Its so cold!!

Its so cold all the time. I don't know if the natural temperature drop is being made worse by my recent weight loss (bye bye warming fat) and blood loss due to various medical and surgical procedures. Or maybe I'm just getting old...ugh! Though primarily, it may be because I'm not doing anything except vegging inside the house (necessary for now as I just had surgery last Saturday). Whatever be the reason...its freezing!

The strange thing is I used to like winter. I liked the crisp winds, the warmth of the sun on winter afternoons and cuddling up under quilts at night. No more...all that is still there....but I just can't seem to get warm anymore. My feet are always freezing, the heaters don't seem to work. I'm just cold cold cold all the time. God I can't wait for summer!!

Resolutions for 2010

2009 was a bad year for me, health-wise, and I spent most of it in hospitals or bed rest. But I have high hopes from 2010. Since I will be recovering from my run of bad medical luck, I've decided to take 2010 really really easy. Focus areas:

Body: Maintain weight, try and tone up muscles

- Diet: Fat restricted diet, necessitated by gall bladder removal, and anyway good for me

- Exercise: Walk my dog Nero every evening. Restart 30-min stretching regime

- Sleep: Correct sleeping pattern and duration

Mind:

- New Skill: Learning to play the keyboard and read music

- Travel: Broaden my mind! At least one holiday to foreign lands

Emotion:

- Stop being a recluse. Go out more.

And above all, start living and enjoying life, instead of moping in hiding about all the things that have been going wrong with me.

Twilight Series and Romance

Recently, I picked up the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. And suddenly, I'm a hooked rabid fan! Its not like I haven't read paranormal romances before. So I'm wondering what it is about this series that won't stop enthralling me! I bought, read and re-read all the books. I've seen both the movies. I trawl the internet regularly looking for stuff about it. I'm both shocked and fascinated by my own obsession.

This happens to me sometimes. I see or read something and get caught up and somewhat obsessed. But it normally runs out it course and I move to the next thing. But the Twilight saga refuses to diminish in fascination!

I guess its the age old good-girl reforms bad-boy alpha-male rake. Add to that high-school, the time of endless possibilities, straddling adulthood and innocence, when emotions seem so more more intense and everything so much more exciting. Its so easy to escape into that world of being cool, being newly in love and the first tastes of independence.

I love the character of Edward Cullen, his intensity, his passion, and his...well...superiority in most things. And I wondered what draws me to him. In real life, I love my hubby, I hate being without him...ten years and nothing has taken away the rightness of being together. Edward is like the embodiment of all fantasies...light and dark at the same time. I've read so many romance novels...but all the heroes remain in fantasy. Edward's character, is a rare case, of wanting me to break out of fantasy...and actually be that girl in his school.

And then, I thought back to my first days with my now hubby...and I saw what appealed. The desperation of forbidden love, the wonder of finding mr right, the intensity and the passion...not a slow build..but a high that refuses to diminish. Edward takes me back to that time. Not that we love each other less today, but this is a more mature love. Twilight gives me a conduit to go back in time and relive the first blush of a lifetime of love. A time when we didn't take our love for granted and it was more like a live grenade than a comfortable blanket.

You can't live with live grenades...but they sure light up your life! And then you can cuddle up into your comfortable blanket, and dream.

I don't think my hubby gets it...maybe its just a female thing. But he bought me all the books, and took me to all the movies (without cringing!). He got me the music and smuggled in a rose when I was in hospital last week. He will always be my Edward Cullen...though Rpattz sure is more eye candy! :)

The Passport arrives...

2.5 months after filing my application, my passport has finally arrived!! Its new, shiny, and my photo still looks distorted thanks to some fancy plasticky thing on it! But I got it! Finally, I have an official document proving my identity AND my proof of residence. Ah joy! I exist...I am...I'm government approved!

Now I have this really really strong wish to put it to use and go somewhere nice. Which sadly won't happen anytime soon it seems. Still ... I got my passport!!!! :) :) :) 

Meeting with Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, the author of the book ‘Goal’ and a series of bestsellers, was in town recently at a local Book store. Our meeting, on Feb 22, was completely serendipitous!!

We had been shopping for clothes for our vacation. Hubby had done his shopping the previous weekend and this was my turn. After our last stop (where I didn’t find anything, and hubby picked up some stuff…grr), I was completely frustrated with the futility of looking for beachwear, and other summery stuff in my size, and finding only winter-wear and clothes for skinny people. I was done shopping, and wanted to escape to my absolutely favorite shop in the world, a big bookstore. As we went in, we realized that in another 20 mins or so Mr. Goldratt would be there to launch his new book!

Now, I have read Goal. I liked it. It helped I was working at a factory at that time. But I’ve been mentally out of the corporate scene for a while. So what would have thrilled me a couple of years back was now a nice opportunity. I was pretty ambivalent about staying. Plus my feet hurt. Hubby seemed more interested. We drifted apart browsing books. Anyway, I knew 20 mins just fly when you are browsing books. And so it was. He came. We sat down. My feet stopped hurting for a bit.

Despite being indifferent before he came, I was drawn in. This, after all, was a man who is considered one of the premier minds in business. I was impressed by his clarity of thought, and the strength with which he shared his convictions. He did get a tad pissed off and impatient with some of the questioning (mine included). But then, for someone who is clearly seeing the entire elephant, I can understand the frustration in his being asked questions by people who see only parts of it (and worse, people who don’t even realize its an elephant)! He referred to his other books (I’ve only read Goal), explained about his current book, and somewhat impatiently answered the questions put to him (becoming thoroughly irritated by seeing the prevailing wrong assumptions some of us questioners harbored).

He talked a lot about cause and effect. How, nature really is very simple, but we try to make it complex. Numerous references to Newton, from whom he took the simplicity concept. One of the things he said struck me. He said, when we look at cause and effect, we take one cause and keep breaking it down. And that process sometimes seems endless. But when we look at a bunch of cause and effects, we can see the inter-relationships, the network, and its inherent simplicity. I must say, this struck me. I’ve always thought of cause and effect as an isolation process not a network process. I’m not really sure how this works, but I must say it intrigues me enough to want to explore it.

He talked about exploration. About divergent and convergent thinking (my question and his assertions of the number of wrong assumptions I was building in it..castles in the air he called it..lol) and how they are not separate, but within the same process. How we need to explore, question and think more. And of course, his famous words on how people say his books are common sense, and yet he finds it uncommon in people.

Despite his getting all het up, it was an interesting experience. I did find him a bit acerbic, fixed on his own books (and Newton) and impatient with the questions raised to him (the way clever people get when others can’t keep up with them). But then, he has spent a lifetime on certain concepts and theories, seen them work and has an amazing clarity of thought on what he believes in and wants to communicate. I guess some eccentricity is warranted!!

When I spoke to him while getting his signature on his new book that we bought, he came across as a benevolent wise man, someone who has seen more, is on a higher plane, and offers solutions that sound utterly simple the way he says them. I came away shaking my head in bemusement, a bit of amusement and a lot of respect.

The book released is The Choice and the event was held at Landmark Bookstore at Gurgaon.

Planning a Vacation

With the prospect of our holiday at an international destination cruelly dashed on the rocks of the passport office, we turned our sights inwards.

In the beginning, there was a lot of inertia. A. Lot. of. Inertia. Seriously. A lot of it. To be precise…almost a week of it. Cutting it really close. We knew we wanted to go on a vacation in March. We spent the first week of Feb, after the sad trip to apply for my passport, in static inertia. To get good flight rates, you need to book a month in advance. So we were cutting it close. But I was a bit numbed after the anti-climax of the passport process and hubby was too busy with work. He was expecting me to get something done. I was in generally drifting.

I googled some stuff on the Net. We wanted a cruise holiday, so I figured either Andaman or Lakshwadeep would have to do. I was keen on a Star Cruise which goes to Lakshwadeep. Sadly, I could find no schedule for it. It seems the ship has moved to South East Asia. Great!

So I surfed some more stuff. Sent some links to hubby. Tried to see some stuff that worked. Lakshwadeep would be a nice cruise. Could be a lazy holiday if we stayed in one place, though it would be a pity to go all the way there and not island hop. Andaman is supposed to be very pretty and was ending up a packed tour, even though it had a couple of days of beach lounging. Lakshwadeep threw up some fantastic resort site, Bangaram resort to be precise, and interesting scuba diving packages. Andaman had scuba diving too, lots of places to see. My mum had been there last year and she waxed eloquent about it. In fact, she wanted to go there again! She had been to Lakshwadeep too about 20 years back (we all had as a family) and hadn’t particularly liked it…especially the tuna heavy cuisine. It was all open ended. I asked hubby for his opinion. He asked me to go ahead and choose. I was unwilling to choose. Days were passing, it was all going nowhere, and I was beginning to think, we just make plans and then remain at home!

The cauldron was bubbling and one fine evening it all blew up. Hubby and I had a fight. I was completely pissed off with his refusal to look at the options and refused to work on any more vacation plans. Ever. I sulked off to Puzzle Pirates. After some time, I noticed him on his laptop, looking at some of the options I had sent. A few more minutes of sulk, and I went over, and then..we finally started looking.

Bangaram Resort found favor with both of us, till we looked at the prices. Agatti Resort was cheaper, but still a bit pricey. We surfed about some more of the Lakshwadeep packages, but the resort stay most appealed to us, but felt too pricey. We checked out Andaman, and to some extent were sold on it. Though it was tour-like, it didn’t look so hectic and we could always have a couple of days to ourselves. Then we looked at the flight rates.

That was the end of it all.

Both Andaman and Lakshwadeep flight rates made us cringe. Yes, we could do it…but an international holiday would cost lesser! Seriously, was it all really worth it. We were stuck on that thought as we explored other beach options in India. We both didn’t really want to end up at Goa again. But that’s exactly what happened.

After a lot of searching, cringing, scanning peppered some frank disbelief at some of the costs, we finally found a package that seemed just right. And it was in Goa. Travel Masti had this lovely Goa Package for 4 days, stay at a Taj hotel (where we spent a lot of time exploring options before deciding on a hotel hubby had already stayed in before), Indigo flights to and fro, one night at a Casino with Rs 10,000/- worth of free chips each and just one half day of sightseeing. Both of us immediately knew, this was the type of holiday we wanted. So, after some talking about it, we sent off a mail to them with our questions and contact numbers. It was Feb 12. 10 days after the submission of my passport application, and half a month from our vacation days. By now, we knew our holiday would have to be in the first week of March. My parent’s anniversary is on March 6, so 1st-5th March seemed a good time for us.

They called up the next day, responded positively to all our question, and told us the offer was actually only for 2 days, and that we had to confirm the same day itself. WHAT! (While writing this, I decided to check if the package is still available today, 12 days later. It IS still up on their site, though with a rider that it may be withdrawn anytime. For all I know it might still be available! Still, it did make up firm up our plans :) )

I tried calling up hubby, he was in a meeting. I told the lady I would get back to her. Tried calling hubby again. Finally gave up and started writing a confirmation mail to her on my own. As I finished the draft, hubby called back. Whew! Hadn’t sent it yet. We confirmed the details and the dates with each other, and then I called her up and confirmed it. After days of dithering, it was all done in a few minutes! They sent someone later in the day to collect the money, sent us our vouchers. The next couple of days we tightened up the details. We had made minor changes to the original package, upgraded our room (after a lot of surfing on my part) and extended an extra day. All that was worked out and we were set. Gosh! That just zoomed!!

We spent the next couple of weekends shopping for beachwear while shops here are still selling winter-wear! While we made all these preparation, yesterday, my passport got verified!! It all seems to be coming together at last. 3 days to V-day and counting =D

Passport Application – The Verification

An update on the status of my passport application.

Yesterday evening, a police official with another person, visited our house for verification of my passport. I was delighted! I had never expected it to happen so soon. I was expecting them to take their own time and end up here sometime next month. I was also thrilled because we are planning to go on vacation next week, and I was really hoping they wouldn’t land up when we were away.

The official was very nice. He had a bunch of applications and as he took out mine, asked me for my proof of residence documents. I was a little taken aback as we had submitted copies with the application, but it seems those are not sent to the police. So I sat them down, and went hunting for my trusty BSNL Bill (which went into hiding and took some finding). They asked me a few questions – how long had I been living here (which month/year), how many people lived here, what does my husband do, what do I do..etc. etc. They also wanted to know if it was our own house or rented. On confirming the former, he wanted papers showing the same. I told him it was in my husband’s name, but he was ok with that. Luckily, I already had a copy of that from my mammoth application document gathering time. So, a copy of the BSNL phone bill and I thought we were set.

But not quite.

The official took out a fresh sheet of paper and noted his observations down. That I was so and so, w/o so and so, living at this address, since this time, occupation etc. Then he bowled his googly. He wanted that sheet verified by two of my neighbors as witnesses. Huh? Umm..what about the reference on the form. Well ma’am, we need this witnessed by your neighbors. Lovely. My ungregarious, not-knowing-neighbors, keeping to myself attitude had turned back and was kicking me in the a**. However, with a confidence born of the inevitability of the moment, I ventured out of the flat to knock on the doors of my nearest two neighbors. The first one isn’t a stranger. In fact, she was one of my references in the form. She was the easy fruit, so I went for her first. Unfortunately, she was doing Puja, so I had no choice but to brave the next door. Now, that’s a family I have seen in the lifts, but never even spoken to. I didn’t even know if they were home! I hoped someone was…because the alternative...of leaving the sanctuary of the 3 flats in this wing and going to another wing/floor of the building was not a happy thought. Luckily, the lady was at home. She was gracious enough to go through the document and sign it for me. I came back to wait for the other neighbor. She already knew the history of my passport application pain (having met me on my frequent police station affidavit trips). Her husband was at home, and she got it witnessed by him. And that was it.

Wow! Was it really over? I double checked with the official. He said all was fine. They’d put the verification into the mail tomorrow and another 10-15 days and I should get my passport. Gosh! Wow! I wondered what would have happened if I hadn’t been at home. He told me they generally visit twice, for himself he said he even visits thrice. They may call on the numbers given. If they don’t get the person, they send that back as a remark. Uh oh! And can a person come to the police station to get verified? Well the person could come, but the verification would have to be done at home so a) it can be checked they really live there and b) witnessed by the neighbors. Wow. Was I glad they caught me at home at the first go!!!

As they left, I immediately called up and told my hubby. He thought I was lucky. Not to get it done, but to get it done with such ease. Ease? I wondered, thinking back on my door-to-door foray. Well, the police official was nice (not general perception) and he didn’t ask for anything (no greasing palms, no hints even!). And I thought back and realized my hubby was right. Generally, any interaction with the police is approached with trepidation, because we expect them to dilly-dally, expect humbleness and something to grease the wheels, and generally act unhelpful. In my earlier affidavit police station visits, though they hadn’t acted unhelpful or greasy, they HAD made the process longer and bureaucratic and just plain frustrating. This verification experience on the other hand, apart from testing my asocial behavior, was a breeze. The official was well spoken, informative, completely un-greasy and focused on getting the job done. Maybe because it was in his favor to get it done quickly, but still…it was a change to see them go for closure, rather than put bureaucratic hurdles or behave in a unwelcome manner.

Yet another milestone crossed. Ab Dilli door nahin!!!