Paint me a rainbow

It's quite amazing what colours can do to my mood these days. And its quite a recent development, for I've never been so "colour-aware",if I may coin such a term, before. Sure, I've always loved blue in all its shades, and have also passed through phases when whatever I'd like while out shopping would belong to one particular colour, but I've never had colours dictate my mood before, at least not the way they seem to do now! :)
It was a cool Saturday evening, I had just woken up from my extended siesta and was sitting on my balcony with a cup of tea, generally staring into space - my thoughts idly straying in a million directions - too lazy to focus on anything in particular.
It had been raining all afternoon, and the sun was just breaking through the clouds...when suddenly I caught myself staring at a full blown rainbow, the most perfect arch in all its colour, as if just out of a children's book illustration!
It was the first time I'd seen such a perfect rainbow, and the overwhelming surge of joy almost had me jumping up and down, much to the amusement of the glued-to-the-telly Husband (it was World Cup season, after all).
He was promptly instructed to get the camera out and to capture the sheer wonder of nature, to which he probably mumbled something to the effect of "Why don't you get up and get it?". He was ignored, of course, I was too mesmerized, almost afraid to look away..lest it vanished by the time I looked back! It obviously did, eventually, and sadly the camera was brought out too late...but somehow, by that time I could not be bothered anymore..I was riding a wave of emotions, I realized how little it really took me to be truly happy, even if for the moment.
That's when it struck me, the effect of colours on my mood lately, and I could suddenly see the cute red top with big black butterflies on it brightening up a Monday morning, the purple shirt putting a smile on my face as I took a last peep into the mirror before stepping out, or the extra spring in my step every time I had the bright blue bag on my arm!
I realised, with a start, I hardly own any all white/all black clothes now, strange especially if I think of the time (back during my college days) when I swore by anything black!
Oh well, I still do fantasise over the idea of owning an elegant black evening dress sometime, and I do love my black Dhakai sari (oh boy, even that has a splash of vibrant green and warm rust to bring it to life), but right now, its a bright magenta kurta (that I'd seen at a store recently but didnt buy) that's on my mind...I can almost hear it trying to convince me how, with a little help from the lilac dupatta, it could make the longest meeting at work on a Friday seem to be over in a jiffy, and the weekend that much closer! And to tell you the truth, I actually think it could be right! :) :)

When Tuesday is a Monday and Saturday, a Friday..

...and then, there is no Sunday! :(
Ok, long story short...we're working next Saturday, and I Hate It!

Footloose...

Q: "What is Malini Bhattacharjee doing all the time?"
A: "Travelling"
...or so read the latest update on my facebook wall, a response from a friend who had taken one of the hundreds of "quizzes" on the site. :) :)
And my first reaction to it was.."Oh, I wish!", followed by an amused realization that though it was an overstatement of sorts (Come on, I also have a job!), it wasn't all that far from the truth either.
Yes, I LOVE travelling, and everything that goes with it.
And I think its got something to do with my genes.
Saying that my parents have always been "fond of travelling" would seem an understatement, considering the fact most of our trips back then would be planned on an impluse, and we'd hardly ever spend a school/college vacation not going anywhere.
Sample this: We had been to Kashmir when I was 3 and lived in Shillong, and the trip was planned in approximately 5 minutes as my father happened to notice an article titled "Heaven on Earth" on the paper bag in which he'd just bought some sugar! :) :)
While almost all the other kids in class would be planning their "holiday homework" over the summer vacations or be looking forward to the gorgeous Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata during the Puja holidays, I'd be poring over the latest issues of the local magazines with my parents, scouring for our next destination.
It was because of them that I have vivid memories of Durga Puja/Dussehra celebrations in all sorts of places, each place adding a unique flavour to the proceedings. More on this some other time! :)
Well, I dont have Durga Puja vacations or summer holidays anymore...but then, what are the weekends for?! :)
So now, while most of my friends and colleagues plan for a laidback weekend of getting up late and catching up with friends, I am poring over the internet, scouring for our next destination :)
In this, I have an able accomplice in my dear husband (erm, its probably the other other way round, but what the heck..its my blog!! :) :P ) who's just as footloose if not more...and a much better planner! :)
So we travel....quite a lot. :)
And I thank my lucky stars for having got me this ideal partner and put me in the perfect place..Bangalore is a blessing for people like us, with the hundreds of beautiful places just waiting to be discovered, which we sure intend to do! :)

In-Laws, and way beyond...

I get off the phone with Mom-in-law and my granny-in-law, only to realise that my soup had gone stone cold!
The Husband had been shooting glares between mouthfuls of Cheese Rolls which had arrived after he had finished his soup, and began to look positively menacing when the waiter started hovering over the table with the main course, confused whether to start serving the impatient husband or wait for the chatting-away-to-glory wife to at least get started on the soup.
"Ki je eto kotha bolo?!" (What on earth do you talk so much about?!), grumbles the indignant Husband, and I realise I had been on the phone for more than 20 minutes, and had actually ended the conversation with "Ekhon r beshi kotha bolchi na, pore phone korbo." (Could't talk properly now, will call you later.), i.e., we were only just getting started!
Well, my M-I-L loves talking and so do I...so its probably not much of a surprise. What is amusing, however, is the fact that in these 2.5 years that I have been part of this family, we've grown so close that there are times when I am more clued in on what's going on with everyone back home than even the Husband. :)
And I love it, to say the least.
Its a really good feeling, knowing that I am now an important member of the "acquired family", basking in the affection and love that I'm showered with every time they visit us (not to mention all the gifts all the way from Kolkata ;) )!!
If this is not a blessing from the One Above, I would not know what is! :)

One of those days...

It was one of those days.

Not everything was right with the world, a lot of things not the way I would have liked them to be, and I was clueless if they could be set right, yet.

My heart was heavier than it'd been in a while, my mind bogged down.

Just then...the sky suddenly grew dark, it started raining...and we decided to take a walk.

The new coffee joint which had to be checked out, was.

Big cups, strong flavour, lots of gossip and laughter!

Coffee with friends and a walk in the rain....goes a long way in the lifting of moods! :) :)

Reclaimed my blogspot!

Just reclaimed my blogspot! Wondering what that's about? Well, its all about my exemplary memory, hell bent on defeating it at its own game of getting worse with each passing day. Had created this space quite sometime back, and had then forgotten even the url! :P Tried all my email id-s to get at it, all in vain, till i remembered a long fogotten id which for some strange inexplicable reason had found momentary favour with me, the moment being when I had created this blog!
Well, all's well now...lets hope I dont have to go through all this circus the next time I visit (yeah, I should start maintaining a document somewhere, what with the ever increasing number of different id's to remember!!!) :)

The Perfect Weekend

Good food, great company, zero work....could it have been any better?
Add to that, I'm back to my reading habits...its Miss Marple alongside Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth...just realised how much I love reading, and how badly I had been missing it all this while. I already seem to be in better spirits than I have been in a long time! :)