On the excitement front, little sister (who’s a chef) got herself a job in the UK and is flying out tomorrow. So it’s goodbye to window shopping, travelling and watching movies together. We’ve raided most of the shopping malls in town trying to adequately prepare her for the England winter. She’s going to be in this picturesque little place on the South coast called Noss Mayo (picture on the right).

She was kind of my activity partner for the last year or so :) Though we’re quite like chalk and cheese as far as personalities go, we share quite a few interests. And we both quit our jobs around the same time. Actually, she did first. And I followed soon after. My poor parents were in quite a state wondering what the hell was happening with the two sisters and where they had gone wrong!

Years ago, there were times my parents were a little embarassed and confused about my sister’s career choice. In the town we come from, I doubt there are many who would choose it as a career. They didn’t know how to explain that their daughter had chosen a career in the kitchen, when their friends’ kids were becoming doctors and engineers.

But I think she made a smart choice. She’s always been creative and when I asked her once what she enjoys about the culinary arts, her answer was that it’s something different everyday. It gives you scope to experiment. You can do so many things with food. And you never get bored. Besides which she loves good food.

Now the parents can’t quite seem to grasp that their little daughter is going off to another country, and that too, to work. But I think they’re pretty pleased. And I even caught my usually unflappable father getting a little emotional over the phone.

I guess it’s time for her to spread her wings.

Now that she’s leaving though, I’m wondering who I’m going to call when I want to watch a first day first show with!

Nidhi reminded me today that I haven’t been updating. So I thought I’d do a quick detour via the cybercafe on the way home. The phone connection will take longer, so I guess I will have to contend with making Sify Iway a little richer till then.

Life’s been a whirlwind.

We finally moved out of our small place into a more spacious flat. The other one was getting seriously crowded. It was difficult to get from one room to the other without stepping on somebody’s toes (including the cat).

With my sister as house-guest, we were facing a serious space crunch.

The shifting happened over Diwali.

After shifting, we’ve spent indecent amounts of time in the kitchen. Cooking. And then eating it all up! But since sister is a chef and I enjoy a bit of leisurely stints in the kitchen, we’ve been pretty busy trying our own samples. She made a mouth-watering pomfret curry with a coconut base the other day and I am still salivating (if anyone wants recipe let me know!). Last night it was steamed rice with yummy chinese style chicken wings. If she wasn’t leaving soon, I told her she could stay with me and be my cook.

The only thing I need to sort out is the telephone line so that I can connect to the Net. Cable internet is non-existent in the area. So I have no other option but to go in for a dial-up. I shudder to think about the amount I will rack up.

Meanwhile, concerned people have been politely asking me what I’ve been upto, since being without a job seems to be an unimaginable concept to many. I can’t quite understand why. Everyone is entitled to a break once in a while. And it’s hardly been a month since I quit my day job. But frankly, I’ve never been happier. Mainly because I have been really really looking for a break from the routine of work.

And I have a thousand other things planned. Like continuing my art classes. Taking photography lessons. Learning a language. Learning an instrument. Traveling to a few new places. This is my year of learning, discovering, reading and doing new things. I intend to do some of the things I never got around to doing while I had a full-time job.

It’s definitely worth re-charging your batteries once in a while and getting away from the routine that work sets upon you. It’s recommended from me. Especially, if you want to do it and have a willing partner to support you for a while. I’m planning to extend my break for a few months. It feels too good!

I am trying to get a grip on my things as I organise my packing.

I look around and suddenly the thought strikes me. I am a collector.

A rabid collector. There is nothing I don’t collect.

Bills. Statements. Books. Cassettes. Restaurant order slips. Doctor’s prescriptions. Ball point pens. Brochures and those little flyers about savings accounts, insurance, credit points (which I never use). Packets. Boxes. Newspapers. Magazines. Shoes (falling apart). Notebooks. Lipsticks. Shampoo bottles. Memos. Bits and pieces of paper from god knows when. Bus/train/airplane tickets. Photocopies of certificates (not in singles, but multiples). Letters. Notes. Water bottles. And all from years and years ago. Stuff that I have absolutely no use for today.

Why do I do it? I have no idea. I keep thinking I might need that particular bill/note/object someday in the future. As if!

I find it difficult to throw away stuff. I’m turning into my father, I think. Dad loves to collect newspapers. He has newspapers, probably from the year I was born. (And that my dear folks, was a very long time ago). Probably before that too. He has noble intentions organising newspapers cuttings and arranging them in a scrapbook (or something). But it’s never happened. So over the years (and years) he’s been collecting and collecting. And now, back home, we have these giant piles of newspaper everywhere you lay your eyes on.

Hubby on the other hand has totally another reason he never finds anything. He’s totally opposite of me - he doesn’t hang onto anything. Not even important phone numbers! I doubt he even has any of his certificates!

Mine however, is organised clutter, if there is any such thing. All my paper stuff is filed (under categories). I have files for everything. I might take some time finding something, but I do eventually find it!

But that’s no excuse really. I have to get back and throw away some of the junk that I’ve gathered over the years.

God almighty, where did all this stuff come from?!

(Inspired by Anita’s link to Declutter 101)

Things are moving. Finally. We should be shifting house by next Tuesday. Found a decent place nearby.

I’ve been enquiring about cable internet connections and I haven’t found anyone who provides connections in the Borivili west area. I’ve tried Hathway, Dishnet DSL, In2Cable but none of them provide connections here. I was rather surprised. Given the way high-rise buildings are mushrooming all over the place I would have thought there would be one company servicing this area. No luck yet.

Meanwhile, I saw a really strange movie called Identity over the weekend. It was going okay for a thriller - people were dying one by one, the suspense (’saucepans’ as we call it) was piling on like thick cream. There were some really gruesome shots. A bloodied head found in the dryer. Another man whose mouth had been stuffed with a baseball bat. One stabbed repeatedly. Another blown away to smithereens.

But after the interval the whole story got too twisted for its own good. And by the time they connected the dots, we were like, “Huh? Umm… Er… what was that all about?!” I think it was one of those movies which tried to have this really cool ending, and ended up a little flat. But it’s okay if you’re looking for something entertaining. John Cusack and Ray Liotta make the movie well worth a watch. There are some really funny moments. I mean, for a thriller, it was quite funny.

I was reading Bijoy’s personal account of the first ever flash mob in Mumbai: “Flash mobs, a social phenomenon first reported from New York in May, are sweeping the world through email and the Internet, especially via blogs. Flash mobs are sudden and seemingly unplanned gatherings of large groups of people that converge in public places at a predetermined time. Members simultaneously converge to form the mob, perform a predetermined, usually bizarre task and disperse quickly, leaving onlookers bewildered.

It’s all good fun and nobody gets hurt.”

The police didn’t think so. On October 8th, the guy who had organised the event, Rohit Tikmany got a call from the police informing him that prohibitionary orders were still in place in the city. The site he had set up (http://www.mumbaimobs.com) was taken down subsequently.

That was a quick end to the first and probably the last (at least for a while) flash mob in Mumbai. But what about other cities? Does the same apply to Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore etc?

While I am quite open to change (in fact, I welcome it), I am quite averse to the ‘waiting’ period. The phase where the changeover is taking place and you simply have to ‘wait’ for things to happen. And you want things to move faster. But they just don’t. And you want to scream out. Move, move! Alas. Everything takes its own sweet time. And there is no option, but to wait :)

The house hunting is still on in full force. Along with loads of other things. So the blog is on the side-burner for a while.

I’m hoping to get myself a new machine in the next few days. I’ve got lots of suggestions to go for a machine with the AMD Athlon processor instead of the Pentium 4 (which was my original plan). Am still weighing my options. Hopefully, once I’m set up in my new place with my brand new machine, I get back to some more blogging. And not to forget, an activity that pays a little more - like work!

Right now, I feel like someone’s pulled the compass out of my head and left me on a deserted highway. In Africa.