I left my heart in your paradise.

Never ending ways meandering into oblivious nothings,

When I looked you in the eye it was dark & you were bright.

The colors deeply embedded in my soul, and your radiant soul colored my eyes again.

The feeling of never coming back. Calling me out again. And again.

I left my heart in your paradise, keep it warm & I'll come back & claim it. When the time is right.

Break-time, food & friends.

Last two weeks have been nothing less than a train wreck. (Ok - I am not taking the mad drunk Friday into consideration, 'cos I don't remember that night too well).

All I remember doing was: working, coming back home, watching tv and sleeping like Rip Van Winkle whenever I got the chance. The long weekend that just went by gave me the chance, motivation kick-in-the-ass to get up and do something more constructive. And what's more constructive than making lovely 'ghar ka khaana'. I've been craving for some Kolkata food for some time and I decided to make some mutton curry. Well, roony played a huge role in this as well, 'cos she actually went out and bought a pressurecooker+mutton+beer (sheer awesomeness). Anyway, so I attempted a mutton rezala for the first time ever (I was missing a few ingredients). Turned out to be one of the best Saturdays ever! What more do you need when you have mutton rezala and beer stacked up in the fridge!

On another note, one of my oldest and bestest gal pals is coming over to Delhi tomorrow from bom bom bombay! We'll be heading to Rajasthan for 5 days of sheer indulgence, luxury and hopefully an awesome road trip. Batman & his best boy will be there too and I'm hoping this is going to be THE break i've been craving for the longest time. I've been a booking ninja & scoured through tons and tons of deal sites (there are far too many) to find the perfect place to stay. A pool was a must, a room with a view and economical YES. Done deal. Needless to say, my Precious will be traveling with me and taking some amazing shots of Rajasthan.

Here's to good times & good friends!

Cheers.

Beer is proof that God loves us.

Planning a party is the funnest thing you can do on a morose weekday. We've settled into this nice & cushy apartment with loads of space for throwing a madass party. Just the kinds you need to slap you back into unreality after a crazy work-filled week. So, we've planned a party this Friday (House warming sorts) and we plan to cause some serious damage (not to the house though). A carefully executed list later, me & Roony decided on the essentials & party supplies along with the puke buckets we need for the balcony. No one, and I mean NO one is allowed to puke all over the bathroom floor. There'll be good food, awesome music & of course the booze.

My cubicle seems dull today, I'm in no mood to work. My thoughts are mostly circling around party games, Beer games, Beer chugs, fried food & what playlist to download. Needless to say, I haven't gotten any real work done till now. Which is ok I think, given the fact this week has been Godzilla crazy & tomorrow is Friday. There is no such 'tough-work-sucks' week that cant be erased from your memory with a little bit of beer I say.

So, Chug Chug & away!

Weekend break = super sunburns & dehydration

So we took on the badass rapids this weekend and came out victorious. Battle scars are obviously there.. bruised knee & scratches on skin, along with a tan (sorry burn) that is refusing to go away.

This was my first trip to Rishikesh and I have to admit that I was a little freaked out by the idea of rafting through the gigantic rapids. But I fell in love with the water as soon as I fell into it! After a trial run & screaming my lungs out "My life jacket isn't working" I gave in. Batman obviously fell in the water right at the mouth of a rapid called double trouble, got scolded by the instructor and got laughed at. We floated around for a while, made human chains in the water, had maggi in the pouring rain on top of the rocks & smoked half wet cigarettes. Life is good!

Even though I am extremely dehydrated, burnt & bruised I'd do it all over again! If you didn't have a fun enough weekend - here's something fun to cheer you up...

From Agra with love...

Even though this wasn't the first time I was visiting Agra, or the Taj - the trips get better every time. This one didn't disappoint either. From the camel ride up to Fatehpur Sikri to watching the sunset over the Taj, everything boiled down to a super awesome time spent with friends. There is indeed something magical about old monuments. Reeking of mystery, history and romance... the royal grandeur of them all.. standing tall, magical and solid.

There are these times when I look at the Taj and think, what's so special? White marble ok, giant structure that took a zillion years and a zillion manpower to produce, ok. Understood. But what is it that makes people from across the country and the world stare speechless at this. It's pure love I guess. Granted that Shahjahan spent a fortune and blew up the treasure in smithereens while trying to prove a point - but the point he was trying to prove was all about love. Sounds mush and all, but it's true.

Dedicated to the mother of 14, the tomb of love looks almost ghostly white after sunset, at the same time it's serene and calm to the core.

Pictures speak a thousand words.. so here are a few!

Weekend Watching!

Things seem so much brighter when you know something good is gonna happen. My 'evil twin' is coming down tomorrow and I can't wait to see him. It's been so long that we met, but I'm super excited about tomorrow and then the weekend especially cos we are all driving down to Agra. My Precious will travel with me of course and I intend to take some brilliant shots of Fatehpur Sikri!

Weekend come soon please!

Oh, and don't forget to check out the first set of shots (struggled a lot with getting the compositions right), but my precious is very friendly.

Circle of trust - True story!

A couple of days back I posted a status on FB which read - 'learning to differentiate between friends, and friends who are family'. Needless to say, this led to an upsurge of raised eyebrows around the friend community, and I even got texts from friends asking what happened. Well, nothing happened really - it's just one of those days when you reminisce and realize the importance of certain people in your life and how your life would have been nothing but ordinary without their existence. This is all about those people who make my life less ordinary and add all sorts of drama known to man.

This one goes out to my peeps - simply 'cos they are that awesome.

The circle of trust started as a drunken night out and expanded into this fun phrase that we would refer to every time we'd had a couple of litres of alcohol flowing through our veins - but unknowingly and uncannily somehow the circle of trust does exist. A Godzilla weekend and a Beer Island spree later there we were (PG & KZ) discussing who we should include in our little circle of trust, turns out - not only did we include him but almost a year later realized I was crazy about him.

I'm in the mush mood today so I'm gonna tell y'all about my favorite homies and just how awesome they are - and yes of course I'm gonna use made up names for them - just 'coz it's that much fun.

Evil Twin - Oh we go long back. Through the fights and make ups, the monica dance and the omelette breaks. The drunk night outs and the crazy midnight calls - we've been thick as thieves. He's my evil twin, my alter-ego and bitch all at once. Even though we are miles and miles away, we're still the best of friends. No questions asked, no explanations needed, we'd back each other up through shit and we know that.

Drama Queen - She's the toughest of the lot, insanely awesome really. Even though we might not talk about our live's eternal sorrows and miseries, we understand a lot more about each other than anyone else. We are really capable of having telepathic conversations most times and know exactly how we want each other to behave in any given situation. She's fun, super quirky and one of the most awesomest writers ever (check her out here). She can lift up any drab situation by cracking some of the funniest and most obscene comments ever. She's also the first one to get sloshed most of the times. Yes, I have seen her passed out, puking, almost trying to jump off a car, crying, howling, kissing, romancing and dancing like no one's watching her. And yea - no one can pull off a drama better than her for sure.

Mr. Vocab - He's her better half really - like two pieces of a jigsaw they fit perfectly, almost like a dream. First time I saw him I thought he's a junkie - long hair, grim look and wandering gaze and all that. But then alcohol does something to people that one can only be thankful for. He comes up with random sophisticated words like 'citrus' and all. Take that! He's also the most fun drunkie ever. Also known as the enraged driver and the most philosophical one of the group - can seriously make a lot of sense sometimes. Maybe, makes the most sense most of the times.

Jackass - The name says it all I think. She left her brains at home when she met us. Can say the most randomly nonsensical things ever spoken and makes sense only 0.5% of the times. She's seen me through tough times, and we've picked each other up like toy pieces and literally put ourselves back together for the show. The big giant glob of heart that she is, she can be the most lovable creature that ever existed.

Batman - Well, I'm not going to say much about him, apart from the fact that he's managed to pick me up and turn me towards life again. When he's not busy watching or reading Batman - he actually listens. He is also the laziest soul on the planet and can go to any lengths to get his way around the house. He's also a super awesome boyfriend <3

Alice - She is technically the nicest person who ever walked this planet. The word 'bitch' falls flat on its face when it approaches her. She is a bookworm really, can't keep her hands off books and spends half her salary buying books. Also an amazing photographer and writer, although not a frequent one. Wish she'd write more..(Check her out here)

Smartass - Now that Jackass is all settled in a foreign land, we are thinking of passing her throne to him. He does both roles well. He is the funniest shit around. Says the most freakishly hilarious things known to man. Can make me laugh, choke, and die at the same time. There is no way that anyone can be in a bad mood when they're around this menace of a man. He is prone to PMS though and can get headaches out of nowhere to get his way. But we love him nonetheless. I also know that if he reads this ever, I'd have to the butt of all jokes for over a week.

It's one of those rare combinations I think. The smart, the funny, the mother-goose, the shrink, the baby and the bear. Not making much sense right now I think, but then I'm so proud and insanely happy to have known these people that I think I'm allowed to rant a little. No?

Ok, maybe not!

Until, my next mush mode post - here's to my lovelies! XoXo

Never Alone!

“There is someone special for everyone. Often there are two or three or even four. They come from different generations. They travel across oceans of time and the depths of heavenly dimensions to be with you again. They come from the other side, from heaven. They look different, but your heart knows them. Your heart has held them in arms like yours in the moon-filled deserts of Egypt and the ancient plains of Mongolia. You have ridden together in the armies of forgotten warrior-generals, and you have lived together in the sand-covered caves of the Ancient Ones. You are bonded together throughout eternity, and you will never be alone.” – Only Love is Real

It really is reassuring to know that someone’s got your back. Not just now, not just somewhere in the future – but almost like an omnipresent entity guiding you towards your source, bringing you one step closer to reality every single day. Sometimes when I feel lost or simply lose the faith, I remind myself of the people I have around me – I can count on them at 3 in the morning. I can count on the fact that even if I don’t speak to them for days or years, when we are re-united we would still meet and talk with the same vigor, passion and enthusiasm as where we left off.

As for soul mates – well, what can I say?! The rationalities of my existence, the heartlessness of the phenomena we call life has not been particularly encouraging. But there is this faint hope, a small flicker of instant recognition when your eyes connect over a passionate conversation, or over a heated argument, or when you are sitting next to each other without saying a word. The instant connection, the veracity of endurance makes you fit perfectly with them like the lost pieces of a jigsaw. How much ever I try to reason it out – my mind says impossible, but in my heart I know that you are all around me for a reason... so that I never have to be alone!

The Night That Was!

Mid-week parties are never the best ideas EVER. We know that well, we've been there and done that and in spite of that we did it again. :(

Thanks to my over enthusiastic bunch of friends we ended up partying last night, and here I am sitting at work staring at the screen for atleast 25 mins not knowing what to do. I am cranky, I am drowsy and I need a replacement head.

A couple of flashing images from last night included me saying 'this is my 6th drink' on every new drink, throwing eggs from the rooftop, renaming a firangi at the party as Govardhan, dancing to YMCA, and dancing till we dropped. Literally.

To add to my miseries, our Big Boss is in town and I had to sit with him on a 45 mins long lunch and talk about work related things, while trying to keep my eyes open. I really tried not to repeat words but I ended doing exactly that. :(

Now it's official- I am too old for mid-week parties and I'm officially denouncing any and every form of parties on a Wednesday/Thursday night.

Sack Race!

Yes! Being silly at times help. When I am bored out of wits and wanna do something just for the kicks, and for the 'cheap thrills' -

That is exactly what sack-races provide!

Not exactly sure how jumping inside a stinky sack, trash talking opponents and fumbling/falling and hurting (Read: Bruising) elbow

badly fits into FUN-- but there is something exhilarating in every stupid/childish act that we do.

Just to give you a background behind this floating sack picture- I was in an almost all day training, and call it an irony or whatever, "I was in a training to become a trainer". :|

Just to get out of the mind numbing experience, I sneaked out of the training, while we were switching rooms. Thank God for VC problems :) But the experience was worth it. For the short 2 mins, I behaved like a complete idiot racing against another idiot in the sack race across bays, fell down in the process and trash talked the opponent and blamed my defeat to bystanders who distracted me!

All in a days work!