Day 216 - The Scandalous Games

Hosting an event of the scale of the Commonwealth Games is definitely a national honour, and responsibility, although the Commonwealth itself as an organisation, may be completely defunct.  Over the past few months, however, the media has been going on and on about about how badly prepared are we to host the Games.

There have been many allegations. 

Allegation No.1: The infrastructure is not ready.  The construction at the various venues for the Games is not complete.  Building materials are still lying around at the venues; probably the Indian athletes are fortunate, especially the long jumpers, steeple chasers and marathon runners, as they might have used these as an effective hurdle training course, in their attempts to get to these venues to practice!

Allegation No.2: Everything which has been built has been hurriedly built and is of inferior quality.  Roofs are leaking and the walls already have cracks.  Imagine a weightlifter in serious contention of a medal, attempting a 250 KG 'clean and jerk', and right then droplets of leaking water from the roof hitting his pate.  I think we need raincoats for the weightlifters!

Allegation No.3: Huge financial irregularities.  Treadmills have been hired for Rs.9, 50, 000 each for a period of 45 days!  Some smart bloke in the papers has gone and found out the cost of buying the costliest  treadmill from Harrods, which happens to be around Rs.7, 00, 000.  A contract for media displays during the Queen's Baton Run across India has been awarded to a one man company, whose company is in liquidation in UK.  It is a pity; even the common man's hard earned money could not save his company.  But the interesting part is that there is no document to prove that there was a contract, even though money changed hands, just before the company went into liquidation, incidentally.

All this when we have 2 months to go for the event to happen.  A showcase event meant to demonstrate to the world India's capabilities in hosting high profile events, thus strengthening our future bids for hosting the Asian Games and the Olympics.  And then there is politics involved; no surprises, wherever money is involved, politics has to be present.  The opposition wants the entire Organising Committee to be sacked, including its Chairman, who is the sports administrator extraordinaire in India!  I think they should themselves resign, the money they have already made should definitely last for a couple of lifetimes. 

Amidst all of this, nobody is worried about the pride of the country which is at stake.  The Games are already a marketing disaster, with the common man / middle class showing complete apathy and no interest in the conduct of these games.  We will also miss stars such as Usain Bolt, who has given New Delhi the miss to prepare for more important events.

My view is that the entire might of the nation should right now be focused on ensuring that the conduct of the Games happens reasonably well, the chances of it being a resounding success are already nil.  After the Games are over, there needs to be a serious debate on the role of politicians in sports administration.  Sports administration is the honey which attracts every politician, big or small, stature doesn't matter.  If the Games end up being a damp squib, Mr.Kalmadi needs to be held accountable for it and forever banned from being a sports administrator.

In the meantime, let us pray for the smooth conduct of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Take care.

Day 213 - 3 Hours of Dreaming

I finally managed to watch LSD (Love, Sex Aur Dhoka) today, after having bought the DVD a couple of months ago.  Over the last few months, I have been wanting to watch a slew of movies which have been recommended by friends or have had rave reviews in the media.  I cannot term myself a great movie buff, but critically acclaimed movies have always been a passion. 

I haven't been able to watch a lot of movies in the recent past because of paucity of time.  Moreover, two small kids at home make it almost impossible to watch movies in a theatre Also, my intolerance for bad cinema has increased and my attention span has decreased almost proportionate to each other in the last few years.  Hence, the sum total of all these factors has been that, I haven't watched many movies (certainly not in the theatres) in the recent past.  The ones that I have watched, are those which have been critically acclaimed, like 3 Idiots.

So, there is still a long list of movies to watch: Ishqiya, Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, Tere Bin Laden, Udaan, Raavan, etc.  The last movie that I saw in a theatre was Rajneeti.  A movie with a huge star cast, with the director trying to make screenplay out of a mixture of Mahabharata, Godfather and contemporary Indian politics.  The huge star cast meant that the director could not do justice to the abundance of talent at hand.  My son had already declared the film as 'not good' after the first couple of reels.

Speaking of movies, down in South India, movies are big news!  Everyone loves movies, across all age groups; across all strata of the society.  Actors and actresses are revered as The Almighty and have even got temples dedicated to them.  One of my favourite films also happens to be in my mother tongue, Tamil: Nayagan.

I do sometimes wonder what is it in a movie that makes people go gaga over them!?  I think movies are like dreams.  Once is in a dreamland for three hours, watching a string of vivid images, while watching a movie.  We see our aspirations, hopes, wishes fears and fantasies being played out on the big screen for 3 hours.  When we watch movies, we get to experience what we normally can’t in our own lives by identifying with characters that are involved in impossible stories. Whether the ending is happy, sad, or bittersweet, if the story is to our liking, we are thrilled every time.  Hence movies are also about story-telling.  A good story is always immortal.

I am not sure, if many people do appreciate the subtleties in the making of the movie itself.  The art of camerawork, editing, lighting and, of course, the acting itself.  I am someone who does tend to notice these.  For example, LSD has been made with experimental camera work.  The three segments of the film have three different styles / types of cameras and cinematography in them.  In the past few years, film makers in Bollywood have started to become more and more experimental in the quest for putting something 'different' out there and this trend has received the right impetus with the influx of new and young talent.

Hope this continues and I get to see many more good films in the coming months and years!

Take care.

Day 200 - Identity Crisis?

One of the highlights of this week has been the decision on the symbol for representing the Indian rupee.  The decision was a culmination of a long drawn exercise which included a design competition for the symbol, which attracted about 3000 entries.  How come I never knew about this competition earlier, will remain a mystery forever.  The design competition was won by D Udaya Kumar, a post-graduate PhD student at IIT Powai, who has just finished his thesis and has landed a job at IIT Guwahati!  He became an instant celebrity, though the cash award that he got for his efforts was a pittance.

So, the Indian rupee now has a new symbol and it is coming to a keyboard near you very soon.  Why all the hullaboo about the event?  It is said that the Indian currency has now entered a select group of currencies (Dollar, Pound, Yen & Euro) having such a symbol, implying that, backed by a trillion dollar economy, the currency is making its presence felt on the international scene.  My repartee: Nobody every stopped the Indian government from coming up with such a symbol for the rupee even 20 years ago, when the Indian economy had zilch influence on the global scene.

Announcing the decision Ambika Soni said, "The symbol would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and global face of the Indian economy".  I say: Precisely.  It is all about an identity crisis.

I suspect all this tom-toming arises from the fact that Indians are not a confident lot!  We always draw great pride from the fact that we will now be in the company of the big boys.  Somehow we tend to define our success by calibrating it to the past deeds of the so called 'big boys'!  Do we not have an identity of our own?  The same philosophy and trend can be extended to the Indian urban society and its uncanny ability to draw inspiration from everything West.

Do not get me wrong.  I am very happy that we now, finally, have a symbol for the rupee.  I also like Udaya's design and believe that it is a perfect representation of the Indian cultural ethos.  And the bottom line: it looks good!  But I am not a great fan of the whole media spin that this is a milestone in India's march towards being an economic superpower.  I am sure that just by allocating a symbol to the Indian currency would not make it gallop at a GDP rate of 10% YoY.  Though I sincerely hope that it does happen, by the hard work of the 1.2 billion Indians!

Till then, keep counting; stop preening!  Take care.

Day 199 - Deprived...

There was a time when I could do with only 2 hours of sleep.  This was during the early years of my career and the brief period of time just before it.  And I had that lifestyle over a long period of time, due to various reasons.  The first and foremost was the amount of time spent at the workplace.  When one is just starting off in one's worklife and is a bachelor living alone, there is seldom a thought given to the number of hours spent at the workplace.  The workplace, in fact, tends to become one's home and the colleagues, family.  The second reason is being young!  When you are in your twenties, you want to do everything and pack in as many things as you can in a 24 hour day, including long chats on the phone late into the nights! :-))

That was flashback; and it was a good one.  Pan to today.  Eleven years down the line and with a family to care for, I can still do with 2-3 hours of sleep on the odd day, but, as you might imagine, it starts becoming more and more difficult as you age.  Lack of sleep does have its impact on the next day, when one feels very lethargic and sleepy.

I recently read an article about the prevalence of sleep deprivation and the consequent health syndrome of Obstructuve Sleep Apnea (OSA) spreading throughout urban India, in India Today.  Over the last few years, I have noticed that we, as a society, are sleeping lesser and lesser these days.  The benchmark of everyone going to bed by 10 PM is no longer applicable.  Most families are wide awake till 11 PM - midnight!  Even children, like my own, are sleeping lesser hours.  It is said, medically, children grow more when they are asleep.  Sleep deprivation in our cities, is doing a disservice to the future of India.  The Philips Sleep Survey says 93% of urban Indians get less than 8 hours of sleep per night!  I think this is a very dangerous trend.  Sustained sleep deprivation leads to OSA, thus increasing the risk of diabetes and heart ailments.

There are various reasons behind this trend.  The Indian economy and its integration with the global economy is the most important reason.  India, because of its time advantage of being able to bridge the east and west, has preferred to grow the services sector.  Hence you have people working unnatural hours in call centres, sweat shops and back offices higher up the value chain.  Additionally, their families have adapted to this lifestyle over a period of time.  The other reason is the opening up of the media and the huge number of TV channels airing myraid soap operas till late in the night.  Clearly, this is a lifestyle issue and the solution lies in changing one's lifestyle.

At the beginning of this year, I made a promise to myself that I am going to try and get 8 hours of sound sleep every night.  It hasn't been consistently possible till now.  However, let me rededicate myself towards this effort.

Sleep well.  Sleep tight.  Take care.

Day 186 - A Collosal Waste

This post is prompted by the Bharat Bandh call given by various political parties, including the BJP-led NDA and the Left parties in the country, for tomorrow.  This is being planned, apparently, in protest against the fuel price hike, which was recently announced by the government and the general increase in inflation over the past few months.

So, what are we going to achieve by 'enforcing' a countrywide strike?  Yes, 'enforcing' is the word being used in the media.  These political parties of various hues which form the whole spectrum of the opposition parties in this country are all supporting the Bandh.  From the right wing BJP to the Left parties, with a myriad mix goons, sycophants and stone age politicos included in between.  Enforcing the strike means, there will be violence if you resist the 'Bandh'.  You will be a likely target of mindless violence if you do not co-operate and shut shop.  Essential services will be allowed but everybody else would be expected to co-operate.

So, who is expected to benefit from the day long strike?  My view: Nobody!

You might find this strange coming from someone who has a socialist father.  However, this strike is being 'enforced'.  It is not an outcome of spontaneous support for the perpetrators of this strike unlike the non-violent movement led by the Mahatma.  I abhor any kind of violence, and that is what every common man should do.  This strike, like all other strikes, is going to result in a collosal wastage of 1 man day of effort; a loss of crores of rupees worth of production of goods and services.  Not to mention the loss due to the violence, arson and loss of life, if it goes to that extent.  Is the government likely to roll back the fuel price hike and suddenly regulate the prices of various food and vegetables?  No.  So, why the strike?  Instead of enforcing a countrywide Bandh and causing losses of crores of rupees, it would make much better sense if these political parties offer to put their heads together with the government to come up with solutions to the price rise issue.

There are other questions to be answered as well, apart from the collosal loss to the exchequer.  Spare a thought for that daily wages earner.  If everything is shut, where does he earn his bread from?  What about the hordes of organisations who have moved their key processes here as part of the ITES / BPO boom?  Should those organisations also shut shop in their respective countries because we, Indians, are are on strike? Imagine the huge amount of time and effort that goes into planning for business continuity for such an event by all these organisations, which is exactly what I have been doing for the last few hours this Sunday evening! Phew!

I do not support this Bandh; nor should you!  Take care.

Day 182 - The Beautiful Game

Goooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll!!!

Yes, it is football frenzy time!  It is amazing how once in every four years this phenomenon, called the FIFA World Cup, captures the imagination of practically the whole world, me included.  Let me be very clear; I am not a great fan of football.  Club football confuses me, what with all the different leagues in different parts of the world and the never ending player transfers from one club to another.  However, when once in 4 years, the World Cup is played over a month, I become a die-hard fan of the game.

Although India has never played in the World Cup Finals (it did qualify for the 1950 World Cup Finals, but the team did not travel to Brazil for the competition), during the World Cup people in India become staunch supporters of various teams depending on various parameters like, the stars that they follow, the emotional attachment to a playing nation, the style of play of a particular team, etc.

I, for one, support multiple teams!  And believe me this is not because I try to hedge my bets.  I am supporting Spain for its seamless and skillful play, Brazil as the eternal favourites due to the flair with which they play, Germany because of their structured and disciplined execution by a very young team and last but not the least, Argentina!  Since the time I watched the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico for the first time, I have an emotional connect to Argentina!  Argentina won that competition and Maradona was the 'God of Football', not necessarily due to the 'Hand of God' only.  From that year on, I have watched every World Cup with great interest.  If 1986 was about Maradona and the 'Hand of God', 1990 was all about the magic of the dimunitive Salvatore Schillaci.  1994 was all about selling the game to the USA, while 1998 was the year of Zinadine Zidane; France winning the tournament on home turf! The World Cup came to Asia for the first time in 2002.  It was also the first time that two countries were jointly hosting the tournament; Japan and South Korea.  I thought 2006 was a drab affair in Germany, which was won by the Italians.

2010 is the year of Africa, the World Cup Finals being hosted in this continent for the first time.  I missed the first set of matches due to the travel to Bengaluru.  However, I more than made up for it in the second week, by ensuring that I watched rest of all the matches in the Group stages.  I have to say, very few matches in this World Cup have been entertaining.  The pre-quarterfinal match up between England and Germany was a riveting affair.  It was also marred by poor referee decisions.  This and some other such bad decisions by the referees have sparked of a huge clamour of the usage of technology to assist referees in decision making. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am a great supporter of technology and its applications in our day to day lives. I also appreciate the fact that such technological help has added great value to sports like Cricket and Tennis.  However, I, for one would be very careful to go the whole hog with technology for a game like football.  Football is a beautiful game because of the raw speed and pace, because of the amazing skills of the players to control a ball and keep its possession with them and because of the innovative and creative tactics used by teams to cut through the defences of the opponents to score a goal.  I believe uncontrolled intervention of technology can take away the beauty of this minimalist game.  If the usage of technology is controlled in such a way that it does not kill the pace and creativity of the game by frequent interruptions, it must be welcomed.  Remember, some years ago, the game had started to become very boring due to the frequent stoppages because of inappropriate tackles and fouls.  FIFA had then introduced the 'Advantage' rule, to increase the pace of the game and keep it interesting.  The rule was simple.  If a player was fouled, but the possession of the ball still remained with the player's own team, the game was allowed to be continued without stopping it for a free kick for the foul.

As I write this, the tournament is entering its decisive and interesting quarter finals stage.  A couple of big ticket encounters await us.  Argentina will play Germany in the Quarters; can't wait for it.  Oracle Octopus might have predicted a win for Germany, but as one of my colleagues pointed out today, the law of averages might catch up with Mr.OO. I am betting on a Brazil v/s Argentina final, though Spain could also be one of the finalists.  They are playing some beautiful football.  Some of the stars to look out for in these later stages of the tournament are: David Villa, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Fabiano, Diego Forlan, Gyan, Sneijder, Klose, Podolski and maybe some more who might emerge as stars due to their exploits in the final stages.

I am loving it and looking forward to all these stars and their respective teams performing at the highest levels.  Meanwhile, this weekend I cought up with my friends from SHCIL.  Jyoti is here in India for a couple of months.  Hence myself, Parag, Jyoti and Ritesh got together for lunch along with our respective familes.  It was a relaxed affair and a lot of fun.  Plan to organise a bigger event in a month or so before Jyoti goes back to the US.

On Monday, Dad got operated for cataract. Finally, after a couple of postponements due to high sugar levels.  He is keeping well and in good spirits.

Hence, so am I.  Take care.

Day 175 - Hibernating In The Rains

As you know, last week, or most part of it was spent in travel to and from Bengaluru, the marriage ceremony and spending time with family and lots and lots of relatives.

This week is the second week of my holidays and I am in hibernation mode.  However, even in this mode I realised there was a lot happening. 

First of all, I do have to work through a long list of 'to-do's accumulated over the last couple of months.  These included varied things like getting my SIPs updated, repairing the childrens' bicycle, reparing the phones, immersing a couple of paper mash sculptures, etc.  The good news is that I am almost done with these.

Next up was the World Cup football.  Having missed the first round of matches due to all the travelling last week, I decided that I will watch all the matches live till I am on holiday.  I have been partially successful but have witnessed some interesting encounters as well.  The match between Brazil and Ivory Coast was a very bad advertisement for the sport.

On the health front, Priya and I decided to have another go at the GM diet.  Priya was done on the first day.  I am still holding the fort.  Hence, it is a bit of a torture being on holiday and not being able to eat whatever I fancy.  It is even worse when you get the opportunity to meet up with friends and go out for dinner, which is what is being planned in the next couple of days.  I think it will be painful to watch everybody at the table having a go at schezwan rice, with me limited to nibbling salads.  We will see.  I have however, restarted going to the gym seriously.

The other thing which I wanted to do during these two week holidays and have failed to do so horribly is to pick up my reading habit again.  There is a huge pile of  half-read books on my writing table, which I intended to tackle.  However, I have not been successful at it.  Either these books are very boring or my attention span is decreasing by the day.  Dangerous trend.  By the way, I started reading a new book - 'Blackberry - The Inside Story of Research In Motion'.  So far, so good.  I also plan to see a film - Rajneeti tomorrow.  Hope it lives up to the reviews I have read about the film.

The bright spot of this holiday though was Suryanksh's first day to school and the rains.  He has started going to the Bombay Scottish School (Junior KG).  Have been picking him up everyday from school.  The other bright spot was of course the onset of the rains.  It has been cloudy for most parts of the last couple of days and it has been raining heavily sporadically.  The sights and sounds of Mumbai are completely different when it rains.

So, the only evidence of my hibernation are the afternoon naps that I took on a couple of days.  However, inspite of all this activity, there is a sense of restlessness in me.  It always happens when I am on a long leave.  It is like I am being deprived of my daily dosage of some strong addiction.  I suspect, that addiction is of work. 

Yes, am sick of browsing the mails on the Blackberry and am itching to come back to work.

Take care.

Day 170 - Bengaluru Beckons

This past week was spent preparing for the Bengaluru visit and then travelling to the city of gardens.  The purpose of the visit to Bengaluru was to attend a cousin's (Shivakumar) wedding.

It was great fun because we went as a group to Bengaluru after assembling in Mumbai as the base.  My parents, brother and sister-in-law arrived just before we departed to Bengaluru on Saturday.  We were also joined by other cousins and their families.  The flight from Mumbai to Bengaluru was pretty much uneventful, except for the pranks of both my little ones at the airport. When we arrived in Bengaluru, the weather was heavenly.  It was cool and pleasant unlike Mumbai's humidity. It was also raining sporadically.  The drive to the city from the airport was full of greenery.  Incidentally, I met Adwait at the Bengaluru airport and he looked fresh and sporty.  Looks like he is enjoying his time at JPMC.

Now, Bengaluru is a city where I have spent close to 2 years of my life.  It is also special, as Priya doesn't forget to remind me, because we started our married life in this city.  Hence, there are a lot of memories attached to the city.  The fact, however, is that , this city has undergone a massive change in the six years since we left Bengaluru for Chennai.  Some of the roads and places are completely unrecognisable.

All the infrastructure projects have been completed.  Grade separators are functional at Dairy Circle, Silk Board and Jayadeva Hospital!  These were just starting to be built when I last saw these places.  Malls have sprung up everywhere.  New residential complexes which did not exist before have suddenly surfaced.  Bengaluru, being a city of bungalows, looks strange with these new age skyscrapers.

I also like the city because of its meticulous cleanliness.  Generally, I have found the southern cities to be more cleaner compared to the north.  It would, of course, be a joke to even compare Mumbai with Bengaluru or Chennai on this aspect.  The other thing that I liked about Bengaluru, and which is completely absent in Mumbai, is the attention to details in the construction of roadways.  You see sign-boards at each junction / traffic signal, clearly telling you the directions to various places.  The roads, dividers, etc. are properly painted / adorned with reflective material.  You see attention to detail everywhere.

On the flip side, like in all other cities in India, the traffic has exploded.  The number of private cars on the roads must have increased 5 folds in the last 6 years!  And given Bengaluru's narrow roads, this causes endless traffic jams.  Again, not as bad as Mumbai, but still a lot worse than it was 6 years ago.  The other pathetic aspect of the city, and for that matter any other city in the south, is the complete absence of a service culture.  You go to any shop, restaurant, hotels, cinema halls, etc. etc. and the people there will treat you like dirt and as if they are doing you a favour by allowing you to be there.  Drives me nuts all the time, as I myself work in the service industry and expect better standards.

The trip, otherwise, was very enjoyable.  I met up with some relatives after a long time, and some for the first time!  By the time we started for Mumbai on the Wednesday, rains had hit Mumbai too. Various rumours about air traffic being diverted from Mumbai due to bad weather were floating around.  However, we landed in Mumbai with only a 30 minute delay to normal weather.

I am at home for one more week and thus, look forward to the rains in Mumbai. 

Take care.

Day 161 - My Experiment With Dieting

Did you know there is a cookie diet?  Well, I did not, till about five minutes ago when I was researching about diets and dieting plans for this post.

The reason I am writing about diets this week, is that, I was on one such diet for the past few days.  The diet plan, however, was a disaster.  I can, however, very conviniently place the blame for the disaster on the wrong timing of the diet!

Over the past few months my better half has been obsessed about her weight (like most women are, across the globe).  This reached to a point where she actually started gymming and swimming quite regularly.  Anyone who knows Priya would be quite surprised that the lady actually took the pain of working out.  However, as we all know, work-outs is not an instant formula for weight reduction.  According to me, my wife's weight has not changed much over the last couple of years.  She is not over-weight at all.  She just thinks she is over-weight.  If you ask me, she is just perfect. 

After a couple of weeks the situation became a bit desparate when Priya realised that she wasn't getting much traction with weight reduction inspite of the work-outs.  Then she turned her attention towards diet plans.  After much deliberation, it was decided that she would like to do the GM diet.  Of course, I had to give her company, as doing a diet alone would be quite painful.

So, off we were on our first diet experiment!  The GM diet, or the vegetarian version of it:

Rule: Day 1 :  Only fruits to be consumed, except bananas.

Result: Success

Rule: Day 2: A boiled potato in the morning.  Only vegetables for the rest of the day.

Result: Bad timing.  This is where we hit the first obstacle.  Everything was as planned till evening.  However, this was our wedding anniversary!  How can we celebrate such an occasion eating raw vegetables?  So I lured Priya into a pizza outlet.  I ended up having a pizza.  Priya still had only salads and did not succumb to the temptations of an 8 incher.  She was really serious about this!

Rule: Day 3: A mixture of fruits and vegetables.  No bananas.  No potatoes.

Result: Inspite of the disaster the previous evening Priya decided that I should continue to give her company.  Everything was fine till evening.  In the evening, another disaster.  Being a Saturday, we embarked on a shopping trip to a well known mall.  There, the golden arches beckoned.  This time even my better half could not resist the temptation!

Rule: Day 4:  Only bananas and milk today.

Result: Inspite of the double disaster, my wife wanted to push on with the diet plan and marched me off early in the morning to buy a huge load of bananas and milk.  We lasted on bananas and milk till afternoon.  After that all hell broke loose. 

End of the diet plan.  And my first experiment with diets. All due to bad timing. 

Not to worry, though.  Priya has pledged that this needs to be redone.  This time, based on the learnings from the first attempt, the seven days of the diet plan will be planned in such a way that there are no important occasions during that period!  See, it is all about timing.

Wish Priya (us) luck the next time around.  Take care.

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.