I connected the cable TV wire to our plasma TV in our bedroom. (wonder why I never thought of it earlier) So now we have Cable and Dish on the TV. Could life get any better?

week day break

we took one on wednesday.Did a day tour with the kids. We took them to IMAX adlabs for a movie-I don't know who enjoyed it more.. the kids or us. I am told it is the world's largest screen-we saw a movie (more like a documentary) called walking on the moon. It was about all the Apollo missions to the moon. Junior surprized us. He knew who Neil Armstrong was.
The IMAX theatre is a visual treat. It is a dome shaped theatre half of which is a screen and the other half are the seats. It does'nt seem to have any ceiling.The sheer size makes the difference, it is nearly three times larger than the regular size of a theatre screen and of course has a curvature for the 3-D effect. Sadly, there must have been hardly 15-20 people for the show we went for.

Today I got to know what it is like to be inside a furnace. The aircon in my little office was undergoing maintenance and it was hot as hell.

Had a restful Sunday. Spring cleaned our bedroom, went swimming with junior, checked out furniture, at a neighbourhood store, for the bedroom and a couple of peices for the living room (turned out I know the owner) and managed to take a nap in the afternoon.
I also realized that I am more off work than at work these days.
Junior wants his own blog.I told him he could have one as soon as he learns to write well enough.

acquisition of the year

A bought me the Bose wave music system. I had once told him that , that was the only peice of electronic equipment that I ever wanted. 6 years and a few months later, he presented me with one.This is what I like about A. Just as I am giving up on him, he suddenly does something thoughtful and restores my belief in everlasting love.(I am not the jumping in and out of relationships kind- A is the second man in my life and from the way things are right now, the last).

I have'nt got very far with my 'talking less' plan. BUT, I have started identifying moments I should have kept my mouth shut.

the humming and hawing continues.

Had a rotten rotten day at work. Actually there one happening which was a major down but my day ended with a small up.
I realised I have been working in my current job for 3 years, time to move on. I think I will start looking around for better opportunities in a few months.
Besides that, we planned the good friday weekend.The plans seem a lot more concretised now. the rooms are booked the table reservations are made. Junior will start swimming again from tommorow and I plan to join him a few times a week. I hope I still fit into my costume. Funnily, I have never been conscious of myself in a swimming costume. I always feel very good in it. In fact a couple of summers back, I remmember having a conversation with a friend's father- in- law, next to the pool, in my swimming costume.

And the weekend begins..

"This is the worst day of my life", declared junior (BOJ) when we picked him up from school."I had to go to school on a saturday"
Otherwise his saturday has'nt been bad at all. His summer vacations are coming up and we have done some great planning. He has dozens of play dates lined up, his best friend will be staying with us for 4 days & we have a trip planned for him and his friends to Mumbai. We are taking him to see INS Vikrant and the nehru planetarium there. We also have a trip to Mahabeleswar and Panchgani planned. And there are swimming lessons and cycling sessions happening too. So with a working mom constantly juggling career and home and parenting and step parenting, we have'nt done too badly.
Junior : "I will call you mom and not mummy from now on"
me : "why"
Junior: "because mummy is a dead king"

A is travelling this weekend, he gets back only on Sunday, in time to cook a leg of venison which has been marinating for a few days now.

today I learnt you can also speak with silence...

I need to learn to speak with silence..
I have decided to talk less.. "don't snigger guys, I really mean that".

I attended a synopsys of a workshop, if there can be such thing, on performance in the corporate world. Liked the look and feel of the company, Pinnacle performance, and it's methodologies. They use actors to teach performance techniques to the corporate world executives who need to do high impact presentations as a part of the job. I would like to do a full workshop some day.I need to bring in some more structure in my performance style. The NSD workshop did not help much.

I finally saw being cyrus. I loved it- well loved it in the sense, I loved this particular film not necessarily films of this genre. The film is about two dysfunctional parsi families with a twist in the tale coming up every now and then. Though the bits of film which had a lot of swearing in Gujrati going on, should have been subtitled. The film is otherwise in completely in english.
It starts out like a typical art film and then graduates into a suspense film in the second half. Saif plays Cyrus who lands up at the doorstep of a once famous but now living in oblivion sculptor- Dinshaw Sethna.Though Dinshaw is non commital, his voluptous wife Katy welcomes him into their house and lives. Cyrus gets involved with the Sethna families (the other one being Dinshaw's brother- Faroukh who lives in Mumbai) to an extent beyond their imagination. The twist begins here when Cyrus goes to Mumbai when Katy seeks his help to deal with her father in law who has been sitting on a minor fortune.
Saif Ali Khan has really outdone himself.. he is proving to be a really versatile actor. From Salaam Namaste to Parineeta to being Cyrus. Completely different characterization, very different roles. Naseeruddin Shah- the brilliance is not unexpected.Dimple Kapadia- loved her too, always have since her Sagar days. The lady is in such great shape. She plays an aging but attractive and voluptious woman hitting on a man years younger. And she is a grandma now.
The film is definitely not fluff. Recommended for individuals who genuinely appreciate good cinema.

Had an uneventful day. Left for work early (early by my standards), gave the boss a lift (we live ithe same housing complex- more on that later). Did some big planning at work for the next 3-4 weeks- I am going to get so fried!. BOJ's vacations are coming up and it looks like at least three of his friends are planning to move in with us semi-permanently this summer. We are gearing up. We love having his friends over- my house feels so alive.
Went to headlines on my way back to get a face clean up done.
Started reading the 8th Habit - finally! so far loving it.

humming and hawing..

A is out for dinner again. I wish I had half the energy that he does. So the kids and me had dinner at home. The housekeeper had cooked some Indianised Thai food. The garlic prawns with were awesome though. She seems infatuated with the Thai sweet chilli sauce. She has used it every night as an ingredient for the last three days.

I am going thru a no-hindi films phase. Maybe this is an Oscar aftermath.

Monday, tuesday and so it goes..

I spend an hour counselling my flunkie today. He was aspiring to be a chef when we met and I convinced him to take up training instead. He still works with us and 8 months into his job feels that, this is the best thing that happened to him in the last year or so.
This is not the first time I am doing something like this. There are dozens of kids who come to me for counselling when they find themselves at crossroads while graduating. And there are a few who have changed tracks after my sessions with them.
In most of these sessions I try and facilitate the self realization process. It is hard for someone like me, but the fear of the overwhelming responsibility of telling someone what they should do with their lives is too much to deal with.

Martha Stewart

This week I was working on Saturday. In fact this is my only peeve with my current job. Every alternate week is a six day week.
This is what I did this weekend:
1) had friends over on Saturday evening for dinner- A made his pet Dan Dan Mein and Schezwan style chicken chilli. I made some eggplant in yellow bean sauce which he loved.
2) after dinner picked up Cinderella from a birthday party at 12.
3) did monthly grocery shopping on Sunday morning with A
4) went over some chinese artifacts at an exhibition ended up buying an equisite chinese tea set
5) did an physical inventory check of my refrigerators and kitchen food cabinet.
6) bought new bottles for the refrigerator and ponganulu skillet, finally!
7) packed a parcel of books,clothes and shoes for my nephew
8) wrote out checks for bills for the last month.
9) watched Capote again!
10) spend time with BOJ
11) Made an awesome chinese homestyle dinner- mix vegetable soup, Stewed blackmushrooms and beancurd.
12)Taught the housekeeper to make ponganulu. She promptly made them today for breakfast and served them with peanut chutney.
I am so Monday morning bluey!

opening up the skies

Cheap fare airlines are one of the best things happening in India right now. In the last 6 months I have flown all of them except GoAir (They have started service Pune only last month). I have done Kingfisher, Spice jet and Air deccan. Kingfisher by far surpasses all the others as far as service is concerened. they don't let you feel as if you are flying budget. Air Deccan is one of the cleanest, has nice spacious seats, though service leaves a lot to be desired. I had some strange experiences with the airline a week or so back. When we arrived at the check in counters, passengers of a previous flight had blocked them because their flight was delayed indefinitely! I attributed it more to the earthy and rowdy northern culture, than bad service. A tells me this is not the first time something like this has happened with Deccan air. He seems to have scant appreciation for any of these new airlines.. Someone who usually flies first class on BA would'nt I guess.
It is the best thing that has happened to me though. I love travelling and this has given me a chance to travel much more than I could afford to.

holiday again !??

This time it is going to be Panchgani and Mahabaleswar. We have been in Pune for 5 years and I haven't been there yet.