Appa...

Happy birthday Naana Garu !! We would have called you early in the morning to wish and asked the rhetoric question of what new clothes you bought only to be given the rhetoric answer "new briefs" ha ha :)

Well I read the following in this book that I am reading right now. The book is titled "Aleph" by Paulo Coelho. He is traveling in the trans siberian train with a group and during a discussion he says this -

" .. We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us, they don't disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms. For example, I can't see who is in the next carriage, but it contains people traveling in the same time as me, as you, as everyone. The fact that we can't speak to them or know whats going on in that other carriage is completely irrelevant. They are there. So what we call "life" is a train with many carriages. Sometimes we're in one, sometimes we're in another, and sometimes we cross between them, when we dream or allow ourselves to be swept away by the extraordinary."

He is so right, because it still feels like you are around and right here…. someday I will write about all the extraordinary happenings as soon as you passed into a different compartment on this train - things happened just the way you wanted ! Including my inability to spend money uselessly :):):)

Am waiting to meet you again as I know we will.

Thanks for passing on your values, your passion for travel, your zest for life besides your good looks. Love you Appa.

Yes Vedavalli is a handful but she is fine :)

FIRE !!!

At about 5 am I heard sounds as though there was a hailstorm ... I opened the door of our balcony and I could smell the smoke but couldn't place where it was coming from. We then heard someone shouting at the top of their voice "aag lagi hai bachao, koi bachao". We ran out to check where the fire was - finally figured out it was in the floor below ours (11th). Some of the security guards and Kitu's husband reached at the same time. Narayanan (pedal yatri friend) from H block also landed up. The security guards tried to open the door but they had to break it down. There were 5 boys inside, all safe. One of them had infact walked out onto the ledge outside the bathroom and he had shouted for help.

Nearly 10 to 12 fire extinguishers were used and then the hose. Finally the fire came under control before the fire engines could arrive. The fire engines did not have enough space to turn into the G block ! Nitin had called the fire station and also went out in his car to get them. Many residents were fast asleep, oblivious to the drama. Several things that went wrong -

1. One of the boys had smoked and probably dozed off with the lighted cigarette burning up the sofa
2. The smoke detector was pushed into POP and a lamp was hanging in its place
3. The fire engines could not turn into G block due to the cars parked ... These are massive trucks needing more space to turn

Just the living room got gutted, every other room was intact and we didn't feel even the heat on our floor and the smoke went away within a couple of hours. The clothes that were outside for drying had some soot on them, otherwise all ok.

Most importantly all the people are safe !

Everyone needs to be careful with a few things -

1. Don't tamper with safety systems
2. Switch off the gas before retiring for the night
3. Switch off the mains in case of a fire
4. Keep a torch or headlamp handy
5. Keep the cellphone charged and with the fire station, ambulance and police numbers stored
6. Get some basic emergency response training

What a coincidence - dad's birthday today !

Day of dilemma

Today started with a dilemma - the age old one... Do I use an "agent" to get my degree certificate or do I just follow the process and get it ? Why the dilemma ? With the Anna movement the one big question that creeps in is how far has corruption seeped into our psyche ? My first reaction when I thought of getting my degree certificate was to look for a a shortcut !! How sad and really sad since I would generally want to get things the right way without paying a bribe or an agent. I just presumed that the regular process will take time. But well, I will be following the regular process and get some help to expedite the process. Not entirely right....

And then driving to work, had this moron who crossed in a cycle right in front of my car as soon as the traffic light turned green. I didn't honk, but I had half a mind to get out of the car and ask him a few questions - starting with whether he was blind or just plain stupid ? This is such typical behaviour from Delhi/Haryana men.... A woman driving a a car needs to know she is just a woman, inferior to men.

Ha ha ha .... Someday this will change or some women will need 007 license to kill such creatures :):):):):)

What a great day at work though. PMO through, 2012 priorities finalised ... And some great feedback. Will I ever stop being as expressive as I am ? Like I said to Shakun, I can't hide my true feelings and they are out in the open. I have to think of how to turn that into a strength.

Enough thinking for today !

The First day - Meeting inspiration

I agreed on the drama, but not death when I was born !!

There was thunder, lightning, and rains the day I was born in Tirunelveli. There were eight children born in that nursing home that day and I was the only girl and my mother wanted a son so badly. Since I had agreed with God that I want drama, I got enough of it - lights went off, the doc had a social engagement, my mother ate when she was not supposed to and in true filmi style my eldest Maasi was asked to sign off her sister and she asked that I be saved.... Again in true filmi style, that piece of paper was stuck on my mother's hospital bedpost and I was delivered.

Since I agreed on no death, my mother came back from the dead. She went all blue and the doc gave an earful to my Maasi but Tirupati Balaji intervened and pulled my mother back from the happy floating away she was attempting. Thats how the first person to see me on this earth, this time around was Padmasini, my eldest aunt (Maasi).

What can I write about her ? She was the eldest daughter in a 6 daughter, 5 son family. Married off to a gentleman (?) when she was 16 or thereabouts and off she went to Calcutta. Didnt know the language, had to travel without knowing any other language other than Tamil and learn the customs of a new family. What an colorful life she led .... in retrospective, but while she was going through it, what a disastrous one it was. A philandering husband, an autistic younger son, and in-laws that were ready to chew her alive. Just one source of happiness - her elder son, who again was sent off to a prison school so he would not be influenced by the father and ended up calling his mom and dad as "mama and mami" till their death since he never knew them as parents.

It was a privilege to be welcomed by Padmasini - a woman who had all doors shut on her face, but lived through it all with amazing zest, and kept opening newer doors, windows or breaking down walls all with a smile and never once asked the question, why me.... So I started life meeting inspiration.

2012 Jan 1

Finally I decided to blog and had to find a name .... Why 90 Rolls Royces ? Osho had 90 Rolls Royces and what better example of supposed contradictions - a sanyasi and wealth. Guess the 90 Rolls Royces also sum up Osho, sanyas is not renunciation .. Live with awareness, the world is made of things that you should enjoy but look for what death cant take away and own that :)

So my blog had to have something from Osho and since I can't have the sanyas I chose the next best 90 Rolls Royces of his - where are they I wonder !!

I dedicate all the 90 Rolls Royces and every word of anything I write to Krishnan for making our life more beautiful and more valuable than the 90 Rolls Royces ... Thanks Love.