It's time I talked about my new companion

My colleagues (absolutely aghast on knowing about it) would often ask me - "how can you not have it till now?", my friends would make statements like- "one cannot live without it! It falls in the 'must to have' category and not 'good to have' and sooner than later my parents too started insisting that I have it.

"Come March and I will buy it", "come April and I will buy it", "come May and I will buy it", "come June and I will most definitely buy it" (I would say this to myself at the beginning of every month)...then came July and I finally bought it! 

As someone who has not watched enough of television ("tv") during childhood, the idea of 'it' being an absolute necessity never really convinced me. So when I started living on my own and completed a year of doing so, people around me, who initially wondered and eventually questioned my reluctance in buying a tv, finally got down to convincing me the need of it. I am almost certain that I sound like this boring soul who is anti-tv but quite honestly that was never the case. In fact, I must confess that I am the kinds who loves going to theater and watching movie every weekend. I also relish watching tv when I am home in Jaipur with my folks but somehow I never felt any pressing need to have it for myself...partly because I have never really religiously followed/been addicted to a sitcom/program on tv and partly because I end up finding ample things to keep myself entertained. Yes, there were times when I missed watching a certain talk show or a certain debate or a certain award show, however the craving never peaked enough to drive me to check out a television store, until the horrible rains of Mumbai refused to stop, keeping me away from my sources of entertainment. And so I decided that it was time to get myself a companion to give me company indoors during the maddening Mumbai rains. Since then, I must admit, my tv has been my greatest companion and has had a huge role to play in my daily life (if you know what I mean!), so much so, that sometimes my day feels incomplete without watching it.

And that calls for giving the devil its due- I cannot thank the 'maddening Mumbai rains' enough for triggering the purchase! ;)

The "visiting a book store" effect

Book stores are certainly one of those few and rare places where time flies faster than the best of Boeings! Well, day before yesterday was my third visit to a book store in last ten days and for once I was not too thrilled about the visit. Alright...lets admit! It is way too hard to be gifting books and resisting the temptation of buying one for yourself! At least I know for myself, how difficult it was to kill that natural urge of buying books (whether or not you have the time to read it being immaterial) during each of my visits in the last ten days!

So I happened to miss my cousin's birthday and since I was visiting her in the succeeding week I decided to take a book for her which was long over due. Being an avid reader, I couldn't resist buying one for my younger cousin as well. While I was in the process of deciding which book to pick up for my younger cousin, I realised that there is something absolutely charming about visiting a book store! It has the power to engross you like you had nothing else to do in life and as if, all that really mattered was romancing the books indefinitely. I entered the bookstore knowing absolutely well in my head which book I had to buy for my cousin and also that I had just about half an hour to spare in the book store, considering how packed my day was and yet I managed to unknowingly stretch it by an hour and a half. And no, I did not buy any for myself this time around, if that's what you are interested in knowing. (though in order to achieve that, I had to constantly remind myself of the 15 odd books stacked up on my book shelf which are yet to be read.- courtesy: one such "visiting a book store" effect of course, if you know what I mean! :D) So well, despite not having picked any book for myself, I openly exercised the freedom of romancing a hundred books for more than two hours and left only after suffering from a panic attack caused due to the numerous calls being made to me for knowing my whereabouts. However, the time spent there sure made my day a lot more productive - huh...whoever thought romancing at a book store was not productive enough!

Guess who I had as my guest at 2 in the morning!

Easy...easy! Before you start to wonder who it was, allow me to disappoint you, it was no celebrity, however it sure deserves a mention on my blog more than a celebrity does, perhaps.

So last evening I got back from work around 7:30 in the evening, which was followed by my usual chores of the day - cooking, washing dishes, making bed, reading etc. For some reason I was feeling physically exhausted and dosed off around 9 unknowingly, with the newspaper I was reading, as my companion. I don't remember the last time I slept so peacefully and so early...it almost felt like I was intoxicated and put to sleep. Mommy called and I rambled something in my unconscious state and hung up. She got a little concerned as I never hit the bed so early, exceptions apart (which she is usually aware of). A friend called and I loosely remember rejecting his call. Mommy called again after an hour, only to hear me ramble yet again. Apparently, I told her something to this effect- "I ain't sleeping mamma, I'll wake up in half an hour and then sleep", to which she replied- I know you are very sleepy, at least turn off the lights and then sleep. I said, will do and slept again obviously without bothering to turn off the lights, thinking I will wake up in some time. And yes, that 'some time' happened to be around 2 in the morning, when someone barged into my house absolutely uninvited to freak the hell out of me.

FLASHBACK: I am cozily sleeping on my bed. I don't know exactly for how long I had been hearing the shrill 'mew-mew' while in deep slumber, totally discarding it, thinking it to be a dream. After hearing it consistently for 3-4 minutes, I open my eyes and realize that I could hear it as clearly. I turn to scream AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (as shrill as the mews if not more), absolutely aghast to see a big cat sitting at less than an arm's length from my head. Yes, you read it right- at less than an arm's length, leaving my heart to skip its beat.

Thankfully, it was not a stubborn one and exited swiftly through the window it must have entered from, on hearing me scream. However, the incident left me wakeful with my eyes wide open till 4 am, for I was in sheer disbelief of what had happened. And, I was glad that I had left the lights on, for I wonder what it would be to see a big cat in a pitch dark room, sitting so close to you. 

Well, I generally don't freak out at the sight of animals, in fact I adore them and would love to pet one, but it's one thing to like them generally and another to have them catch you off guard, next to your bed, in the middle of the night when you are fast asleep! C'mon, I know you would agree.

"I write my stories in the morning, my diary at night."

Today happens to be one of those rare days when the work flow is little and hence the ideal time to catch up on things that have not got my attention.

There are few good habits that I have picked up over the last couple of years, one of them being reading and if for some reason, time does not permit me to read all which I would like to, (courtesy- my profession, which is popularly known as the jealous mistress) I make it a point to at least maintain a reading list, so I could catch up on the selected readings as soon as time allows me to. And so, my reading list was not just the first one to draw my attention today but it also managed to romance me from morning to noon. 

First up on my reading list was a really cool compilation of a handful of writing routines of some legendary authors, by Maria Popova. I enjoyed reading it and I hope you do too!

Link to the reading- "The Daily Routines of Famous Writers":
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/

"I've bought my peace for the day!"

I am extremely fond of hearing the captioned statement from a friend, who says it each time he finishes a run and hence there could be no better title for a post on running, I thought. Also, I think I have begun to understand where he is coming from and the profoundness of it.

While I have never been completely off running/jogging in the last 2-3 years, I must admit I have never relished it more than now- thanks to my friend (addressed as "teacher/coach" by me, while running :D ) who is oh so passionate about running that it almost rubs on to you instantly and easily. I have known him only for six months now and running has become an integral part of my life or at least I think it has.

The Monsoons are here and its been pouring like crazy in the maximum city, hampering our running schedule on most days and so we have started valuing the run even more. Today for instance, happened to be a blissful day in terms of running. Thankfully, the rains decided to take a break and give us one too this morning, so we headed for our morning run to Bandra Fort after a long time. I realise it isn't accidental that my day went off so well today. This phenomenal day I had, has to be attributed to the lovely start which set the tone right. 

I am guessing the passion that my friend has for running explains how good a runner he is. To him, 'running'  is synonymous to 'solution to every problem in life' and a lot more. Here goes in brief- he is bloody good at it and I am trying hard to just be at it (as of now). All I know is this - I too have learnt to buy my peace for the day now!

The greatest thing you can do is surprise yourself.

In February of 2013, I did something I had been longing to do for years- my first hike! So my first hike was meant to be in the Sahyadris (which I am told is a difficult terrain) with an organiser called Mumbai Travellers. The hike was a memorable one for a number of reasons, the most obvious of them being that it was my first attempt at hiking. That said, little did I know and for good I must add, that my first hiking destination came with a "difficulty level- high" tag. 


My then status on Facebook, (which I rarely care to update) sums up the entire experience : 

"I now understand the meaning of the quote - "The greatest thing you can do is surprise yourself". Challenged myself, did something that I could have never imagined doing (being a victim of acrophobia) and discovered the hidden strength that was sleeping inside of me. My first night hike (and rock climbing) in a not so easy terrain for a ‘first timer’ with Vaibhav Khaire , Anand Sahu, Elvis J Shemain, Saif Rajulawala and Yunus Dange. You guys were a super reassuring team and I must say- the high is addictive! Cheers! at Gorakhgad."

Here's the flashback- Second weekend of the month was around the corner and I randomly decided to call this group called Mumbai Travelers the second time (after their last hiking plan that I had inquired for, got cancelled) to inquire if there were any upcoming adventure events and me being (the impulsive) me, asked them to block a place for me as soon as I heard a "Yes" from the other end. Eventually, I happened to speak about it with two of my friends, who too decided to join in. I don't quite remember when was the last time I was as excited about the weekend. Believe it or not, I found myself doing a countdown...courtesy- the hiking excitement. I literally made a list of things I would require to carry and started gearing for it in full swing. My excitement only grew further on knowing that it was going to be a night hike. Not to forget, that the preparation also involved buying a pair of new track pants, which I would have otherwise felt guilty about ;).

The Day- And after having romanced time for almost a week, the day finally arrived. Ironically enough, that day did not start on a very exciting note because the lazy friend of mine backed out in the last minute. I and my other friend nonetheless tried not to ruin the excitement and managed to succeed in retaining it eventually. All the hikers were supposed to assemble at Kalyan and when I say "all" here, I meant close to 13 of us. However, we were slightly discouraged to see just 6 of us assembled there. For some godforsaken reason the remaining 7 who had enrolled for the night hike decided to back out, one of them being my friend, of course. While still a little apprehensive, I and my friend decided to join the other four and go for it. A jeep was arranged for, by the organizers to reach the base camp which was approximately two and a half hour drive from Kalyan.

We finally started hiking a little before the clock struck 9. The sky was lit with stars, one of the most scenic nights witnessed by me. Thankfully, all the ice breaking among the 6 of us was done with, on our way to the base camp itself and so we were discussing constellations and identifying stars when we started our hike with backpacks and torches in our hands. We were six of us including the guide from Mumbai Travelers and I was the only girl (this one remains a secret for I didn't want my parents to freak out :D). 

We took a halt after having climbed for almost four and a half hours and none of us knew that our destination was at least another four hours away (which as it turns out was ten times tougher, narrower, rockier and steeper than what we had covered). We decided to cover that stretch early morning due to lack of clarity on the directions and it being pitch dark. Was it easy?- Hell, no! It was not. It was undoubtedly a tough terrain to hike on, which sometimes challenged even the pros'. Was it fun?- hell, yes...it was crazy fun!...perhaps the craziest I have had. The high that you experience when you have peaked the mountain is unbeatable, incomparable and addictive. You'd wish that you could somehow hold on to it forever. And hey, my description of how it feels would remain a mere statement for you till you experience it yourself someday.

There is a lot more to be said about all the fun the six of us had, and what a wonderful experience it is to meet people from absolutely different backgrounds, professions, regions, ideologies, cultures with just one thing in common- ADVENTURE!