Day 326 - The Whirlwind

Writing blogs is a time-intensive hobby.  I have not been able to post anything for the last couple of weeks.  This is partly due to me being extremely busy and partly, because the infrastructure required to do so has not been available!  Hence, this post is going to be all about what I have been up to for the last twenty days.

I have been busy with a constant stream of visitors at work, ensuring that the family celebrates a decent Diwali, making arrangements for the housewarming ceremony, ferrying near and dear ones from home to airport and vice versa, shifting my house and travelling to Indore for campus recruitment.

Diwali was enjoyable and fun; we had a good time celebrating the day with Amiya and Farheen.  The kids were all excited about their new clothes and bursting crackers.  Sweets and savouries made by Priya added some more pounds on to my circumference.  Just after Diwali, Obama-mania hit the country.  The joke was that he had come to India after watching 'Enthiran' and was to make an offer to the PM to swap all of USA's military might and cutting edge technology for Rajanikant!  However, seriously speaking, there was indeed a lot of hype around the visit; half of South Mumbai was washed and (tooth)combed for this visit.  Interestingly, he began his visit in Mumbai, making it very clear as to what his priorities were.  Coming to India, just after a defeat in the mid-term senate polls in the US, this was not surprising.  And guess what, one of the first things that he did was announce business deals worth $10 billion which would create jobs for Americans!  Pamela Anderson was the first recruit.

Just after Diwali was the housewarming ceremony on November 8th.  With a start time of 3 AM this was one long day, by the end of which I was so tired that I decided not to go to work the next day; one of those rare occasions when I have had to take an unplanned casual leave!

Housewarming done; next up was the stressful job of shifting the house.  The job was completed in a single day last Sunday.  It was very stressful, especially for Priya, but with my mother-in-law and aunt's help we got through it.  We are still in the process of arranging (and rearranging) everything in the house, but it is much better than last Sunday, when the house resembled a minefield!

The visit to Indore yesterday and the day before for campus recruitment was just after the shifting; with me leaving everything in the house to be managed by Priya!  Business as usual; no surprises!  'As expected', said Priya!

Indore was pleasant.  And a completely different place from when I had seen it about 10 years back.  The city has literally expanded.  It was such a refreshing change to listen to the views of the bunch of students that I was interviewing.  Filled me with nostalgia.  About 12 years ago, I was sitting on the other side of the table.  Indore was enjoyable also because I got to catch up with Khandu after 7 years.  He is still the same, but looks like the world around him has changed.  The trip also started to resemble a reunion, as I met up with Kaushal at the airport.  He was on the same flight back to Mumbai.  Interestingly, he was staying at the same hotel as I was for the exact two days that I was there.  And yet, we never bumped into each other.  Now, now; this is sounding like a Manmohan Desai movie plot!  The visit to 56 Dukaan before boarding the flight yesterday was good.  Hotdog, masala puri, aaloo bonda, samosa and malai kulfi; add a few more pounds now.  But the food was worth every pound.

Have decided to take it easy this weekend as the next herculean task of changing my address everywhere is looming large.  Last time it took about three months to do so; I am hoping to do it quicker than that this time!

Take care!