Saturday, August 21, 2004

Walking with the dogs

being a sunday morning,i was quite relaxed.got up later than usual.about 6.30 and got ready to go for a walk with sheilu and the dogs.after all they are inseparable!.well what we normally do is to drive till nariman point,park the car there and then walk up to hotel nataraj and then back right up to the tip of the sea and then get back to the car.the sky looked clear when we set off but then when we were walking there were some feeble intermittent drizzles.could have walked more but then at one point it looked as if there might be a heavy downpour.luckily that fear was belied.a) we didn't relish the ideas of mango and cherry getting drenched and b) i didn't want to get wet.
even at 7am the place is so active.nariman point.besides the morning joggers,the coconutwallahs and kids cycling fast and host of stray dogs,there was an ad shooting being set up.i believe it was for a choocalate firm.maybe cadburys,who knows.the paraphernalia is awesome.the vans,trucks,the cars for what was going to be a few minutes shoot.lots of young girls and boys wearing tight jeans and cellphone in one hand and giving directions to the errand boys with the other-all this was a funny sight.unfortunately,i didn't have my camera.i was pretty fascinated by the volkswagen beetle convertible in burgundy colour mounted on an old telco truck with the driver on the wheels and the whole truck being manouevered for the shoot.then batata vada and chai being prepared in a separate van.i am sure the guys will complete the shoot only around noon!

did not want to wait any more and drove back home.m and c enjoyed their outing and we have returned to our nest and our workplaces.got a lot of things to be done.before leaving for europe on 4th september.

gs

Thursday, August 19, 2004

the waning monsoon

i woke up this morning with a good feeling.there was a small but sharp shower and i was quickly ready for my brisk morning walk.i combine a couple of things during this walk.e.g.buy the daily bread and plaintains for breakfast and the most important purpose of the walk-the milk.that is called simultaneous multitasking to use a management jargon or parallel processing if you want to sound like a high falutin IT guy.
on return from this walk,i corresponded with my friend rangarajan who lives in new jersey in marathi in roman script.that is funny.at times hilarious.it gives him a kick because of nostalgia.and the deja vu factor.the words we use and the expressions are pehaps non-marathi but then the communication has been made,we have understood each other and that is what language is essentially about.
we have guests for dinner tonight.friends whom we have known for the last 35 years.i enticed them to come over for a power point presentation by sheilu on the egyptian civilisation.too good to resist;not that the iyengar menu is going to be less attractive. and then i propose to surprise them with my own ppp on my recent usa visit-redwoodcity,san fransisco north carolina,livermore et al.those of you who know kamakshi will be surprised to know that she too joins sheilu in the ppp and intervenes with some anecdotes of the pharaos and nephritis.it reminds me of the old chester barnard joke.he was too tired of making presentations.on one such occasion he asked his chauffer to replace him which the guy dutifully did.at the end when the q&a session started, there were several questions on the intricaies of open heart surgery which he deftly handled.and then there was a toughie.he was momentarily at a loss. then came the masterstroke.he responded by saying "that is a very simple question.my chauffer will answer that for you."christian barnard got up and answered that very difficult question.