Hyd to Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow,,,after a long time...and from a different continent. Not that there was much to be written about earlier :P.
Love the place, the crowds, and the ironic silence. Had a lot of expectations from this changed environment, some came true, some didn't. Dealing with it. Oh and yes, saw my first snow.... unexplainable feeling.
Let's write a bit about our journey from Hyderabad to Chicago. Started with the inevitable family goodbye..(I do miss them...a lot),,, and my mom feeling more scared than I was (do they all graduate from the same school of motherhood or what?) and asking me to not go instead! But alas! determined that I was... I set off. On a mindless expedition. After the maze of formalities, finally (phew!) reached my seat to find an old lady sitting in my (WINDOW!) seat.
Me: Umm.. excuse me,,,, I think you're sitting in my seat?
Old Aunt (O.A) : What, no,,, you check your ticket properly.
Me: I did,,and I'm sure...
O.A : (checks) Oh ya right,,, sorry paapa (grrrrr...im 24) ... (in Telugu) I'll sit here for a while if you dont mind. Whenever you want to move, just tell me, we'll switch.
Me: (to myself) aaaah I love window seats
(to her) Oh no problem auntie... its OK

Then a tirade of predictable conversations,,, how what when where why etc....
I am also going for the first time, can you ask the "WAITER" to get me some coffee? Beta, can you ....blah blah blah blah blah ......
Finally managed to fall asleep (Did I mention her spilling coffee on me and me needing to change...**&&%$**)
and got up only when there was half an hour left to land... Shucks... it looks awesome,,, i wana look out the window....Its my seat after all...Should I wake her up? Its rude..... Hmmmmmm
Me: Auntie,,, do you mind if I sit on my seat?
O.A : you ARE sitting on your seat only no,,,why should I mind,,,sit wherever you want....You know,,,once my daughter was .....
aargh,,,,snore snore snore.....(edited)

Then got off at Frankfurt.,,,its a real sexy airport. The trains to different terminals, the glamour, and O.A following me everywhere. Finally managed to shake her off my course by an incredibly looooooooooong time in the restroom ;) . Didn't have to wait much luckily for the next flight. Well, hopefully this will be a good one? Yay! another window seat...wow, its my lucky day ain't it?
Uh Oh whats that?
Is it a bird?
Is it a plane?
no,,, itssssssssssss
another Telugu Talli (mom) on my seat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To get an abridged version of my flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, please go to the top and read the first description again. (Kill me, i'm dead)

What happened on that plane? What happened to Navisa after that? Did she survive? For all the ever popular juicy (Soapy ?) details, watch out for our next episode.

yawwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, a day

of cats and dogs and cows with bells,
of seductive rains,
of wait for the ever elusive passport,
of hours wasted in stupid banks,
of the ever confusing options of course ahead,
of the mortal plunge from over-optimism to not-so-helpful-either pessimism,
of being smitten all over again by professor's smile,
of making up for it with a chocolate brownie,
of talking to (not-so-interested) S finally for a decent amount of time,
of conclusion that I miss him.....
Crap

hmmmmm...

The only thing changed in two months? Miss to Mrs.... and yet alone coz the Mr. is busy clearing up a database on the other side of the planet...Saucy.......Yup,,,thats right,,, the honeymoon of my dreams...

Wateva...blah......

Crappy deadlines, exams, cross-continental paperwork drowning me in this bubble of incessant bickering...And he who thinks 'Happily ever after' exists....ya sonny,,, time to wake up.

Had it with the whole species of selfish and egoistical MCP's. period.

Here's a happy thought: PPPPPHHHHHHHHHBBBBBBBBBBBBTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Home BitterSweet Home

Hardly been home in the past two months,,,and am tired and incessantly bitching about the travelling now.....Went to Bangalore for a very short and fast week,,,,met new people, slept through nonsensical shopping sprees....went out for loooooooooooooooong walks,had a great time in small quotients but found myself soooo detached from the city itself.....

That was amazing since it took me years to detach myself from Bangalore and live in Hyderabad wholeheartedly...but now......sigh......I dont wanna leave this place.....Its my home now.....16 years of being a Hyderabadi....kaiku chodke jaana baap?nai jaaneka mereku...

What else to write about... nothing new and inspiring going on....As of today, about 68 days left for the event to take place,,,so I guess its the silence before the storm.

Herez a link to an article written on our Design studio :

http://www.auroville.org/thecity/architecture/two_at_once.htm

amchi mumbai...

Blah and a half.....

A week long fiasco in the fugly city...(no offence)

Mindless speeds, the city just never stops. The crowded local trains, the arrogant bhikaris, the humble autowallahs ( a rare specimen here, you see....), the weeklong gastronomical delights limited to some of the best sev puris and wada pavs and pav bhajis.

Incessant noise and pollution, never a moment of silence with yourself, the city of dreams as well as the city with Dharavi.

The amazing and admirable and efficient public transport system,,,seriously, I think its gr8.

And if you follow the logo "Shop till you drop" for seven days in a row, by the end of it, you end up crashing ala sleeping beauty only with no hopes of any prince charming around.

I'm glad its over.

Tomorrow begins my week long shopping adventure in Bangalore. Happy and excited, for reasons not even remotely related to shopping.... :)

Blah blah blah, ciao.......

My tour update....Auroville alive

Why do I blog?

Who am I writing to?

some questions are best left unanswered....







First of all, my Auroville trip.....

It was supposed to be a break from a hectic life but hardly turned out to be the same. Had a busy but awesome sched, had great (est) people for company, had the world's best place around me....Quite a heady concoction....

The studio was great,,,we were working on co-creating a Health Centre for Auroville, bringing together its various alternative health therapies and allopathies under one roof...The challenge was to come up with a design in a group and the tool used was dreamcatching and co-creating. The catch line :The outcome should be a synthesis of ideas based on the highest common factor and not the lowest common denominator.



We had some really talented people working together and I had the most amazing two weeks of my life. We came up with some promising solutions very much appreciated and its really difficult for me to summarise the essence of it. I dont really want to. Being selfish about it seems nice.


I have to say something about the place we were living in. The ILC building in Auro. One of the best I've seen. Full of spaces worth every blessing I've spelt ever. Not exaggerating. Watching and feeling the space, mornings, noons, nights, the ponds, the skyscape, the invisible chimes, it was nothing short of a divine experience. I love that place. I'll consider myself an honest architect if ever a building done by me would evoke that response. I call the ILC poetry in action.

The yoga sessions early morning, the wilderness walks late night, the koffee krunch icecream breaks, the heavenly bakery treats, the silent conversations.........I cant stop thinking,,,but I need to. hmmppphhhhhhh....I wanna go back, live it again.

Woes of shopping ...

Blah.....

Supposed procedure of shopping :

• Decide on what you want/need/blah.
• Go to place where you find it.
• Buy the thing.
• Get out and get done with it.

What Women do???

• Make a list of what they want.
• Identify a target/location (read 10 different stores with probably the same variety).
• Take extra cash along "just incase they find something nice to pick up....(alarm bells ringing at this point)
• Reach the place. Decide where to start attack from.
• Okie- first shop? lets see what you have ....one by one the haggled men parade "their goods".
• The women set aside what they like and then start looking at other things.
• Involves a long procedure further I find too emotionally stressful to describe.
• Also select almost everything not on their list.....!!!!!
• When everything is selected, they haggle over the price.
• Since it is an insult to buy it at one go, so they fight over the price and leave the shop.
• Same procedure in another shop.
• The looped program continues in other stores too.
• Finally end up buying the stuff at the same first shop.

My point is "WHY?"

My woe?

With my wedding round the corner and loadsa shopping to do,,, I dont know how I'm going to survive the catastrophe...

P.S. : Not all women are the same....example??? ME!!!!!

P.S2 : Me off to my soul spa...Auroville,,,be back in a month with loadsa blah......