Zindagi Na Milege Dobara

As I got into the hall, could feel the tension sitting plum between the shoulder blades. There suddenly seemed to be a million things that were to be planned, and work to be done, travel, weekend plans,battery conked off, ppt to be made, think its something about making ppts that I hate to the core that makes me nervous and I end up doing everything and anything but that.. like head off and see a movie. makes the most sense

So off it was to see the Movie that I had been wanting to see for a while.The saga of 3 friends, a road trip and a new discoveries to be made. Made me wonder if male holidays and female holidays are by default different. Both can be fun, but they tend to just be a bit different over time for whatever reason..

The lull of the road, the new  people, the new experiences and the ability to push the buttons and face your fears that is what the whole thing is about. Was feeling butterflies in my belly at the idea of dropping off the sky, the scuba experience had in January made me feel fear, and yet there was a desire to face it

Things that make my tummy curl are so many its funny. heights, depths, water, big waves, ..... am a wooz ;( in camoflauge! thinking about what i wanted to do it was clear, travel and write - not travel write but travel write.To find out what made the people do what they did, where they did it and how did it differ for them.

Its a natural urge to know and unpeel.
Neha Elizabeth Gilbert
It is coming my way.soon
promise
because- Zindagi Na Banege Dobara!

Gymming in Golds Gym

It finally began to work and that at a time when I am almost ready to move from the area! Bloody hell. But keeping the pettiness aside, the gym has finally started and made a few good resolutions yesterday

• ·         Not drink till December
• ·         Exercise
• ·         And follow a smart diet

It’s a strange thing, the moment there is a biggish occasion coming up the first few pieces of advice from well meaning friends come to the women and not to the man. The men pretty much have to show up, get some booze organized and then well show up. Blimey is the world unfair or what.

So here went some of the well meaning options.  In order of the bestnest or the worseness, you be the judge

Advice 1

There is a broth diet that you must try. Basically you make a big bowl of hot water with all the vegetables brewed in it, throw the veggies out and eat the rest. Do this for about 3-5 weeks till you get to see the desired results.  It will only show in a while; but it is a super way to get ur self fit in no time.

Advice 2

Just drink juice, lots of it all the time. Alternatively one can try the carb diet where one does not eat any carbs for 2 days and then has a carb day and then no carbs for 2 days again.  Also heard were the south beach diet, the atkins and for a moment was tempted to get back on the good old GM diet

Advice 3

Drink Green tea the moment you wake up. Run and Jog as much as you can, as often as you can. There is nothing like an occasional indulgence, its all bad and it all adds up. Refrain from all and any forms of indulgences all the time. Fried food is a no –no as are sweets and pasteries that you may want to delight yourself with

Advice 4

From the only parsi baba that I know, eat rich fatty ghee invested food and then run like the wind and smoke up on top of it all. Everything will be fine

Advice 5

Get a nose job.

Advice 6

Don’t bother, its all fixed anyway

Advice 7

Loose the paunch, seal the deal fast, drink lots of water, apply laser on body parts, get tanning facing, get skin glow cream, get lingerie, music, dance classes, language classes, make family happy, talk slowly, and also included is become docile.

Tired of all this and bowing to the universe in gratitude for the opening of the Gym off I went yesterday. The first person I saw was Venkatesh Prasad and then the entire gym opened up, with the yoga and the rest. On one hand it was cosmopolitan, modern and representing urban india with all age groups of people there.  

As I came home to my dinner of soup and salad, a pal called to tell me about meeting a girl for the marriage thing and the poor thing was actually asked to sing for him!!!!! Those things are also a reality was so unnerving that it made me laugh at the madness of it all.

This to me was the madness of India, in the same city a 45 year old salwar kammez wearing aunty could bend and touch her head to the ground, a young girl sang her wannabe groom a song, a man came to repair my car on the road, and advice arnd how and what a girl should look like shone.

India my mad mad nation.

Same Same but different

There has been a rather long sabbatical from the blog and suddenly out of the blue there is a desire to slow down, reflect and write. In a good way, a time to sense and feel the goodness of life and the changes that have come in the past few weeks.

Seems like the longest and the shortest month of life. There was a trip to Leh, Manali, and Dharamshala, followed by a quick dash home and followed by a quick dive into the beaches of Kerala. Spending time travelling always makes me happy and quiet and in a sense very reflective.

As the mountains of Leh submerged one, with the vast open vistas opening up from one range to the other, the silence overwhelmed you. Looking at the road workers, working on the side of the road one could not but wonder at the different lives that people lead..

It filled one with a sense of emptiness, with everything else taking a back seat. Work was not that crucial, life would figure itself out, there was a flow to it, a greater intelligence how else can one explain the intricate mountains, the old monk living in a monastery with the bells chime as a constant sound, the soldiers who had died building the roads, the other who charged up a hill to defend a nation, the brave tea stall owner who choose to come and set up shop at a conflict ridden area.

The hills charm, for the silence and the people that live there.

Ladhak – a culture a region that seemed lost. In the middle of nowhere there seems like a little town plucked out of Enid Blyton book that has been placed there. The palace, the people the houses all smart of an inborn simplicity, a race that over the years built a pact with nature and religion to live life a certain way.

Bhuddism spread itself, represented in houses that were simple from the inside, food that was wholesome yet not complicated, laughter that was there in the eye and yet something was changing. The monasteries were slowly getting deserted, prosperity was knocking on heavens door.

Ironically, the richer the nation got – yes three idiots was a cause, yes Makemytrip had taken the exotic out of leh, yes there was a traffic jam, yes the weather had changed but all this had done something for the person there. Given him a choice – a sense of liberation. Ok fine, this is debate-able, there are lots of larger corporate that are coming and making their seasonal home in leh, the waiter flits from leh and goa, the rafter from rishikesh to zanskar, a moving hybrid population comes in cashes in on the tourist and leaves.

Irrespective of the format of the eco –system, what does end up happening is that there is a sense of money that flows in. Now a smaller family and a richer family, does not feel the mental duty to send a son to the monastery, the number of lamas reduces, and there is a smaller and smaller percentage that comes into the sect.

Reading the Living in Exile by Dalai Lama and the Last Seen in Lhasa, the 2 books on the Tibetian Bhuddist way of life made me realize the vulnerability of their way of life, and how ruthlessly the Chinese invasion has destroyed a culture that was built over years.

Ladhak is not Tibet, its causes are different but its still a similar life, a similar belief system a system that is getting altered and changed. It’s a good thing – the power to choose for oneself what one wants to do. This power is seeing monks relinquish robes, and give us celibacy. It’s a sad thing, seeing the slow decline of a culture, a way of life, a prayer wheel a manner of showing all us tourist hunting, camera totting visitors that when life in your head and city gets too much to handle and do, there is someone, somewhere, whom you met, who life is being lived truly differently..

Not connected, but a visual image that I can never shake from my memories is one of a lady saint I met in the top of Tapovan a few years ago. Tapovan was above Gokmukh – the place from where the Ganges start, it’s a pass that connects Gangotri to Kedarnath – high above any reach of civilization. A south Indian, she had made a tent in that pass her home, spending her day there in solitude – contemplation.

Grinning like a school girl she looked at me straight in the eye and asked - ‘whats the hurry?’ grinned and left again to make some steaming coffee. Never been able to shrug that piercing look of hers off, and that somehow she had looked right through me.

In the end, weeks after the trip I am now remembering what it really meant for me.