A new Era Begins

Small changes creep into our lives and we don't even notice them, till one fine day you realise that you are not the same person that you were before. Honestly change is inevitable (Cliched, i know but so true), people say they haven't changed, but thats such a lie , every experience , every success, every failure , every memory and every memory removed changes us. But then im not really talking about such a change, such change is gradual , at times even not perceived, but there are some changes which just shout out and slap you in the face.

Im back home , infact i have been back home for just about a week now, its not been difficult to get into another schedule, its people i know, its places i Havent seen for ages but its places that evoke childhood memories which have been buried and forgotten long ago, good and bad, mostly good though. Its a new life.

I miss that life, well not so much the life but rather the people,i miss Arihaant, and though i wouldn't be caught dead saying it i do miss my sis too. The beer and the ham and the fancy meals i can do without , but i miss the independence of cooking my meals the way i want them.I miss the familiar roads of the daily jog, the roads here were familiar once but now seem strange,those roads which are familiar now will one day be strange again.

Right so coming back to Simla the first thing that hits you is the fact that its a small town and that every one knows everyone. i miss the anonymity of larger towns. Here you are stopped on familiar roads by semi-familiar faces that want to know where you have been, and what you are doing and the burning question are you married yet. i mean its as if every stranger wanted to give me his / her daughter and couldnt wait for me do procreate. Damn small towns, at the same time its interesting to know about the lives of people here, satisfied lives, at times stagnant but atleast superficially satisfied. And here i go once again not knowing where i want to go, or how im gonna get there. Its sad at 32 im still as confused as a 10 year old. I mean i meet juniors from school, classmates even random acquaintances who seem to have made something of themselves, who seem to have some direction, either by choice or by force but they have a path while i struggle to find the light.

Maybe thats what lifes all about , but Simla is like that it always makes me think , it might be cause i have always had too much spare time when im here but in a way i think thats good. So here is to finding a new job , a new life and well maybe a new wardrobe and to remembering the people that are not here, heres to a new Era an era of self discovery yet once again.

The Birthday Post

As has been tradition this is the Birthday post supposedly written on every birthday, to reflect on the year gone and life in general.

Well atleast thats the way it should be sadly enough i think this is my first birthday post, though i think id like to post one regularly, that would atleast guarantee one post for the year.

So Lets catch up a little bit - another years gone and i am (in hushed tones) 32 , well honestly after 30 it doesn't matter that much. I can still remember turning 30 with new friends in a new university, in a new city and a new country, sadly everything about that is stale and no matter how brave a face i pulled that day it did feel old. 31 went all alone (to be read as without family) in london , well managed to have a great day with an old friend from school, not that he much remembered it being my birthday, but i did manage to escape being alone and managed to be well watered by the end of the day.

This year was much better, i think my birthday actually lasted 2 hours more than the scheduled 24 hours of the day, We started celebrating early cos my little nephew had to sleep and it would be no fun cutting the cake without him. There was cheese cake to be had (baked not frozen ) i think my sister has finally perfected her recipe.


The gifts were great i got an 11 cd Audio book for Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, i have so been wanting it for such a long time now, its great to finally get my hands on it.

I got a pedometer which should ideally sort out the daily dash once im back in india, and it works great too , theres enough time to just about calibrate it right, sadly enough the software doesn't work on mac and so ill need to put it on apple or run windows on my mac for it well lets see how i work around it once im home. But more importantly the gadgets really cool

Lastly i got my tattoo. Iv been wanting to get a second one since quite some time now, but then there was always this hesitancy, but as im going back and well in a crazy instance of insanity , i just decided what i wanted where i wanted it and how i wanted it . Its a Tiger and a Dragon in a Yin - yang symbol, its orange , green, blue and black, well here have a look.

Well it was a gruelling 5 hour session, actually 6 hour but we took a lunch break, and yes after the first bit it does hurt a bit specially when he goes over a particular part again and again, luckily i got it on my shoulder and there wasn't much ink directly over the bone that hurts i know that from my previous tattoo . But yeah it seems to be looking good enough. Initially i had wanted the tiger at the bottom somehow over the course of designing and getting the Tattoo he came on the top but i guess thats destiny. While i was at the shop another indian bloke was getting a shiva on his arm it looked good, he was 46, this was his first tattoo and he had wanted it for over 15 years now , his wife thought it was insane, his kids thought it might be cool , i thought does it really matter, and suddenly it wasn't strange being in that tattoo parlour anymore and it was surely not an act of insanity. Im already thinking of what next and when .

Right so i got carried away with that one coming back to the birthday. The Day was shite in terms of weather. And i was thinking that my plans for going out for lunch with the family would surely have to be abandoned. So to compensate for it we had a special birthday breakfast pancakes with peanut butter and honey , it was heavenly and i was clearly throwing caution to the flaring diabetic risk. Well thats a good beginning to the day , and god for a change was with me and granted us a clear afternoon, infact a beautiful sunny though slightly windy afternoon. The mexican street food at wahacas at Convent garden was amazing, and the Tamarind margaritas just out of this world. Hmmm mmm mm m

Followed by running after the baby at Trafalgar square i think it was a good ending to a great day , came home tired the weather was still amazing and i thought might as complete the day with a run , jogged for a bit, almost died , but yeah i think the day was quite good.

So while things change, and as my days here come to an end i look forward to a new life , to India and celebrating my next birthday there lets see how that goes so till next year on that .