Day 154 - Famiraderie

The last week, or the last days of last week, were spent with family.  In fact for most part of this month, I have been seeing a lot of my family. 

To start with, my parents came to stay with me for a couple of days.  We celebrated my mom's birthday on the day they arrived.  The next 2 days were full of meeting a lot of other family members based in Mumbai.  Uncles, aunts and cousins!  My mother-in-law also came to visit at the same time.  It was like we were having an impromptu family conclave.

As soon as my parents left for Ahmedabad, followed by my mother-in-law going back to Pune, my cousin from Chennai announced that she needs a break and hence she and the kids are coming over to Mumbai!  After getting Rampyaari back from the workshop I picked my cousin up on Saturday evening.  Sunday was spent visiting other cousins in the city and shopping.  I took an off on Monday to be able to take the kids out to Esselworld!  It was a long drive, but it was worth it.  Everyone had a great time and of course, spinning heads.

The common thread around all of these events is that I felt great to be around family.  This is sometimes the case with very good friends as well.  You just love these people being around you.  Family and friends.  I wonder why?  Is blood really thicker than water?  But that doesn't apply to friends, right?  Could there be a scientific reason behind the joy that one experiences from being with family and friends?  Is there a special happiness hormone secreted in our bodies when we are with close friends and family members?  Maybe.  One of the reasons could be the sense of security that one experiences while being with people close / related to us. We can just be ourselves, without pretending to be anything. That is probably the cause of the joy.

By the way, my brother was in town for a day.  I however, could not meet him, due to our respective packed schedules.  And I felt really bad about it.

My parents will be back next week, as will be a couple of cousins and uncles.  We shall all travel together to Bengaluru to my cousin's wedding.  This being one of the last weddings of my generation, I am sure a lot of people in the family would be keen to attend.  I am definitely looking forward to it.

Looking forward to some more moments of joy and happiness.  The joy of togetherness. 

Take care.

Day 10 - All is well!

I am sure the title of this post would tell one and all that I am in a great frame of mind while I write this and the reason is not very difficult to find out as well. Again the clue being in the title. But I will come back to it later in the post.

This week was interesting. A week of 'firsts'!

Dad and Manish were in town. Manish was in Mumbai for two days for business. Dad, a little longer, again for work. The only difference being, Manish stayed with us and Dad did not, as usual. Blame it on the many visitors whom he has to meet throughout the day. We did manage a dinner together though and it was good. My Mom would have felt a bit lonely, with the whole gang here! This was Dad & Manish's first visit to my place after I shifted to Mumbai.

Went to drop Manish to Mumbai Central on Thursday. Got my first look at the new Duranto Express. Not sure why they have wrapped it all up in a pathetic looking wall paper from outside! Will take this train the next time we go to Ahmedabad. Took the local train while coming back home and that brought back a lot of memories. The place hasn't changed a bit.

Memories was what I was probably chasing when on Saturday, I went to Fort to get my new address and other details changed in all my securities accounts. Saw CST in person for the first time after the 26/11 attacks! Walked from CST to Fort and memories came flooding back to me. Walked from Fort to Churchgate while coming back and that was fun too. Again, got a feeling that nothing much has changed apart from a kiosk here and there! In the evening, Priya had a sudden urge to go and see a movie. What guts! We were planning to see a movie in the theatre with both the kids for the first time! But, no gain without pain, and hence, booked tickets for the movie - 3 Idiots!

Sameer (Dave) had invited us for lunch at his place today as well. He stays close to R City Mall, which is where we were going for the movie. So had a sumptuous Gujarati lunch at Sameer's, courtesy Tina and Sameer's mother. We all loved the lunch! Went for the movie after lunch. A stone's throw away from Sameer's place.

3 Idiots - This is a movie, which richly deserves the high praise that it is getting in the media and the hot bucks that it is earning at the box office! I have read the book as well, but this was something else! I havn't laughed such a lot while watching a movie for a long long time! In fact, the scene where Chatur gives the annual day speech was so hilarious, that I couldn't stop laughing, choking myself and almost starting off an Asthma attack! Thankfully the kids slept through most of the movie, after the sumptuous lunch!;-)) And hence, all is well!

Take care. Cheers!