My dream haircut - do I dare?

15 nano-seconds of fame

I was quoted in the Times of India today (Mumbai edition, 19 Oct, main paper), in an article. Requests for autographs will be entertained over the next week (I know you guys are busy).

Still Missing

It'll soon be two months since we left England. Seems like yesterday. Seems like a life-time ago.

When I left, I knew I'd miss some bits of England - the landscape for one meant a lot to me. I miss waking up to utter silence, drawing the curtains of the full-length bedroom windows and looking out into our little patch of pristine green. That combination of serenity, solitude and soothing green is hard to find here. But we're looking and I'm sure it's not too far away.

The other day, just out of the blue, I missed the sight of seeing Autumn's first leaves changing color. My cherry blossom trees would be yellow by now, the green flush of summer fading fast. Soon the drive will be littered with a carpet of golden leaves, soggy from the constant rain.

I look out of my bedroom window here and watch a huge tree, worshipped and loved, shedding its leaves onto the road. One day it was rich with foliage, the next morning every leaf is a dry one.

And of course, I miss being surgically attached to my laptop. We now have broadband, but it's still too early to break out the champagne. Connectivity is sporadic, unsteady and phone help non-existent.

Mr. R, I know, is missing the Proms season this year. Internet radio can make up only so much for actually being there.

Oh well, England's only a plane ride away. In the meantime, there's a lot of India to discover. Life here is only just beginning.

Islander

As you can see from the blog title, things are a-changing. When I started blogging, I had no idea that I'd not live in Mumbai. I had always known that I'd never retired in the city, but that I'd leave so soon (yippee!) was a surprise.

I don't feel like a MW and I'm looking for a name to reflect my current stage of life. The blog might see different avatars over the next few months as I settle down to a new life. One thing is sure, I'm destined to live on an island (or near the sea).

It's Official: We're heading back

Yes, you read right. The decision's finally been made. We're relocating! The move was a long time coming - it's always been a question of 'when', not 'if'.

So, how do you pack up a life and move to another country? Simple, you contact your friends who have done the same.

The move is occupying our days and nights. One would think it should be a simple matter to merely contact an international mover, get a quote, agree to it and ship everything over. Considering that we don't have much anyway, it should be a cake-walk.

Well, easy as it may sound, cake-walk it ain't. We're still to finalise a mover, still to close up bank accounts, still trying to sell the car and give away odds and ends.

Relocating is an interesting experience. Considering how stressful it is, one would think there would be a lot more information and expertise available on the subject, but comprehensive help is lacking. I'm going to document my own experiences to help anybody else moving to India.

In the meantime, if you know of anybody (movers, bankers, buyers for a car), please get in touch.

Annual Review 2007

It's time for a news round-up, once again.

2007 was a busy year for us. We moved house, travelled a lot, had many guests and celebrated a couple of important occasions. This was also, for me, the best year of my writing so far.

Here's the quick update :

January

• Returned from India trip,
• had my first essay published in the CSM,
• another one in Releasing Times and
• moved house.
• Saw a breathtaking performance of Swan Lake on Ice.

February :

• Writing-World.com published an article
• Feature on meditation published in an Indian in-flight mag
• We had heavy snowfall
• Saw the exhibition on Chola Bronzes at the RAA.
• We had a disastrous VD dinner - next time we stay at home, away from conniving restaurants.

March:

• Saw the marvellous Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery
• Saw'Becoming Jane' at the local cinema.
• We go to a concert by the Berlin Phil at the Barbican
• See a performance by the LPO at the QE Hall.

April :

• A second article published by Writing-World.com,
• we started a Save the Tiger blog and
• spent Easter in sunny Venice.
• We spend a Sunday at the London Zoo (and come back with a few hundred photographs - the zoo is a must see for anybody.)
• Saw a wonderful performance by Joshua Bell at Reading.

May:

• Bank holiday trip to Granada.

June :

• Our local church celebrated its 50th anniversary - Mr.R played the violin at the concert.
• My family came to visit and hopefully had a good time.
• Elsewhere, England drowned in summer rains.

July:

• I passed my theory test with 100% marks.
• An essay on the countryside was shortlisted in a contest.

August :

• Proms on.
• We spent a fun afternoon at the Roald Dahl museum,
• my blog was listed on the Guardian Abroad site,
• we travelled to Berlin and Florence/ Pisa.
• Read the last HP book with bated breath and was disappointed - liked the 6th book more.
• Got hooked on Facebook.

September:

• Went to a performance by the Vienna Phil ,
• painted my first oil,
• went on a hot air balloon ride.
• The first of my career columns appears in an Indian inflight mag.

October :

• Travelled to India.
• Celebrated Mr.R's mum's 75th birthday.
• Went to B'bay to help with baby brother's wedding preparations.
• Mr.R takes an adventurous trek to the Dudhsagar waterfall.
• I have three articles in print in an Indian in-flight magazine
• Mr.R receives his first magazine credit for his photographs.
• While on holiday, I'm asked by the editor if I can write one of the cover stories for the Dec issue, which I do.

November:

• Baby Brother & the Namesake get married.
• Mr.R gets conjunctivitis two days before the wedding and (almost) recovers just in time after major panic.
• We come back a few days later.
• My career column continues to be published.
• Dignity Dialogue mag reprints one of my articles.
• The Guardian emails me to confirm acceptance of an essay.
• We see a fantastic performance by Perlman at the Barbican.
• And I loved watching Chak-de.

December :

• My copy of the Countryside Tales Winter Edition arrived, with my essay.
• We spent the month enjoying our first Christmas in England (including carol singing at shopping malls)
• Took a weekend trip to Bridgnorth to be with friends,
• had a big Christmas lunch and
• spent NY's eve with friends.
• Midnight mass was lovely with carols and all, but I was surprised to see people rather 'under-dressed'. In India, Christmas is the big day and (almost) everybody wears new/good clothes. Here it was like regular Sunday mass - jeans, tshirts and cardigans. It was only the oldies (or it seemed like) that brought out their suits and good coats.
• The shock of Benazir Bhutto's assassination still lingers.
• My Dec cover story in the inflight mag looks great!

Here's looking to 2008! May this year bring us health, happiness and lots of writing contracts :)

Annual Review 2006
Annual Review 2005

Inspired by Mridu - My Writing Dreams

A post on Mridu Khullar's blog on her writing dreams prompted this one. 'Dreams' are different from 'goals', as you may have realised. Here are mine :

1.Write for international publications for a living.
2. Finish a book.
3. Write fiction.
4. Start a 'writers in schools' program in India.

Easy peasy.

I'm not sick, just lazy

On the phone the other day, my mum wanted to know if I was feeling better. Not having specifically said to her (or emailed) that I was ill, I was puzzled how she knew I had a bad cold over the weekend.

The culprit was my punkymood cartoon on the blog. I put the 'I'm feeling Sick' one when I was sneezing away on Saturday. I got better by Sunday evening (no chance of calling in sick at work!), but was too lazy to change the mood. I didn't think anybody was paying any attention anyway...

Well, mom. It's changed now. I'm better now, thank you!

Driving Lesson - an update

This morning I had my Theory Test.

Unlike in India, where we have just the practical and depending whether the instructor likes you on not, you pass or fail (honestly!), here it's a bit more impartial.

Having studied (a little) from a zillion books, sat a few mock exams and received advice from my hairdresser, I was (to put it mildly), quite nervous. I practiced mock exams for about 7 hours yesterday and a couple this morning. In the process, I discovered a very useful section on the study DVD which explained the guidelines behind the theory test. That, I think, was the single most useful section. Just shows I didn't really look at the DVD all that carefully ....

Never mind.

What matters is that I PASSED! With flying colors (mostly!). I got 100% in the MCQ questions (35/35) and 49/75 in the Hazard Perception Test. The software thought I was clicking too often, but I wasn't. I thought I was being an extra careful driver and noticing the hazards - and there were a lot. When I got zero for that clip, my heart sank. I knew it was going to cost me. Being extra careful after that was even worse; what if I didn't click often enough.

As I said before, never mind. I was delighted to get the PASS certificate and come out with a smily face. Mr R had accompanied me to the test and it was nice to have him there (even nicer not to have to face him in case I had failed!)

One hurdle down. The practical test is next. God help me.

Driving Lesson - 5

We took it a bit easy today and stayed off the hills. I wanted to focus on gear changing and being able to move off smoothly without stalling. That was done successfully, for the most part (I think).

It was pointed out that I have a tendency to move towards the middle of the road - right onto oncoming traffic. Perhaps I have a death wish, I joked. I've been asked to avoid looking at the white lines in the middle of the road - I seem to be captivated by them!!

'One drives into what one is looking at', my instructor says. So I've got to look ahead, into the distance, while keeping an eye on the kerb at the same time.

We tackled roundabouts today. It wasn't too hard - except I *forgot* about one completely!! Funny how that works - I *know* that there's a roundabout and I'm meant to wait, but my brain freezes over and (good thing I had right of way) I carry on. Also good thing that nobody else was in a tearing hurry.

It's too much to concentrate on all at once. I bet my instructor's relieved that she's rid of me for a week :)

Well, back to those queries and submissions. Four queries have gone out this morning to various publications including some big names that I'm tackling for the first time. I hope they come back positive.

I need all the success I can get so I can hire that driver (ha, ha!)

Driving Lesson - 3

The hills are alive...

My instructor bravely decided it was time to tackle these 90 degree slopes today. So there we were - uphill, downhill, watch out for parked cars, watch out for pedestrians, keep an eye out for oncoming cars and oh! don't forget about traffic behind you!! And all the while remember which gear you're meant to be in, listen to the engine, and memorise the sequence of events (Important! Mental kick here)

In the end it wasn't as bad as I thought it (hill driving) would be. But then it helped having a voice constantly tell me what to do.

Sigh.

I'm going to make lots of money with my writing and then get a driver.

Till then, lesson no 4 next week.

Driving Lesson-2

Lesson no. 2 involved a lot of starting, stopping and floating to the white line at the end of the road using clutch control. No accidents caused or petrified motorists glaring at me (yet).

What was not easy was trying to remember the sequence of events (a dozen acronyms to remember - POM (Prepare Observe Move), MSM (Mirror Signal Manoeuvre), remember to signal, turn the wheel, stay within your lane, be alert to parked cars, oncoming traffic and other hazards and (!) manage to turn at the same time. It was not too hard with my wonderful instructor softly instructing me at every step.

What I find hard is keeping the pavement in view and keeping the car close to it. I tend to veer too far from the kerb and into the middle of the road. But that will also come. It will.

The instructor bravely let me drive half way home, down a steep hill (whee!) and in regular traffic. It's a good thing she has her own set of clutch and brakes!

Lesson 2 ended with a discussion about Indian men and how hard it is for a woman pedestrian in India. Don't ask how we got to that subject!

Lesson 3, next Monday, same time.

Driving Lesson-1

Just had my first driving lesson and I'm relieved to report that it was uneventful.

Most things came back to me as the hour progressed . The instructor was a zillion times more patient, funnier and kinder than that lecherous imbecile who taught me back home! That nice-ness helped when it came to driving within lanes, signalling or trying not to worry about cars patiently waiting behind me at a junction. As the instructor said - they all have been in that same place before, so there's no pressure - don't worry about them. A far cry from any honking and swearing I would have got back home :)

Anyway, Lesson 2 booked for next Monday same time. Fingers crossed.


Let's hope this is more of a refresher course than a full fledged learner's course. (Just think of all that I could have bought with the price I pay for each lesson...)

A weekend without Mr.R

I miss Mr.R.

For the first time since I've moved to England,Mr R is spending the weekend away from home. His orchestra is recording their first CD at the Yehudi Menuhin school in Surrey. The recording takes place over two full days - I've elected to stay at home, although I was invited to come along.

So I spent the morning drawing up an elaborate timetable for today and tomorrow - determined not to waste any time in front of the telly or aimless surfing on the internet. I promised myself a few writing goals, a clean house, a long bath.

It's just past 10:30pm now. I've done a bit of writing related work, but not as much asI would have liked. TV can be a horrible time drainer. The sound of another human being's voice lured me into staring at the idiot box.

Tomorrow, I've promised myself - church, then shopping. I need to get out of the house, see some 'real' people, detach my fingers from the keyboard. May today's sunshine still hold.

End of January

Oh boy.

It's the end of the first month of the year. It's been a tiring 31 days and I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to February.

Mr R and I are still settling into the new place. We eagerly await our new sofas and dining table (Italian made, assembled in China, coming to the UK by ship, will reach here by March end!!) and make do with our study table in the meantime. Our oven dial's are misbehaving and the (first-timer)landlord is slightly upset. It's a machine for God's sake!

Then we've struggled with health problems - ours and other family members. Like Mr R exclaimed the other day : "Why do we have to get old?!"

And then, I've just got my provisional driving license in the post today. Gulp!

Re-learning to drive on these hilly slopes should be, ummm, interesting. Watch out for some stories in the near future.

Work wise, a week long exercise in clearing up other people's mistakes has resulted in last year's accounts all tallying. For someone who almost flunked Math in SSC, this is nothing short of a miracle. Viva Excel! Income into the charity is about £15,000 more than it was originally calculated and the new numbers now meet my (self-imposed) targets for 2006. Lovely.

Making (another) move

It's fifteen days since Mr R and I returned to the UK after spending Christmas and NY in Mumbai/Goa.

We began the process of moving house the day after we got back. I thought moving this time around would be easy. After last times cross-country move, how bad could this one get - moving from the second floor to the first?

We began with the books - a few tons of them. That process took the better part of a week. Every day after work was done, we began again. Running between two floors, taking arm-loads of clothes, CD's and crockery. How much rubbish one collects in 22 months!

Baby bro turned up one Sunday during a flight rest-day to help. Thanks to him we managed to haul my suitcase, kitchen items and other odds and ends.

Then the landlord turned up a day earlier than promised. It was a scramble to finish and move out!

In the end, we're trying to familiarise ourselves with this new place. It's a mirror image of the old one and we (I) keep bumping into walls, reaching for door knobs the wrong side, looking for things where they no longer are. Most of our stuff has been sorted out and is atleast in the room it's meant to be - we can't find an orange notebook which used to be by the phone. Wonder where that went!

On the plus side, we have a little more space (an extra study), a cream carpet (as opposed to moss green) and our furniture will be what we ordered.

What I'm looking forward to is warmer weather - our house opens out directly into the communal gardens.

If I thought this move was going to be easy , I take my words back. Give me moving day, a couple of strong movers and labelled boxes - now that's easy!

-----------------------------------
Moving Utilities
Here's expert advice on how the various providers deal with a home move request:

Thames Water, Southern Electric and British Gas were fairly efficient and quick about the change of information. The British Gas guy sulked a bit on learning that the new flat was supplied by Southern Electric and tried to convince me to change over.

BT was informed to disconnect the old phone line and reconnect the new one on the 15th, which they did.

Aol was told about the change for the broadband. The connection worked in the new house for 2 days and then... Contacting AOL was another hassle. After long periods on hold, I was able to convince Sam (somebody back home) that we had a problem and he gave me a BT number to use (dial-up) while our broadband was being sorted out.

Sky - ooof. The worst of the lot. They were informed of the change before we left for India. We told them that we'd be back on the 6th of Jan and could they send someone on the 7th to shift the connection. Coming back, we find a letter saying that an engineer would come on the 31st of Dec!! Then, on the 7th, someone does turn up but we are not prepared for him. He asks us to re-book, which we do, for the 15th. On the 15th, I stay at home, by the phone, waiting for them to call and turn up. Till 5.30, no one does. In the meantime, I've lost a day's earnings, wasted time that I could have used to move stuff downstairs and have held up the phone.

Calling Sky, I'm told that the next available slot is for Feb 1!! The girl on the other end (all of Sky's call centres seem to be in Scotland) apologises and says that she will try for an early date and will send a confirmation in the post within 48 hours.

It is now a week since that call. I don't have the time or the energy to make a call and be put on hold after pressing a zillion options. But it will have to be done.

Moral of the story: Next time, sort out the Sky first.

Advantage : More time to watch older stuff, read, clean the house and put things by!

New Year, New Beginnings

It's time for a new calendar again. Happy new year, everybody.

Mr R and I have just returned from a 3 week trip back home (Mumbai/Goa) for Christmas and NY.

The trip began badly. We arrived at Heathrow in time to be asked to wait outside in a tent! The airport was choc-a-bloc with people and it looked like they were finding it hard to cope with the numbers. The tents were little respite from the bitter December winds. The free tea and coffee did little to cheer people up. We cursed BA. They send us tons of email updating us on everything from the size of hand luggage to what the new restrictions are; why couldn't they send an email telling passengers to report later than advised? It would have saved us a couple of hours, plus we'd have stayed warmer.

Once we were in the airport, getting to the counter took a while. We got to the airport about 6 pm, got into the building at about 7.45, checked in baggage by 8.30, breezed through duty free and boarded at 9.30. Flight scheduled for 9.30 took off around 10.

Reaching Mumbai 8 hours later gave me the same familiar butterflies - I look forward to meeting my family, but the noise and clamour has lost its appeal. Fortunately, baby brother had come to pick us up, ensuring a smooth and hassle free ride home. And yes, nothing much has changed. Mr R comments on how the airport seems to improve with each trip. The toilets certainly are a lot cleaner. Once outside, the city seems the same. The WE highway is still dug up. New flyovers and malls dot the landscape. It still takes ages to get anywhere.

We were home.

I spent a few days in Mumbai while Mr R flew to Goa to spend time at his home, peacefully without me. I joined him for Christmas (only a 4 hour delay at Mumbai airport this time, as opposed to 8 hours last year. Things are getting better.)

The rest of the trip was full of the usual stuff : shopping, meeting friends and family, leisurely lunches and long siestas.

This holiday was memorable for several reasons: We took a day long trip back to Wildernest, my current favorite retreat. It was a well deserved break and we had a good time, even with MIL accompanying us. We managed two treks and Mr R went for looong swims while we caught up on our reading.

Back in Goa, we got caught up in the frenzy of the Save Goa Abhiyan - a people's movement to stop the destruction of Goa. More on this later.

And oh yes! We caught a wonderful screening of Happy Feet. After The Queen, this is my second favorite movie of 2006. Highly recommended for adults :)

Back in Mumbai on the return leg, the newspapers were full of the horror story of the molestation at Gateway. I would heartily recommend that all countries issue a warning to their female citizens about India not being a safe place, day or night. Before you pounce on me, ask your female relatives, friends and acquaintances if they agree or not.

The tragedy of the multiple murders of those kids at Noida will haunt us . Or they should.

Back in the UK, all of that seems like a bad dream. Mr R and I now face having to move home within 7 days (just downstairs), shift all utilities, return this home to how it was when we moved in two years ago...And all this while we continue to go to work and honour our commitments. Our weekends for Jan are booked through already. And to think the year's just begun...

Welcome, 2007. Be good to us!

Annual Review 2006

Carrying on from last year's tradition, here's a quick update on what life was like in 2006.

January - recovered from Xmas and NY in India. Saw an exhibition on China: The Three emperors at the RAA

February - Enjoyed Swan Lake, had a weekend trip to Leeds (it's really far!), and took part in a Red Kite country walk.

March - Participated in the Blank Noise 'Blog-a-thon' which brought back a lot of unsavoury memories. Instead of getting upset, used them to write an essay for an anthology which has now been accepted for publication. Attended a tribute to Menuhin at the Barbican, saw a fantastic performance of Giselle, heard Tasmin Little perform locally. Tried to get tickets to Zakir Hussain's 'Remembering Shakti' at the Barbican but it was completely sold out.

April - Spent Easter in Rome and loved every minute of it. A lovely city and I'd love to go back. Enjoyed a ride on a steam train locally.

May - A few weeks in India again was followed by a bank holiday weekend in Salzburg.

June- Enjoyed the open air Opera in Trafalgar square, and had my debut in Parliament. Took a look at Mme Tussauds, Stonehenge and Salisbury.

July - It was Prom time once again - we saw the Queen close up at the Albert Hall, Mr R sung as part of a Prommer's choir and we heard some fantastic performances. Then there were bombings in Mumbai and a blockade was put on blogs by some enthusiastic babu's. Mr R had a birthday and I gifted him a flight lesson. I got to go along too! Also succesfully took part in my first ever road race in the UK and completed it!

August - Bought over 40 books in various book sales, fairs and shops. A similarily high number were read and returned to the library. My second full page article in the local newspaper was published and we spent the summer bank holiday weekend in Verona where we saw an out-of-this-world performance of Aida. Airport terror caused national media and police to descend on our town as some local residents were suspected to be terrorists.

September - The Proms ended, we saw Ken Hom in action, Steve Irwin died, tango lessons began. Saw a funny performance of 'Pirates of Penzance'.

October - Got to see my first football match in the UK, visited the fascinating Velazquez exhibition at the National Gallery, and saw the Cezanne exhibits the same day.

November - A month of two big publishing credits: an essay sold to CSM for $150 and I was published in Woman's Era. I had my second official visit to Westminster. J&A had their first baby, a girl called Anna-Nicola. Saw 'Madame Butterfly', went to a concert that Mr R played in, took part in the church quiz (and lost), and attended my first funeral in the UK.

December - Mr R sang in the local theatre as part of the annual Mayor Christmas Carol Concert; H&F had their first child, a boy; went out for a Xmas dinner with my running group.

More news...

A simple fundraising letter from me has generated £1000 from a Trust here in the UK for my charity...

news...

Just received an email from CSM that they are interested in publishing (purchasing) one of my articles...

Update at 2pm : Just signed an agreement for $150 (for one essay) to be paid on publication!