Rufus became a proud father

It feels like yesterday when I went ahead and got this cute 1 month old Golden Labrador into our family. I named him Rufus. On 8th may 2008 my dear Rufus became a proud father of 6 pups. 5 of them are of his color and 1 is black. I hope I get to see them soon. The pups are taureans ! ha ha ! Only a few people would understand what I mean but yeeee I am happy !!

Come home before its late

Ahhh!!! An earth quake !!!!!!!!! All the noises in the background !!! My world turning upside down... !!!! Whats happening !!!!
The voice sounds familiar, I thought... and it was getting louder. A sudden realization that it was my mom and this was no earth quake. It was my mother trying to wake me up in every possible way to go to school !! You are late, she said. Without paying much attention to what she was saying I got out of bed, my eyes still shut and sleepy. Then started the questionnaire round. Have you ironed your uniform, is your bag packed? Have you finished your homework? One answer for all the questions was a simple word "yes". Honestly speaking I had not done any of those. I ate my breakfast and got ready for school as fast as I could. I could hear my autowala (rickshaw driver who used to drive me to school) already screaming my name. "roz ka hai tumhara, tum kabhi jaldi kiu nahi ready hoti " he said.(Same story everyday, why dont you ever get ready on time) . I reached school, kept my bag in the class and ran for the assembly. " You reached !! I have so many things to tell you" my friend said during the assembly. We started talking in between the assembly knowing for a fact that teachers and prefects were around. Luckily we didn't get caught. First class was science, my favorite ! It went well. By the third class, I was bored, hungry and sleepy. It was Hindi class and Mrs Nimbkar was trying to explain to all of us some hindi poem/kavita. I soon got distracted and started thinking about how my life would be when I turn 20 or even older. No school for sure and that was enough to make me smile. Mrs Nimbkar soon noticed that and asked me to explain what she had just explained. Ooops ! I had no idea !! I was in my own wonderland !! She threw me out of the class. Being me I was not at all embarrassed and happily walked out of the class thinking aahh finally a break ! Soon the bell rang and and we had our short break. Me and my friends ate our lunch and gossiped. After three more classes I was totally exhausted, but I was enjoying the day in a way. I liked being at school, cause I was always around my friends laughing and enjoying. During the long break we ran to the canteen to eat samosa. One of the classes turned out to be a free one and we had a lot of fun during that time. We made paper plane's and played in the class. Finally the school was over. My mother had come to pick me up. I sat behind her on her blue kinetic and we went home. I had my lunch, slept for a while. As soon as I got up me and my elder brother got into a fight because I wanted to have cold coffee to drink and he wanted to have something else. We also fought over whose turn it was to help mom make tea.He gave in and then it was time to go out and play. My mom did my hair. Before I left she told me to be back before it gets late. I told her that when I become 20-21 years old I would not listen to her and stay out of the house till late and ran away. We played all sorts of games till late and i realized that it had become dark. I had to run home before my angry mother came to my friends place. After coming home, my grandfather started teaching me maths. It was the day we were going to learn integers. My grandfather was excellent at maths and a lot of fun to be with. Finally with all my homework done It was time to watch some TV. After dinner my dad came up with the idea of ice cream and everyone welcomed it. I went with my dad till ravi nagar Dinshaw's and got pineapple supreme, my dad's favorite. Everyone enjoyed the dessert. This was like a routine in our house. The day was over. It was time to sleep. My brother and I fought some more because he wanted to sleep on my side of the bed. He was also complaining to my mom about the fact that i sneak into his class when he isn't around and talk to his friends and take his pen/pencils which i completely denied :) .Again I was in my wonderland thinking how nice it would be to be all grown up.......
and suddenly I could hear the alarm ring !!!!! WHAT WAS HAPPENING !!! I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND !!! The bed felt different and so did the room ! Where was I ? Everything looked different. I scanned the room and realized this was not home at all. This is where I live in the present. This was Melbourne ! and I was late again ! But this time late to go to work ! The reality struck me hard. Now my mom wasn't around to wake me up, the autowala not around to take me to school ! Hell no school also. No more maths lessons from my dear grandfather.My dear school friends - just figment of my imagination. No samosa breaks. The time when i could just go out to play with my friends without worrying about a single thing - gone ! I am not staying with my parents anymore. I don't get to see them everyday. No more pineapple supreme. I never get to fight with my brother anymore ! The only conversations we have is about the progress of my assignments. As far as my life is concerned, its restricted to university, assignments ...some more assignments and work and a few friends.
I wish I knew that growing up isn't that much fun at all. I wish I had a time machine and I could go back in time. I would always remain in school and this time I would never wish to grow old.
The only thing that still remains unchanged in all these years is my mom saying " Come home before its late".

Monday Mornings

Each week I have a new version of my Monday mornings. These versions vary from burnt toasts and omelette's to missing the train when I am already late. The bottom line is every Monday morning comes with a new recipe for disaster. The story does not change much, the degree of disaster does. Every Sunday night I go off to sleep by 2am or so, after coming home from a late night shift at maccas. Every time I make a resolution that I will kick start the day by getting up early and doing my hair and going for work. According to me the first day of the week shows how your week is going to turn out. Unfortunately, I never hear the alarm ring on a Monday morning and thus instead of me kick starting the week, Monday morning kicks me !
I get up late which forces me either to completely skip my breakfast or end up having something which should look like toast and egg. I have to go without my favorite cup of coffee the first thing in the morning. I can't find anything to wear in my pile of clothes. The clothes I bought very excitedly just look bad on a Monday morning. Finally i make a run to reach the railway station only to realize that I have missed my train and will be late for work. Finally when I reach maccas, I always find myself surrounded by people I dislike which adds cherry to my already bad start.
And yes I have forgotten to mention that there are times when I have to take a cab and even then I am 15 mins late for work.
Through out the day I am sleepy. Things don't work out for me on Monday.
Every Monday morning reminds me of the previous week and somehow gives me a feeling that the current week is going to be even worse.

Note - I got up late today also !!!!

The letter ...

To the most special person in this world,

When I look back at the years and time I have spent with you, all it does is bring joy and smile on my face, because together and alone we have gone through a lot but still managed to remain friends.

Remember our first meeting, the first time we spoke to each other,

The time when we became friends from being just mere acquaintances,

Somewhere when we just started trusting each other with our secrets,

The times when we were really low in life and things weren’t working out, but we knew that one person would always be there to listen to anything we wanted to say and trust us without judging us the way world does.

The times when we were really happy and wanted to share it with someone and knew whom to call.

The other times when we just wanted to talk without any reason, knowing that it is good to have someone to speak to even when we don’t talk sense.

The times we didn’t speak to each other for months but still knew that we are just one phone call away!

The times when we fought, but we still knew that they would get sorted, because they always do!

And even today, after eight years of this crazy friendship we are still surviving, more importantly now when the distance plays a major role.

This trip down the memory lane just to let you know that you are one of the sweetest people I have met and I love your stupid caring ways.

You are one person I never want to lose.

Ill always be there for you and you can always count on me.

With loads of love,

Alka Bai

We have moved to my current house in August 2007 and till a week back our living room was completely vacant. We have a funny looking dining table and 4 chairs. Apart from that there was no place to sit in our so called living room. Our rooms have all the required furniture.

But every now and then I felt the need to get a couch but never had enough money to buy one. Actually I didn't want to invest my money in one. Then one day we went to our friend's house warming party and I realized that their house was homely and ours wasn't even close to being called HOME. This was it I thought. I had to make the apartment into a home. I discussed this with my house mate and realized that she shared the same feelings. The very next day we went to Ikea and bought stuff to beautify our house. We got non sense I must say. This non sense includes rugs and candles and artificial flowers , but not a couch.
The next day while coming back from work I went to Salvation Army store to look for really cheap second hand couches. I was very delighted to find a few that were worth buying. But I needed to consult my house mate and decided that I would visit the store again with her, but again that day never came. Weeks passed by.
Then one fine morning when I was really late for work I saw a couch under my building, just 2 minutes away. But I had no time to go and examine it. Bad luck I said to myself. I thought about the couch all day at work and started cursing my luck. When I went back home in the evening, to my surprise the couch was still there. Oh great !!!! I thought. I called my house mate who was sound asleep. I tried to explain to her about the couch but all in vain. I checked the couch myself but I wasn't sure about it so I called up another friend of mine who lives next door and asked him to help me with the decision. After debating for a while, we decided to take the couch home. Now the question was how and who will pick it up ? There was no one except for the two of us. We somehow managed to bring the couch home. We quickly arranged and rearranged the interiors of the house. I was happy that finally I had a couch in the house.
Then it suddenly struck me that I was Alka Bai. Ok who is Alka Bai now ? Alka Bai is our maid in India who comes every morning to clean the common area of the society. Every now and then she keeps on asking for free stuff, be it anything she is always ready to take it home. She asks my mom " Bai yeh mein le jaau kya ?? " I had become Alka bai. I never thought a day would come in my life when I would happily and proudly put someone else's rubbish in my living room.
Anyways I realized that these our the lessons we have to learn from our life and live with them.
So this was the day I became Alka bai :)
Attaching a few pictures of my new living room

African Safari

Somewhere in Dec 2007
Location - Melbourne

This was the day when everything was going wrong. My alarm clock stopped working somewhere in the middle of the night and that made me get up an hour late. I was to start work at 11 am and it was already 9:30 am when I got up. I quickly got ready and to make things worse I realized that it was a weekend which meant that Flagstaff station would be shut and I would have to walk all the way to Melbourne Central to take the train. Normally this is not a major concern for me but today it was cause I couldn't waste even a single minute. It takes me an hour and 15 mins to reach work normally and on weekends 1 hour and 30 mins. I did not have time for this. I couldn't afford to be late. First I hate being late and secondly I knew that the store owner would be there. The only option was to call a cab. Luckily I got one quickly.
I told the cab driver where I wanted to go. Usually the cab drivers are Indians - yes Punjabi's and Gujrati's, Pakistani's, locals or Africans.
This cab driver was from Africa. Soon he started to talk to me and started asking me these typical questions that all cab drivers ask. These are a set of typical questions that everyone asks and the answers are at the tip of my tongue. I told him that I was an international student, studying full time at Swinburne University, that I was late for work, studying IT. Questions I am bored of.
The question that came next completely surprised me ! He asked me if I knew Amitabh Bachchan. For a second I thought I had heard him wrong and I made him repeat the question. I realized I had heard it correct the first time itself. He had actually asked me about the Bollywood legend Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. I told him that I knew him and that he is a good actor and everyone in India love him. To add to my already surprise state he started singing the song from his movie - Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayaal Aata Hai.... and asked me if I knew the song. I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say. I asked him how he knew the song. Not only did he know the song, he turned out to be a huge Bollywood fan and knew the dialog's like ' Jaani, Yeh chaaku hai...lag jaae to khoon nikal aata hai !! ' and knew Rajesh Khanna, Shah Rukh Khan and had seen many Bollywood movies. including Mr. Bachchan's Coolie. He told me that Bollywood is very famous in Africa and like India people worship Mr. Amitabh Bachchan there. He told me that ever since he was a kid he has been watching Amitabh Bachchan's movies.
Suddenly I felt very happy and proud of the Indian Cinema and its achievements.
For a long time we discussed Indian Cinema and I didn't realize when I reached my destination - work. The guy was so happy with the conversation we had, he did not take money from me. He told me " I cant take money from you, you have just reminded me of my childhood. "
As for me the wrong start to my day had suddenly turned right, I had one of the best conversations with the cab driver and I cannot deny the fact that I was happy that because of Mr. Bachchan I had saved around 30 AUD.

Indigo Fish Market

14th Jan 2008.

When I was in India around two months back, I had gone to Bengaluru :) , Banglore for most of us to meet my brother and his wife. I had a good time in Banglore except I didn't like the city at all. Anyways on my way back to Nagpur I was to take the Go Indigo flight to Nagpur via Pune. My brother dropped me to the airport an hour early as he had some work in the office and the flight was an hour and a half late. So in short i had to spend 3 hours at the airport doing nothing.
I spent all the time doing exactly nothing, just noticing people at the airport who were exceptionally loud and vocal.
Finally the announcement for my flight was made and I was delighted. As we took our seats I realized that everyone on the flight was again very loud. For some time i wondered was it just me who thought like that ? Soon I realized I was not at fault, they were actually loud ! Even before the flight took off people in their lungi's started to walk in the flight as if they were taking a walk in the park ! The air hostesses had to make them sit, but they did not listen and continued their ' evening walk' in the flight. The minute the flight took off everyone on the flight started clapping as if it was some joy ride and started shouting. I was shocked. The three hours that the flight was in air the women ( they were huge ) kept on talking loudly, some fought and swore, some clapped when they saw the fight and some hooted. I suddenly felt as if i was in a fish market. 'Fish market' is the term my English Teacher in school used to use when we would fight in the class and talk loudly.The term is kinda stuck in my head since then. The poor air hostesses es made several announcements and asked them to remain seated but all in vain. The weird women and men just kept on changing seats, taking pictures and talking very loudly. Even the pilot made 3 announcements in very firm tone asking everyone to keep quiet and to remain seated. But nothing worked. I really didn't understand what it was that was making those people behave like that. Anyways finally I was happy when the journey came to an end and I reached Nagpur.