Santa Claus is coming to town...

September has barely begun and Christmas cards are already out in the shops here. Before we know it, autumn will be here (in a few days, actually) and it'll be time for the clocks to turn back.

Even though December is still a while away, Santa is on his way here. My baby brother (all grown up now) has a new job with BA as flight crew. He's coming over this weekend on a month long training with 35 others from good ol' Mumbai. Here's a chance for me to order things I want or miss - like Close Up Red Toothpaste. It's funny how we miss things we are used to - here I am in the heart of the European world, with access to the most fabulous paste's ever invented and I long for Close Up. Nothing that I have tried here has the same freshness and taste. HLL, you should start exporting this to the UK atleast :)

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Living in the UK is great, but there are some things, some basic services that I miss. Like vegetable vendors, cobblers on the street corner, the istri-wallah who picks up the laundry from your house, irons it and returns it (mostly) the next day, the egg-wallah , the bread-man and the paper-wallah who have a door delivery service. And sometimes you need the raddi-wallah, the knife grinder, the bhelpuri-wallah and the garage mechanics on every road.

For now though, one has to learn to live with picking up veggies and stuff on the weekly shopping expedition to the supermarket. There are no cobblers around. Old shoes in good condition are given to charity shops or go to shoe-heaven. Same goes for old bottles and paper - deposit it in the recycling bins at every supermarket. The paper bins are also emptied once a week outside your doorstep - there's no excuse not to recycle. You pick up your newspaper along with the bread and eggs at the supermarket and do your own laundry because it is cheaper to buy an outfit than to get it dry-cleaned. If your car breaks down you have to call a fixed breakdown service (which you pay for along with your insurance) and have it taken to a fixed service station that deals with the make of your car. It may be miles away from where you are, but that's the way it is.

Here the seasons are distinct, each with its own unique feel to it. In Mumbai, as my dear teacher used to say, we have only two seasons : Hot and Very Hot. Happy Teacher's Day to all you teachers!

And on that note, it's time to go to work - walk down to the town centre and catch a bus up the hill and walk back downhill and then uphill to get home. A far cry from leaving home at 0730 to take a bus/rickshaw to the station, jump into the 0759 Churchgate local (packed coming from Virar), walking to work and then reversing the same route back reaching home after 8 pm(though I have never dared to take a Virar bound local from Churchgate back home - there's no way the ladies mafia at the door will let you get off at your station).

There are some things one just doesn't miss.

Have a safe journey, all of you who still go through hell and back just to get to work.