For the Love of Shoes!

When I had moved to this city I had a few rules about the amount of stuff I can have and when it was close to the limit I had to make a choice of what to keep and what to throw away. I dont remember when I stopped checking the limit, then i suddenly realised everything is full! the cupboard and even the bags (they were suppose to be empty and pakced away!) Theres stuff everywhere!  Then  to add to it there are sales going on.. how is a girl suppose to resist that? Especially someone who loves shoes :P Look at these.. It would be a crime not to have brought these home.  

Oh...and before you think I'm a crazy shopper... No I did not buy all these at once.  I met them over the past couple years. Yes, I met them.. I love each one of these they almost like a personality.  These are some really good shoes.  Im not brand concious but for those who are.. these come from Enroute, Amore and Catwalk.  

You can never have enough of them and whats most wonderful is no matter what the weight might be the shoes always fit :D

Everydays

Red! Kitten Heels

Everyday Favourite

Loves my feet more than the others

Grey Sturdy Newbie

Mauve Suede Love!

I do not always wear high heels but these are my loves... I do have flats and sneakers and I am not really the type to write or show off my shoes but these beauties cant be kept in a box all their life! :D

The Waiting Room

The waiting room is a place where time slows down and you seem to have developed a gift where you can actually feel every second of every minute passing by ever soo slowly.  I had to travel interstate and had to take the train .  Five minutes before the scheduled departure there was an announcement - the train was going to be late by FOUR HOURS!!!! I cringed at the amount of the time to  kill (I'm not at all patient you would know that if you had read this old post).  I could have slept a little longer but only if I knew.  I headed toward the waiting room while pulling my luggage reckoning how painful and agonizing.  I'd rather walk around the place than sit at one place and wait for hours to pass by.  But I HAD to wait in the waiting room because the baggage was a bit to heavy to carry around.  

The waiting room can be a good place for people watchers those individuals who like to observe fellow homo-sapiens.  There's someone brushing their teeth, another reading a book, a group of youngsters just sitting around playing cards or simply gossiping.  I see a lady who has been walking around with a toothbrush in her mouth for the last 10 minutes (Yucks!).  Makes me wonder what is the ideal duration for brushing one's teeth.  I generally finish brushing in 2 minutes, some people can really brush for 15 or even 20 minutes! That lady was brushing her teeth so rigorously that it seems like she wanted to polish them - with that much pressure she could just sculpt them (LOL!)

There is also a couple - seems like newlyweds from the way they are behaving; one is too concerned too much about the other.  You can tell they are newly married because the concern seems newish and fresh.  There is also a lady with a sleeping child.  The child keeps waking every 15-20 minutes (may be is sick).   An old lady who has also bee watching this mother and child walks toward the young mother and advises her...Wait its more like a lecture seems to go on for minutes. The young mother just listens and smiles.  The child wakes up once more and is now crying the mother picks up her baby and tries to sing and swing it to sleep in her arms.  The old lady quietly walks back to her seat - may be her advise was not applied :P

There is also a couple of bickering siblings - 2 sisters.  Can't tell what its about but its just loud noise once in a while and one of them storms out of the room.  Another couple enters the room with their two kids - a boy and a girl.  Looks likes they are twins both are crawling + can standing by holding on to something.  The father puts the bags and the kids down.  As soon as the kids are put down one of them stands up holding the fathers leg and looking up at him as if to say pick me up :)  Makes me wonder if the child was thinking 'Pick me up oh great giant into your strong arms' :P 

I just constantly keep looking at my watch hoping the time will pass. Did not want to play music for the fear of running down my battery before I got onto the train - I get really nervous even if its down by one bar! I had a book I tried to read but I almost dozed off - Sleeping in the waiting room can be a bad idea, my worst nightmare is missing a train because I overslept! I had sent a text to a few friends about the train delay and couple of them called back.  Something annoying about this waiting room is that there is no reception an I had to walk out of the room but still stay at the door so I could keep an eye on my luggage.  The only good things about the waiting room is  think there is an expiry to the time we wait there.  The excruciating (largely exaggerated I know but it seemed so) four hours were finally up and I felt this wave of happiness  come over me as I stepped out of the room and little bit closer to my destination.

An Evening at Masjid Bunder - Mumbai

I was at Masjid Bunder yesterday helping my aunt with some grocery shopping.  For those of you who don't know Masjid Bunder - it is know for being a wholesale market and the second station on Mumbai's Harbour Line.  It is the second station after Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus.  (That's about how much I know about it :P)

Every time I'm here I feel like I'm walking in the streets of the old Mumbai - the Mumbai of the Mills Era.  There's trucks to hand drawn carts being used in this area to transport good from place to place.  Here I am reminded that Mumbai is a place where people work really hard.  See the picture below,  Its an old man carrying 2 pitchers of water.  He was so old and still carrying that much load.  I'm sure we wouldn't see any youngster in the city carry the pitchers this way.(Click on the images to view the full size version)

Its not just this man but anybody you look around will be buzy carrying something to someplace.. I think this the busiest area of the city :) Here's a look at a few people I spotted.

He's not a beggar...

Everybody is carrying something

There was such hustle buslte in this part of town I even saw people pulling hand carts but couldn't click a picture because I look like a tourist - clicking away while they were all working.

Most buildings and some shops have this really old era feel to it.  There were some shops where they lined the spices out in small trays for samples. Liked the colours... notice the shades of red?

Turmeric and Chilli powders with different spice limit :)

Other Spices

There were quiet a few shops that hung a sign that read - We take old notes... don't know what its is about them but I like :)

This is just fruits after the vendor had just sprayed some water on them. Not that I had not seen this before but... just went click :P

Fresh Apples

Take a look at this fruit seller.  He sells 5 peeled oranges for 10 rupees! They are small Oranges but still.. makes the point - Most people here work hard to make a living.

I spotted a toys shop that sold smiles by the pack :D... If only it was that simple to buy smiles :)

A pack of smiles

Something else I find in this city - Mumbai.  There are a lot of kabutar-khanas.  People here like to feed the pigeons and there a LOT of pigeons!
Here's a small Kabutar kahan in Masjid bunder and Pigeons :)

Pigeon Picnic

That was one evening in one of Mumbai's busiest markets and thought of sharing what I saw :)

Why Do Cockroaches Fly?

This is going to be the most random article I've ever written.  I couldn't sleep and when I went to get some water saw a cockroach.  The instant reaction was trying to kill it but just as I was about to... It FLEW!!! I just hate it when they do that!!

Why did God create these six legged tentacled creatures? So we appreciate those creatures that are not creepy and make you want to kill them!? The thing is creepy as it is why give it wings?  It reminded me of the Peacock somehow (I know weird) because even though some of us think the peacock does not fly, it does when it needs to I guess (I've seen seen it!).

Now the Peacock is a creature of beauty and it look amazing when it flies - more like glides. From the trees / roof to lower ground, it can't fly like an eagle or a pigeon. May be it does I've not seen it - must do may be how does it get into the trees / on the roof then.  Hmmm.. I've moved on to a beautiful creature.  I tend to digress when I'm talking as well and it reminds me what a friend said to me "You have a wavering mind!" :P I start at point A and end up at 4th cross road Martin street heheh (I just did it again :P) .. Coming back to the point... why do they have wings? They have 6 legs to carry them faster.  Those 2 antenna thingy to warn then of direction / find food I guess... but they should not be allowed to fly! :( its just a little scary sometimes.  If they did it everyday like they were flying insects would be fine.. but they do it occasionally. It should be simple either fly or don't fly! They are like the amphibians - we learnt in school animals that reside on land and water.  So this is a pest bordering on flying and what is it they do..crawl, run? There must be a word for it :P

Here are a few facts about cockroaches I know thanks to some e-mail forwards and Google :D

Kill it before it flies!

A cockroach can stay alive for a whole week without its head -  A true pest huh! This makes me wonder what kind of a weirdo must have beheaded a roach and observed it for that long time to come to this conclusion.... Also, this is why we need to squish them - no amputating! :P

Cockroaches have been around since the time of Dinosaurs! :-O - They should be declared kings of pests!!

Some female cockroaches only mate once and stay pregnant for life! -That is just abnormal to think of... does the baby roach take birth when the mother dies then? What happens to it? Imagine what would happen if that happened to humans... errr lets not... creates a very disturbing image!

The next 2 facts really made me LOL! :P

Cockroaches can run up to 3 miles an hour - I imagined a roach on a treadmill and a guy (same one who beheaded his friend) with a stopwatch (heheahaha)

Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes! - Roach under water :P Some person must have had a lot of time to get to these facts! :P Must be people who are really curious about this and do a lot of Research! Poor pest had to suffer such harsh testing - would have been so much better off if it was killed instead :(

We consider this creature a pest because it lives off our food and also give off a terrible odor.  If it brings along family we call it an infestation... What is it's role in the food chain? eating scraps / garbage?  There must be a reason for it's existence... So if the worlds a stage then the role of this little thing must be to play the pest.. Doing really good pesty! :P

Some Interesting People

Disclaimer to Friends: If I haven't mentioned you in this article it does not mean you are not special to me. You must already know I don't have the patience to write pages and pages.  May be someday when I think of writing a book on the people in my life I will count each and every single one of you. This post is to highlight people I met through uncommon and interesting ways.  Also I shall not give out proper names - for your privacy ofcourse.. but you should know when I'm talking about you.. hopefully

I have to say I have a good memory (most of the times). Today I was going through my friends list on a social networking site (I know that you know that I'm talking about Facebook) and remembering how we became friends. Some I share some interesting moments with, some through a common friend only to realise how freakin similar we are and then somehow we ended up becoming closer friends than with the one who actually introduced us. I'd like to narrate this chronologically.

Some how I don't remember the first friend I ever made - probably because it was an entire class I saw (getting a feeling I'm rambling now... May be writing in the reverse order is better)

The most recent friends I made were two people (RK and JK) with whom I had interacted only through this blog.  How I met them was because of another common blogger friend (BM) whose posts I much love to read  and the people I met were also his fans :P... now what's special about this is I don't really go about adding everybody who follows this blog :P I had added BM on FB after reading his articles. The plan was to meet up with BM because he was coming to this city but eventually ended up meeting RK and JK  and also a new unexpected friend JM. RK was the 1st one I saw and just behind her were JK and JM.  We met at Nariman Point and it was a totally fun evening!

Another friend I made thanks to blogger and I intend to meet as well is SDR.  I really like reading what she writes.  Her post Perceptions, Vegan and Boyfriends is one of the best articles I've read!  Hope someday we are able to meet in person too. 

SB is another really really sweet and extremely fun person! She is my office best friend's (DS) childhood friend.  I added SB on FB after hearing all her stories / praises  from DS.  We had a common best friend but I think we mostly bonded over heavy issues.  Something peculiar about her is she is quiet a lot like me - soo talkative (sooo much more than me - I don't get to talk when she is talking!), extremely fun, very straight forward and we have realised over time that we have a LOT of similar likes / dislikes!  I call her the comic strip lady, she has a lot of potential to write (sadly she does not believe this) and those who know her can get to see this side of her if they are friends on FB or around her when she is in that mode :P hehe. I am yet to meet her in person, another person on the list of people I want to see :D

SC was a girl from the same college as me.. She was a year senior to me though.  (I'm not sure what impact my revelations will have on our friendship now but since this topic is such.. heregoes!) This happened about almost two years ago.  I received a call from a girl and she said she was in the same college as me she was my senior and had got my number from a common friend CS. She was working in Bangalore but was in Mumbai on a business trip and wanted to meet up.  She added me on FB and we had tons of common friends (the entire college crowd). Now there was something about this person.  I clearly remembered her name and also that she was my senior in college but the thing with the brain is when you remember names it also does a lookup on the face.  When I went through her profile on FB there was no flashback! She called again the next day - it was the weekend.  she had to do some shopping and also was keen to meet up.  Now I could not tell her that I did not remember her face, I thought may be if I met her in personally I might remember her.  So I did, but still nothing! That was really weird because I claim to have a good memory but I just could not remember her! It was like a whole person was wiped out of my mental records.  But yet I did not tell her that.  The whole time we spoke of college, work and the kind of people we meet, life, etc. in the background my brain was desperately  trying to get a match. That whole evening I spent getting to know this person I had once known earlier.  Till date I am unable to recollect how she looked like in college (unless she dressed up like a Hobo or had a undergone plastic surgery or something - which I know is not true or possible!) That day I made friends with a person allover again whom I knew once upon a time and for some reason - which I still wonder - I'm unable to recollect! Bet that has never happened to anyone!

AS and I met in a camp in Dharwad, Karnataka in the summer of 2005.  We first met in the summer camp and then in the subsequent Pre Republic day selections camps that happened that year.  I was an Army cadet and she was a Naval cadet. Initially we did not like each other at all but it was a session of 'face reading' that brought the walls down :) After that we became really good friends and still are. I'm glad we met AS! On second thoughts the whole group of faces was really special!

DM is a friend I made 9 years ago! Way back in 2002 Yahoo chat was a rage like FB is now-a-days.   There used to be real people to chat with unlike today where chat rooms are full of predators.  Through the years we have stayed in touch somehow while not constantly being connected but catching up now and again.  I think it is an achievement we are good friends till today is because through all those changed numbers and e-mail addresses we still managed to be in touch.  We finally met in the real world about 2 years ago before that we had not even exchanged pictures or anything (none that I remember)!

So these are some of my friends.  From the above listed interesting people I think SC story tops the list... Unless someone tells me that is normal :P

The Wait

The one skill I need to acquire is PATIENCE - not that I'm perfect otherwise. I think I'm one of those almost perfect people and I'm glad to be almost perfect instead of totally PERFECT else everyone around me would be soo jealous LOL!! (OK I'm digressing now :P back to the point) The toughest part in life is the wait, learning to wait.  

I think wait can be a silent killer or may be its not the wait but the anticipation of what could be.  I felt it would take an eternity to grow tall when I was little.. hmm now that was a random sentence (I've decided I'm not going to cancel anything I write and think aloud in this one) so yea, coming back to the point of waiting and anticipating.  I'm very impatient when it comes to the verbal hook (I just can't solve those funny riddles, I'd rather pester the person to give me the answer! :P)... and the friends who know that use it against me sometimes.  A friend sends me a text 'I need to tell you something'... Well Seems like she wants to check if I have the phone handy so I immediately reply 'Tell ME!'.. I mean why can't she just text me what it is.. why the I-have-something-to-tell mystery? 

Another friend of mine (now this is just for the pleasure he gets out of making me wait.. and I get soooo mad at him, I Can't describe!) so he calls me tells me 'There's something I have to tell you' and I say 'Yeah????' and he says 'I'll tell you when we meet in person' (Isn't that totally annoying!? I absolutely hate it!) I never annoy my friends like this because I understand the pain ( Pain? :P LOL) I think we humans love to create suspense and drama (why am I even surprised!) Why do you think Daily soaps are such a hit.. I think because people are nosy :P they want to know whats happening in other peoples life.  Then again the wait... the soaps make you wait and you wonder what will happen (do you even now-a-days? I think its totally predictable).

Another random thought about the waiting process - You know what I don't like about waiting too long? Its the fact that after you know you have waited for way longer than you should its making the decision to move on.  Just because we have invested that much time waiting of something to happen / appear you feel you can just put in a little more time.. it then sort of becomes like quick sand pulling you in deeper and deeper (that is the worst part). Its like waiting for the Buses in this city, after you have waited 30 minutes you know you will wait for another 10 minutes, but then even after another 15 more minutes there's no bus and you get into a Rickshaw... and soon as you start moving then you see the bus arriving (you feel worse when you see how freakin empty it is!!) Its just best to move on sooner if you don't find something than be stuck in one place because of the time already invested.  Moving on is good, change is always good. (did that sound like something from the book Who Moved my Cheese? Its just common sense I think but then that is so rare! :P)

They say the wait makes things seem worthwhile and if it weren't that we'd get bored even sooner. There's a lot I could write about this subject but I've run out of patience! So ending with quote I really love  :)

                 I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

- Margaret Thatcher

P.S.

I don't think I'm too impatient either.. I get like this when its gone beyond my patience limit :P

What Was Your Dream?

When I was young (like 5-6 years old) I hated it when people asked me this one question "What do you want to become when you grow up?" I those days there were just a couple professions I had heard of - Doctor or Engineer! I would say Doctor only because most of my classmates said that. I knew I did not really want to become a Doctor or an Engineer but I was not aware of any other options.  I thought may be things will change and I will do something different.

Sometime later when my Dad and I used to stargaze and Mum told me about the man on the moon (Neil Armstrong and Rakesh Sharma the first Indian in space ) I dreamed of becoming an Astronaut. I actually  had dreams of floating among stars and walking on the Moon :P I remember there was news of UFOs and I wondered what would happen if I were ever kidnapped :P  Later I learnt that Astronauts need to have a strong mathematical base - I really HATED Math so much that I changed my mind and gave up my astro dream.

When I was 10 I attended my first proper science class.  I liked biology and wanted to become a scientist. Around the same time I used to watch Captain Planet - it was a show that taught kids about pollution and how we can save our planet (Click This Wiki Link to know about him). I was totally into it and learnt the title song.  I think I still remember it - Captain Planet, he's our hero, gonna take pollution down to Zero.  He's our powers magnified .... something something and then ended with We're the Planeteers, You can be one too. 'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do Looting and polluting is not the way, Hear what Captain Planet has to say: "The Power is Yours!!" :D and even made notes of all the GK they shared (I actually wrote down the points!) that was a really good show and I miss it sometimes. So yeah, I wanted to do something for the planet and dreamt about inventing something that will save the world from global warming. Here also again.. Science students were required to be good at Math! So numbers made me change my mind again.

When I was about 12 I wrote my first poem and wrote about 49 more! :) Yep.. I wrote about anything I remember I had written one about the seed germination process.  Then something bad happened, I had a made a book of my poems and given it to someone to read.. and they lost it! Can you believe it!? They just LOST it!! That hurt me so much I had written soo many poems and this person just loses it! I cried for days over it and then decided I will never write again (Well I'm still writing now! So something nice happened and I later changed my mind  :D) But around this time I realized I could write and thought of becoming a writer too.  

When I was preparing for my board exams I had decided I would be going for Arts and majoring in Literature and Psychology (Yes I'm serious!) I wanted to be a Journalist or something to do with Psychology (I was interested in reading people).  I had even bought the admission form of the Arts college. Now, my Mum was sneaky - she asked me one little question "Do you like to write short answers or lengthy ones that span pages and pages?" I said Short ones.  She explained that arts students have to really write pages and pages for their exams while Commerce students just need to create one balance sheet or solve a problem and they get full marks.  She also said its not like Math and I would be fine. Well, that was all it took and I eventually ended up in a Commerce college and specializing  in Management. I had no idea then as to what I would be exactly doing for a profession.

When I was in college I came across this one Astrology book by Cherio and for some time I even thought about Astrology (nice substitute for not making to Astronomy :P) but this was short lived again due to all the numbers and calculations! I have a mental block around numbers.

I dreamed about a lot of things as a child but today I find myself somewhere else.  I hated math and numbers and avoided it so much that the course of my dreams changed and today I'm working for a financial company :P I don't regret it though. My work is nothing to do with numbers :P :D - I love systems and people interaction and my current job gives me that.  I think I am one of those people who are happy with with their job (most of the times :P)...

But, Zindagi abhi bohot baaki hai :) My love for writing is alive (I like to think) through this blog :) I guess somehow through all the things that we dream of the real passion stays alive no matter what. 

Ramblings

When I started this blog I was all excited and thought 'Finally I can start writing again'  So initially I wrote more than a couple articles in a week then it reduced and at a point there was none in a month even!  Then I thought may be I was too ambitious and thought of writing at least one article per week. How difficult can it be? Not too hard but I happen to be either very buzy or a little lazy and I'm unable to  keep my promise to self.  

There are times when I get ideas or lots of stories that I could write but I stop due to the above stated two reasons  but I blame the writers block (writers block!? :P haha) I confirmed with a few other blogger friends and they (genuinely) face the writers block too :)

So I was thinking about my recent schedule and there is no time to write stories in the normal hours.  I would have to stretch and cut back on my sleep (which I so love!) to write something (which I also love).  Generally I'm inspired to write somewhere around the hours of 1-3 am (which is middle of the night) and I am suppose to wake up by 9 but have been waking up by 10/ 10.30 am.  I have come to realize I need 8 hours of sleep and my body refuses to wake up till then :P

After I wake up I just have enough time to quickly shower get dressed and run to work and its almost noon. I have all my meals in the office cafeteria since I'm living by myself and can't bother shopping for vegetable / groceries and worry about what to cook tomorrow.  I have been living on the cafe food for the last 5 years and I must say God has been kind and I have not found any weird stuff life a cockroach leg or lizard's tail - you get the idea - in my food (either that or I must have gobbled everything down without looking :P).  Then I start work in the afternoon ad finish by 10.30 / 11 in the night (I work UK hours) by the time I get home its 11.30 / 12 depending on when I left.  

Once I get home I get online check what's happened in the FB world (that's the 1st site I check).  Thanks to the news feeds feature I get all updates in my home page :P.  A few notifications, comments, tags, posts, Birthday wishes, play with the FB Aquarium fishes - there was a time I was totally addicted to this fish aquarium game and reached a high level then something went wrong with it and I i stopped gaining points.  That put me off and I finally stopped playing. Next I log in to check my mails - Yahoo, Gmail and check updates from any other sites that I have registered on.  Chat with friends, message friends, forward jokes / mails, etc. Then I log in to blogger and check the Blog Stats :P Bet everybody who writes does this :D I just like to know if someone visited my site today - there's nothing wrong in that.  So when the number of people who visited is zero for a day that's when I feel I REALLY need to post something new.  I look at the time and realise its suddenly 2 AM!! I need to sleep now and I also wish to write.. kya karne ka? I have to sleep if its a week day else I can then think about writing something new.

I have a few ideas that I really want to write about but I'm a perfectionist and can't share half  written articles.  I know a lot is happening around and I should may be just write but I can't I'm too buzy to write :P

Well seems like I managed to crib (not really :P) and explain what happens most days.  This is the result of pushing myself to write something ... anything nonsensical (because just one person visited today :P hehe) because I want to write and what do you know its just 1.15 am and I have managed to write something alright! Reading it back I remember what a friend once told me.. I have a wavering mind and I think the title Chronicles of the Wandering Mind suits just fine :D

I'm expecting some very critical comments, tell me people how bad was this article :P

Things To Do Before I Die

A thought crossed my mind today - What if I had only 1 year to live.  I tried to think about all those things I had always wanted to do and if I would ever be able to get everything on my checklist.  Here are a few things...

1. Go on a wonderful holiday with my family.
2. Meet the friends I don't have time to see now, the friends who I've met just once in my life so far and those friends I made on Facebook due to various reasons :)
3. See the places I always wanted to visit (Himalayas, Venice, Mexico and Combodia :P)
4. Signup to become an eye donor.
5. Change somebody's life for the better.
6. Apologise to those I might have hurt (if it was my fault)
7. See a Panda, Penguin and a Blue Whale.
8. Taste as many ice cream flavours as possible :P

I thought I would have at least 10 things that I could share.. oh well.

That would have to be one exciting year!  Somethings I might be able to complete and some might just stay on the list.  

Its been a wonderful so far and the journey is still on.  Life however is uncertain and we might just have to bid good bye without announcements.  It is a very short act and time is actually fleeting. 

We NEED to appreciate the good things in life and forget the things you can't change. There are times when things get real bad and we might think its the end of the world... well its not.  Just remember, no matter how bad things get there is always the possibility it could have been worse (even the worst situations have the ability to get worser :P ).  If you think you've hit rock bottom well.. there's just one way out of there - Up :)

Google Image

A lot of ramblings in this post of mine... Just happened to transfer some of the mess from the head to the blog :P

Meow Menace

This morning I woke up to a loud noise outside my room.  It was my landlady and she was screaming for life.  The reason was a wild cat (non-domesticated meow) had come into the house and was attacking her domesticated cats.

So the rented place I live at is a house owned be a lady who loves animals - especially cats.  She has three cats who live a wonderful life. She cares for most animals and does what she can to help them / care for them.  Now there was this cat who would show up occasionally at her doorstep for some food and she would oblige - the kind loving lady that she is.  But cat (lets call him Jungli) wanted more than just the normal scraps of food.  Even though he lived on the streets and lived life the way he wanted to, he craved for the wonderful cat food the domesticated cats were getting. I'm sure he must have got the aroma of the nice cat food the home cats were getting and he had decided he was going to get some too.

So this is what transpired this morning - when the lady was leaving for work at about 6.30 AM Jungli found the perfect opportunity to break into the house and get all the food he could get. When she opened the door to leave Jungli saw the door of opportunity opening.  He leapt in and ran straight through the hall way and into the last bedroom.  He attacked the first cat he could get his eyes on (now I'm dramatizing this) it was as if the wild one was asking the domesticated cousin 'Tell me where the food is' and the poor cat - the name is Dhanno - was either not able to or was shit scared to say anything while it was being continuously attacked.  This is when the lady started to frantically shout and scream for help, her little baby was being attacked.  This woke us up (me and my roomie) I rushed out to see what was happening.

When I saw the scene I ran to get my long umbrella to shoo it away - Jungli had once earlier attacked the landlady and was a bad bad cat.  The umbrella was useful in separating the two cats but not for long.  This was no cat fight but more like a cat attack.  He ran out of the hallway and into the living room where Patchu was resting.  Patchu is an old cat (about 14 year old) and now Jungli was now attacking him.  I managed to separate them only for a little while - Jungli now didn't seem to care for anything.  He was on an extreme attack mode. I still kept at him with the umbrella and they were separated for a while.  Jungli ran under the chair while poor old Patchu gasped for some air.  Jungli sat under the chair looking at him with I'm-gonna-kill-you-today looks.  He was younger, stronger and wild and seemed to have an upper hand.

The main door was open and I hoped to get the cat out of the door by shoving him with the umbrella.  He would turn his face away when the umbrella hit is face but dit not budge an inch - now right at this moment the landlady saw what I was doing and from yelling for the life of her cat she started yelling at me for not hitting the cat on the face and be a little 'Humane'! Hmmmm, right this moment I imagined what would happen if I were to take an extreme step to save her cat.  I gave thought to these options:

Option 1: Get a gun and blow the damn cat's head off.  The landlady would then stop screaming about the safety of her cat.... and start shouting at me for killing an 'innocent' cat! If she continues to feed the cat that attacked her and was shouting at me for hitting it - even it was for protecting her cat she would not want to hurt Jungli!!! (grr) this was a bad idea!

Option 2: Get a box and put it on the cat so it does not go anyway. The only problem was there was no box and Jungli was under the chair. Not gonna work.

Option 3: Call BMC to take the animal away. That would take forever and may be by then one of the house cats will be killed. 

Option 4: Lure it with food, may be he was hungry.  Could work.

So option 4 it was.  The landlady got some cat food and well that worked - Jungli left Patchu alone and followed the aroma (more like killer stink for me) of the cat food.  The landlady led him out the door and left the bowl of the food outside.  Peace finally prevailed and all were safe again... But wonder for how long? 



Jungli resembles this cat! See the killer look?



The Indian Curry

There are somethings very typical about the Indian people - the passion for cricket, the spicy food, civic sense, road ethics, the way we say yes and no by nodding our heads and how others don't understand if it is yes or no, the communal sensitivity, spirituality, reservation system, the caste system, bureaucracy games and what not. 

Only an Indian can understand another Indian.  The proof of that is how we are able to function not super efficiently but we are not doing too bad either.  Only Indians can drive on all the Indian roads because we understand our fellow Indian driver's psyche.  It is very rare that we see foreign drivers on our streets.  It is also true that if you can drive on the Indian roads you drive anywhere in the world.  We have a gift of understanding any system and adapt to it beautifully. You will always find Indians no matter which part of the world you travel to. The nodding of the head for a yes and no - we all do it and only we really understand whether the other fellow Indian is saying yes or no. We 'Realise' we do this only when we meet those don't understand it. Once when I travelled to Geneva a waiter asked me if I was Indian.  How did he know I asked, pat came the reply "Madam when I asked you if you wanted water you noded the 'Indian' way"!

We complain and crib about the government, the dirty politics and the scams, the education system, the traffic jams, unruly drivers etc. We have our own style of doing things and continue living through it all.  Lets take for example the inflation problem, if such an issue crops up in other countries (only referring to the developed nations) they would take some measures that would if not fully at least partially resolve the issue.  But as we are so accommodating we learn to adjust and work our way around it.  The reason India is the preferred option to be the country where most jobs are outsourced other than that it being cost effective is because we Indians blend so well.  Talk about the Indian English accent - there isn't one but many, as many as the languages. Just as the dialect of language changes every few miles so does the accent :)

We have a 'Jugaad' (the temp solution) for most problems ;). We complain about the system but we also know exactly how it functions (read under the table fixes). There is something about us - we blend in anything / everything easily and are open and receptive may it be culture, religion or way of life.  We are like the Indian spices  - it might taste different on its own or some are even tasteless but when they are tossed in to make a curry create a unique blend of different flavours.