Happy b'day to christy

30th was Christy's 5th b'day...my sister woke him up in the morning to take my call ....and all I heard was a muffled whine... Christy was apparently angry at being woken up.....well I agree wit the kid...even I get mad....I got to meet him only in the evening .....I had envisaged meeting up with him and going to some fun amusement park like place in Mumbai for his b'day...instead I met him at Pizza Hut...well seems like you like what your parents like till you are 18 :)...my sister and my brother in law are crazy about pizza hut....I walked in holding a huggggggeeee gift for christy...he saw it (as did all the other kids at Pizza hut) and immediately guessed it.. a remote control monster truck!!!!!....at his age I would have been the happiest to get that kind of a gift...infact I would be happy to get that kind of a gift even at this age :)....

I missed him b'day party ofcourse....he was king for a day ....and he apparently made every kid dance....and at the end of the day he hugged my sister and said "thankyou mummy"...my sister says thats when she realised the joys of motherhood...ofcourse after that it was back to screaming and shouting at Christy and her lamenting her motherhood ....hahahah..

the other news is that I have no other news.... quite frankly there is no time for anything else now....and now the best plan is to not make plans...it seems like the partners of the firm know before itself the plan you have made for the day and ensure that you never stick to it....its like the saying 'ssshhhh the fridge is listening' .....the fridge that seems to always know when you are planning to buy something special and it always break down just before the big day....well the thot that the partners of the firm are akin to the fridge is kinda of funny...well the way they are all expanding kinda makes it more believable i must say...

3rd or 4th ...what does it matter?

Ok ok…so I made a small mistake in my last blog…as one friend generously pointed out to me, I am actually starting my 4th decade instead of the 3rd.….but I would rather go with my friend Devika’s observation that I had actually not finished my 3rd decade yet…apparently the 4th decade officially starts when you complete your 31st year…so that leaves me with one whole year….so think I am going to stick with Devika’s interpretation and believe that I am still finishing the last pangs of my third decade…

But moving into the thirties is not that different actually….as someone wisely said - "now you are old enough to take decisions and yet young enough to make mistakes”…and although not related , another wise observation was “growing old is not an option..growing up is”…

Well moving on from such highly profound thots to the other happenings in my life….work has been crazy for me which explains the late blog….and now I have added another activity into my life to pack up my already cramped schedule… the gym!!! Which was a much needed addition considering I didn’t get any exercise other than exercise for my fingers…so now I try to run to the gym to do a quick 30 min workout…...in addition to burining calories time at the gym is also time one gets to spend with oneself....ofcourse today I was sooo engrossed in watching a bond movie that instead of doing introspection I ended up working out for 1.5 hours !!…. well no sweat..there is always time to mull over ones life...

The firm also hosted a Founders day party for all of us and our families today….. As my parents could not come my sister and christy came along as family….For some strange reason Christy announced to his friends that he was going for Vava aunty’s b’day party celebrations…..and for a week I tried to train Christy to say “Good morning” and “Namaste”…. And today at the function he proudly muttered “Good Morning teacher” to everyone… hmm…at least it means that he is learning something at school….but the event was totally fun….we played games….ate a lot….and then finally ran to a theatre to catch the show of Hanuman… where I promptly slept off ….waking up only when Christy started climbing on his chair and jumping off...all in all a good fun day….

Taking about b’days …its Christy’s b’day a week from now….and my sister has been secretly planning his b’day party…..or at least she thot it was secret….imagine her surprise when a lady whom she hardly knew told her that Christy had just invited her for his b’day party!!! Obviously the kid is a great networker….

In other news Bunty, my erstwhile pigeon is back…and this time she has come back with a companion …. That meant double the melting eyes ….but I definitely didn’t bargain for two when I wished for Bunty to come back …..and about wishes coming true how about that sea facing house?

ohh...the 101 biggest celebrity oops has just started (yes people I do watch it).....byeeeee....

Feeling Legal in a Regal way...

Or was it regal in a legal way? well quite frankly I dont really remember how I felt as I was in a daze all along.......

The firm flew us to the royal city of Udaipur for an offsite - or as understood in ELP temporary shifting of office for a few days......I was left off the previous day at midnight only after i promised to read the documents I had drafted overnight...but considering there was no night left the promise seemed stupid...so I reached home at 1, packed my bags, compressed 8 hrs of sleep into 2, woke up at 4 in the morning and ran to the airport to catch the 6 o clock flight....so in between all the packing and running around I hardly got anything constructive done .... except for noticing the new spanky Jet Airways counter ...making its poor cousin Indian Airlines look even poorer...........am a total Indian Airlines fan....not cos of its public sector status but cos they remind us that service is not about looking good but about being served good....ofcourse when you have someone looking like Aishwarya Rai/John Abraham serving you you are more likely to forgive her/him than anyone else if the soup lands on your head rather than on the tray.....anyways moving on....

and once we landed we were assigned our respective rooms at our very own royal palace overlooking the lake....my room for some strange reason had a chinese theme to it....maybe the hotel's idea was to make me feel chinese in an Indian way...well not that I had any time to feel chinese or anything else for that matter...we were soon caught up in a session of talking about the firm and its values....with just 2 hours of sleep they could have been talking about the latest celebrity gossip and I wouldnt have blinked an eyelid...and at the end of the session we were asked what word comes to our mind .... well no need to scratch your brains for that one... Sleep was the clear winner...

Udaipur trip also coincided with my b'day....I heralded my b'day dancing with my office colleagues at a royal hunting lodge...and woke up in the chinese room facing Udaipur lake next day and tried to contemplate the meaning of being in the right side of 30...well quite frankly I doubt whether there is any meaning ..and I doubt even more whether I would want to know ....so I did the next best thing....went for a full Kerala massage in Udaipur!!!........where I tried to pretend I was not from Kerala in the hope of listening in on what the ladies were saying about me...I mean what better way to hear about yourself than eavesdropping....but my accent gave away my mallu identity the moment I opened my mouth...well after that it was total bonding about Kerala and mallus....

Also went for a stroll around the palace to imbibe the history..and Shiks this palace reminded me so much of the Alhambra in Spain......similar gardens, similar figures of lions-except that the lion here was smiling ..was told that the lion was smiling cos he had seen so many pretty women that day....well ladies that clarifies the question for us...males of any species are the same ..... with a lion at least nobody will rob your house ...

The flight back was a little more exciting than expected...leveraging on my b'day I asked to see the cockpit...which they graciously allowed....much to our surprise we were actually being flown by a Russian Pilot....who seemed totally cut off from all the attention we were giving him..and an Indian pilot who couldnt stop grinning from ear to ear from all the attention....in the five seconds that we were there they told us which lever to pull to get the flight off the ground...I guess in an emergency I can at least take the flight off the ground .....so what if I have to live in an adrift plane for the rest of my life...

Coming back to Mumbai was however the best....especially since my b'day celebrations still continued after I landed.......but regally and legally speaking the trip was all in all a good one.....I lived in a Chinese room in a Rajasthani Palace, ate italian pasta cooked in a royal kitchen, had a Kerala massage and was finally flown back by a Russian pilot!!..totally cosmo experience dont you think? Not a bad way to start your 3rd decade I would say....