Predictable is Boring?

 Mostly, it is. Could be one reason why life in India is exciting.. all kinds of things happen unexpectedly, lowering the BQ- Boredom Quotient. Maids don't show up, rain falls when it shouldn't, delivery guys of all kinds show up all the time, and you have random conversations with people every day if you go out.

In the U.S., it was sometimes boring. We went to the mall, just to get some excitement in to the day, and see new faces, apart from on TV.

Do something unexpected. Yesterday, we had a couple of grand nieces do some make-up for me and my daughter, and it was great fun. Totally unexpected, and the little ones enjoyed themselves thoroughly using us as guinea pigs. I remember letting another (grand) niece in Bangalore draw something on my palm, and it was another fun moment for us both!

Depends on what you want to do. Buy a kachori, a sabudana wada, or a new toffee flavour just for the heck of it. Fly a kite. Take a bus ride, a metro ride or go watch a show in town. Or a movie-minus the expensive popcorn. Have tea in a new restaurant.. or a biryani.

Point is... yeah, you got it. Do something unexpected, whimsical each day. Seize the day.

Unknown Tourist Spots

 Relatively unknown ones I have been to- 

Rajanahalli and Kondajji, near Harihar, Karnataka, where I lived from 1995 till 2001. 

Lonar meteorite created Crater lake. Buldana district, Maharashtra.

Raneh falls, near Khajuraho in M.P. Had never even heard of them before.

Kinnersani, because we lived in Kothagudem nearby and used to go picnicking with our club. A riverside resort.

Jorhat, the Memorial for the Ahom King- forget the name, but it's impressive.

Chikmagalur..it's beautiful, and under-rated. The lake there too.. Hirekerur, I think.

Brittany region in France. We went to a Fort on the Sea Coast, Mt. St. Michael, which is magnificient.

Any corner of Greece, it's historic.

Small parks in South Carolina.

Kuldhara, ghost town near Jaisalmer.

Bhimtal, lesser know cousin of Nainital.

Anniversary Dinner for the 38th

 I am told (by my wife) that the right way to celebrate an anniversary is to have dinner outside. So we did- I am an obedient husband. Vanam is a new South Indian place, somewhat premium- somewhat like Carnatic in Bangalore, minus drinks. Off Prabhat Road. Pretty decent starters (like Chettinad chicken and mashed Parotha), and then Donne biryani, Appams and stew. We along with daughters Pooja and Prarthana) had a good time.

One man Show in Pune

 Just saw a 2490th performance of a Marathi one man act. Assal Manase, Irsaal Namune. By a chap called Prabhakar Nilegaonkar. It takes a lot to do this. He acts as mutiple people, both male and female. Talented. Reminded me of Babban Khan in Hyderabad, who used to do this.. though he had a couple of characters mostly as props.. 

With him after the show..

Citizenship

 Not sure if I am a citizen anymore. I had a passport, but someone in the Ministry of External Affairs just said it doesn't prove I am a citizen. 

Well, maybe the fact that we are a part of the Universe is enough. It makes us a universal or global citizen. If only Trump, Starmer (or whoever is the next PM there), and other world leaders understood this. 

I do have an Aadhar card, but I am without any support (Aadhar) when it comes to proving my credentials. 

I have kids and they were born here in India. Are they citizens? Not sure anymore, the way things are going.

Anyway, when I know more, I will let you know. Till then, let's imagine a floating citizenship for ourselves.

Pu La Deshpande

 To honour the memory of Pu La Deshpande, famous humourist, there was a program at the Film Archives, Pune. A film about him was screened, and many speakers in a panel spoke about his achievements. Good way to keep the memory alive-

The 2 day program concluded with an award named after Pu La being given to Shama Bhate (above), a Kathak dancer from Pune who has done a lot for the art form. There was also a Films Division documentary about Pu La, mostly in the first person, narrated by him. It has his trademark wit.. for example, he says his father worked in a paper maker's firm, and did not realise his son would waste reams of paper trying to write something on them.. also, when he had gone to donate blood, while the syringe was in his vein, the blood bank owner asked him for a donation, which he was scared to refuse.. obviously!

38 Together and Going

 Our anniversary is coming up on 26th.. it's number 38. Tough to remember all the ups and downs we went through, first couple of years in the U.S. and then the rest in India, with a few trips to Sri Lanka, cambodia and Vietnam thrown in. A Eurail tour on the way back took us to Greece, Italy and France, Netherlands etc. We went to a friend's place in Brittany, near the Northern coast where Mt. St. Michael is located. 

Made friends in the U.S., Ron and Carmon Green, Leslie and Bob, the Sonis, and Athena and her family, Annie and Samrendra Singh and their sons, and a few more. Wilma Reeves and a Filipino faculty, Ceferina Hess, for example.

We also had a group of Indian friends, Alok, Anil, Suresh and my brother Satish hung out together. Alok's wife Pam too. We went to Charleston, Gatlinburg, L.A.  and Las Vegas, plus a few National parks like Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest and so on. Visited Kiran Kenjale and Neena in L.A. and Prakash and Meena, in Detroit.

Made a few friends in our long stay in India at multiple places- Bani and BK Mohanty in Bhubaneswar, Bhagyalakshmi and Shweta Kushal at IIM Indore, Smita Dabholkar and Gadgil at IMT Nagpur, Vijayakumar and family, Dhanapal and family and Yashad Gaur, in Harihar, Anjula Gurtoo in Lucknow, and Shraddha and Neeraj in IIMK. Also Ravi and Dipi in Calicut. We also have musical friends from a group on FB.

We have a wide social circle that includes her schoolmates and students from when she taught (Vaseem), and mine from IIMB, Osmania and all the places I taught in, like IIM Indore (Sanjana Rao, Anusha Soni, Pratima Gaekwad) and IMT, (Ishita Modi, Garima Shah). Keeps us occupied. Plus all the Plays and concerts that we are able to attend in Pune regularly. Life is a party, when you have the right company, right?