Looking Behind – Comedy of Errors!

It has been 3 months now since I moved to Baroda. At times, life seemed to be fast, lively and fun. But mostly, it has been dead slow and dull. For someone who is lazy by nature, staying away alone could turn into either a boon or a bane. Well, in my case, it has been the latter largely. To be fair on myself, I have tried my hand on various stuffs to keep myself away from boredom.

Read Books  – Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson is collecting dust in a corner.

Watch Movies/Series  – My age old laptop is dead.

Learn Gujarati           – LOL.

Try Cooking               – My first attempt’s result is positive. Likely to pursue.

Explore City               – After 6 days work in a week. Really?

Party                           – A distant dream. FYI, I am in Gujarat.

Self-Introspection      – Who am I kidding?!

One might argue that, I have not really tried all the above. No! You are wrong! I have given it a thought (literally)!

Any suggestions to kill boredom are invited. The sooner the better as boredom is killing me real fast.

Meanwhile, I shall give some tips on ‘what not to do’ when alone. Whilst I was sick and bedridden a while back, a colleague of mine bought me a bottle of sugarcane juice. I had a little of it and forgot the rest. A couple of days later, I found the bottle rolling aimlessly under my bed and decided to empty the rest. Now, listen carefully. NEVER EVER shake a bottle of sugar cane juice before emptying it. Alas, no one warned me before. I gave it a quick shake and turned the cap a little. Just a little! That was it. A mini bomb exploded! The bottle cap went on a mission to mars, the bottle back fired on to the wall. The stale juice was all over my head and neither the ceiling was spared. The noise was so loud that my ear continued to buzz for hours making me seriously worry and the blast left my palm numb for some time! Amazed at the nature’s trick, I was profoundly laughing at myself. I thank my stars for being sick at that time, my neighbor cleaned up the whole mess while I was on a hunt for the missing cap!

Lesson learnt – When someone gives you something for free, consume it ASAP!

Feeling Home – It’s not just the SUN!

My only non-home advantage has become a mirage (I only see those nowadays!). It is blazing hot and brings back memories of Chennai. But you know it! It is not one of those happy nostalgic moments. However, I am feeling home for more than one reason. My experiments with different food at different places turned out pleasant yesterday when I had dosa at a lari(road side shop in Gujju). I was waiting patiently for my onion-masala dosa and my colleague fought his way out of the crowd carrying two dosas over his head with a triumphant smile. My olfaction was at its best as the dosa came close.  And the moment I tasted it, I knew the cook’s DNA had some part of Tamil in it. Post savouring it blissfully, I met the cook and his looks had “I am a Tamilian” all over him. When I started conversing in Tamil, he seemed startled initially giving me the look “How the hell did you know?” rubbing his sweating forehead (as I imagine, trying to rub his Tamilian look off his forehead). Eventually, when he replied, the sound of Tamil in an alien place was the best feeling I could ever ask for! We instantly hit it off. His other customers extended their plates for more sambar and chutni giving us a quizzing look. For a moment, the guy was so into talking with me that he did not notice the customer asking for extra chutney and it pissed off the waiting customer. Instantly, he apologised in Gujju (Yes! He ought to speak Gujju staying here for more than a decade) and the very next second he turned to me and passed a witty comment (Typical Tamilian way!) on these demanding people here! Both of us roared in laughter. His parting comment was, “Dosa saapdla naalum adikadi inga vanga!”(Come often even if you don’t want to have Dosa). I just waved him back thinking, his customer base just increased by one and I just found someone to talk with! A true moment of mirth!