Furniture and shoes... shifting Des

The time has arrived. At least that's what I've been telling myself. The end of this 2 hours plus of driving a day.

Working in Gurgaon and living in Delhi isn't really helping my social life at all.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the drive. It's a challenge a minute.

How fast do you think you could get from point A to point B (28KM away) while being constantly menaced by mad drivers eager to give you a practical "crash" course in road rage, experienced ones trying to prove that they paid for their licences to drive, brave little girls sticking like GLUE to the fast lane while speaking on their mobile phones, no doubt complaining about all the noise of "those horns blaring behind me", simultaneously skilfully tapping out an SMS and checking their lipstick in the rear-view mirror angled just so as to show them their big pout while a certain needle drops below a mark reading "30".

I make it in a little over an hour on days. It's an entaining trip there and almost as interesting on the way back, but this guaranteed 2 hours of driving a day has robbed me of what little social life I might have had in Delhi.

Solution? Shift to Gurgaon. I'd decided this soon after I reached here I think. That was in February. I've been searching for a place since. It was Bangalore all over again!

First thought I'd buy a place - Dad had already expressed his disapproval in renting a place. Discouragement would have been if the place was good and costed 70Lakhs. How about a low quality construction in a close to downmarket area costing that much? I'd rather risk Dad's temper.

ProspectiveLandLord:"Bachelors? Erm... we DID want a married couple, but you seem okay."
Ten minutes later: outside
Broker:"He's saying he's getting an offer for 60Lakhs to buy the place, so may not be renting the place"

I think that's the closest we got to getting a place till Gautham was lucky enough to be shown a floor in DLF Phase-I. It's big, airy, good quality. I've finally got my wooden floor. There's greenery and trees everywhere you look when you're on the balcony (which almost wraps around the place). A park's the next plot. It's quiet. Unbeleivably, 500 metres to the nearest mall, 7KM to the office and the closest residential area to the Delhi border by road.

You can probably tell I'm happy with the place.

Furniture? Now that's a bit of an issue. Whatever little I had in Bangalore was either given away or sold. I figure we'd need sofa/bean bags/computer table, chair, dining table and chairs. Toss in some kitchen equipment, some curtains, a bar trolley, some stuff to populate the trolley with, a mattress, bed, erm... what's the budget again?

You mean there was a budget? All of this isn't coming in for free? At any rate, saw some mattresses, a few computer tables, a coffee table (did I not mention that already?), a really neat bar trolley, some really bad dining tables, one of those cushion things that folds to make a low "sofa" type thingy or opens to be a bed. Reached Gurgaon, bought a tape measure to see about the curtains - think those're coming from home. There's lots of spares out here. Installed modem, got a download going and headed out to a mall (THS has an "upto 80%" sale on). 5 minutes later we were waiting in line to get into the mall - weekend mall goers seemed to have learned their lesson and get DROPPED to the mall rather than go through the 30 minute wait we did.

THS was a mess. They didn't have anything labeled. Price tags were under some products, not mentioned on others. The staff had no idea of what they had - asked the guy if he had Corelle dinner sets and he gives us a categorical "no". We bought two things from there. One dinner set (of the brand which they didn't have) and a bathroom shelf (could have SWORN I'd mentioned that before). The manager seemed to think that having a guy "help" people was smarter than labeling products with prices. 3 generations of women (a lady, her daughter and her daughter) brought about 5 artificial flower stems of which 2 weren't "bar coded" to the checkout. The lady behind the counter having sent 2 people to get the "codes" for the uncoded twigs went for a coffee break. As we waited, another customer trying to get the bill so that she could get out of the shop (the guard demands to see the bill before releasing any goods from there) asked how much we paid for the dinner set and congratulated us on "such a good purchase" and set off to see if she could find a similar set - we didn't have the misfortune of seeing her pulling her hair out trying to get the one lone "Reggie" to admit that he had them after all. We were quickly "manual" billed and with a smile from Reggie, the guard stood aside while we exited with a bit of paper with some numbers scribbled on it and the goodies.
Next stop was supposed to be a Reebok shop. I've been trying to buy trainers for the last 4 months or so. They haven't in the past had:
1. My size
2. A sober colour
3. A comfortable fit
all together yet. I'm not paying a massive amount of money to be told they don't have anything without that gold and silver trim on red, yellow, white, grey and brown base in my size because "that model was discontinued last month" and "this is the new one".

Anyway, was headed down to face the same thing again and Ma noticed that there was a 30% sale on Clarks. I'm a big fan of these shoes. Have been since I ruined a pair I stole from Dad while I was at school. Half an hour later I walked out of the shop with Ma, feeling quite happy at my purchase of a nice pair of black shoes.

Off to the Reebok shop. Didn't feel too bad that they didn't have the shoes I wanted because they "went out of style last month" and they've only got "old stock in sizes 3 to 7 and 9" in that style, which is why if I DID buy that pair that was a size too big for 6K, I'd get 3K worth of extra spending for FREE!!

Shall see about some more furniture tomorrow.

Life toDe

The party starts
the alcohol flows
the friends part
the difference grows.

The past is gone
the future's here
sit around with friends
and drink more beer.

The crowd moves on
upwards and away.
The friends that're left
are there to stay.

You stop and think
"is this really me"
there was no more
for folks to see!

The future's here
the future's now
The past's all gone
HOLY COW!

Couldn't be chowed to finish this 'pome'... too drunk? Maybe...
too far gone? Definitely...

too lazy? - Crap... you GOTTA know me!

Weddings Ahoy!

They're all done at last. I've had an insane amount of fun in the last few weeks. Lots of weddings to go for and one or two that I missed. Was good getting back in touch with old friends and meeting lots of new ones.

Now I need to get back to work to get a bit of rest :)

Here's what's been up.

Wedding in Hyderabad - couldn't go for that one, but landed up at the bachelorette party before she left to get married. The reception was in Bangalore, so landed up at the reception knowing Mallesh (a good friend from the office who I went with) and Radhika (the bride who didn't want all the fanfare - and I don't blame her either). Drank a bit. Tried to mingle a bit. Drank a bit more... the usual. Next scene was when Bells got married.


Bells wedding was in Mangalore. After cutting lots of sad "Wedding Bells at Bells Wedding" one liners I met up with Karen (Mrs. Bells now) for a drink at Cosmo Village - it's been done up quite nicely now - not half as bad as the last rennovation. I still prefer the way it was before though. Bells landed up from the US on the 21st I think.
Met up with him and Lacy - a friend who'd come down from the US for the wedding - on Saturday (24th Dec) morning (just about afternoon) and went to Pecos for breakfast. A few beers, good conversation with the guys whose table we piled onto and quite a bit of food later we left. Had to rest up, pack and get ready for the trip to Mangalore. Was supposed to leave at night and still hadn't decided if I was driving down or taking the "Shaadi bus". Finally decided on the Shaadi bus or I'd be driving alone - NOT my idea of a good time. The bus was supposed to leave at 9pm. Two of his friends from the US (Mat and Deep) were supposed to land up from Delhi at 1. The flight got delayed. Arrival scheduled at 5. The flight got delayed. Arrival scheduled at 9. Decided I'd take the car after all if it got any later - which it did. Bells left by bus and I went to the airport to pick them up. The description that I got was "A tall white man with a short indian woman". I have no clue how I recognised them - don't think I would have if Deep hadn't looked all confused when she came out... hardly looked indian and she wasn't all that short - hey, I'm 5'5.5" (that .5" is kind of important when you're my height). Picked em up, took em home, made myself a drink and passed out.
Left the next morning at 7ish armed with a map of Bangalore, a map of Karnataka and a navigator (Mat) who despite never having been to Bangalore at all seemed to flawlessly point out the right directions (I've tried using the map since then and it just doesn't work). We reached the highway and the drive started. Brilliant roads. Good company. No decent food on the way, but hey, we were going for a wedding - plenty of food out there right?
Found one joint on the way that we stopped at for a "lite snake". The treatment we got was beyond great. Must have been the effect of a white man who spoke hindi :)
You wanna know how great? Before we'd finished ordering, half the stuff (whatever we'd ordered till that point) had arrived.
The drive down was pretty peaceful. Reached Mangalore just in time to make it for lunch with Bells.
Would you beleive it... all the pubs I knew in Mangalore have shut down! There's no Knightrider any more :(
Landed up at Hau Hau - a good chinese joint out there and stuffed our faces a bit.

Bin awhile

Long time no blog. What else is new?

Funilly enough, I've had tonnes to write about. Every time I thought I'd blog it, I realised I didn't have net access at home... I'd put in one of those "Angry smileys" at this point of time, but I"m too lazy to do stuff like that.

Lots has happened
Lots to write
nothing's been uploaded
though I wrote lots last night.

I may as well just put this up as a reminder of what I've got to blog when I do get net access at home...

There's the Bangalore internet issue.
There's the Mauritius trip - if that's what it can be called...
The Citibank debacle
Asian Paints Home Solutions - Delhi edition
Friends who know more about my life than me (should I correct that to 'I'?).
Alcohol and cocktails - a whole new twist.
The De the Documents died... trouble with the machine every time I touched one of them.
The De the Music died... and took all the pics with it :(
The wedding season.

I think that's about it. I'll write these things sooner or later - probably later - but I'll push for sooner.

Interesting times?

May you live in interesting times.
- Old Chinese curse

I've seen the most interesting. It's said that most mundane story of any man on the earth would be more interesting than the most exciting novel ever written.

This could be true. I’ve come to realize that anyone who wishes can make life a bore or make it score. Where do you look for your way? Do you turn to life? Do you go out and look for a wife? What are you scared of? Is the threat of pedestrian so far a dread?

The lines I write are mostly golden.
The people I fight are mostly lost.
The response I get when I open my heart
Is the same as the one as when I break a fart.

The story continues.

The jerks that happen
Are gaps in the flow
Of the music play
Of the way to go.

Random thoughts
They come to mind.
The first ones that decide
That I should find.

Documentation is not where it’s at
The farther you get,
The more you get fat.

There’s not much happening
In the head these days.
The work that’s done
Is all in a haze.

I need a change now
I need a change fast.
All of my thoughts
Are stuck in the past.
People who came
Folks who left.
The ones that went on
Have left me bereft

Of any cold reason
Of any clear path
Of things left unsaid
Toss it now… I’ll go to bed.


Blog it all…
I must I must.
And it is to you my friend
This URL I entrust.