Kolkata Kalling

Another paid trip to the heartland. I just love this part of my job. Ostensibly, I will be working. All I am thinking of is Mom's sorse ilish bhaapa (baked mustard hilsa..hmm..doesnt come close to capture the magic).

Am going for a new business pitch. I love my considerate bong brethren. How nice of them to fix the presentation on Friday. Weekend at home. Tea in bed. Breakfast options. Lunch Spread. Evening snacks. Night Banquet.

There is, however, a problem of going to Cal. (Kol, doesnt quite cut it) I have only a few thousand close friends. All connected to each other by the most sphisticated optic ether wiring you will find. All I need to do is call one. Viruses blush at the speed of news in my gangland. And if I do not meet all of them, one will hear no end of it till kingdom come.

Apart from that one hazard, Cal beckons. Want to have the chelo kabab in Peter Cat this time. Time and friends permitting. Or the steak at Mocambo. Maybe both.

I need to go now. The water from my mouth is soiling my shirtfront.

Enjoy your rotis.

Till next week.

Green, White, Orange

That's the colour of the office today and will be for India till the 15th. It's a nice set of colours you realise. Very bright and pleasent. Everyone is wearing some shade of the three. A bit overwhelming. But one can live with it for a few days. Especially since it means Monday is a holiday!

Mangal Pandey was timed beautifully. One can visualise a lot of tricolours being waved in the aisles during the weekend. Me have a laptop load of work. Atleast that's what i am telling myself at this point of time.

The premiership starts this weekend. Thank God! Am so bored on weekends. How many books can a soul absorb or for that matter how many beers. The great Strand Book Sale is on also. I love it. One morning taken care off.

Well, have to go now. Need to buy some jeans. Hopefully they will have colours other than orange, white, green..

Bombay Ducks

"Are you going to work? No man, its raining a bit. Don't want to take a chance."

One would have never thought you would have heard that from a Mumbaite. What the blasts couldn't do to Mumbai, the rain gods did. With a lot of help from the administration. Even today, a full 10 days from Tuesday Trauma, one glances out of the window a little fearfully.

Personally, I spent just seven hours in a car stuck in a totally avoidable traffic snarl in Mahim. There was no water. Neither was there a cop in sight. Basic survival instincts had taken over and everyone was breaking every rule to get home. And so no one did.

We are all limping back to normal. Hopefully, we have seen the last of the rains. Hopefully, we will see some good come out of all this for the city.

But for a while, Mumbaites will do one thing when they hear a thunderclap.

Duck.