Weekend Tales!

A weekend well spent if I say so myself. Started Saturday by dropping off the missus at her office and having a look at her workplace. The first thing her company needs is a change of office. I cannot picture myself working in such a cramped environment after having been spoilt for space at my current work place. It also doesn't make sense to me when only 2 or 3 personnel are at work during the working Saturday. Wonder why smaller desi companies fail to look into these things when they promptly can copy other business best practices from the western ones.

I spent a good hour or so at Blossoms after a long time and ended up splurging a grand and a half on books and some comics. I see the comics as an investment kind of thingy when we finally do decide to have kids. I managed to pick Joseph Campbell's book The Power of Myth and a few other Hindu mythology books including the Kamba Ramayanam. I also happened to run into a few Italian students who were studying at Manipal University. All of them seemed to be interested in getting their hands on spiritual kind of books and some were even pondering over reading J.Krishnamurti! I managed to convince them to start with something easier like the Ramayana or Mahabharata. The fascination that they had for Hinduism got me thinking about what really attracted them. Was it an illusion of being able to attain peace and everlasting happiness or was it just some general curiosity that needed to be satiated? Whatever the reason, I hope they find happiness and and sense of contentment by reading the books.

Next destination was the Adidas showroom on 100 Feet Road where finally got my hands on a pair of FIFA 2010 t-shirts. Germany and Spanish colors were the obvious items of choice (Spain since they won the cup and Germany for being a sentimental favorite for me). The evening was spent shopping at Lifestyle and this time I added a few more t-shits to my already exploding collection. 

Speaking of Lifestyle, the Oasis mall on Inner Ring Road has the weirdest parking lot among the malls I have visited in Bangalore. Way too little space and invariably, 3 out of 5 vehicles always end up having to reverse before moving to the next level (this time I'd blame drivers who lack the basic common sense to negotiate the sharp turns). We spent the evening visiting a close friend and his family. The visit was long overdue and his baby is now almost 6 months old and as with all 6 month old kids, she is absolutely adorable!.

Sunday morning was spent at the movies watching Peepli Live. I'd be surprised if any other movie comes close when the awards season hits us for the movie is quite simply in a league of its own and the actors have done a job that only genuine theater artists can pull off. Peepli looks into the lives of people in rural India through a satirical medium. If one is not moved by the gut wrenching poverty that envelopes rural India, I don't know what will. Here we were enjoying the comforts that post 1991 India had given us and on the other side are half a billion or more people struggling for everything. Even worse is the fact that not many who saw the movie (me included) were going to do anything about doing their bit to bridge this colossal in-equality that engulfs our society. All the movie gets is appreciation, a few taalis and everyone's off to the food court to enjoy a 200 Rupee meal. This is what we have come to be! How pathetic!

We had childhood friends Ranju, Shibu and Ranjus bride come over for dinner last evening and we had atotal blast remembering the good old days we spent together and of course the Hercules rum made the evening even better. Schatzi had cooked some superb dal, palak panner and chapatis for dinner and it was all topped off with some yummy Baskin Robbins ice-cream. You probably have such a get together once or twice a year and each time you only wonder why we cant have more of such evenings.

Weekend and Cricket Fever

A disappointing end to an otherwise nice weekend. Disappointing because the Mumbai Indians played some poor cricket and lost the finals of the IPL. Sachin was as usual the only standout batsman apart from Pollard and every newspaper, website and magazine in India has the same opinion that Pollard should have been sent earlier and that sending Harbhajan at number 4 was a disaster. 

I wonder what logic the think tank had sending Nayar in at number 3. They were better off sending maybe Tiwary or Rayudu in and have them take on the CSK attack while having Sachin defend fort at the other end. Shikar Dhawan did not do too much and Jayasurya was always a better option in my opinion. The two dropped catches cost Mumbai dear too. The first 5 overs resulted in 17 odd runs and once the field restrictions were off it was always going to be a mountain to climb.

Having said that Dhoni captained well and CSK at the end deserved to win. CSK owner Srinivasan 's astrolger must be a happy man! I did catch a glimpse of Mukesh Ambani on TV and he looked really nervous. Surprising that a game of cricket causes even the biggest businessman in India to have sweaty palms! Mumbai will do well to retain Pollard for the next edition and buy someone like Raina and Bollinger. They'd be really good assets for the team.

the weekend was spent relaxing and visiting close friends and doing a bit of shopping. I've laid my eyes of a nice pair of Puma sneakers that I am getting very tempted to buy. On the work front the next few weeks are going to be pretty hectic with the project in Cambodia nearing completion. I will be in Phnom Penh for the most part of May.

A complete health check-up is also on the cards. I've been getting some strange pains in the shoulder of late and might just do a complete checkup to see what condition the body is in. Now that the IPL is over the weekday evenings need to be spent in a more constructive manner. May a little walk in the evening would do me no harm? The house is in a mess with the servant maid on vacation for the whole of this week. We seem to rely so much on help from others to keep our houses clean and when they don't turn up for a few days you realize that your bed is no longer neat and tidy as it used to be, the bathrooms are not spic and span, the floors seem to be getting their 3 or 4th coat of dust and is is then you really appreciate the work that maids like Padma (out housemaid) do for us and we are only a minority within this country who can afford such luxuries. Teaches you to be humble and take nothing in this life for granted.