The first weekend of 2010 !!!

We were invited for a new year eve's party by one of our family friends back in India. They reside here in Monmouth, NJ. So we thought we'll pay them a visit and celebrate th new year's eve with them.

They had invited all of their friends and families. And to my surprise all of them were Tamilians :) It was so good to see such a huge Tamil crowd after almost a month. It was more like a potluck dinner and get-together. There were no young couples. All of them were big mommies n daddies in their forties... so i had no other choice but to hang around with the ladies.... ladies are ladies....they kept talkin about the jewels they were wearing, about the dance classes they put their daughters in, about how bad the winter is this time compared to the previous year, discussed some food recipes, this that blah blah.... I, like a nice chamathu girl, just sat with them, smiling and nodding whenever needed :) Then there were the gentlemen on the other side drinking n dancing n having fun... the kids were on their own world playing pool and wii games. After a while the dancing session began and all the ladies joined their men to dance and they made us also dance for a while... I guess the last time I remember dancing was on my college hostel day :) Then we had food followed by a photo session, like it happens in every other party.

By the time it became 11 55 PM all of us gathered in the TV hall to see the NYC ball drop live... They passed champagne and cola (for those who don't drink which also includes me :) ). It became 11 59. The countdown began. Everyone of us started shouting 9..8..7..6... and wwhooosshhhh.. the TV went off... someone had set a reminder to record that event live :) :) There was big sigh from the crowd. But anyways .. then we wished each other with a toast ... and there were hugs and hand shakes everywhere. It was different new year's eve for me :)

We stayed their for the night and the next day we left to my friend Nivi's place. It is always so good to meet up with one of your bestest friends after a really long time. It gives you that nice warm feeling and obviously takes you back to the good old days. We spent the rest of the weekend with her. We were roaming in the streets of new york in the midnight, went to the Empire state Building and had a bad view of the city. Yes, the view was bad as it started snowing heavily. Lesson of the day - Don't step out without checking the weather. When we were in the ESB, I was reminded of my visit to the Eiffel. ESB was nothing compared to the Eiffel. That was definitely the best :)

The next day we went ice skating :) It was the first time all of us were trying ice skating. Awwwww.....That was so so cool...I fell down the moment i stepped into the ice rink.. So did Nivi...so i was happy that i dint fall alone :) We were trying to move for the first 20 mins holding the rails... but then slowly we tried without it... and it wasn't tht bad... we were able to move on our own... Nivi or my hubby would fall down and i'll laugh at them and loose my balance and i'll be down next :) It was so much fun that night.

Straight after that we went to watch 'Three idiots' that night. We managed to find seats and were sitting there munching pop corn, waiting for the movie to start. A tall figure waved at me from a row in front of me. I looked up to see who it was. And I was like, I know this guy. And then after a fraction of a second, I jumped up my seat in surprie. It was Suchi, a good friend of mine from college. Was so good to see him there after a long time. Wait. Am not done yet. So after talking to Suchi for a coupla minutes after the movie, we all moved towards the exit, only to encounter another surprise. But this time in a smaller package. It was Prasanna Balaji. He too was my classmate in College. He was more surprised than I was :) Spoke to him for a coupla mins too and headed straight to home. Can a day be any better ?? !!! :)

It was altogether a happy new year's eve and weekend for me !!! :) :)

Guilty Me !!!!!

A few days back I was off to Karur to attend a friend’s wedding. I was not new to Karur as I’d been there to spend so many vacations at my aunt’s place. This time it was just a weekend trip. But I somehow felt nothing much has changed except for a few newly built shopping complexes and renovated cinema halls. Jiji (my soul mate at office) also came along to attend the wedding. You can always spot us together at office. In fact one of our Managers calls us the Siamese twins :). If in case anyone spots us alone outside our work station, one can be sure that the missing person is out of office. We often take long coffee breaks and we’ll have so much to discuss every other day. More about Jiji later. Now back to the Karur episode.

My aunt was more than happy to receive us to her place. The moment I stepped into her house, all the beautiful memories of my previous holidays came flashing in front of me. The snake & ladder-Lock & Key-Raja/Rani games, the little fights with my cousins, the moon light dinners that we had, eavesdropping to all the late night gossips that my mom, aunt and grandma had, all the little gifts that my aunt gives me every time I went there, and so on. I suddenly missed all those happy times. Life was much happier and less complex back then. I don’t get my annual holidays now; never get the time to spend time with cousins who are not in my city. But yes, that’s how life is. And it has to go on. Occasions like this make me relive those days.

After our unwinding session, Jiji and I started discussing our work and about the people we work with. Given a pair of ears, Jiji will go on and on about anything she starts talking. And my aunt was so interested to hear all this, for nobody ever has discussed with her about issues with office colleagues and the pathetic politics at work place. It was already late for bed by the time Jiji and I completed session. The wedding next day was at 5.00 AM at a temple located 16 Kms from Karur. So we had to be ready by 4:00 AM, for which we had to wake up by 3:00 AM. And we got ready as planned and reached the temple well in time for the Muhurtham. After the Muhurtham, the reception went on till 12:00 PM. By 1:00 PM we reached home.

Both of us were so tired, that if allowed we would have slept the whole day. But we had to leave to Salem to catch our train to Chennai. Before leaving we had another chit chat session with aunt and then finally said good-bye to them and headed to the bus stand.

There was some festival in a town nearby and hence every other bus that left and arrived was fully loaded and people rushed to get a seat when a bus comes to the stand. Jiji and I hesitated to rush through the crowd to get us both a place to sit, but we dint want to go standing either, as both of us were dead tired. We missed around four buses waiting like this. There came another bus and the people rushed through again. This time we dint want to miss this bus and hence Jiji tried her best to get into it. But couldn’t manage to. The bus conductor watched us struggling to make it through the crowd. An elderly woman, who looked like a daily-wage labour, managed to get into the bus and sat on a two-seater. I could see how happy she was to, finally, get a place to sit. And when she was just about to sit, the conductor shooed her off and offered those seats to us. A surge of guilt brushed me as we sat there. The lady seemed very disappointed and she cursed her own fate and sat on the bus engine and contented herself.

On the one hand, I was so happy about this weekend trip to Karur as I had a chance to meet my aunt and cousins after a long time. And on the other hand this whole bus episode made me feel bad about people like that lady who gave us her seat, who couldn’t speak up for their own rights and they accept it to be their fate. I wonder how many such women are still unaware of their rights in the society. The worst part is that I became a reason for their ill fated day. And I still have a sense of guilt and shame for this.

All I could do that day was to feel sorry for that lady !!!