Can you remember the last time you read a limerick on this blog? Me neither!
And that's enough excuse to make you all suffer one more time! Muahahahaha!
Once upon a time, on an island with a lighthouse Lived a teeny weeny mouse, in a little mouse house. He slipped on a pea, And fell in the sea! Moral? Peas could be injurious, if you're a teeny weeny mouse.
And so I continue to make Edward Lear toss and turn, 6 feet under.
That time of the week again! (You're supposed to click the link - ya know, if you're as d'uh as me on a Monday morning)
You think posting a new entry with a colorful picture (which says 'Monday' of all things!) would make it better? (If you're interested, there's a a thing about the image too: The first image I found on Google read 'Happy Monday'. I found that too much to take, so I chose this instead. Say thanks.)
Nope.
No.
No way.
To make matters worse, I'm going to say this too: "A Monday by any other name would feel just as blue."
Sounds familiar? Quit complaining. The guy who should complain is doing somersaults in his grave already.
1. I tried to squeeze face cream back into it's tube this morning. I seriously don't know what I was thinking.
2. There's a wind chime (with Mickey Mouse, for cryin' out loud) tied to the ceiling in my workplace. FYI, the room is completely air-conditioned, with only one main exit, one fire exit and no windows (or if you're feeling exceptionally d'uh this morning, I mean to say that there is absolutely no wind or breeze or anything of that sort which would make the wind chime move). I want to be there when the chime chimes!
3. If you're wondering how I tried to squeeze the face cream back in: stop it! We all have our moments. And if you know me personally, you're forbidden to ask me about this.
4. I spent a good (no pun intended) 20 minutes this morning watching an exclusive interview with Jade Goody. Seems one of her aims is to scale the highest peak in the world and she couldn't remember what it was called. She also thinks Mona Lisa was painted by a guy called Pistachio. O for the love of God!!!
5. If you read the above and don't know who Jade Goody is, you've spent enough time in the jungle, catch the next flight back to civilization.
6. Shahrukh is awesome with the new KBC. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he is not trying to be an Amitabh. Although, I did wish he was not one of those typical north indians who think all south indians live on idli sambhar. FYI, we're also famous for Hyderabadi Biryani, Chettinad Chicken, Bisibela bath and Kappa-Meen Curry, not to mention the hazaar types of desserts and sweets. Just FYI.
7. Shahrukh cannot speak Telugu even if his life depended on it. Throwing together a couple of words ending with 'ndu' and 'lu' does not constitute Telugu. Even if you're Shahrukh.
8. I tried answering one of those viewer questions - the SMS didn't go through and I was too lazy to pick up the landline phone and try calling! So, that's one genius who lost her chance to be on the show. Unfair life. And stupid phones!
9. I watched BBC for a while. Reminded me how news channels should be. What they do on the Indian News channels these days is nothing short of a circus.
10. Municipal elections are happening in Bombay, it seems. You would think the entire planet revolves around Bombay and not the sun. And only Bombay has a municipal corporation and only they have elections.
I could write a book about Monday Blues. All I need is to pick up all my Monday-blog-posts and voila! I got myself my book! It's got action, drama, poetry and violence (to my readers ofcourse, people have died reading about my blues). And the title would be something like 'How she met a Monday, got kicked and became blue' - sounds familiar? Blame the world wide web for all the awareness people have these days.
Right, so back to the main topic of the day - Monday. Today is actually not that bad. Yep, you can put your eyes back into their respective sockets, I just said that today - a Monday - is not that bad after all. Ask me why, ask me why! Beeeeecoz...**wink wink** it's even worse. **drops down dead**
After so many blog posts, how can you ever believe me if I say a Monday is not so bad after all.
I'm not real. Just a mirage, a shadow that disappears with the fading light. All that you hear about me is inconsequential - For he who truly knows me cannot speak about me. The me that you see is irrelevant - For I'm not what you see, I'm much more and a lot less than that. Anything you know about me is obsolete - I'm ever-changing, morphing into forms you cannot fathom. I'm not where you search for me, I'm not what you wish me to be. Cry all you want, laugh while you can Despair, lose your hopes and question your faith I will still remain the enigma that I am For better or for worse.
For all you folks who's work demands a dress code (at least on some days of the week, if not all) -
ODE TO A DRESS CODE by Joanne Leary, Cornell University
This is the tale of Sir Samuel Smithers An impeccable gent, from his feet to his withers; Of regal deportment (though not really handsome), In the matter of dressing, he looked a King's Ransom.
They say, when a youth, he'd made a decision To dress with unfailing geometric precision; With finery fit for the poshest profession, With elegance marked by Good Taste and Discretion.
His trousers, therefore, were items exalted; And as for his socks -- well, they couldn't be faulted. Gorgeous in gaiters and spotless in spats, With wing-collared shirts, and silken cravats, (Secured with a filigreed stick-pin of garnet) Sir Samuel truly was Fashion incarnate.
I saw him attired thus -- Where, you may ask? The Ambassador's Ball, or the Queen Mother's Masque? Charming the ladies with sallies of wit, Or trying his talent with bridle and bit? Flicking the dust from the sleeve of his coat, While sipping champagne on a fifty-foot boat?
Alas, poor old Smithers was far from blue waters, And light-years from dowager heiresses' daughters. Rather than hunting the foxes with gentry, I saw him performing the duties of Sentry. Specifically, checking the bookbags of patrons And answering "Where is the Restroom?" of matrons.
Sir Samuel: "Library Page, Level III" Was, in fact, what this fellow had turned out to be. His duties included such dusty excesses As gathering books from the deepest recesses: From Reference, and Storage, and even Locked Press, But never once did he abandon his dress.
I mused, while I watched him service a copier, This man's got a job that couldn't be sloppier! To remedy ravages wrought by the grime Could hardly come cheaply in money or time... I admired his stalwart and lofty ideals; But wondered, where got he the money for meals?
Curiosity conquered my shyness at last, And I ventured to ask, in a hush, as he passed: "Sir Samuel, tarry a moment and tell, How it comes that you dress so uncommonly well? The dirt, sir... I mean, all that upkeep and such -- I'm sure you don't earn... well, not terribly much."
He stood there a moment, then spoke, sounding tired: "I do this, you see, because it's required." He paused again briefly, to let it sink in; Then continued his tale, but now with a grin: "But kid, let me tell you, there's more to the action; The truth is, by God, I get satisfaction! The job's rather meagre, as might be suspected; But dressing this way, I find I'm respected!"
The dress code, you see, is a double-edged sword; A burden, on one hand, and yet a reward. Sir Samuel showed there are wheels within wheels. (But still I can't see how he comes by his meals.)
(Sourced from an e-mail bouncing off the world wide web)
Below that is this really yummy looking picture of a chocolate chip muffin surrounded by chocolate chips.
Note: This is not a food blog-entry. For the world of me, I do not know how to make chocolate chip cake from scratch.
That said, I can, however, make a chocolate chip cake from Betty Crocker's Muffin Mix. Trust me, I don't even need to see the directions. And I can make it using a microwave (when the directions on the pack ask us to use an oven) since I do not YET own an oven (my request for an electric oven is 'Pending Approval' from you-know-who).
Now, according to Betty Crocker, this is a Muffin mix. But then, the always-so-busy me does not have the patience to go shopping for muffin cups, ergo - this is now a cake mix. Poured the entire thing into a glass dish and chucked it into the microwave - voila, 30 minutes and yummy-smell-fills-house later, chocolate chip cake is ready to eat. Need I say that it tastes absolutely divine? It tastes absolutely divine.
And no one is welcome to my house till the cake is over. I'm not kidding.
(Long post ahead - proof that I'm the biggest chatterbox you ever had the misfortune to read)
The 4 hour drive from Darjeeling to Gangtok was awesome beyond words. Like I've mentioned somewhere before, the color of an unpolluted stream of water surrounded by green valleys is, indeed, aquamarine. The Teesta starts its journey from some glacier up in the Himalayas (or so I think, my laziness reached new heights of late so it prevents me from even googling or Wiki-ing this piece of information - beg your pardons!) and keeps us company all the way up to Gangtok.
Aquamarine Teesta!
Gangtok is the capital of Sikkim. Remember how we used to falter when we had to mug up the state capitals of the North-eastern states? Tripura-Agartala, Nagaland-Kohima? I forgot Manipur, sorry. Anyway, Sikkim shares its borders with 3 other countries - China, Bhutan and Nepal (Tibet is part of China, you see), so the Indian Army is omnipresent. It has 4 districts - North, South, East and West - and the reason I know this is thanks to our taxi-driver-cum-tourist-guide, Lama. I was so appalled with myself when I didn't even know what language they speak in Gangtok that I asked even the most silliest of questions (like what do you guys eat?) to know more about their culture and life. Oh, most people speak Nepali by the way and the staple food is rice and noodle-like things. And no, there is no language called Sikkimese.
We stayed at the Royal Plaza in Gangtok - and we got a room with a view! True star-hotel standards including the expensive food and no seperate non-smokers dining area (which I feel is a horrible horrible thing 'coz I cannot stand cigarette smoke).
Room at Royal Plaza, Gangtok
The view from our room was absolutely amazing. We could see the tiny brook (Teesta, again) flowing between two valleys and also the cable car between two hills.
View from our room, and the tiny brook is the Teesta
We took the 20 minute cable car ride, mostly over part of the valley and a busy city street. Not as scenic as the rides would be in Darjeeling (which they have now discontinued), but for a first-timer like me, it was still neat. I told you it was a trip with lots of first-times!
Cable car ride over Gangtok!
There are two main tourist spots that are must-see when we come to Gangtok - Changu Lake and Nathula Pass. Changu Lake is at a height of around 13000ft above sea level. It's a beautiful lake surrounded by snow-clad mountains and during peak winter, the entire lake freezes over. 2kms upward from Changu is a place called Baba Mandir. Now, don't mistake it for a religious place - it's nothing like that, it's also totally bizarre and in a way, spooky. The temple is dedicated to an army officer who died sometime around the Indo-China war in the 70s and who's spirit (yep, spirit - ghost - atma - whatever you wanna call it!) still guards the regions surrounding the Indo-China border. He still gets his pay from the Indian Army, he goes on vacation for 3 months in a year, there's an Army jeep that picks him up at his home everyday and drops him at his post and brings him back in the evening. And no, he is not alive!!!! Well, when our driver told us this story for a minute my husband and I looked at each other not knowing if this person was indeed dead or alive!
Baba Mandir
The biggest, most awesome part of this entire vacation was...SNOW!! Ok, for all you folks who live in places where snowfall is as common as sunshine, well, not so for me. I live in South India where even rainfall is a big deal. So, ladies and gentlemen, I have now officially touched snow. Yeah, took me this long, I know. There was snow around Changu lake and Baba Mandir was entirely covered in snow, rather ice 'coz the snow had melted and frozen back! That kinda made it too hard to play with, so my plans to build a snowman a-la Calvin unfortunately did not materialize! :-( Well, there's always a next time.
Snow clad mountains - the lake on the right side is Changu
Apart from the usual parks (and a greenhouse!) and view points (Tashi view point - for a view of the Kanchenjunga), the other highlight of Gangtok is the Buddhist monastaries. There are two main monasteries - Rhumtek and Lingdum. The former is the biggest in terms of number of monks and the latter was gifted by Jackie Chan! Nice, no? Now, our taxi driver also told us a lot about Buddhism and how the monasteries work. Did you know that every Buddhist family has to - has to - send one male child to the monastery to be a monk? Yeah, it's not like how it is in Christianity - its not voluntary. The children are as young as 3 or 4 yrs old when they are sent. Also, when an elderly person dies in the family, the family then has to go to a monastery and bring back a child monk and pay for his upkeep and studies. I guess it brings about a whole of community-dwelling kind of feeling in this religion.
Rhumtek Monastery, Gangtok
Lingdum Monastery was bigger in size than Rhumtek and the surroundings were more newer. The monasteries get their funds from the Govt. for their day-to-day affairs and also as donations from patrons. They contain the prayer halls, classrooms, living quarters and cafeterias for the monks. It was a very englightening experience to see a different culture and religion that we only hear about!
Lingdum Monastery - the monks were doing a kind of dance to the accompaniment of music!
We spent 4 days in Gangtok and that was more than enough - we even had a day off where we didn't do much of sight seeing. The weather was very very pleasant (as in not bone-chilling-cold) and the city was really nice. Hey, did I mention we watched Dhoom - 2 there?! Yay, we did! There are 2 movie theatres (only) in Gangtok, and one belongs to Danny Denzongpa! Our taxi driver was really sad that Sikkim's only claim to fame were Danny Denzongpa and Bhaichung Bhutia (who unforunately was 'bought' over by Bengal!).
So 4 days in Gangtok, and we were back down to Bhagdogra and then to Calcutta. I wanted to keep this for last - Calcutta is the most polluted city I've ever been to! No offence to any Calcuttans, I'll never go back to the city if I could help it. It was so dirty, so polluted, the buildings haven't seen a coat of fresh paint in decades and everything was covered in dust!! To make it up to ourselves, we indulged by going to Saurav Ganguly's restaurant, Saurav's, in Park Street. Dada was busy with his Ranji Trophy, so we didn't see him :-( The restaurant was nice - spread across 4 floors, each for Indian, Chinese, Conti and a Pub-Dance-floor. Only highlight of Calcutta - apart from a visit to Victoria Palace ofcourse.
Dada's picture at the entrance of Saurav's
Phew, long post, wasn't it? Don't be sad, it's over finally! :-)
So that sums up our week long trip to Darjeeling and Gangtok. We went during the off-season, so it was a bit colder than pleasant. The peak season is around April-June and then Sep-Oct. But if you need snow, you better be here in winter!
Amazing places, totally worth the time and money spent! It's only when you go on trips like this that you realize that our country has soooooo many different cultures and climates all packed into one compact country called India!
For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. ~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"
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