The year that was... 2009!

**Right, I've been thinking about this post for like a month now. I think this might turn out to be one of my favourite posts to do on the blog every year! Anyway, so I started making little mental notes around the time my exams were going on last month and have been putting it together for the past couple of days, trying very hard to stop myself from posting it before the 31st because that was the plan but now if I keep letting it stew in my "drafts" I'll keep adding stuff and then it'll get intolerably long so I think I'll just publish it now! :P**

Another year gone by! It hasn't been all good. I mean, this year was a year of crazy things - the strike, swine flu, etc... but you know, even though some things seem terrible while you're actually going through it, when you look back, in retrospect, it's amazing... like all these threads just come together into a beautiful tapestry. It may not even come together just yet but I know that one day I will look back at some things that just didn't make much sense at the time and think, "ohhhh, that's why that happened!!"

But anyway, last year I made a list of some of the best moments of 2008 on the blog and I loved doing that because it was so great to just look back and remember! And so here are some of the best moments of 2009. Obviously this list is not at all comprehensive - that would go on for pages and pages!

Grace's visit to Bombay! (Jan)

Two beautiful weddings (Jan and August)

Chrissy and Anna (and friends) stopping through Bombay (Feb) Getting my glasses. I actually dislike wearing them, but they do help me to see clearly so I guess should be thankful for that! (Feb)

Turning 21, Kala Ghoda Festival 2009, meeting Coco! (Feb)

Antu and Coco (her cousin's daughter) at the Kala Ghoda festival 2009

Finishing off my second year of college and the after-party at Sharan's! (March)

At Sharan's place right after we finished our 2nd Year final exams! Vini and I went in the pool and made the rest jealous and they all promptly signed up for classes that summer! :P

My first Earth Hour (March)

Exercising my right to vote for the first time!! (April)
Taking D up to Ooty, Easter in Ooty, bumping into some wonderful Hebronites in Ooty... just OOTY! (April)

Club Mahindra Holiday in Thekkady with the parentals! Especially the elephant-ride! (April)

The elephant called "Chandramukhi" who kindly let us take a ride on her back! This is her "blessing" me! Sweet! April. Thekkady, Kerala.

Learning cross stitching :) (May)

Georgia and Gina - my first completed project of cross-stitching! ;)

Re-union with Taryn and Grace! And Skypeing with Tashu in the wee hours of the morning... (June)

Another reunion with Taz, Jonny and Chandni! (June)

At Coffee World, Brigade Road, Bangalore.

Random and amazing conversation with the Librarian lady who was cross-stitching on an Andheri local train (June)

Becoming a member of the American Center Library. One of the 'happy places' I love to escape to in Mumbai! (June)

Watching two plays by Naseerudhin Shah's theatre group - Waiting for Godot and Ismat Apaa Ke Naam (II). (July and September)

The infamous "Teachers' Strike". Yeah, I'm actually being thankful for this... now. In itself it was terrible and at the time, I was fuming and whining. It taught me a lot and lead to a lot of amazing things. (August)

Meg's visit to Bombay and the unplanned rendezvous with Orville! (August)

Being "photographer" at Jo's performance in Chitrangada at the Nehru Centre ;) (September)
Planning and executing Surprise Birthday Parties. We're the best at it ;) (September, November, December)

Sharan's birthday at her place, Antu's birthday cake - the one where they wrote her name as "Anutu"!, Jo's birthday at her place!

Lunch on Antu's birthday at 'Something Fishy', Andheri, Mumbai. 30th Nov, 2009

Going for Arundhati Roy's book launch of "Listening to Grasshoppers" at the Townhall. She is one amazing woman and made me think about a lot of things... (October)

Carrying out our Research Project on Foreigners' Perspective on Hospitality in Mumbai! (November)

Tabulating the data we collected at Monisha's place, Nariman Point, Mumbai.

Kaleidoscope 2009!! Best ever! (November)

The final day of K'scope

Late night, drinking wine and fabulous conversation with my favourite girls in Bombay at Cafe Ivy. (November)

Me at Cafe Ivy. We ordered a bottle of wine, two plates of french fries and made excited conversation!

Christmas Breakfast with Radiance (December)

Christmas Breakfast at Danny's place, Banaswadi, Bangalore. 25th Dec, 2009!

Lambu (Arjun Durr), another friend from Hebron came to visit in Bangalore (December)

Being Home. Because of the strike and other various circumstances, coming home for holidays all of this year has been so unpredictable but thank God, I got my holidays! And even extra days sometimes! :) (Summer, August, Diwali, Christmas)

Our beautiful house in Bangalore one summery sunset... :)

...Phew! See what I mean? It's been a gooooooood year! :) And next year will be even better, I know it! It will be a year of BIG changes and it will be kind of scary because, hey let's face it, change is NOT easy. But it can be exciting and I can't wait to see what God has been planning all along! He never fails to surprise!

Here's hoping that He makes all things new for you this coming year!

Happy New Year! :D

Here I go again...

So here I am, back in Mumbai on the brink of my last and final year of college! After that I will be a college-graduate! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it!? I am excited to be getting started with third year of college. Hopefully there will be lots to do...

Leaving home doesn't get much easier apparently but I'm trying to be positive. This is life and I am just so grateful for an awesome summer holiday. Here are some of the highlights:

- Trip to Kerala (esp. the elephant ride in Kerala!)
- Trip to Ooty with D
- Catching up with Hebronites in Ooty
- Salsa classes (although I never did get around to going to a salsa party!!)
- Spending time with Doris
- Catching up with Tripti
- Going through old stuff and photos
- Time and access to broadband to post stuff that I can't easily do in Mumbai
- Movies (and I've brought many more on my laptop to keep me occupied till October!)
- Trying out new recipes
- Earth Hour India 2009 (so glad my parents were enthusiastic about this as well...)
- Free summer afternoons...
- Voting and then watching the drama unfold in the news with my parents...
- Discovering that cross-stitching is a lot of fun!
- Grocery-shopping with my parents at Spar (I don't know why I love doing this so much, but I just do.)
- Sleeping over at my brother's place
- Discovering new artists (Brooke Fraser is my current favourite!)
- Bangalore weather (heaven, compared to Mumbai!)
- The "micro-mini Hebron Class of 2006 reunions"
- Cubbies* with Taryn and Grace
- My "fun-aunt" visiting from Calcutta (she always has hilarious stories to tell!)

See what I mean? It's been a fabulous holiday and I'm glad that I did most of what I planned to do at the beginning of the holiday... Except I kind of lost all my gusto with the Hindi and German half-way through. Oops! Oh well, I'm sure Vini will get me going with my hindi again once college starts and I brought some German resources as well but I'm not going to get too ambitious with that right now... There's a time for everything under the sun!

*Cubbies is what we used to call Sleepovers at Hebron. I have no idea why!

Riding the gentle giant!

One of the highlights of our trip to Thekkady was the elephant ride! I've been on a camel in Rajasthan and on a horse a few times, so I just had to do this!
I was going to do it alone but then we got to buying the tickets and it turned out to be a better bargain for your money if the three of us went (but it was still PRETTY expensive - Rs. 750 for 3 of us). So we bought our tickets and waited for our ride...

To be honest, I was a little worried about getting on the elephant before we got there because in Rajasthan we had to climb on the camel while it was sitting down and then hold on for dear life while the camel got onto its feet. Now a camel with its dandy looooong legs leans backwards and forwards and threatens to throw you off while it's trying to get up and you don't exactly have seatbelts or anything to hold on to except the little hairs on its back so it's pretty scary. So I was hoping we wouldn't have to do the same sort of thing on the elephant which is CONSIDERABLY bigger!!
Anyway, all my fears were for naught. They had this high platform and a stool to climb onto the elephant's back so it was all good.
It was so amazing to watch the guy guiding the elephant talking away with the elephant in Malayalam and she (the elephant who's name was Chandramukhi) understood everything!
There was also this other guy who was the "photographer" and took all these photos of us with my camera - I didn't even have to tell him how to operate it or anything and Chandramukhi even posed for the photos by putting her trunk up!
The ride lasted for about half an hour around this little spice garden where we saw pepper plants, coffee plants and some other spices... (and also a LOT of elephant poop!)
After the ride was over we even got a little photo session with the elephant and I put 10 bucks in her trunk and she "blessed" me!
Seriously awesome - what a gentle giant!

Back from Kerala!

Back from our trip to Thekkady. About 2000ft above sea level in a Tiger Reserve on the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It was a long journey by train to Madurai then by car for 3 hours to Tusker Trails, our hotel in Thekkady.
We went elephant- riding, we watched a riveting show of Kalaripayatu - a local form of martial art and ate - a LOT.
It was a relaxing trip and I got to splash around in the swimming pool and get out of the city - just what I wanted. The place was gorgeous and GREEN and the people were really nice and friendly and there were lots of tourists - mostly Europeans.
Here are some randoms... I'll think about posting more later! :)

little girl staring out the train window

my dad on the Tuticorin Express - our train to Madurai

night lightshaati mere saathi!on the way back to our room one night I noticed this little spider sitting like a King right in the middle of its masterpiece web...
the Periyar lake where we went for a boat ride... we saw a few animals - deer, wild pigs, blah blah... After many years in Africa and a good number of African safaris, we're a little hard to please! Wish we could've seen a Tiger!

banana chips galore!

Commute with me!

I've wanted to do this post for a looooong time (inspired by this) but just never got around to take enough photos. Anyway, so when Grace came to visit she took a lot of photos while we travelled around the city so I stole some of them and added a few others, did a little photoshopping (my newest obsession!) and ta-da! Here's what my daily commute in Bombay looks like with some added bits...

walk to the station......or on lazy days take a rickshaw or an auto which is a three-wheeled vehicle and is only found in the suburbs of Mumbai (till Bandra). No rickshaws allowed in the city. The minimum cost is Rs. 9. ...buy your train ticket. The counter is almost perpetually crowded with HUGE lines. To avoid the crowd you can get a pass (which is what I do) or buy coupons or get an ATVM (??) card which is a fancy shmancy thing that you put in a machine to buy your ticket... You can either get a first class or a second class ticket. First class is much more expensive and they have cushioned seats rather than wooden ones! Oh, and it's generally much less crowded too... The minimum cost for a IInd class ticket is 4 bucks. There are three main local train lines in Mumbai - Harbour, Central and Western and they are the most efficient form of local transport in Mumbai - you avoid the maddening traffic and there's a train about every 3 minutes. Let's just say the city would fall apart without the local trains.

but of course it has its limitations ...yeah, that's not even peak-hour crowd at my station (Andheri)!and often the trains are not running on schedule...

...this is a relatively un-crowded IInd class compartment. You just have to find a bit of space and squeeze in. On the local trains, there are special compartments reserved ONLY for women. This is a relief because you don't really want to be rubbing up against stranger-men on overtly crowded trains on your daily commute!...a daily sight. This poor old blind man drums his heart out every day for a few coins from generous travellers on the over-bridge at Andheri station.

...beggars on the street. Taxis/Cabs are much more expensive than autos, but if you're in a hurry and you're in the city - this is your best option. At some places you can also get share taxis. We often share a taxi with other to College from Grant Rd. Station. The minimum fare is Rs.13.
...or bus it! Buses are fantabulous and cheap - problem is you have to sit through a lot of traffic and pollution on the roads. Oh yeah, and CROWDS! Sometimes you may have to stand the whole way and if you're not holding on tight, watch out! This picture doesn't show a local bus, but that's what the crowd looks like usually - pushing, shoving et. al! The minimum is only Rs.3 and they're very well connected to pretty much all parts of the city.yes... you do sometimes see cows on the streets!...and other creatures; pigeons, crows and rats are the most populous. Stray dogs and cats come in second. You might also see a horse carriage. Haven't spotted any elephants yet! ;)

...roadside food! Sugarcane juice is the most refreshing on a hot day (which is pretty much everyday in Bombay!) But watch out if you have a weak stomach! They probably score negative on hygienic standards but that just adds to the flavour and oh-so-cheap! :D A "half-glass" (which is pretty big) of sugarcane juice is just Rs.3!

The Best Of 2008

Remembering some of the good stuff of the year gone by:

Tag: The Photo Tag (July)

SMS: From Sharan "You're going to have a daughter, Tina." It was totally out of the blue and well, I hope so. (October)
Bloggers' Meet: With Nithya and Sharan(yan) in Coimbatore.

Movies: Amazing Grace and Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (October)
Shopping: MAX! In Bangalore, with Jo. (November)Event: The Jazz concert I went to at the NCPA. It was a treat from a junior from school - Neville. I will forever be grateful for that. It was magic. (January)

Blog Discovery: Confessions of a CF Husband

Dinner: At the Georges' with Sharan, Sonu, Jo and Antu (October)

Journey: To Ooty with some of best friends! (October)Eating Place: The American Express Bakery in Bandra - thanks to Jo! (July)

Book: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. Oh, it blew me away. (November)
Re-union: With Niru in Bombay! I'm SO glad you came! (February)Realisation: Ooty is BEAUTIFUL and I will never get enough of it! Holiday: With family in Nagpur (December)
Photo: The mischievous school boys at Coimbatore bus-stand... (October)

Activity: Taking photos during K'SCOPE 2008 (September)

Sunset: Nagpur Sunsets are just gorgeous! Maybe because you can actually see it cause there are no tall buildings all over the place. I've really enjoyed sitting on the balcony at my uncle's place and watching the sun go down leaving behind breathtaking twilight colours. (December)

There's so much more but that could take a while.

Your mercies are new every morning, Lord.
I thank you...
For the abundant joy.
For lessons learnt.
For friends.
Family
2008.
You.

You humble me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!