The Voice In My Head…

Why? Because my blog has been nagging majorly fighting with me that I’ve just not been paying it any attention any more, that there’s been nothing really worthwhile written on it for a while, that I’m not replying to comments - *and* worst of all - that I’m flirting having an illicit affair with (God forbid!) Facebook! (seriously darling, how could you even think that?!)

So, here I am, trying to convince you, my dear dear dear darling thevoiceinmyhead.com; as much as I’ve neglected you & my commenters in the recent past, as perhaps not upto your high standards as recents posts may have been - and as much time as I’ve spent on Facebook recently - TVIMH, I do love you.

I love you very very very much. Really, really.

There have been SO many (so many!) times in the recent past I’ve wanted to post about stuff - like the time I “discovered” Pot Pourri has fabulous breakfasts - in fact it’s become my new favorite brekky place (I’ve done Crepe Station to death)..

Like all the stuff I want to tell you about my new favorite male-friend-in-a-supporting-role (deyamm you lead actor, where the bloody hell are you?) - he’s British (rather old fashioned & grandfatherly) and on occasion buys me African Daisies Oh, ho-hum & hurray!

Like when I saw ‘Get Smart’ and I wanted to tell everyone to go see, it was SUCH a fabulously fun movie. Oh, how I laughed. Laughed, laughed, laughed. I still have this nigling (is that a word? hmmm) doubt however, that they censored a bit of the movie… Anyway I enjoyed it despite that - and despite the loss of hundreds of my hard earned paisas (ok, the date’s paisas) that went into the Rs. 180/- popcorn at Metro Adlabs late late night show (seriously, it is just me or is popcorn at all our theaters becoming RIDICULOUSLY expensive???)

Or like the time I wanted to post about how because our President Pratibha Patil decided to visit Mumbai - they STOPPED ALL THE TRAFFIC (seriously WTHECK?????) - for hours on end. I waited for exactly 25 minutes on my way to the city in the morning (from 11.05 to 11.30am) and for about 45 mins on the way back in the evening (rush hour, 5 onwards) and I’m thinking:

BLOODY HELL, seriously.
Why can’t the President be FLOWN in from the airport to the city in a helicopter? There’s a helipad at the Mantralaya (& other places too in the city) and if someone’s important enough to stop traffic completely for hours, then they should be flown in! It’ll be faster for them and it won’t inconvenience the entire city.
I mean, seriously, how bloody inconsiderate. I don’t care if you’re the President of the country - you have no right to disrupt anyone’s work schedules. It’s just not right.
And in rush hour too? Seriously, you should have seen it - one side of the road jammed with cars, miles & miles & miles & miles on end. The other side perfectly clear.
And I counted the entourage: 42 CARS. Seriously, I kid you not. 42 BLOODY CARS.
For this, we have to wait. While madam and her 42 cars pass by roads that have been “cleansed” & cleared for hours ahead.
If I was the President of India - I’d be ashamed that I was whizzing past miles & miles of people I had inconvenienced (imagine those without air con cars or those in taxis paying by the meter!) - I’d use the power I had to do something about it. Either helicopter or travel in the night or early morning.

(click on the image above to enlarge & see the miles of jammed cars & the empty road on the other side).

So you see darling blog - I had this whole post planned - see I took pics & everything - notwithstanding the hawaldar who questioned me and told me to stop. I was thinking about you & only you all the time (Facebook, who facebook? Arey yaar, sheesh.)

I thought of you VERY much when someone told me recently that I was “ruining my chances” of finding a nice boy to marry me since I blog so much. I though, what the hell - “love me, love my blog”. And if you don’t, heck, I don’t want to marry you. Sorrbloodyrey. I wrote out this whole post in my head & I even thought of great title - “I blog therefore I am, single”. It was a great post. Unfortunately I just didn’t get down to typing it down.

So you see darling blog - it’s not that I don’t love you - or that I’ve replaced you by anyone else online - no, no, never! Perish the thought!

It’s just that I’ve been slightly busy. You know, I have to go out, earn my daily wage to pay for your hosting and your url and the fancy Manolo Blahnik shoes you like (ok, perhaps that last one was just for me, and only in my fantasies. Sigh, but you get the drift). I’ve been busy, but it’s all for you. It’s always been all for you.

And I hope this rather loooong post has made up for my seeming lack of affection recently.

No?

Gosh, you are quite the drama blog aren’t you?

Ok, here’s something more just for you. Some breaking news!

I’m off to Switzerland for a bit - and then onto France. Not too long, just a little holiday - but enough for you to miss me some more before I come back & fill you up on a regular basis. Quality AND Quantity, baby, you have my word.

I promise you, I’ll miss you VERY VERY VERY much. And I also promise you I’ll give you all the khabbar when I return.

AND - I’ll also throw in a photo of me for free. To heck with the people who tell me my feeds are high only because I post photos of myself. I happen to think I write pretty decently. See how much of insults I take on your behalf blog? How much I am spat at & humiliated - and yet, undaunted, I continue to blog being true to who I am and write & post the way I like to? See, see, see??

(the precious pup incidentally isn’t mine, he’s belongs to a friend & his name is ‘Reo’, awww)

So you forgive me darling blog?

You do?

Can we have make up sex now? (heck, I’m not getting any offline anyway).

And seriously, to heck with all of those ppl who called me up after one of my recent posts & said WHOA, seriously, you prude you, what the heck are you blogging about?! To heck with them, I say.

I want you blog.

Now!

Just back from the most fun non-date I can remember for the longest time, with a new angel the Lord has put in my life.

Thank you God, I know every little thing’s gonna be alright. Every little thing’s gonna be alright.

is that I had a tiring weekend.

Not so much because I did anything that exhausting, but rather because there was something I really wanted to do - but which wasn’t meant to be. All I can say is, Praise God.

Conversation with my Dad on Saturday went something like this:

Me: Dad, please, I really want to do this.
Dad: You know how I feel about this, but if this makes you happy…
Me: Yes dad. Besides, don’t worry - the Lord always protects me. He’s never ever let anything bad happen to me. I know He’ll close this door if it’s not meant for me to walk through it.
Dad: Well that doesn’t mean you should stand in the middle of a busy highway and say “God will protect me”!

Sunday, on my way home, after finding out that Dad was indeed correct:

Me (via sms): Think God just pulled me off the highway dad. Love you.

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

One good thing that did happen over the weekend though was a mini school reunion. It was *super* fun. Had a similar fun night when I was in Sydney last year and it’s amazing how easily we regress to being little giggly girls simply by being put in the presence of school mates! It’s also amazing that no one seems to have changed - the warmth & love between us was as strong as before (perhaps even more so with the passing of time!)

(click on pic to enlarge)

~ x ~ x ~ x ~

Finally, something that made me smile this morning - this 23 year old friend of mine sent me this link to xkcd.com this morning:

No, I am not planning on dating him - or the 25 yr guy I had dinner with last night either - but at least it’s good to know that “dating pool” is now wider!

Someone recently complained to me that I’m not writing posts like I used to. “I want to know where you’re going, what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with”, he grumbled.

I don’t think I ever gave that many details about what I did (did I?!) but it has been a fun weekend, so I shall tell you what I’ve been upto.

Friday 23rd May after work headed to a “Focus Group Discussion” for a new startup website. I’m not allowed to discuss it online yet, but I was very impressed with what I saw. Great job guys! Went with Sakshi & one of my 2 new close male friends, the young baby Kaushal (who is now sporting a goti in a failed attempt to look older, lol). Met two other bloggers at the discussion - and it’s always good to meet other bloggers! Saks & I are planning another of our fabulous blog meets mid-June, all who’d like to come, pls let me know (it may not be an open invitation thingie this time, we’re not sure as yet).

(with Saks & Kaushal at the focus group thingie. Can you see my blog in the comp screen behind?!)

Post discussion, dinner was ala Monza - a great Italian food & Wine Boutique at Phoenix Mills Parel, that I remember spending part of one perfect evening there, seemingly another a lifetime ago.

Post dinner headed for coffee to Cafe Coffee Day at Carter Road. My gentleman friend & I were both a little drunk by this stage (no, I haven’t started drinking, it was just a natural high!) and we we had *the* most ridiculous discussion ever. Remained there till we were thrown out.

Ended it by taking a drive to the Mount Mary Rosary walk & stopping to pray there (which is something the two of us have made a new habit of). There was a group of boys there - who followed us up right to the top of the walk - I was a bit apprehensive of why they were doing that (& a bit fearful of being mugged) - but my faith in the goodness of humanity was restored when I saw all of them, young boys, Muslims at that (most were wearing Kufi scull caps) light candles and pray themselves at the top of the walk.

(The Rosary walk at the Mount, by day)

Saturday 24th May evening met up with one special lady friend for dinner - we chose to eat at the food court at Infinity Mall since we were later meeting friends for a movie there. Dinner was delish - as was dessert from American donuts!

Post dinner met up with large group of friends to watch the movie “Be Kind, Rewind“. My full review here.

Post dinner & the movie, headed out to Blue Frog (hey, it was Saturday night!) - NoJazz
were playing - and they are the best thing I’ve heard in a loooong time!

“Electro? Neo Jazz? Sci fi pop? Post-funk ? Whatever!” - That’s what their website says & I completely agree - it was trippy fusion & I was suddenly in Club Cubana in Goa, quite raved out. Brilliant stuff.

Sunday 25th May was a nice lazy day, accented by the fact that I spent time with a film actress friend who’s looking a pretty as ever even off the screen.

Would have probably had to end this post there, had it not been for another gentleman friend who whisked me out of work this afternoon (Monday 26th May) after I only mentioned I was craving Sushi - and took me to Tiffin at the Hilton (Trident? Oberoi?), where we ate the *most* delish sushi ever - I’ve always enjoyed the Sushi @ Tiffin, to die for.

However to my surprise, as fantafabulous as the sushi was - the Crème brûlée dessert that I almost didn’t order (as I’m trying to cut down on sugars) was unbelievably out-of-this-world yumm. The picture really doesn’t do it justice.

Which brings us back to Do (as in Doe, a deer, d-uh).

To answer your question (you know who you are) there’s no special special someone in my life - but I’m surrounded by so many amazingly good great friends - I have only gratitude in my heart, praise God.

Based on whether you love Bombay or not, the words you’d chose to describe the city would be - crowded, filthy, noisy, spirited, alive, fun!

Whether positive or negative though, you’d probably never describe Bombay with these words - Vast, Green, Old World Charm!

And yet, that’s exactly what St. Pius X College (commonly referred to as the ‘Goregaon Seminary‘) is like (see an aerial view here).

It’s a fact not commonly known, that I was conceived in Goregaon Seminary. My parents were doing a ‘Marriage Encounter‘ there, about 4 yrs after their wedding. And lo & behold, I was formed! Not an immaculate conception (!) but a blessed conception for sure! I know lots of other facts about my pre-born state that I’m sure you all are dying to know but this post is about the seminary.

I went to the Goregaon Seminary for the first time in my (post-born, lol) life two Saturdays ago. It was like taking a trip outside Bombay, or perhaps to Bombay, but in a century long ago - All the the greenery, the sheer vast openness of it all.

And the building itself was so beautiful! Old World Charm all carefully preserved in an air of quiet and sanctity. I spent the weekend at the Seminary as I was attending a Bible Seminar (nope, I’m not becoming a priest!).

Continue Reading »

… and in pictures too

Have been busy helping organize, praying for & finally, ushering (!) at a 4 day Church Lenten Program which got over on Sunday past. Crowd ranged from 2000 about 3500 people each day, and trust me, ushering is no joke!

In between stuff, have also managed to attend the premier of 27 dresses. The movie got terrible reviews - one called it “Porn, for chicks” so I wasn’t expecting much. And perhaps that’s the reason why the picture was pretty alright imo. It was a chick flick, yes. It was predictable, yes. But then again most chick flicks are. And they’re still nice (if you’re a chick or on a date). Lascelle Symons was just near me - all alone - I’ve noticed usually his wife accompanies him to premiers. Perhaps the designer only came to check out the dresses?

I’ve also started a two year offline, correspondence Diploma course on the Bible through the St. Paul’s Bible Institute, Chennai. It’s a fairly comprehensive course that spans both Old & New Testament. Booklets are mailed each month & answers have to be written and mailed back. The only tough part is actually writing the answers. Ever since I started this course, I’ve realised I type much much faster than I write. In fact I rarely write at all - so it’s hard getting back into school/college frame of mind and write answer sheets. But I guess it’s good for me, both in terms of the learning & the writing!

Have also become addicted to going to the sea front with giggly friend who I spend most of time with these days. We take long walks by the beautiful sea. On most days we giggle like schoolgirls though some days we’re uncharacteristically quite and enjoy the serene sea. And of course our mandatory Sev Puri, which I’m also become addicted to. Yumm (just googling for pics right now is making me hungry!)

And yes, I have (finally) cut my hair Excuse the pic, not me looking my best, but it was taken by me (as is quite apparent!) ONLY FOR YOU GUYS and only to see the HAIR, so cut me some slack ok?! Arnold & Karl, thanks for the many inquiries after the lenght of my hair, trust it gets a thumbs up!

I am bored with my hair. It’s grown waay too long and though sometimes it looks lovely, sometimes it looks like this:

Which is scary, to say the least. Though my friend Sonal doesn’t think so. She thinks I should keep my hair as it is & come and pose outside her office “to drive in more business”, like a whore-y live advertisement I’m thinking. But I refrain from saying it out aloud.

Sonal is my sister’s childhood friend and as time passed and age gaps seemingly decreased, we too became friends. Recently though, I’ve not been spending too much time with her and hence received the very grave threat: “I’ll demote you from friend back to sister-of-friend status”.

I hence put my life on hold and made time for what turned out to be a great fun lunch with Sonal.

Among other things, we berated the waiting staff (at Dynasty, Santa Cruz) for taking our side plates and giving them to the people at the table next to us (seriously, wt?!). Ok fine, maybe I was the one doing all the berating, but still. We also discussed my hair.

I have recently come up with a brilliant idea and was very excited to share it with Sonal. The conversation that ensued went something like this:

Me: “I’ve decided to shave my head bald and give all my hair to wig makers for chemo patients”.

Sonal, in between snickering: “Stop behaving like Britney Spears”

Me, slightly offended: “Britney shaved her head because she’s psycho. I’m being benevolent here”

Sonal: “What, like Rakhi Sawant giving computers to inmates at Arthur Road Jail?”

Though I am appalled by the people my “friend” chooses to compare me to, I ignore the comment and instead we have a tangential conversation what the inmates at Arthur Road Jail are doing with Rakhi’s computers. Surfing for porn? Running their ‘Dhandas’ via coded email?

We shortly resume original conversation.

Me: “I’m determined to cut my hair. And why cut it half way and lose out on the almost waist length it’s grown to - might as well let someone else enjoy the fruit of my many months of hair harvesting”

Sonal, with tone of weary mother to silly child: “Mell, have you heard of Tirupati?”

I shake my head, no.

“No, one needs your hair. They get enough of it at Tirupati”

“How? What do you mean?”

“Well, women go there and specifically shave their heads as a “mannat” - a sacrifice of sorts for their families etc”

“Mannat!” I exclaim, triumphantly! “That’s exactly what I want to do. I want to sacrifice my hair for a chemo patient.”

Sonal is now shaking her head, not sure she should bother making me understand anymore.

We finish our meal and converse about a million things under the sun before we depart. I am surprised when she leaves me with this parting shot:

“The only ‘Mannat’ you’re familiar with, is the one in Bandra“.

Sigh. Britney, Rakhi & now this. I’m now thinking, I should demote Sonal to friend-of-sister status.

==========

Meanwhile what do you think I should do with my hair? Perhaps I’ll tabulate your answers & cut my hair or not based on what my loyal blog readers/ commenters say!!

What does one buy, when one has more money than one knows what to do with?

A Porsche Cayenne?

Or (though I never thought I’d say this) even sexier than the Porsche - a Maybach?

Or seriously, why get another car, when you can buy a private jet, possibly the Phenom 300 ?!!!

Ahhhhh!!!

Lots more, answers and ideas to that question at the “Extravaganza” - an entry by invitation only exhibition at the Grand Hyatt Mumbai yesterday & today. Before you wonder, I wasn’t invited, but got the chance to tag along with someone who was.

Other products exhibited included fancy alcohol from world famous distilleries, property, jewelery, designer clothes & shoes - I saw a totally sexy pair of shoes from Marc Cain, Rs. 15,000/-

But seriously, what totally got my fancy, was this - a diamond encrusted iPhone. I had to put on white gloves to inspect the phone closer, and my my my.

(of couse, I’d settle even for the “regular” diamond-less iPhone, but it was so sexy to hold that piece of art in my hands!)

If seeing all that luxury bored you - there was lots of champagne being served - along with chocolates and fancy Hors d’oeuvres - and even a fashion show.

And the people attending the exhibition were as interesting to watch as the exhibition itself. No, I’m not naming any names, but take a look at this sexy Ferrari parked just outside.

I didn’t buy anything, because I couldn’t buy anything, but it was a mind blowing experience. I felt like a kid in a candy shop! And now, having seen for a split second how the other half lives, I step back into my world. Not before giving you all a chance to enjoy it with me too, hope you liked the pics!

gps: so how come ur kala ghoda post doesn’t show on the front page?
me: It’s on a separate page
gps: all the wrong ladies…
me: I dont know
I’m thinking maybe I should make a post on the front page & link,
gps: ones who are already committed or too far away
me: because no one seems to be going there!!
gps: u shud.. its a lovely post
me: lol
gps: how wud we go there, if we cant find it?!

I not posting the rest of our chat here, so you’ll have to keep imagining how gps is making out with the ladies, but here’s the link to the Kala Ghoda post

Kala Ghoda Festival 2008 in Pictures!

And we do have the best sunsets in Bombay, don’t we? Here’s two pictures of recent sunsets that mean a lot to me.

This one was taken after the cremation of someone I loved dearly. She died just four days after Z. Her death was also sudden, way too sudden for her young years.

I think the shock of it all, losing two people in the span of 4 days was a bit too much for me - and I remember I was driving home, alone and suddenly I saw this sunset. And it made me smile. It was like God was telling me that if He could make something so beautiful, He would also make something beautiful out of this all. So I took the picture in her honor.

This is for you, thank you for touching my life.

[Sunset off the Bandra Bandstand Promenade, 27th Jan 08; click to enlarge]

And here’s one that I clicked earlier today. It was (unlike the other day) a fabulous day, I had enjoyed it thoroughly. And as if to end the beautiful day on a beautiful note, there was this, brilliant sunset. Note the halo-like glow around the sun.

[Sunset off Marine Drive, 2nd Feb 08; click to enlarge]

I really do believe that the best place in the world to watch the sunset is at Marine Drive.

Why? Perhaps it also stems from the fact I love Bombay so much, but the main reason I believe that is because of - the pollution!

The smog in the air just filters out the sunset colors until there are multitudes of colored lines all over the sky. I remember having a conversation with my mum once about how if someone painted the sunset at Marine Drive, it would seem very unrealistic - because it seems unrealistic to have SO many shades of the sun setting. And yet, there it is.

Pollution, turning a sunset into an even more beautiful sight. God turning something bad into something beautiful; something beautiful into something divine.

There’s hope for us all.

And perhaps that’s why sunsets make me smile, they give me hope.

Related Post: Sunset at Marine Drive