A screen or two full of codswallop

Disclaimer: This one will be long winded, possibly even boring. i read through - is EXTREMELY vetti.

I slept for a good 4 hours in the afternoon today - on the floor in front of the TV (tuned to CNBC in silent mode ) - with the balcony door open and just about enough sun to make me feel nice and warm.

I was up until 2:30 am on friday doing up work , writing follow up emails for all the blokes who returned to work on saturday and typing out supply contracts for half-witted brazilians.

There was a 7 o clock flight to Delhi to catch on Saturday with Mr.S (who looked like he'd been in a fight) because of his unfortunate loss of self control the previous night, at Ratna cafe.

(Sidetrack#1 Mr.S is this ammanji type guy who mostly pretty tame & predictable - and works for us in the factory and was going with me to Delhi too. Surprisingly he seemed to take a liking to the stuff that Ratna cafe's waiters pour - out of mugs - rather generously - over idlis. In spite of my repeated warnings he kept taking in the stuff - really the WORST sambhar ive come across - idlis and all - and was in and out of the guest room loo all night )

I slept nearly through the 2.5 hour flight - waking up periodically to watch amusing episodes of this amit123 type guy getting repeatedly dissed by this, rather amused, babe - both whom were sitting across the aisle.

(Sidetrack#2

babe(to hostess): water bottle please (hostess walks away apparently not hearing the babe)
me(waking up like an hour of sleep) : whatha ? (look around. finding all to be ok. Take a swig on my own water bottle, sort of blowing bubbles in the bottle)
amit (gives me a venomous glare and then turns to babe offering her his unopened bottle): Take me mine naaa yaar.
babe (looking horrified): No. Thanks. (sort of like turns to the other side and looks out the window)
me: *smirk*

I wake up after another 30 mins - to find amit123 playing NFS2 on his rather bulky looking laptop - the babe wearing cute glasses & reading a serious looking book. Amit glances periodically in the babe's general direction hoping she notices his heroic antics.

The next time i wake up - towards when we are going to land - amit tries another line of approach - this time - a trifle more sophisticated.

amit(to babe): um, hello. are you from delhi ?
me(woken up): huh?
amit repeats the question - with head tilted now towards the babe.
babe(looking up from book): um, why?
amit (clearly not expecting this answer): nahin yaar. iam not from delhi and i want to know how far vasant vihar is from the airport. do you know?
babe(turning back to book): No.

Poor amit. I mean, i dont think the guy was like a total fool - heck - he even had this super looking Nokia mobile and all - but i guess, these things happen. Amit & me, i guess - emerge all the more enriched with the experience )

We drove from the airport (State: Delhi) - past gurgaon (State: haryana) - to Bhiwadi (State: Rajasthan) - 3 states - 2 hours - dunno if its possible anywhere else in the world.

[Interestingly, 2 hours the other way from Airport will take one to Noida / Faridabad (State: UP) - thats an incredible 4 states in as many hours. And along the same direction as Gurgaon - a couple more hours of driving - will take one into Punjab - that makes it 5 states - what within 5 or 6 hours of each other. Coo!]

I always love Delhi. People drive on all day long HUGE tollways, talk on the celphones endlessly , go to malls & eat aaloo-ka-prraaatae (one word) for breakfast, speak hindi with a super punjabi twang, wear super cool sweaters, blazers, pullovers over their shirts and yes, the females.

[ People familiar with T will remember how he used to pound his fist on his chest with a pained expression when walking past groups of madras babes (He used to be reminded what he sorely missed - from his 3/4 years as a (Nancy friday reading) teenager in Delhi and scenery that came with it) - When we all used to diss it as snobbery and as peter - T, almost always seriously, used to insist that his distress was genuine. Over the years. Ive come to agree. Not that il ever admit this to him ;- ]

Along the Gurgaon highway one finds loads of under-construction malls, apartments and all - DLF, Unitech and the likes - some of which as S told me - have dropped to nearly HALF their last year selling prices and may not be even completed in the near future - for lack of funds.

After couple of intense, boring meetings we flew back the same night - tired as hell - and it was well past 1 am when i crashed. only to be woken up by Mr. S at 6:30 today - to be dropped at his brother's after breakfast - as he insisted NOT at Ratna Cafe ;-

*yawn*

p.s #1 : As i type this out, i was eating this 'apple pie' thing that i bought for 25 bucks at Spencers. As it turns out - unknowingly - ive been also eating the release paper which normally gets stuck in the bottom - and strangely i havent noticed - because the Pie itself tastes more cardboardlike than the actual bit of cardboard. tsk tsk. il take whats left down tomorrow and ask the lady at the bakery to taste it herself or something.

p.s#2 - Did any1 listen to Jai Ho ? part of the globe winning soundtrack of Slumdog - while im sure it will turn out to be great - the first emotion i felt listening to it for the first time today was, well, i was rather alarmed. Must av sounded quite exotic to the Jury, im sure. Sukhwinder singh is to blame, im sure. Not sure why i never took a liking to him.