Festival time…….

Just posting to convince myself that I still blog...... :)


Today was one of those days when I missed mom more than ever. I was teriblly missing her mouth-watering Pongal……:)

I went around the office asking (read begging) my fellow-tamilians for some pongal which, as it happens, no one had to spare…… after my successful attempt to make them feel guilty for not being thoughtful enough n and of getting promises of getting it tomorrow I returned to my desk to see what wikipedia had to say about Pongal……. n as usual it was quite insightful……… (not that I already didn’t know about it)…….

Just when I was about to give up the hope of doing anything festive on this festival day I received a message from Amey inviting me for Kite-Flying at his place (actually, on his terrace)………. It said “You are invited for Kite-Flying at my place at 2pm today”……..well, that’s some notice period (notice period: more about it later)…n 2pm!!...dear friend, am at work!!....I wrote back my apologies for not being able to make it……… did I mention that Amey’s place is in Andheri n that my office is in Worli?........

As I was leaving office at quarter past five…gave a casual call to Amey to find out if the others had come n how boring was it going without my revered presence…….he said “come”, I said “man! it ll take me an hr!”, he said “come”, I said “ I m coming”……….n off I went

Mercifully the traffic wasn’t bad….(except at the airport junction)…. The moment I touched the Western Express Highway I was glad I had agreed to go…. The bike, the road, the weather….sinful package…. n I found myself wishing Amey lived farther away….

I was on the Santacruz flyover when I felt as if a dozen score birds are hovering above me……I wondered why…. I looked up…..n there….!! Kites!!..... in a beautiful jumble of colors……presenting me with rainbows….rainbows made of paper,……..rainbows, for once, touchable…….. it felt like tiny embroideries on a blue blanket..… then I looked in the direction of the choreographers of this ballet of colors……every single soul from the basti seemed be on the slanting thatched roof (not terrace) of their huts…the older ones with string in their hands, the younger ones hovering around them with the string roll but no less excited….it was delightful watching the funfair……. n I thanked God for denying me the wisdom to not go….. This was already worth the ride…..could have just stopped there and watched it for hours, but the traffic behind me wasn’t helping my cause….

Reached Amey’s place in flat 40 minutes….Had a good time flying and cutting kites…. Had been ages since the last time I flew a kite…but discovered I haven’t lost touch…………..cut two kites in the first 5 minutes (first five minutes after the half an hour that took to air borne the kite :) )…and a third one just before it got too dark…..three of us hung out at Amey’s place for some time before heading back home around 9pm…. am tempted to dwell over the ride back…but will spare the details…

As usual, after dinner picked up “Long walk to Freedom”…this time with the determination to finish it….this book, though enjoyable, has been haunting me for over a month now……..just haven’t been able to finish it…….. Got a call from a friend just as I was dozing off…….turned out to be a real long conversation……..conversation that according to the person on the other side was “deep”……… I was ready to settle for “sensible”..…:)……. Picture this….. two people,………. one already hopelessly in love with this city,……. the other, who has decided to drop all guards n is looking forward to be swept (read flooded) away by the magical life this city is capable of offering………talking about the city, its people, its life………..(sigh!)….. The conversation: insanely quixotic….. the city: Intimidating yet welcomingly seducing, and us: feebly yet willingly surrendering…….

Forgive me for the melodrama………but its next to impossible to talk about this city with even the ‘faintest sense of detachment’..........

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