Flight to Germany

All I did through my journey was sleep..wake up to eat and then go back to sleep. Some think I am blessed to have such an appetite for sleep :)
My flight to dubai and then to frankfurt was late by half an hour. only trouble was to keep myself awake while waiting for my boarding. Sid was constantly talking to me :)
My first international flight beckoned soon and i was led into a huge flight.
Landed in Dubai at around 7. Found my way around in dubai airport - found out that gate 143 iis where i have to head to check-in for my connecting flight to frankfurt.
Emailed family about my whereabouts from dubai airport.

Till the time i reached dubai, i felt like i feel when i do my regular Mumbai-Pune-Bangalore travel. Dubai airport was an eye-opener. A huge mix of culture and color. Although very less time spent there, nevertheless enough to find a similarity with Mumbai. I would like to visit the place some day - a more detailed visit.

There was nothing spectacular about the flight. My neighbours were enjoying a hearty discussion parts of which i managed to gather in between deep slumber. one was approximately 50 and he was frustrated that he and his wife are having to live away from each other for long - she in China and he in Germany - and how he enjoyed his recent trip to China. The other guy was mostly listening, but would keep talking about some company he worked for which had huge operations in China.

I reached Frankfurt just 15 minutes late. the official stamping my passport thought that if he spoke german very loudly i would understand. eventually he realised that was not working. in some time i realised he wanted to see my invitation letter and id card and the works. as soon as he saw the papers in my hand he stamped my passport and quickly packed me off :D
After almost picking up somebody elses luggage, i managed to get out of the conveyor belt area. i had a huge suitcase, a shoulder bag and a very heavvily stuffed laptop bag on my shoulders.

i thanked Sid and Siddhi a zillion times for discouraging me from carrying any more luggage.
The signs to the railway station were confusing. finally i managed to get someone who knew English. The skyline from Terminal 2(where i was) to Terminal 1(where railway stations were) was free and smooth. Luggage was extremely difficult to manage. there were so many escalators and stairs that i had to cross to reach here. anyone who knows my fear of escalators will know how difficult it was for me to manaover my luggage along.

i had started my cell phone with the SIM given by Mahaboob and i could see that there is full network. i was hoping Sid would call. i was constantly thinking about him. meanwhile i ahd to get to the railway station and it seemed a long long way away.

i got to know from the information centre(finally someone who spoke English!!!) regarding the direction i wasd to take and many escalators later i met this clone of mine - same height, same haircut, same hair color, similar spectacles.
i asked her if i could follow her. thankfully for me she thought i was amusing and allowed me to follow her. after some time she even helped me carry my luggage. that was much more than i asked for. only i know, i could do with some help. my limbs were numb with moving my luggage around for so long and with so many hurdles.

my first swipe of my forex card was for the ticket from Frankfurt to Cologne Hbf station. the girl helped me and we had to get the tickets and call M and then reach get to platform 6, terminal 2 for long distance trains in about 7 minutes because it was 2 minutes past 3pm and the train was scheduled to arrive at 3.09 :D

we got the ticket and managed to reach platform 6. the lookalike (the reason for my safe arrival at cologne) even gave me her cell fone to call m from. i didnt even thank her at the end of it. just didnt have the time.

Mira told me she will pick me from Cologne railway station.
3.47PM my train reached Cologne Hauptbanof :)

"No one moment"

Yesterday during my no-one moment I realised I wanted to get in touch with myself. However, I was too busy to bother. That disturbed me; also got me thinking more.

I think I am hallucinating and need a life :-P

All is well.

The day I joined Pune office I was told my transfer is suspended and I need to move back to Mumbai...ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

I am back in Mumbai now...the project is really cool. I like my team-mates too...we make a nice team. I have figured out everything.
Had a shock in the form of R being kicked out unceremoniously...felt guilty for it too...but I guess thats how the company works.
Also in the phase of re-planning my next job..as I had thought of during my BSc...I want to experience different working styles...I am getting bored of being a software engineer...also some complacency has set in wrt work and work environment...the need to challenge myself has never felt stronger...not that I dont like what I am doing...I enjoy it and add to it the fact that I do it better than the average guys around me...just that I need a change in atmosphere.

Also I think this shift to Mumbai was necessary to make my relation with mom better...last time we lived together I was coping with MARRIAGE in general....sometime I will talk to her...

I miss Sid terribly...all the more now...
I have also taken a liking to Pune :)

PS: sid please dont ask me who is All and why am I saying that he/she is well...

Adios Bengaluru, Bienvenue Pune

Time to say goodbye...I like Bangalore city. I enjoyed my work tenure here.
I am not very fond of Pune..not yet atleast...too many ifs and buts attached to the city..but I am open to experiment with a new city...now the madness of grah-gruhasti will engulf me and Sid...we have been married since a year now...but have been living as independently as ever.
8 months was too long to spend without Sid :) but it too has passed and now we are all set to leave behind Mumbai, our city of birth and join new kind of people.

Before 30!!!

Things I would love to do before I turn 30 -
1) Buy a cycle and go to office on a cycle
2) Trip on a cycle
3) At least 20 treks (revisiting will be counted :P)
4) Spend some time volunteering
5) Get my BSc agriculture degree
6) Speak a new language fluently
7) Learn about stock market and invest well
8) Sky diving / Bungee jumping :D
9) Have at least 8 pairs of shoes
10) Be a great cook
11) Learn a western dance form and be fab at it
12) Have abs to die for :P (Read washboard)
13) Visit a foreign country
14) Learn to play the Violin
15) Buy a car for family
16) Go on a road trip with my husband with no pre-determined destination

So many so far....will update when something strikes me :)
Note: Numbering follows no specific order. Listed randomly.

Fair

I personally don't have a problem with people believing that fair people are better looking than darker people, or that thin people are better looking than fat people. I don't consider that racist. Everybody has a right to have their personal definition of beauty. Their life is their problem.
There was a time when I thought that this obsession was since the 'Goras' rule but further probe/thought leads me to believe that the obsession has sustained since ages. Ancient Hindu scriptures and modern poetry praise women endowed with skin "cast out of white marble". It is more cultural than anything else.
What makes sense to me is the explanation about the color discrimination that I read someplace which loosely translates to the following -
"Throughout Asia, dark skin is identified with the toil and sweat of hard labor in the fields, while fair skin is associated with an upscale lifestyle."
Problem begins when somebody pressures others into changing their lifestyle based on a personal sense of beauty.
The fetish has always been unfair on the Indian woman. Thankfully, intelligence and sense of humor don't have a color. And like your skin, you're born with them.

Happy Diwali

Had been home for diwali.
Mumma was describing how they (she and her siblings) used to wake up early in the morning (read middle of the night) at 3.30 AM and burst firecrackers along with the Thackerseys. She had painstakingly made a lot of yummy faraal for me, Sid and Siddhi.

Me too have fond memories of waking up early...going to the temple with papa and brothers..ruddhu holding my hand and ragu holding papa's. Perambulate the Ganpati temple once and come back home with the pedas :D
Because our home was the assembly point for all kids in the building...the firecrackers would be collected at our place, taken downstairs...Dad would begin with the first laxmi bomb and then all the kids would pick their favorite cracker and get crackling.

This Diwali was special because it was my first Diwali at OUR home in Kharghar.
Had a lavish diwali what with buying a laptop, a printer/scanner/copier, one cell phone each for me and my husband. Cooked for myself and my husband the first time.
The highlight of the entire evening was lighting up the diyas in my house - on the staircase, balconies, doorstep. My home looked lovely :-)
Also had my mangalsutra sulta ceremony which Sid did. Siddhi loved her new dress. I loved my new dress. Sid was surprised by the book I gave him for diwali. His was the best reaction for the gift - he glared at me then broke into a wide grin and then started reading his book (awww...sweet no? :-D).
I am leaving for Mumbai tonight for Rahul's wedding in Pune. Was planning to meet Apurwa but guess it will be difficult.
More about the visit once I am back :-)