When I look back on life and think of all the happy times, many of those moments are linked to school life. I remember wanting to go to DTEA very much, because my brother always seemed to have a ball there. I also remember my father wanting to put me in Lady Irwin and I prayed he would not. That time, my prayers came true and off I went to DTEA -- the seven years I spent there laid the foundation for the person I became, the friends I made and the thoroughly enjoyable time I had. Here are some of the memories that remain crystal clear even now:
First person who spoke to me on my first day in school -- Sharmila Xavier. I was standing outside the 5A classroom and she asked me, "Are you in this class?" Turned out that I was in 5B, and I didn't really get to know her until the 11th, when she became one of my closest friends.. and still is. Love you, Sharmi... :)
Joy of sitting in the last row -- In 7B, I was seated in the last bench with Rama and B. Kannan. Obviously, even then, I had no ambitions about staying ahead!!
School trip to Nainital and Mussoorie in the 11th -- That trip was when we all bonded very closely. The gap that the school tried so hard to maintain between boys and girls was eliminated, and we formed a close group that has more or less stayed in touch till now. Breaking the shackles the teachers tried to impose was a great lesson -- we learnt that members of the opposite sex could be just very good friends, and nothing more.
My Shloka Class attempts -- I tried very hard to attend the lunch time shloka class -- it seemed to be that all the good and bright students did so. I suppose I was neither very good nor very bright, because I gave up pretty soon!
Playing baseball/volleyball at lunch -- Eating lunch in whatever class was on before the lunch break and forming teams to save a precious few minutes so that we could swing into action when the lunch bell rang. In that crowded ground during lunch, we still managed to find space for a game or two.
Happy days with lots of free time -- Sometimes, all the stars aligned and the teachers were all absent on the same day. We had practically the whole day free, and it was spent in the school ground playing all day. How I pity my daughter -- when their teacher is absent, they either get a subsitute relief teacher, or they have to sit in class and read quietly. What a bore!
Ragging the teachers in 11th/12th -- Especially Mullay and the English teacher (what's his name?) Going repeatedly to get a drink of water in the English class and wandering all around school seemed such a great thing to do.
The great chase -- Sundar bursting out of the class chased by Sharmi, and Santosh looking on in horror. I don't know why I was outside the class instead of inside!!
The great lecture -- The above incident prompted Santosh to give us a lecture on our bad behaviour, and how our class was the talk of the staff room because of our antics. It proved that we were doing something right!!
Going with my brother to Lodi Gardens -- When the CA exams were on, school began only at 1pm. We conveniently didn't tell our parents and left home at the usual time, heading straight to Lodi Gardens. The amazing thing was that my brother, four years older than me, took me along too (obviously the only way the secret could be kept) and his friends didn't mind his little sister tagging along everywhere!
All the friends I made -- The best and most precious inheritance from school. There are too many to name, but all of them are on this group. Imagine not going to DTEA and not having all you great people in my life ... I would have missed so much!!
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Monday, 4 July 2011
Top heartbreaks
What can be broken and still works?
Simple question, right? The heart, of course. Everyone knows that, and whoever doesn't never had their heart broken.
Like everyone else, I've had my share of heartbreaks, some big, some small. Some breaks are clean and get mended, some cracks get papered over by the balm of time, but there are some you can never forget, because even though they may have healed, they leave behind a scar.
Here are my top heartbreaks, the ones that are etched indelibly in heart and mind:
1. Losing my father: I was only 11 when my father died, and at that time, I probably didn't grasp the enormity of the loss. All I knew was that mine wasn't a complete family. I didn't know how to deal with it so I never acknowledged the fact. To people who didn't know me, I didn't even mention it. It was many years before I could actually tell people who asked me about him that he was no more. The older I grew, the more I thought about him. And when I see my husband and our daughter together and the bond they share, my heart aches that I never had such a bond with my own father.
2. When my first love affair failed: I was all of 17, and maybe it wasn't love at all, but at that time, every fibre of my being was committed to it. It ended in heartbreak, of course, and caused a lot of grief even before it did. But now, after all these years, when I look back, I don't feel any regrets that it didn't work out, though I can't say I have fond memories!
3.Missing out on a scholarship: I had my heart set on the British Chevening scholarship for young journalists and when I was shortlisted for the interview, I was delighted. The joy was shortlived as I was not among those chosen that year. I remember sitting by the phone waiting for a call that never came. Even now, that crushed feeling is fresh in my mind. It was one of the biggest heartbreaks of my professional life.
4. When I lost my engagement ring: It was a simple ring: a narrow gold band with three tiny diamonds embedded in it. There was no big engagement party at which it was slipped on my finger. But it was the most precious piece of jewellery I owned. Until I flushed it down the toilet. Really! I was wearing it while washing clothes and it must have slipped off in the soapy water. Unaware of this, I poured all the water into the toilet and with it went my ring into the bowels of the earth! I only realised that this is what could have happened after searching high and low and retracing my steps and actions. I was heartbroken and even buying another ring to "replace" the lost one didn't really make up for the anguish. One lesson I did learn was to never wash clothes wearing rings!
Four major heartbreaks in my 40 plus years on earth -- actually not too bad, is it? Now I must think of the happiest moments of my life -- I'm sure there'll be more!
Simple question, right? The heart, of course. Everyone knows that, and whoever doesn't never had their heart broken.
Like everyone else, I've had my share of heartbreaks, some big, some small. Some breaks are clean and get mended, some cracks get papered over by the balm of time, but there are some you can never forget, because even though they may have healed, they leave behind a scar.
Here are my top heartbreaks, the ones that are etched indelibly in heart and mind:
1. Losing my father: I was only 11 when my father died, and at that time, I probably didn't grasp the enormity of the loss. All I knew was that mine wasn't a complete family. I didn't know how to deal with it so I never acknowledged the fact. To people who didn't know me, I didn't even mention it. It was many years before I could actually tell people who asked me about him that he was no more. The older I grew, the more I thought about him. And when I see my husband and our daughter together and the bond they share, my heart aches that I never had such a bond with my own father.
2. When my first love affair failed: I was all of 17, and maybe it wasn't love at all, but at that time, every fibre of my being was committed to it. It ended in heartbreak, of course, and caused a lot of grief even before it did. But now, after all these years, when I look back, I don't feel any regrets that it didn't work out, though I can't say I have fond memories!
3.Missing out on a scholarship: I had my heart set on the British Chevening scholarship for young journalists and when I was shortlisted for the interview, I was delighted. The joy was shortlived as I was not among those chosen that year. I remember sitting by the phone waiting for a call that never came. Even now, that crushed feeling is fresh in my mind. It was one of the biggest heartbreaks of my professional life.
4. When I lost my engagement ring: It was a simple ring: a narrow gold band with three tiny diamonds embedded in it. There was no big engagement party at which it was slipped on my finger. But it was the most precious piece of jewellery I owned. Until I flushed it down the toilet. Really! I was wearing it while washing clothes and it must have slipped off in the soapy water. Unaware of this, I poured all the water into the toilet and with it went my ring into the bowels of the earth! I only realised that this is what could have happened after searching high and low and retracing my steps and actions. I was heartbroken and even buying another ring to "replace" the lost one didn't really make up for the anguish. One lesson I did learn was to never wash clothes wearing rings!
Four major heartbreaks in my 40 plus years on earth -- actually not too bad, is it? Now I must think of the happiest moments of my life -- I'm sure there'll be more!
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Songs I would like someone to sing to me.....
This morning on the way to work, I was listening, as I usually do to pass the time, to old Hindi songs (and some new) on my iPod. One of the songs was "Tere mere sapne ab ek rang hain". What a wonderfully romantic song it is, I would love to be the one it is sung to!
That set me thinking about what other romantic songs I would want someone to sing to me. He would start with Tere mere sapne. Imagine listening to someone serenade you with the words, "Tere dukh ab mere, mere sukh ab tere". Wouldn't it be nice if someone really took over all your troubles and in return, gave you all the happiness in the world?
"Lakh mana le duniya, saath na ye tootega, aake mere haathon mein haath na ye chutega" -- Sigh! Such undying words of commitment, made in the most melodious way, would melt even the most prosaic of hearts.
Well, the song only lasted five minutes or so and the next number was not the stuff romantic dreams are made of. So I thought, how about "O mere dil ke chain"? Not a bad choice, even if it is not in the league of "Tere mere sapne".
After all, if someone sings to you, "Aap ka armaan, aap ka naam, mera tarana aur nahi, in jhukti palkon ke siva, dil ka thikana aur nahi, jachta hi nahi aankhon mein koi, dil tum ko hi chahe toh kya keejiye", wouldn't you feel moved? It would take a lot to resist the lure of those words.
Then there is another of my favourites, "Jis gali mein tera ghar na ho balma, us gali se hame toh guzarna nahi".
That set me thinking about what other romantic songs I would want someone to sing to me. He would start with Tere mere sapne. Imagine listening to someone serenade you with the words, "Tere dukh ab mere, mere sukh ab tere". Wouldn't it be nice if someone really took over all your troubles and in return, gave you all the happiness in the world?
"Lakh mana le duniya, saath na ye tootega, aake mere haathon mein haath na ye chutega" -- Sigh! Such undying words of commitment, made in the most melodious way, would melt even the most prosaic of hearts.
Well, the song only lasted five minutes or so and the next number was not the stuff romantic dreams are made of. So I thought, how about "O mere dil ke chain"? Not a bad choice, even if it is not in the league of "Tere mere sapne".
After all, if someone sings to you, "Aap ka armaan, aap ka naam, mera tarana aur nahi, in jhukti palkon ke siva, dil ka thikana aur nahi, jachta hi nahi aankhon mein koi, dil tum ko hi chahe toh kya keejiye", wouldn't you feel moved? It would take a lot to resist the lure of those words.
Then there is another of my favourites, "Jis gali mein tera ghar na ho balma, us gali se hame toh guzarna nahi".
jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalmaa us gali se hame to guzarnaa nahi jo dagar tere dvaare se jaati na ho us dagar par hame paav rakhanaa nahi zindagi me kai ragaraliyaan sahi har taraf muskuraati ye galiyaan sahi khubsurat bahaaro ki kaliyaan sahi jis chaman me tere pag me kaate chubhe us chaman se hame phul chunanaa nahi jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalamaa ... haan ye rasame ye kasame sabhi tod ke tu chali aa chunar pyaar ki odh ke yaa chalaa jaoongaa mai ye jag chhod ke jis jagah yaad teri sataane lage us jagah ek pal bhi thaharanaa nahi jis gali me teraa ghar na ho baalmaa ...
Just reading the lyrics makes me feel I would love to be the object of such devotion, almost worship.
The next song that came to mind was "Aaye tum yaad mujhe, gaane lagi har dhadkan". A relatively less heard song, it is nevertheless dripping with romance. "Har pal mann mera mujhse kehta hai, jiski dhun mein tu khoya rehta hai, bhar de phoolon se uska daaman".
The last line especially resonates with me, because my decidedly unromantic husband has never given me flowers, and my dearest desire is to be given a huge bunch of roses. Even telling him that has had no effect, alas!
So, my imaginary admirer will just have to sing one last song to me for now:
"Phoolon ke rang se, dil ki kalam se, tujhko likhi roz paati, kaise bataoon kis kis tarah se, pal pal mujhe tu satati, tere hi sapne lekar ke soya, teri hi yaadon mein jaaga, tere khayalon mein uljha raha yun, jaise ke mala mein dhaga, haan badal bijli chandan paani jaise apna pyar, lena hoga janam hame kai kai baar"
I don't know whether the appeal of these songs lie in the melody, the lyrics, the hero singing on the screen or the essence of pure, almost spiritual, love that is distilled into the words.
Or is it just the eternal longing of every heart to just be adored and cherished, unconditionally?
Saturday, 18 June 2011
Paris: I'll be back
Paris has always been on my list of must-visit places. But somehow, we never planned a trip there despite two earlier trips to Europe. So when plans began for another Europe trip, I put my foot down and said, "I don't care where in Europe we go as long as the first stop is Paris". It worked, because everyone agreed. Possibly because they knew I was going to do the planning anyway. At first, the plan was to go to Paris and then to Germany and Austria. But along the way (after I had already started my research), Italy began to look more appealing. After going to the Swiss Alps, the allure of the Bavarian or the Austrian Alps wasn't so strong. So Italy it was, and Venice and Rome substituted Munich and Vienna.
Many months of planning and booking and anticipation, we finally set foot in Paris after a long flight from home. I didn't really know what to expect from Paris, except that I didn't know any French and was worried about how we'd communicate with the Parisians, who have a reputation of not wanting to speak English. Don't worry, said a colleague who had been there before. "Just start every sentence with Parlez vous Anglaise and you'll be fine."
I didn't say that sentence even once! The words just wouldn't form in my mouth. Luckily, it turned out that most Parisians do speak English, and pretty well too. We all learned to say "Un carnet, sil vous plais" (which is 10 tickets please) to the ticket officer at Metro stations. But that's about the extent of the French I learnt.
But the city, oh, the marvellous city! It was beyond anything I had imagined. Just walking along the Seine on that first crisp, cool evening, gazing up at the magnificent Notre Dame was wonderful. It's a lovely city in which to walk along aimlessly. Beautiful buildings are everywhere, the people are chic and good looking, the cafes with their roadside tables so inviting and the wine was wonderful. I craved for my daily glass or two of wine. We didn't even bother with water!! Hunting for a new cafe to have our breakfast was fun. We decided which one to choose based on how friendly the welcome was, apart from how much it was going to cost. For all its charm and beauty, its an expensive city. Euros flowed much like the Seine: one horribly expensive meal on the Champs Elysees was a wake-up call.
We couldn't decide which was our favourite sight: the iconic Eiffel Tower (We went right up to the very top and had a glass of champagne. Even without the bubbly, I was high anyway :) or the magnificent Pantheon or the opulent Palace of Versailles or the amazing Louvre Museum or the splendid Sacre Coeur. All of them were fabulous in different ways.
We also fell in love with maps: Poring over the map trying to find our way became fun; and we felt so triumphant when we figured out things correctly. The Paris metro was also easy to navigate, despite having 14 lines. The trains themselves felt cramped after the spacious Singapore metro, but to emerge from the station out on to another lovely Paris street in search of another fantastic monument was great.
Another dream come true was to go to Roland Garros to watch Grand Slam tennis live. It was exciting to see the stadium that we had watched on TV for so many years; to see the players up close. We watched Nadal practise and didn't tire of taking pictures. We waited outside the court hoping that he would stop to sign autographs; sadly, he was whisked away by his bodyguards. We did the Mexican wave in an almost full stadium which was cheering on home hope Marion Bartoli as we watched her defeat former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. We rued the fact that we couldn't watch Novak Djokovic, whose quarter-final opponent Fabrio Fongini gave him a walkover: the match was supposed to be held on the show court where we were. But mostly, we just basked in the warm glow of satisfaction that we had actually been to a much loved tennis event, and set our sights on watching the final next time at another venue: Australian Open or the US Open, because I found out that getting tickets to Wimbledon is next to impossible unless we queue outside the gates overnight (who knows, I may even do that next year).
Even being scolded by an angry counter staff member at a cafe didn't blot the fun. She was the only rude Parisienne we met. And she let loose a volley of angry French all because my husband mistakenly took two tea bags instead of one. We offered to pay her for the extra tea bag but she wouldn't listen and just went on scolding us. Lucky we couldn't actually understand what she was saying. She was the only one who didn't utter a word of English, living up to the stereotype of the French people. Thankfully, she was the only one. I felt upset that she had ruined our last breakfast in Paris, but then decided not to dwell on one unpleasant incident and let it mar our lovely stay.
The five days we had passed by so soon; we were enjoying ourselves so much we didn't want to leave. Though we were heading to another lovely city, Venice, we didn't want to part with Paris yet. But we had to. We promised ourselves that we would return soon. And we will.
Many months of planning and booking and anticipation, we finally set foot in Paris after a long flight from home. I didn't really know what to expect from Paris, except that I didn't know any French and was worried about how we'd communicate with the Parisians, who have a reputation of not wanting to speak English. Don't worry, said a colleague who had been there before. "Just start every sentence with Parlez vous Anglaise and you'll be fine."
I didn't say that sentence even once! The words just wouldn't form in my mouth. Luckily, it turned out that most Parisians do speak English, and pretty well too. We all learned to say "Un carnet, sil vous plais" (which is 10 tickets please) to the ticket officer at Metro stations. But that's about the extent of the French I learnt.
But the city, oh, the marvellous city! It was beyond anything I had imagined. Just walking along the Seine on that first crisp, cool evening, gazing up at the magnificent Notre Dame was wonderful. It's a lovely city in which to walk along aimlessly. Beautiful buildings are everywhere, the people are chic and good looking, the cafes with their roadside tables so inviting and the wine was wonderful. I craved for my daily glass or two of wine. We didn't even bother with water!! Hunting for a new cafe to have our breakfast was fun. We decided which one to choose based on how friendly the welcome was, apart from how much it was going to cost. For all its charm and beauty, its an expensive city. Euros flowed much like the Seine: one horribly expensive meal on the Champs Elysees was a wake-up call.
We couldn't decide which was our favourite sight: the iconic Eiffel Tower (We went right up to the very top and had a glass of champagne. Even without the bubbly, I was high anyway :) or the magnificent Pantheon or the opulent Palace of Versailles or the amazing Louvre Museum or the splendid Sacre Coeur. All of them were fabulous in different ways.
We also fell in love with maps: Poring over the map trying to find our way became fun; and we felt so triumphant when we figured out things correctly. The Paris metro was also easy to navigate, despite having 14 lines. The trains themselves felt cramped after the spacious Singapore metro, but to emerge from the station out on to another lovely Paris street in search of another fantastic monument was great.
Another dream come true was to go to Roland Garros to watch Grand Slam tennis live. It was exciting to see the stadium that we had watched on TV for so many years; to see the players up close. We watched Nadal practise and didn't tire of taking pictures. We waited outside the court hoping that he would stop to sign autographs; sadly, he was whisked away by his bodyguards. We did the Mexican wave in an almost full stadium which was cheering on home hope Marion Bartoli as we watched her defeat former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. We rued the fact that we couldn't watch Novak Djokovic, whose quarter-final opponent Fabrio Fongini gave him a walkover: the match was supposed to be held on the show court where we were. But mostly, we just basked in the warm glow of satisfaction that we had actually been to a much loved tennis event, and set our sights on watching the final next time at another venue: Australian Open or the US Open, because I found out that getting tickets to Wimbledon is next to impossible unless we queue outside the gates overnight (who knows, I may even do that next year).
Even being scolded by an angry counter staff member at a cafe didn't blot the fun. She was the only rude Parisienne we met. And she let loose a volley of angry French all because my husband mistakenly took two tea bags instead of one. We offered to pay her for the extra tea bag but she wouldn't listen and just went on scolding us. Lucky we couldn't actually understand what she was saying. She was the only one who didn't utter a word of English, living up to the stereotype of the French people. Thankfully, she was the only one. I felt upset that she had ruined our last breakfast in Paris, but then decided not to dwell on one unpleasant incident and let it mar our lovely stay.
The five days we had passed by so soon; we were enjoying ourselves so much we didn't want to leave. Though we were heading to another lovely city, Venice, we didn't want to part with Paris yet. But we had to. We promised ourselves that we would return soon. And we will.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Travel tales
I love travelling... it makes me feel alive. Its not just the thrill of visiting new places, seeing new sights, watching people... I even love the planning part of it. At home, I'm the chief planner. Once a decision has been taken on where we're going, I get to work.
For example, we've just returned from a family holiday to Paris, Venice and Rome. The cities were picked last summer. From then on, I began my research. First I borrowed travel guides from library and read them from cover to cover. When you're visiting a place for the first time, it is actually easy to decide what to see -- all the top sites automatically go on the list. The problem is which ones should be the priority.
With the main sites on the list, I then make a day-to-day travel itinerary. And then I go to my travel bible -- Trip Advisor. I could never plan a trip without consulting the site, which is a mine of information, advice and tips you can't get anywhere else. I post my rough itinerary on the forum, and then I get an idea if what I have planned is doable or completely unworkable, whether I'm missing out on any hidden gems or I have included something that can be safely dropped. Then it's a matter of reworking, leaving this out, adding that in. Advice includes which hotel is good, which area to stay in, how to get from airport to hotel -- ask and you shall get (advice) is the motto of the site, or should be!
This is exactly what I did -- once again -- for our recent trip. And all the months of research and planning paid off as the trip went off smoothly and exactly as planned. The secret is to keep the itinerary flexible and the mind open. But to do the planning, you have to actually enjoy every bit of it. If you treat it like a chore, or dread the thought of endless trawling the Internet (God bless the Web!), then you're lucky. You're probably the one who's going to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labour.
Next post: Paris
For example, we've just returned from a family holiday to Paris, Venice and Rome. The cities were picked last summer. From then on, I began my research. First I borrowed travel guides from library and read them from cover to cover. When you're visiting a place for the first time, it is actually easy to decide what to see -- all the top sites automatically go on the list. The problem is which ones should be the priority.
With the main sites on the list, I then make a day-to-day travel itinerary. And then I go to my travel bible -- Trip Advisor. I could never plan a trip without consulting the site, which is a mine of information, advice and tips you can't get anywhere else. I post my rough itinerary on the forum, and then I get an idea if what I have planned is doable or completely unworkable, whether I'm missing out on any hidden gems or I have included something that can be safely dropped. Then it's a matter of reworking, leaving this out, adding that in. Advice includes which hotel is good, which area to stay in, how to get from airport to hotel -- ask and you shall get (advice) is the motto of the site, or should be!
This is exactly what I did -- once again -- for our recent trip. And all the months of research and planning paid off as the trip went off smoothly and exactly as planned. The secret is to keep the itinerary flexible and the mind open. But to do the planning, you have to actually enjoy every bit of it. If you treat it like a chore, or dread the thought of endless trawling the Internet (God bless the Web!), then you're lucky. You're probably the one who's going to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labour.
Next post: Paris
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