Hey guys I’m back!!! Guess I use this statement more often as I keep making comebacks. Especially because I seem to do the disappearing act more often than necessary. So may be I should call this my MAY comeback!!! Because whether or not you believe me there are going to be lots more of the comebacks……. that is if I know myself even a little.

But finally I am free……. yes as free as a flamingo can get. I finished all my commitments…….. nope not the research that is going to take a hell lot of a time. Don’t really know whether i can achieve the impossible in this lifetime. I had a fallout with my guide so I am taking a chill pill on that front. Otherwise as far as my work is concerned I worked like a dog……. so much that I am currently having problems with my eyes and so I had to say no to a lot of assignments. I don’t want to become blind at the cost of some corporate honcho fleecing me of my health!!! Can you believe it I worked 14 hours nonstop and still I was cut for QA and TAT and this is not the first time they have done this to me. The last time it was 72 hours non-stop with hardly any breaks…….. definitely no sleep. Last time there was also a spinal problem. Ma had to intervene because hubs was not able to convince me to stop. Ma just came and switched off the comp. I mean I know all about recession et al but fleecing people in the name of the obvious is disgusting!!!!

I went home for Akshay Tritiya. Dad and Ma were not feeling well. They are good now. I guess the illness was more psychological than anything else. We had a huge bash with Ma inviting ONLY 60 people. Normally the numbers touch three figures. All three of us pitched in. Bodidi cooked……. yeah she cooked single handedly for 60 people. The menu was fried rice, matar paneer, chole, salad, and a sweet. The turnout came to more than the expected figure. We (Chodidi and me) cut veggies, made masalas, and all the other trivia. Ma had kept a haldi kumkum ceremony. It was good fun. Back like the old days. I honestly had a blast. The Kali bari Satsang were also all invited and they sang bhajans. I will post the pics and a very small video clip of the bhajans in Pink cloud.

Guess what…… Everytime I say that I get real weird options. My best friend comes up with stuff like you have a new flower or a new plant. You completed another painting. Hubs starts with “You have a new leaf” so on and so forth so I won’t keep you guessing. But ALL MY KIDS PASSED !!! Yeah it was euphoria time for me especially because I did not have to take an extra effort to pass them. I really love those kids. They had actually studied for the tests. I was mighty impressed by them. The highest was a whopping 84% and the least was 52%. I think that that is quite impressive for a language.

My latest and I must say greatest and prized possession currently is an inverter. The fact that I finally got dear hubs to agree to buy an inverter is actually really something. It is amazing to have electricity when there is none…….. specially working on the comp when there is no electricity and I don’t even have to keep looking at the watch. Non-stop music…….. fan running all the time!!!! blisssssss!!!!

Mumbai went to polls on the 30th. It was so distressing to find that even after all the political turmoil that we have witnessed in the past year the voting turnout was only 40%. Most of my friends also did not vote. Some did not have their names on the voting list and the others just took off for a holiday with their families…….. you know the kids have holidays and all that!!! How disgusting can we get? How can we give up on our Right to Vote? It is this fundamental right that makes us one of the most strongest nations in the world. It is a constitutional right that we all chose to ignore. I expected more from Mumbai than this. The next time any mumbaikar cribs about anything to do with the political system beware of me!!! If I am around you will get a earful!!! Holidays are more important than exercising your fundamental right!!!

Well unlike the 60% who did not cast their votes……. I did use my fundamental right and then I went for a long overdue holiday!!! Where???? Believe me when we left home we had no idea. All we both knew was that we had 4 days of holiday and 4 days of unadulterated peaceful existence!!! We just drove off and stopped at the first place we thought would be a good place to stop. I just wanted to be away from the stinky replacement of maid that I have, the precarious milkman, the dhobi, the house which seemed like more and more work and work and work and work!!!! I guess you get the gist of the feeling I want to express. We checked into a Kamat motel at Karnala and slept……… I needed sleep so badly you have no idea how much. I hadn’t slept for something like months. I was toooo stressed out.

After 36 hours of sleep we decided that we should head for the sea. So we went to Harihareshwar. The sea is not clean there probably because of the oil refineries. But again I am comparing it to the sea in Goa or Bay of Bengal. Most of the stretch of the Arabian sea in and around Mumbai……. by that I mean Alibag, Kashid, Uran have oil sediment and if you really don’t clean up after you have been at it you will develop rashes. Not that I learn from past mistakes. But I did carry antihistamines with me and lotions……. so no sweat!!!

There was a little of water sports in the MTDC resort. So obviously I made a beeline for it and took a turn on the water scooter. I LOVED IT!!! I wish there was something of the sort close by. I love the feel of sea water on my face and the feel of dashing against the waves and the wind in my hair and the speed specially in high tide when the sea is rough even in the creeks. Well, I did not have a hand in accelerating or steering. All you are given is a handle to hold but the guy who accompanies you keeps the control with himself. I can do anything to get the control with MOI!!! Lets not get into that because then we will embark on a whole new topic of me being a control freak and the times I tried to do things to throw the guy off. Hey I have been driving a two wheeler for the last two decades since my legs could reach the brakes and gears. I know all the tricks of throwing people off my bike if not that at least trying to make them very uncomfortable and wary of me. But then I cant swim so I behaved. That didn’t stop the thoughts from crossing my mind.

I also got hubs to pose for me on the rocks in midst of a high tide and real choppy waters. Yes you guessed he got drenched to the core as a wave splashed him up real good. I did get quite a few very good shots of the sea there. All in all it was fun. Harihareshwar is comparatively less developed than its other coastal counterparts but it was booked to the full. Guess everybody in Mumbai and Pune decided to take the opportunity for the break. I love unplanned holidays!!! I will post pics on pink cloud coz still have to upload it to the comp and pink cloud is kinda abandoned for sometime now. Also should do a detailed composition in wordpress.

So as of Monday I got back into the daily humdrum of my life albeit a slow one this time……. real slow and I want it to be this way for sometime……. I have earned every moment of it. I get back to gymming and my daily chores only very less computer and very less reading……. my eyes still need to get their break. So more time with my plants. There is one difference whether or not I like it. It is the stinky replacement of my maid. Man she really stinks so much that I can’t be in the same room as her and note I don’t even call her the love of my life……… she does not even come anywhere to the love of my life. Resultant she gets away with murder. All the work is half done as I can’t show her how I want her to do it. Yes I CAN’T!!! she stinks too much!!!! I can’t tell her lest if she abandons me I will be in a soup and I can’t find a replacement for a replacement.

Any suggestions????