Happy New Year!

This year is coming to an end and so is the decade. Moving to the New Year with some hopes and dreams. Wishing the best of everything for my loved ones.

Peace
Shaki

Heart

drew this today on Paint ..

Strawberry.

I don't know whether I am missing her but I am remebering The Wise One's reactions, the joy she brought to The Wise One and to The Big Guy's life for those few months, The Wise One's reactions everytime she went to the Doc, Her voice filled with happiness and The Big Man's plans each time. It had been wonderful!

Strawberry, God Bless You, wherever You are!

Peace,

Shaki (Maasi)

How do you help?

Yes. Yes. I have started writing more regularly... Its just that I think this is serving as a good outlet for me. Yesterday's worries are still there somewhere at the back of my mind. Anyways, today there are some weird thoughts. When PC told me about a friend going through a rough spot, there were the usual things running in my mind when someone tells me about there problems or as in this case about others problems. I land up saying things like "don't worry.. you/they will get through it.. you/they need to be patient... i know its tough..." But as i started typing something on those lines I thought if I were in their place how would I feel... I mean everyone knows things dont last forever and everyone knows not to worry and so the words above aren't always welcome. So I tried my best. After the usual I asked if I could help. Though PC might not really need my help in this case I still asked. You never know! It got me thinking about how easy it is for me or for that matter anyone else to say consoling words or words to encourage but then the person who is at the receiving end usually feels the same as he/she did before. So unless you can help dont offer any consoling words.  It's like talking to a Wall! Your presence will matter more than your words thats for sure! These are just my thoughts for today. Might change tomorrow. But then don't tell me that cause you can't help that!

Peace
Shaki

The London Series- After Effects

Gotcha! No. No. This is not part of my London Series.. Ha! Ha! Ha! Its just me ranting. Here I am. Back from an amazing holiday. And all I get back to are worries. You know the moment I landed here I had a million worries. I was wondering how to get a cab, will I get home on time, will I get the bus back, will Anjudi remember to pick me up, the house must be dirty, will the Bai come, I have a million bills to pay, I have to go to office the next day, I am hungry, I am sleepy, I am awake, I need to bathe.. You get the drift.
So. this series of worrying just doesn't stop... Today I am sitting here and thinking God! give me a break! I am desperately searching for a room mate. I am fed up with the way The Grinch treats me! I can't wake up in the morning till the Bai comes. God forbid, one day if she doesn't turn up, I will be sleeping the whole day! I am trying hard to save some money and cut a few expenses. Trying to lose all that lard I have accumulated around my middle region. And I am a bit lonely. I want to have all my family and friends around. Yes ALL of them! And I want to go to Bangalore right now. But I am sitting here typing this! Uff!

Really. I want to move.

Peace (You wish)
Ranting Maniac Shaki

The London Series- Food Glorious Food!

Aaaaaaaah.. now this is the best part. it was a gastronomical adventure! And Boy! Did I miss some people who would have appreciated the food and enjoyed it as much as I did! To start with I had home made Manipuri khaana by Ma which included kangshoi and iromba. Mouth watering.. slurp slurp.. Then the amazing Bengali specialties, kosha mangsho and the chodchodi cooked by Tamdi. Slurrrrp.. Tamdi has proved herself to be one heck of a cook!  Gjjee showed his cooking skills by cooking delicious kali dal one day :) Dipali Di had cooked some awesome Biryani.. it was finger licking good.. so good that I am considering her to cater for my wedding ;). Slurrrp… how can I forget the food at Tamdi and her college gang’s reunion- roast chicken, sun dried tomato, garlic and red pepper pasta, yummy ratatouille (cooked by Joyoni Di). It was the first time I tasted ratatouille and its set some standards. All the people who cook ratatouille, please be assured your dish will always be compared to Joyoni Di’s. It was simply delicious.

Besides the above we did eat out. We had different cuisines ranging from Indian, Italian, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, German, American food (that was just a hot dog) to of course the English food of course. The only thing I didn’t eat was fat round big prawns that looked like the intestines of a human! Of course it was delicious but the sight wasn’t so good. I kinda got nauseous. In normal circumstances I would not have let go of those prawns!! Don’t think I missed much though. Yes. I hogged all throughout the stay. Didn’t lose any chance to eat out. I have a completely different outlook about food from different regions now. And when I go to these places which say they serve food from the above mentioned places I am so gonna judge them!

Other than that I Loved the mulled wine at the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. Yes it was the first time I tasted it! It was nice and warm and sweet. I am so hunting for a place where you get mulled wine here. So I did drink a lot of wine generally and I think now that I am a Wine Person. Okay for the time being I am!

If you have read my previous post, you will know that I was a bit awestruck by everything around. This of course includes the vegetables as well. Mom, Dad and I were completely taken aback by the variety of vegetables available. We wanted to buy everything which was of course not such a good idea considering the fact that we would not have been able to eat many of them or just not be able to finish it! There were so many things that we had not seen before. And we took loads of snaps of vegetables we dont get back home. Funny thing to do, i know! 

And I toast to all those people who make food so enjoyable!

Peace

Overweight Shaki

The London Series- Tourist In Me

Back from visiting Tamdi and Gjjee. Had been there for three weeks. London is pretty! I mean of course I have seen the streets on the telly and I have done my bit of reading about London but being there was a different thing. I felt like I was in London.. ha ha! what the hell! I was in London. What I meant was it was nice, despite the rain and the cold, cold wind. Everything is so cute there. Weird adjective to use for a city but it IS cute!! Especially the place where Tamdi lives. The plants are beautiful and the people are stylish.  It's just so PRETTY! I was the typical middle class never-been-out-of-my-own-country tourist. You can only imagine what that is like!!

We took a tour to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Oxford. The bus journey was wonderful. The country side is just lovely. Passed through some places that looked like a jungle. Tamdi said “You never know you might spot a Unicorn there”. Of course the kid that I am I actually hoped so. And had my camera ready just in case. The Queen was in when we reached Windsor Castle.  We took a walk on the banks of Thames. There were swans and ducks there. Not something I was excited about. Okay, I sound horrible but then I just don’t find birds to be cute, beautiful, elegant or whatever they say. Anywhooooo, so, I was really excited about going to Stonehenge. Really really. The first thing that gets you is the beautiful landscape. Next thing that gets you is the cold. It's freezing. Of course that’s also because it is December. About the size, well I always imagined it to be taller. But yes it is magnificent and you do wonder how did those people manage to move those pieces of rocks. Oxford was nice too. The colleges instantly reminded me of Eric Segal’s books. I don’t know. The descriptions of the colleges he uses are like the colleges of Oxford and just like how I pictured it. Well, saw the "Harry Potter" sights. As in some places where it was shot and also from where J K Rowling got the inspiration for the sign on Harry Potter’s forehead. That was that.

Other than that we went to Greenwich, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Art Museum and Natural History Museum, the Aquarium, London Bridge and the Tower Bridge. Dad really wanted to visit Greenwich. The Geographer in him was inching us towards the 0 degree mark. And Boy! Was he thrilled! The view from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich was breath taking. Like the movies really. The sky line was marked with big names of the business world at the Canary Wharf. We took the DLR till Bank station. It was the most awesome ride. It reminded me of this movie called Wanted where Angelina Jolie is on top of a tube and she shoots someone who is inside a building while balancing on the roof of the tube. Well those who have seen the movie will know. So the DLR goes through the buildings and as Dad says “building ke andar station hai”. The visit to the Aquarium was quite exciting. My folks and I behaved like we have never seen fish! Of course Tamdi was quite amused by our reactions. I loved the Sting Rays! And the sharks and the tortoise and the “cow fish” and the sea horse and the jelly fish and loads of other creatures! I was like Oh, its just like it is in National Geographic Channel. Heh Heh.

I saw dinosaurs.. ha ha! ok, their fossils in the Natural History Museum. It has been one thing I wanted to do ever since I was in Class VI. Awesome!

Apart from that I went to the home makers pilgrim- IKEA and the shopaholics paradise Harrods. Now the thing about me shopping is that I do the scanning and then the shopping. In IKEA and Harrods I couldn’t scan cause I just wanted it all! No scanning required! And too much to cover before I shop! You are never done shopping in IKEA. And in Harrods you just don’t know what is good cause everything is so damn nice!

So this is the first part of my many posts that will be about my visit to London. Be rest assured there are more posts and many many pictures to come. Told you I was a never-been-out-of-my-own-country tourist.

Peace

Tourist Shaki