a close fren (CF) had sms'd today after a short gap of me bein incommunicado ..

CF : hey gurl !! blah blah ...
me : helllooooooo thr .. me's fine .. blah blah ..
CF : so wat u been upto?? any plans of goin to india??
me : yep .. planning to go for coupla weeks .. begging boss char for leave .. :)
CF : wowww .. sooper ..whn goin?? gimme dates .. v shud catch up .. 'm plannin to come arnd May ..
me : i meant like nxt weekend lurvvv ... nxt yr May is like some time far away in the future .. i wud
       ve made four five trips home by then ..lol .. v sure can catch up :P:P
CF : i hate u is all i want to say to u rite now .. over n out !!!
me : lol .. luv ya tooo .. tc .. OnO .. ;)

got another sms in the middle of all this .. frm bro .. he gets in touch after a week of absconding frm mom .. n hence no cal/sms/mail to me .. as mom wud try to get him to cal her thro me ..
      Bro : balance back to base .. broke .. donation plz .. luv u sis .. tc
and he got his salary on the 1st .. and i get mine on the 8th of each month !!!!

PS : btw, this said Close Fren (CF) resides in the Aussie land ..

PSS : yayyy .. home sweet home , nxt weekend ..
hey ,  'coupla ppl who read my blog n live in chennai/cbe/tpr' , me wud b arnd for two weeks exactly .. buzz bfr nxt friday on my num or on mom's num after that .. :)

Everyone, including my ever patient mom, got irate with me after hearing umpteen times my gushing about the last weeks trek experience. So i resorted to the only other option available in hand, to blog about it. And here goes ...

To start off, I had been on a trek to the Himalayas (Hamptah Pass) - yes , u heard rite - last week and from the moment I got back, I haven't been able to think of anything else but the trek .. the lovely landscape, chilly mountains, the absolutely awesome gang, the heavy backpacks, soggy clothes, the snow, rain, water, rocks .. green, white, red everywhere ..

How I miss waking up in the tent each morning, frozen with cold .. brushing at the streams .. the hot tasteless chai outside the kitchen tent that was like heaven .. the dhal-chawal dinners of 15 hungry, cold n tired souls crammed into the dining tent with a bleak torch that made everything in the vessels look yumm .. the customary sip of vodka or rum in the nites rite outta the bottle that gets passed around in circles .. the desperate hunt in the backpacks each day to find some dry, warm piece of cloth .. the unpaved grounds of the mountains that remind u of the olden days Robbie rides to office in OMR road ..

And best n the most missed of all this, the 14 ppl i spent that one week with .. who wud have known that i can miss folks whom i had no clue existed just a few days back !! Miss u guys !! each person was unique in his/her own way .. and best part was, inspite of the differences, v jus felt rite together as a group ..

so, there was Pavan, our Organizer , to whom v owe this trek. Thanks pavan ... if not for u, i wudnt ve had such a memorable trek .. a serious, very responsible n caring person, our pavan was .. i jus hope his fren tamal joins for his next trek bcoz pavan had tears in his eyes when he said he missed his fren .. tamal, whoever u r, make it to pavan's nxt trek :) n make sure this guy has some fun n is not alwayz a busy body, running around all over the place worried bot organizing things wel ..

n then there was Vignesh (the only person I had known before the trek) , henceforth to be referred to as 'scientu anna' .. scientu is a quiet, calm, caring person .. but he transforms into a tarzan the moment he sees any of his fellow trekkers in trouble .. then he starts prancing frm rock to rock , trying to save the soul in need .. like the time he decided Vish was in trouble and he had to save him and so he jumped rite over an edge and was dangling for dear life .. :P

then there was Harsha, my tent mate .. wat can i say !! each morning whn i wake up, i peep outta my quilt half expecting to c her in her sleepin bag in the tent .. miss u lady!! the first time i spoke to her, i knew i got a fren .. each day started with her n me brushing n washin our face with ice cold water in the streams .. and the last person to wish me gn was her during the entire trek ..

then Arun .. he's the youngest in our gang .. like a kid bro to everyone .. he's so full of energy and enthusiasm, u cannot help but get infected with a li'l of that, whnever u are around him .. arun, 'll surely send u the song list, u really need a lot of mending in that front .. ur list sucks!! big time !! :P:P btw, did u do that facial?? n did it help?? :P:P lol and henceforth, this guy will be referred to as 'the baniyan guy', as s'one addressed him during the trek (dnt blame me re, u lived up to it..) .. and oh yeah , he tried to murder me twice during the trek !!! GRRRR !!! twice that i know of, atleast !!

next person wud be Prasanna .. wat, oh wat, can i say bot this guy .. i dnt ve words to express the spirit and energry this guy has in him .. with him around, u dnt ve time for anything else but to laugh .. he's such a sport (and the Donkey in all the games ..he he) .. Prasanna, all thanks to u , v all had a lovely time in Chatru .. i dnt remember the last time i laughed so much, with no care bot anything .. that nite's games of Bluff and Donkey wre the best i ve ever played .. :) u rock prasanna !!

then there was Raja (henceforth , Doc S @ Doc Senior) .. he was the quietest of the lot and the most mature .. most of the second and third day, he accompanied me thro my slow progress towards the base camp and he was one of the first frenz i made so easily without even realizing it .. thanks doc .. doc is a storehouse of brains .. i was ashamed of myself whn he talked bot linux and some IT stuff .. even though he's professionally a doc, he knws far more than i ever did/wud bot IT .. hats off !! and yeah, doc, u owe some of those gud pics of u , to the not-so-bad photographer me, like the one in ur FB :P:P n me read that book u suggested , luv'd it :)

comin next is our other doc Sudhakar (henceforth, doc J , for Doc Junior) .. he likes to kick start things n then disappear :P doc J is a fun guy n maintains balance in the gang by being talkative n is vry interesting to listen to .. btw, frm now on, u r my route map for gud Eat-outs in singapore .. :) i was vry touched whn on the last day bfr i left, he came to me n said i was like a younger sis to him .. thanks doc :) that was vry nice of ya .. really ..

then thr was Pilot (@ sushanth) .. pilot seems, on the front, a quiet n soft guy .. but as u get to know him, u realize that he's jus the opposite .. he's tough, adventourous n fun-loving n a very very caring guy .. n he seemed to ve impressed everyone in the gang, some more and some others, more so :P and his tales frm his army days r a treasure .. njoyed that day's breakfast-time tales Pilot .. a lot .. :) wud luv to listen to more , all of us wud ..

Vishravars .. first thing bot him anyone would notice is his name .. he's as unique as his name .. he has a lot of talents .. havin never been a scholarly, outstanding student myself, vish is like the enemy guy everyone wud show as example to folks like me .. ha ha .. he's a nice chap awrite, once u get to know him though .. soft n quiet , not jus on the front but actually is .. has a gud sense of humour too, that me n harsh discovered on the journey back to manali .. poor Vish though, his Tale of Woes in this trek wre never ending .. hope ur leg has healed Vish !!

And Sam .. wat do i say about u sam?? sam was the guy with all branded stuff in our gang :P all 'Foreeeen' brands .. smiles all the time .. half the time, u dnt know if he's thr .. that quiet he is .. n he was one of the better trekkers in our gang, alwayz s'wre in the front of the chain .. btw, Sam, i need to return cash i borrowed frm u for Alu Tikki in Manali :P i remember the gifts i owe u too ..

next was Marie .. i just cannot stop admiring the lady .. she can gel wel in any group and with anyone, under any circumstances .. n u dnt need to ask her for help, whn in need, she'll b rite thr by ur side .. n she was , without second thoughts, the best trekker in our group .. n also, the most travelled .. 'm jealous of u Marie :)

and then Sara .. the other person i admired a lot, though not for the trekkin this time (even though shez among the better trekkers) but for the gr8 job shez doin .. gr8 goin Sara !! three cheerz !! n i hope u get to c all ur frenz this time whn u go home .. and get to spend quality time with ur family too .. keep me posted bot it all after ur return :)

n then there was Mohan .. this guy has a gr8 sense of humour .. i think i had the least number of conversations with mohan outta the 14 .. :P he was alwayz trekking either in the front or he was the last .. lol .. n he was a sport, ever ready for fun .. maybe v'll get to converse mre in the next trek mohan :)

and the last member who joined the gang in manali was our Gikki .. to tel bot gikki, i wud need to write a book, not a paragraph in a blog .. 'm amazed at her levels of energy .. i was literally dragging myself (with Pilot saying he can see the tent with my every two steps + a stop, God knows , if t'was his figment of imagination or he was as exhausted as us n was hallucinating) on the day of crossing the Hamptah pass .. that too in day lite .. and this lady crosses the Pass in the dark and says shez not even cold .. i hear her rapidly talkin away in her usual decibels whn she arrived and i was hunched half dead nxt to the stove in the kitchen tent, too weak to breathe properly .. wat determination n energy n wat a voice !! btw, Gikki, trust me, loads of ppl wre praying for ur safe arrival at the camp that day n breathed in relief only after hearing ur voice !!

so that was bot the gang .. WAIT .. n then there was me :P .. ahh .. not much to tel bot me .. except that maybe i ditched my backpack halfway to the mules and watched on as everyone trudged along with the load on their backs .. n bfr 'the baniyan boy' pounces in to let knw the world like he did in FB that inspite of not carrying the load, i still ended up spraining my leg .. otherwise, not much to tel i guess .. i was happy .. vry happy .. n had an awesome time with all these wonderful ppl .. amen !!

so thats bot Part-1 .. 'll try to post a part-2 with the trek details s'time soon ..

my chair in office is very special .. as in, v r very attracted to each other, me and the chair i mean .. for a lot of our own very gud reasons .. bfr i launch into the indepths of those xtremely justifiable reasons, i must tel u bot my chair and how v got acquainted ...

so, we shifted to this new office building one n half months back and on the first day in the new office, i was late .. one of the last to arrive .. n much to my righteous indignation, everyone had a chair but moi (no !! i wont tel u which company i work for) .. and so urs truly's first job on the first day in the new office was, Chair hunting .. i know .. so i went arnd the 31st floor, ignoring the awesome view it offered of the lovely city outside with iron determination, looking for unsuspicious victims whose chair i can steal .. as u mite expect on such sad occasions, there wre none .. so i ended up finding an orphaned chair in a dark desolute corner , lookin as miserable as i felt .. now, if u want me to get into specifics on the looks n likes of this orphan, wel, i must tel u first off that the poor chair was no looker .. the fact that it was ditched by everyone other than me n that too only caz i ddint ve any other choice, did nothing to improve itz mental n physical state .. when u blotch a white chalk with Royal blue Chelpark ink (ahh .. i miss those Chelpark days !!) and then dip the same chalk in water for a while n dry it in the open top floor/terrace of ur apartment at noon for like 3 or 4 hrs, u get a weird faded blue color ... wel, the chair was in exactly that color .. brought back so many nostalgic memories ...

so the moment i saw it thr, all lonely n lost, i knew this was it .. t'was like the chair was jus waiting for me to find it .. find it, i did !! hah !! Victory !!so i drag my find all the way from one end of the floor to the other end, ignoring all the smirks n sympathy from ppl all over .. i didnt realize the exact reason for the smirks until s'one pointed out to me that i got my mate in the chair .. t'was as noisy as me !!! now THAT touched a nerve and i resolved to break a few bits off that guy's chair that nite after everyone has left for the day .. which wudnt b impossible given the fact that 'm generally one of the last to leave office (no .. dnt even get me started on it .. 'm not ready to talk bot my team or my proj .. no .. dnt!! somethings r better left alone .. 'm warning u !!) .. and i tel u i ve not the slightest clue bot how the guy's chair mysteriously started shedding screws n bolts until one day it jus breathed itz last .. (hey u !! dnt look at me like that .. i had nothing - NOTHING - to do with it)

so comin back to my chair .. my faded chelpark royal blue chair became my identity in office .. it stood out from the rest of the boring bright n new furniture .. no one wanted my chair .. i had it all to myself .. infact when i say no one wanted it, i mean NO ONE wanted .. there was this guy who once came to meet the guy who sits nxt to me .. n i was standing some feet away , busy in a cal .. and this guy took one look at my chair n said he preferred to stand, when offered my chair !!! The nerve !! *indignant look*!!

wel .. 'm tired now .. so tataa to y'all .. God bless me n my chair !!

i stand there, looking at the plane take off ... i wonder if u are thinking of me .. because i am .. thinkin of u, that is ... of us .. of what could have been .. of wht is .. i shake myself out of the reverie to discover 'm the only one standing in the Departures lounge and wonder how long i was lost to the world .. i slowly turn around and not wanting to go back to the empty house, decide to catch up with someone .. anyone .. i look thro my Contacts and not finding anyone i feel like meeting, decide to go grab a coffee some place nywayz .. i hire a cab and blurt out to the driver - "****, **** Please" .. and then realize i jus gave him my office address ..


i walk into the office to find it empty .. saturday evening .. what did i expect .. 'm blessed with a seat next to the window in the 31st floor with an absolutely awesome view of the busiest and richest part of the city ... i pull my chair closer to the window .. the coffee was soothing .. the same vending machine coffee i usually scorned .. i look at the city below.. into the nite .. into my life ..

i traced a single bright blue spec out of the millions of tiny specs of numerous colors lighting up the city's nite life .. the blue was all i could see .. then that faded too and it was nothingness ..

the shrill ring of a phone somewre in the floor brought me back to reality .. i looked at the time .. it was five past two .. i must be going home .. but i didnt want to .. i sat there , millions of thoughts running thro my head, nothing registering ..

i was lost .. there i was, one minute, at the highest cliff of happiness .. n the next, s'one gives me a painful kick in the butt and i start falling into the tumults of water crashing into the sharp rocks below .. the cliff, the gushing waves with their milk white froth, the sharp rocks, the soft eroded corners of the cliff's visible bottom, the slight drizzle in the soft sun with the lovely bright rainbow .... looks gud as long as you are on the top of the cliff .. not when u tumult ur way to envelope them .. that is a new story all together .. the silly mind doesnt think of all this when it takes the risk of goin out to the very edge ..

it is a giddy feeling to look at the busy streets of a posh city from such a height .. does He feel this way, watching over his creations, i wonder .. he should soon be bored .. i was .. i turned back to my monitor ... typed a mail to s'one that i didnt send .. i was tired .. physically .. mentally .. i shut down the machine and got up .. i looked at the dark lonely cubicles .. only mine was lit .. i put off the lights and stepped onto the elevator .. the security guy smiled .. i waved at him absently and walked towards the train station .. i looked at the slowly fading moon and searched for the rising sun .. it was not dark anymre though the sun wasnt out .. i looked at the streets decorated colourfully for some festival that was still a month and half away .. wondered y i couldnt feel the happiness in the air .. no , i dnt have any regrets .. i jus have questions  .. and a lot of hurt ; a heavy aching heart .. and no, 'm not crying .. 'm done with THAT atleast .. and hre, i stop .. Amen !!

there was this kid i met in a bday party i recently went to .. i ve seen kids who cry all the time or wudnt let anyone other than the mom/dad hold him/her or wud jus stare at u like you are Cruella Deville and give nasty looks whenever the parent is not looking n smile sweetly when the parent does .. but then 'm digressing .. so there was this kid who was giving me smiles from her mom's lap .. encouraged, i put formward my hands to lift her frm the mom's lap .. mom gives this grateful smile .. n the kid doesnt resist .. so i assumed the kid wanted to be held .. i was jus a teeny min early in the assumption caz the whole room was suddenly silenced by the screaming kid ... hastily i dump the kid back in mom's lap n Boy !! did i jus hear a pin drop??!!! y allow me to lift her in the first place?? n then bring the house down crying bloddy mudder?!!! *sigh* .. kids r weird .. and scheming !! and i wnt b offended if u arent surprised when i tel u, i was the first person to take leave frm the hosts that day ..

standing in my kitchen, lookin at the dark house in the 10th floor of the building parallel to mine, i was reminded of that nite long long ago .. i had come home feelin all depressed n lonely after a tough day at work n decided to ve some steaming filter coffee- indian style (which is one thing that has never failed to raise up spirits till date) .. i stood at the window lookin into void with the coffee spreading a feel-gud aroma all arnd me .. it musta been arnd 2 AM and as is normal, not one house in the vicinity had a light on .. t'was all peace n quiet ..

suddenly, the darkness was shattered by bright light from across the building n there she was, standing in her kitchen, one very sweet old lady (proper short n round like gran) .. after that day, i started noticing that she was arnd most nights in my timings (which my mom alwayz describes in one word - Crazy :P) .. it became a habit then on .. the moment i enter the house, i check if therez a light on in her kitchen .. it meant the world to me .. if her kitchen was dark, i felt deserted .. n i wait for her, like a puppy waiting for his master whoz at school .. she felt like family .. she helped me drive away the lonliness of the big house ..

i ve never seen her anywre other than that kitchen .. i wudnt b able to recognize her if she stood rite in front of me , caz our buildings had quite some distance between 'em and my eyez arent all that sharp (blame it on age) .. but she was like the gaurdian angel that i was so dependent on , to drive away all my home sickness n loneliness .. and she has never let me down .. until , today, that is ..

she has moved out .. dunno wre she shifted to or if the family thatz gonna shift in nxt to that house will have a nice granny char like her ... n 'm sure she wud never knw that i miss her .. she made a big difference to my days n 'm eternally grateful to her for being thr, in her own way .. miss u granny !! may God bless you ..