Musings of an Idiot

Christmas = Shopping

End of a sunday and thought I would update the blog before going to bed. It was awesome meeting old friends yesterday. Ashwani has become a dad and another friend is expecting to become one soon. It is amazing how time flies when you are having so much fun.

No one turned up at the decided time except for Ashwani, who turned up a couple of hours before. I caught up with him before everyone else. Ashwani and me share the same birthday although we were born an year apart. We were the bestest of mates before I left for New Zealand and after meeting him yesterday, it never felt like we had been away, even though major changes have taken place in the time in between like his marriage and now his kid. He hasn't changed a bit.

All my other friends trickled in late but it was still worth the wait. The most fun I had was introducing Lance to Aditi - as a joke I told her that Lance was my son, she so totally believed it and the expression on her face was classic and I break into a smile everytime I remember that expression. I think that moment will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The good thing is that I seem to be the only one who hasn't put on any weight and looks the same {minus the hair} but the most awesome thing was seeing all of them in person. They gave me lots of shit over my comments on Delhi as a decaying city, on my accent {even though it still stands as an indian accent when i am in NZ} and my loss of hindi language conversation skills. They never let the pressure down throughout the evening but it was still fun. We sat at TGIF {Thank God It's Friday} at C.P and caught up over a few drinks and nibbles. The evening did end sooner than expected and had to reluctantly part ways with all of them.

Chandan and Sapna gave Lance and me a lift back to our place and on our way back, we saw an elephant near one of the traffic lights and it was awesome because the elephant stood right next to the car and Lance was able to take some awesome pics. The rest of the night Lance was still amazed and stunned at having seen an elephant so up close.

I felt a little sad yesterday evening at having to part with friends with whom I have had so many memorable experiences and without whom I probably would not have been complete. But I guess that's what life is - one has to live it on their own and keep living it by making more friends.

Today has been shopping galore. We went to a shopping mall called Big Bazzar and I wasn't that keen on it initially because I don't like buying clothes from shopping malls. I almost gave up hope after going through some sections of the men's clothing but when Lance picked up a T-Shirt he liked, i found a whole section I loved. I ended up buying a couple of trousers and 4 t-shirts and am really happy with the purchases. Lance bought a fair few as well and I think he is extremely happy with his purchases. I think he is equally happy because his stomach seems to have eased a lot and it looks like the 'Delhi Belly' phase might be over.

After that Dad took us to meet some of our family friends and it was lovely seeing them again. I had spent a fair amount of my childhood in Delhi with the Rao family and there are so many classic anecdotes from my childhood that it brings a smile to anyone's face who listens to them. Those are moments that are always cherished by me as well as by the Rao family even though it must have been extremely frustrating to everyone brave enough to tangle their horns with me. It was a really pleasent time and it was lovely catching up with all of them. There were a couple more things planned for the evening but they did not materialize because I couldn't get in touch with the people I wanted to meet. On our way back we picked up the photographs which we got printed and some of them are absolutely stunning. I will definitely be uploading those pics on Lance's website once I come to NZ.

So our big phase in Delhi seems to have come to a close as we will be flying to Hyderabad tomorrow. I hope that the planes take off as all of today's flights have been cancelled because of the blanket of fog enveloping Delhi. The flight situation over the past few days has been really bad and at this stage the program onwards looks a bit 'ify' and depends a lot on luck and a lot more on prayer. If we get to hyderabad we will be catching a train onwards to Vijayawada later tomorrow night. It will be a completely different experience if the weather holds up and we get to South India.

Hope everyone had a great christmas and spent time with their loved ones. Keep reading for more updates.

Adios for now,
Amit

{P.S - Be sure to check out Lance's blog}

posted by Amit @ 10:13 PM