim avatar. Photos have come out really well (pat, pat my shoulders). Designated Sonal and Muthu my angels, since my heaven designated one is still absconding. In case you are wondering who Sonal is, she is a cute 20 year old, wannabe lawyer, who interned with me during summer and landed being my favourite due to her intelligence, diligence and sweetness. Muthu is an ex colleague and a present friend who has hit on the idea that God has not one angel but an army of angels for me. So made her the head of that army.
Sadness/depression/head & heartache: Lil doses here and there.
Hilarious stuff: Don’t know whether this can be hilarious—now a days with regards to Anubha I am behaving like those slander spilling gossip magazines—I just hint what she is at and then without committing any major hara kiri stop…much to Anubha's chargin.
Any off beat activity: Aatreyee, Anubha, Jayshree and me went out for dinner with super boss Colin (Aatreyee went upto him and just demanded that we be taken out). Had a really good time, did not talk shop even once, updated Colin on all the office happenings (like who is flirting with whom…ta da!) and the rest of the gossips!
Future plans: Angira plans to go to Tashkent after submitting her Ph.D. to learn the Russian language and I plan to accompany her, by hook or by crook and we plan to travel in Asia Minor. Fat plans, no money: so immediate plan is to save money, as in from yesterday.
Severe Loss: Mental stability.
Highlight of the week: Spent quality time with Angira on Saturday and Sunday, happened after a long time, we spoke non-stop.

How I spent this week: 6th to 11th July 2008

Since lately I have become a crybaby and crib endlessly about my boring life, I have decided to bring some facts to my attention and realize that my life is not so boring.

So every Saturday I have decided to fill this “How I spent this week” questionnaire which will show me and of course you all how happening my life is:

Books I read: Rereading ‘Three Men In A Boat’

Movies I saw: Bombay to Bangkok (half), Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na

Music I heard: Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na

Shopping/purchases done: Train tickets to go home and phone top ups.

Gifts received: A saree (Pune cotton) and a lovely salwar kameez suit (Katha Stitch) piece sent over by my parents.

Food Consumed: Karim’s khana, paan from Prince, hot chocolate fudge from Nirula’s, home cooked food at my cousin’s place in C.R. Park, sandwiches, cold coffee, chocolate chip muffin and jelebis.

Restaurants Graced: Karim’s, the old Delhi one; some dhaba on the Grand Trunk Road, Karim’s, the Nizamuddin one, China Hut & Kadmi Dukan in Bhogal market, Hawkers, Jangpura extention.

Friends/relatives/acquaintances/enemies I hanged out with: Anubha, Jayshree, Aparna, Anant, Aatreyee (all from work), cousins, uncle, nephew & niece.

Travel: Sonepat District Court

On the phone with: Swati—my one and only phone sweetheart.

Anything substantial at work: Helped in recruitment, which I usually do not do.

Harmful activities: Ate a hell lot mostly Mughlai, other than that this week has been relatively harmless.

Anything creative: Just wrote in this blog, set the blog layout, added the header picture which I am totally in love with and took a couple of silly photographs in office.

Sadness/depression/head & heart ache: Severe depression on Monday.

Hilarious stuff: Had a crazy lunch session with Smriti, Rekha, Aatreyee, Sumitha, Vipin.

Any off beat activity: Dance on the terrace during rains on Tuesday night while all of Jangpura was asleep or so we hope.

Future plans: Planning to pick up a diamond nose ring in August, visit Kamla Market to pick up Mosabear vcds in September and also go visit Ajmeer Sharif.

Severe Loss: Lost my silver nose ring, it just fell off while I was in the market.

Highlight of the week: Meet my cousin and uncle who had come over from Kolkata.

N.B. This muffin pic is taken from http://www.timelessfacade.com/. Thoug there were loads of pictures of muffins in Google, this one looked the yummiest.