there are...

too many new babies around me! I tell you!! of course I cant get over my own nephew to begin with, give me a chance and I will start narrating small, useless details of Ishu's life, how he talks, walks, sleeps, pottys everything I remember I will tell. Then we have Mr. Gonsalves who has a 4 month old baby girl and he (obviously!!) cant stop talking about her, how she rolls on her stomach and loves the sun and makes signs when she wants to pee or potty!!
Then we have my cousin sister who recently had a baby boy, then we have my best frennmy who had a baby girl almost a month ago and then we have my long lost friend who had a baby boy last week...baap re!!

Ofcourse the only thing that ms putey would say to this will be that our system is screaming 'baby baby' and we are refusing to listen at which point I refuse to listen to her too!

Mausi o Mausi

Ok, I have been meaning to write this for a longtime, but just could'nt bring myself to do it. 2 days later will be chhaya mausi's birthday, she would have turned 61, but she passed away on 18th august 2010. It still brings tears in my eyes and I think it will be so for a longtime. Suddenly some memory creeps up and reminds me of her.
When I shifted to Delhi in 2000 I had stayed with mausi for a month, I think that had brought me very close to her apart from the fact that she is neerav bhaiya and sonu's mom. Mausi, extremely cute, always called everyone motu and added 'maarongi bahut' after that, had her typical ways for everything. There was a time when she had false teeth only for the front four teeth and they would invariably fall off when she would laugh, which was quite often! She was getting ready for Neerav bhaiya's wedding ceremony, but had'nt come out of her room so I went to ask her what happened and there she was standing in front of the cupboard frantically looking for something..... she could'nt find the saree that she was supposed to wear, coz she had kept it properly somewhere... there are a zillion stories that I have about her which come up. She would always tell me that my mother in law would say 'maa aur mausi ne kuch sikhaya nahin'!! and i would just laugh it off and tell her pehle MIL toh leeke aao.

She was someone I could always talk to no matter what and no matter about what... I miss my motu like hell, so many things just went away with her.....   

Not very feminine I guess

Maybe because its winters and usually one ends up being completely covered, maybe because I have short hair, or maybe it shows in my body language/attitude that I'm not your typical, everyday Indian woman.... I got mistaken for being a boy..... twice.... in one week!
So Im sitting in the delhi metro, ladies compartment, minding my own business, when on one station the women security persons enter the ladies compartment to drive away the men from the compartment, its a scene that I almost always enjoy coz most of these women are thin, short and the kind who can be physically overpowered at any point in time, so its very empowering to watch them driving away hordes of men from the ladies compartment. Anyhow, Im sitting in one corner and after the woman security person has asked all the men to leave the compartment, she is generally screaming in my direction that,'sunai nahin deta kya?? yeh ladies compartment hai! chalo niklo yahan se...' and I'm wondering who is she talking to coz all the men have gone and then she points to me as asks me to leave, when i look at her completely shocked. That's when she looks at me closely and says,'oh aap toh ladki hain'! All the women in the compartment go heeheeheee and I'm like this is terrible!
Cut to me going to the lajpat railway ticket counter early morning to book my tatkal ticket for going home. This place is a fairly small booking counter and has a different counter for women so I mostly get confirmed tickets in tatkal here. When i reach there is a line for the men already there with around 15-20 men there and there are no women, so Im standing at the side, again, minding my own business. After sometime the guard comes around to monitor that everyone is standing properly and then he looks at me and asks,'haanji, aap ladies hain? and I just give him a scornful look and say haan, then he says toh wahan jaa kar khade ho jaiye, with the men in the line whispering to each other, smiling and looking at me.
Thankfully it hasnt happened again, but it left me wondering yet again that how much we expect people to adhere to norms and if they don't fit the categories we have made for them then we just dont know what to do with them! 

New Year, new beginings et al

Loads of things that make this new year a special one. For one, professionally i'm clear about what i want to do for atleast the next 15 -20 years.... be in courts, practice as a lawyer, be available for human rights work. It was what I was doing earlier too and then i took a break explored other things like working in a corporate, doing research and now im back to being in courts and to be very frank, is what im most comfortable doing.

Personally, I think there are a lot of concerns that I had about myself that I have resolved. I have also realised that everything is not a battle unless you make it. Because this perspective is altered, a lot of aspects of my life which were a fight in my head have automatically resolved.

Also this year brings back a lot from the past, old workplace, old friends, old love interests all have resurfaced and for the better... :)

Or maybe not...

This year has been a bit strange. Umm actually i take that back, this year has been extremely strange, too much gadbad,, introspection, dealing with a lot of things that I had'nt dealt with etc etc. But in the middle of all, this was also the year i couldnt make up my mind about where I want to be. Having spent 10 years in Delhi I think I wanted to take a break from the city and spend sometime elsewhere in the world, therefore the inclination to move to London for LLM and then the inclination to move to Ahmedabad for work. None of which happened! Still very much in this city, will be winding up work and going home for a break soon. lets see what 2011 has instore pour moi.

Gujju Land here I come

So looks like shifting was inevitable for me, even if I didnt move to London for my LLM, I am moving to Ahmedabad for 5 months on another short research project and to assist in the filing of High Court appeals for our office that looks after around 200 riot related cases of 2002.

Even though I havent started packing physically I have done this packing a couple of times in my head! Yes I know, thats what a control freak does, so where have I denied being one!

Anyway, at the moment I have too many loose ends to tie up and only then will I have time to pack and then move. I will be keeping my place in Delhi so if anyone wants to stay in Delhi for a couple of months please do contact.

Ofcourse the great part (apart from the pao bhaji on law college road) is that I will be a 6 hour journey away from home :) Now that i really like :)

New Crush!!

I saw Once upon a time in Mumbai last night.....not bad, didnt get bored at all in the movie, everyone acted well, I think it is the first Emran Hashmi movie I have sat through etc etc etc... but the bestest part about the movie was RANDEEP HOODA and that too in a well tailored police uniform....gaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Idhar Udhar Kidhar

Have too much going on all together (surprise!!) therefore didnt write in so long..
have 4 different things that I need to concentrate and write on, have 2 different people taking away my attention, have atleast 4 new decisions that i need to take, have 2 places atleast that i need to visit before miss kaur leaves the country (boohooo), have atleast 4 things which i need to clarify with 4 different people, have past, present and future to worry about........ now just blabbering...tata, will return when a bit more sane!