The year, 2011…

Has been good, I must say. For travel, friends, books, food, work and life in general.

 

Some friendships which I know will last my entire life have happened this year… Smart , intelligent women who will continue to matter a lot … I couldn’t have asked for more this year in terms of friendships. Visits to and from friends who don’t stay in Hyderabad have happened this year, strengthening the bond we share… This post sums it all!

 

Cooking, baking and shooting the stuff that’s made, all of this has taken a new level altogether this year. I’ve become more serious about what I cook and how I shoot it, which is a good sign. It might be that one thing that really interests me, even if it is for the moment. More focus on healthy eating, and getting in all the vitals into the food has been taken this year, and with the cook being around for help, kitchen is not an area am scared of anymore! All this is documented on the food blog, and pics are on the Flickr page.

The Meal Algorithm
The Photo Experiment

I’ve had the best year as far as books are concerned. Clocking atleast one book per week is a big deal when you have a full-time job, right? :-)

Work has been great. Some good times, some challenging ones, some friendships put to good test, new friendships , some loyalties pondered on… in short, it has been a very eventful year, in a very good way. What with the total outlook about work and life being changed last year, things stopped to faze me. The mantra had been karma throughout. These lines by Dido which I also have on my communicator status sum it all for me -

I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine!

I’ve mended some relationships in life, made some very new but important ones and got a whole new perspective on what matters and what doesn’t.

 

There was a slight interest in gardening, but after I’ve discovered that my green thumb is as big as Uday Chopra’s acting career, I’ve left it for the maid to do . She has an amazing green thumb and totally nurtured all my plants back to health. What I take responsibility for now are just the easy-to-maintain Bamboos I have around.

 

Last, and never the least, I’ve travelled more than I can hope and wish for in this year. The husband says he has done his quota of travelling for another two years, now that he has clocked in so many miles with me, but then, that’s a fight I choose to have later. :-)

 

First it was that long trip to Sikkim where we went sight-seeing to see the peaceful monasteries, the large snow-covered mountains, heights that we’ve never imagined we’d be at Nathula, Lachung, Yumthang, all more than 10000 ft, great Momos and the sweetest set of people I’ve ever come across in India so far.

And then it was the totally unexpected short 2 week Seattle trip. I was there on work, but thanks to my travel partners, I got to see some very beautiful places – Pike Place Market, Snoqualmie, Mt Rainier, a drive through ONP and a ferry to get to Kingston, lots of shopping in Bellevue Square Mall… this trip is something that I will never forget. It being my first time in US also might have to do something with this. :-)

And then Pondicherry happened. Idea of a long weekend and a talk with friends let to this trip, which also was a part-road-trip. Some great food also happened in this place.

 

I’ve been to Bombay before, but that was when I was too young and I had not even eaten a Vada Pav then. So this time, when a friend was going for after-Diwali-vacation to Bombay, I tagged along shamelessly. I stayed at her place with her family, and got an awesome mini-tour of Bombay. Meeting new people, some shopping on Linking Road and good food …

 

Another idea of a long weekend, and me yearning to go to the mountains took us to Coonoor towards the end of the year. The most beautiful place I’ve been to in India so far, this farm where we stayed in was everything we wanted for that trip – beautiful view of the mountains, great view from our cottage, a very friendly dog, good food and loads of time to laze around and not do anything.

This was also the year when I practised the most important of all arts –

 

L’arte di non fare niente , The Art of Doing Nothing in Italian.

 

I’ve perfected finishing all work by 9 AM on weekends, and laze on the couch all day long. Either reading a book or a newspaper, it was my me-time, when I wouldn’t even take phone calls, letting the busy week pass through and gearing up for the jolting weeks ahead… It was exactly like Elizabeth Gilbert expressed in her Eat, Pray and Love.

 

In addition to all these, I also turned 30 this year. An awesome , totally unexpected party was thrown for me and another friend who was turning 30 too on the same day. Husband literally showered me with gifts, thus seizing the opportunity to never let me crib that he doesn’t surprise me. Lots of catching up with friends , some great times and great photographs to prove that have happened. Now that all my friends have turned 30 too, its a new phase in all our lives. 30s are not as bad as we thought they would be…

 

I also got a tattoo this year. Lots of thought was put into it, and it turned up to be the most-thought-out-thing I did so far instead of being an impulsive one. Am now -

The Girl with the Music Tattoo!

Now am all ready to get a second one… :-)

 

The year came with its set of glitches too. I lost an Uncle in December, some terrible things have happened to friends and their families, husband is very stressed at work, many friends have moved away from Hyderabad and there have been some ups and downs in the health and exercise routine, but then, this is all in the game.

 

2012 is going to be a great year… this amount of travel might not happen, but there are exciting times for sure. A great deal of books will happen. Hopefully new friendships might happen, I might get to retain the work friends I have, and the old ones will thrive. I plan to continue the whole cooking/baking routines and continue to do good photos with those.

 

Yet again, what really matters is how peaceful I am,  how many good things happen to people around me and what I learn. I just hope this Zen remains for this  year as well! :-)

Happy New Year, Everyone!
May you have great happiness, prosperity and wonderful times this year!

Rollback?

After having built, maintained and tested huge and complex systems for almost 5 years now, the first thought that enters my mind when I see any design is – Can it be rolled back? How much of an effort it is to roll this back? Can we make the rollback easier? What is the damage to the system when we rollback?
Call it a personality trait or work-seeping-way-too-much-into-life , I have started thinking about a rollback strategy for most of the things I do in my life too.
A small change to the house layout or design, and I go ahead on thinking about it only after I am assured that it can be rolled-back.
A change to the way I dress up or get my dresses is also considered only after my mind quickly calculates how to roll it back if it were to go wrong.
Any item of furniture that I even consider buying would be thought about after I find out multiple uses of the same, and I know that the look it gives to the house can be rolled back!

Even the ear and nose piercings I have had, I got them only after analysing a good rollback strategy. And I’ve rolled back them all. :)
Falling in love, getting married, buying a house or a book or a car, decision on whether to get a pet or not – I could do none of these without having my exit strategy clear, in my head. If there is no exit out of the situation, it doesn’t exist for me.
The deal has always been that I would not suffer the most damages!
Call it selfish, control-freakish or plain pessimist, Exit/Rollback has been the deal breaker always!
Booking a movie ticket or planning a holiday also will happen after having carefully thought of on what would happen if the plan doesn’t go well. What is the financial damage and if we can afford it? Basically, rollback strategy there also!
To this extent that, when I was getting inked, the ONE thought on my mind was, can this be rolled back?
And I knew it cannot be, atleast not as easily as the rest could be.
And that is exactly why I went ahead with the option of getting permanent ink on my body.
Yes, I had to break free from this commitment-phobia. From this fear of not being able to do anything without preparing for the worst.
Yes, it has been a mantra in life – Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
It has always helped me be peaceful in life, doing my best work where I like and not bothering about what the result could be.
Understanding fully well that I will get what I deserve in my karma, and no one take what is rightfully mine.
But the practical cynic in me has take the whole ‘prepare for the worst’ to a totally different level. Over the years, I’ve begun to think of the worst first. Plan for what I will do if the worst were to happen. Prepare the exit strategy so well that I will return from it unscathed or with little damage. Then go ahead and hope for the best, and give it my everything.
No, I do not like it. I do not do it on purpose. Its just the way I have conditioned my mind to think, and it certainly is not the most fullest way to live life.
The way to live life fully would be to go ahead and do what your mind asks you to do, without caring for the consequences. Impulse! What is life without a little impulse?
Would there be any adventure or excitement in life if you plan and re-plan every single step? No, right?
So when the thought of rollback entered my mind as the artist was just about to put the needle in the first time, I did not give it a second thought. I told myself – You are convinced about the design. You know the location is the best you can come up with. You know you will love this design forever. Then why think of a rollback? Go ahead with the tattoo, and experience this moment.
And that’s exactly what I did, of course after talking in detail about the whole tattoo-removal process with the artist ;-)
Even in this case, I have a rollback strategy. Even if the design doesn’t mean the same to me anymore after 10 yrs, it will atleast be a good memory to what all it means to me now. There, some people just cannot be changed! :-|
So the one adjective that might be missing from my life’s resume might be ‘Impulsive’. That I certainly am not. So every item I check off my Bucket List, would probably not be an impulsive move!
Even the most impulsive decision I took is actually the most planned, most thought after one! Ah, the irony!

Inked!

 

Permanently! Yes! :-D

And as my friend A puts it, I am now The Girl with the Music Tattoo! :-)

I finally mustered the guts, got over the initial cold feet (little did I know what real cold feet mean! More on that later!) and went to the next most famous tattoo studio in Hyderabad (Hakim’s Aalim) and spoke to the artist there about getting this tattoo. I spoke to him about the design, location, the price he’d charge, and the safety measures he would take, and thought about it for 5 full minutes, standing right there, in his studio. I figured out I was confused about the location, and did not want to do this in a hurry. I told him I’d get back to in exactly two days, and came back home, thinking all the while if I can do it at all.

I SMSed/Mailed all my girl-friends asking them what they thought of a tattoo. Some said they hated it, some said they have always wanted to get one done, and some said its not worth the pain. I then threw the option of me getting it done, and like true friends (thanks girls!:-)), they supported me telling its a cool thing to do.

The design was something I had decided on a zillion years ago, but the location was what I was not sure about.

Ankle was the first choice, but this tattoo was certainly not for the ankle.
Wrist was considered next, but I had to consider the orthodox mindset in the family, and conservative social set-up at work and outside, which means I will forever have to conceal it with a big watch or too many bangles, both of which were not attractive options. Moreover, the more I discussed this with friends after I came back from the studio (Thanks, J!) the more this option fell out of favour.
Neck, back and tummy were totally out of question.
I knew upper arm was kinda overdone, with almost every second person who has a tattoo having it there, but that looked like the most practical option. I could conceal it when I wanted to, which would be most of the times, and could show it off when I could, without really having to strip (;-)). We (J & I) zero-ed on getting this in the front side of the upper arm, someplace where you would see it if you were to look at me straight. And that was settled!

So on the morning of 28th June, I called up the studio to confirm my appointment. And that was the last peaceful moment of the day. I experienced a mix of excitement, cannot-wait-for-the-moment-feeling, fear and a real chill in the spine and drying up of throat. Honestly, the feeling was something I have experienced never before, even when I was getting married. And coming from a commitment-phobe like me, that is a lot!

In all the nervousness, I ran low on body sugar and had to stop the car to buy a packet of biscuits to ensure I don’t faint while driving. And when I finally got within walking distance to the studio, I jumped the red signal, yet again because of the nervousness, got caught by the cop, had a nice long chat with him, appreciated him for all the good work the traffic guys do , paid the fine he levied on me fair and square, requested for the receipt and left (God alone knows how I did all this with trembling hands, and a nervous voice. The cop must’ve been thinking its him! :))

At the studio, the artist, Daniel pleasantly surprised me by doing his fair share of homework on the design. He did some good add-ons to the original design I thought of, and jazz-ed it up to make it look extra cool, which it did. But then, my mind was hung up on this design, for various reasons, and so upon my insistence, he began his work on this design. We discussed a bit on the location, and he gave me very valid inputs on what he thought of my original choice, and gave me enough time to think about it. At the end, I agreed to his point, and slightly shifted the location, to the left, so it can be seen when seen from my left.  He made a neat stencil and stuck it at the right place, let me check it out myself in the mirror, and then started on.

No, it doesn’t pain as much as we think it will. It does pain a bit, and as women, we are used to the pain caused when we get a wax or a threading done anyways. Its more or less similar. What’s worse is the train of thoughts on your head – Will it turn out alright? What if I don’t like it when its done? What if it is slightly in a different position? What if I want to get rid of it? Honestly, keeping yourself calm when all these questions arise is a big thing in itself! And that added to the commitment-phobia I had been experiencing, I was a bunch of nerves. Only when I got up to see how the outline looked did I calm up a bit. I had begun to love it. And by the time he was done after patiently incorporating all my suggestions, I was in love. With the tattoo! And the design! And what it means to me! :-D

Here it is … presenting the Treble-Clef on myself ! :-)

When I came back, I emailed the pics of the tattoo to all my friends, and all of them seemed to love it. :-)

Well, I always thought I’d have atleast two tattooes on me, but going by what it takes mentally to get one done, and what I went through, I don’t think the next one is coming anytime soon. Or may be never. Doesn’t matter, coz I have The One forever! :-D

One down!

 

So that’s one item off the bucket list! Yeah, putting an item as silly as this on The List is downright silly, I agree. But it still means a lot, for someone who grew up in a small town and could not step out of the house without male company. (Most times it was my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed that short time off from studies, but then Dad once sent his watchman along with me and my friends to the movie, he was plain scared that some harm would befall his precious daughter, you see!)

And the item was – Watching a movie alone.

And yes, I did it today! :D

Well, I watched a movie all by myself quite a while before , during my stay in Hong Kong, but then, that was HK, and I literally went every place by myself (blame the ever-busy-not-today-I-have-a-call-why-don’t-you-go-by-yourself-here-take-a-100-HKD husband!). So one afternoon I get out of the apartment to walk two blocks to the nearest movie hall showing, guess which movie – Twilight New Moon (Twilight is my only literary guilty pleasure, please forgive me!). Turns out it wasn’t just me watching the movie by myself, I was also the only one in the entire movie hall watching the movie, if you can ignore the presence of two necking teenagers in one corner of the hall, and then, they weren’t really watching the movie, right? I digress, the point of the matter is – Yes, I watched a movie all by myself, albeit in a different country.

That was when the doubt struck my head, would I be able to do a similar feat in India? With stories abuzz about how men misbehave with women if they find them alone (*touchwood* never ever happened with me) , I wanted to see how the whole experience would be. Like many other things that I wanted to do, this one also went into The Never Ending List Of Things I Would Do Someday But Will Never Do!

With the husband not being in town, and with me getting plenty of much-wanted-anticipated me-time which I am thoroughly enjoying (oh don’t ask what I’ve been doing – amidst all the work, I still found time to listen to all my pending music, watch mind-numbing TV shows, read a book or two and oh, sit pointlessly in the balcony wondering about Life, Universe and Everything, and the Answer, of course!), and with the weather today being absolutely fantastic, I decided today is the day I would watch a movie by myself, and who else by Captain Jack Sparrow it should be!

Oh, who am I kidding. I knew that the husband would never watch this one with me, and with most of my friends having watched it already, and my love for the Captain beckoning me, I had to watch this one myself!

Now, even this one did not come without its share of challenges. First, there was work, tonnes of it, which I had to finish today. And then, the damned BookMyShow site does not allow any internet bookings for movie halls in Hyd which means I was never sure if I would get the tickets at all, and the last of all, I have never stood in the movie ticket queue to buy a ticket. Yes. Never. I had a deprived childhood and teenage. (For this, blame the Dad and the Internet!)

I finally overcome all these challenges and the temptation to eat an ice cream to which I succumbed by treating myself to an Oreo Shot (just a fancy name to a whole load of vanilla ice cream with Oreos and fudge but which tasted exceptionally awesome!) and get to the movie hall, only to find that my seat was surrounded by a bunch of men, no boys - All college boys, who wondered what this single woman was doing there at all. It was certainly not what I wanted/expected out of the evening. After the movie started, I got up to see if there were vacant seats in the hall, I found that more than half the movie hall was empty (ah, the perks of movie-watching-on-weekdays! Must remember for next time)
That’s it, I found myself one solitary corner, put on my 3D glasses and enjoyed the movie - giggling to myself at Jack’s jokes and hugging myself when the objects on the screen flew towards me. And boy, what fun it was! And this is just the beginning, am gonna watch many movies like this by myself! :D

And now am back, typing this as a reminder to how I felt when I did something for the first time, and getting ready for a night full of work!