Diwali

Shopping

Diwali is coming up in a few days, so I went shopping with my mom, sis and Masi (mum's sister). We bought lots of candles and wax diye; Diwali gift packs to give to friends and family; I got rangoli colours - have decided I shall make a rangoli outside home. I forgot to get any firecrackers - but that's good because I want to do my little part against child labour. We still have to get earthen-ware diye, will get them on Wednesday. And we are all set to celebrate Diwali.

Shopping in Delhi is an interesting affair. Of course you enter the market after breaking free from a traffic jam. There is absolutely no space on the roads, because the shopkeepers have extended their tables and ware much beyond the limits of the sidewalk (if one exists in the first place!) and busy shoppers throng the market areas blocking whatever road remained!! Then vehicles keep whizzing by much to the danger of the shoppers. They sometimes honk a warning and it adds to the already existing cacophony of shop owners yelling to their staff, the staff yelling to the customers, the customers yelling to their kids, and the kids yelling just because.

Thank God for aspirin! :)

Then the items on Display. One couldn't find the worst possible colour combinations and cheap plastic ornaments in this world elsewhere. The usual flies and bees get attracted by the dry fruits and nuts placed out in the open. The candles were mainly eyesoringly bright coloured, of the most ugly designs and the Aroma candles choked the very life-breath out of one! The shop, from where I got rangoli colour, was selling a sticker rangoli - a big sticker that you stick on the floor! It was disturbingly ugly and my mom even dared risking my fury to ask me if I wanted to get it!! From all this it was interesting to dig out the nice stuff - which existed nonetheless!

Ah! what a sight it is! And I haven't even visited the big malls and shopping centers yet! God only knows what they must be like! For now, thanks to my well known hate for 'going shopping', I shall be spared the torture of the Malls and will be extremely satisfied with the local market nearby!

Quarter Century!!

Gaahh! I am old! Panic! Distress! Trauma! The Horror, the Horror!

Dramatics aside! IT wasn't too bad. Of course the real celebration will come when Poro's in town. But, for now, I was satisfied with a trip to the Oxford Bookshop and ordering pizzas for dinner!

Didn't do anything extraordinaire... Didn't have to cut a cake ...and no birthday presents!!! :) so in all it was normal, just the way I would want my birthday to be! (no sarcasm, seriously! (HONESTLY! I mean it without irony - I think you still don't believe me!))

In the night, at 12, I got a call from my girls - Paroma and Isa. then slept reading 'The Great Indian Novel'. In the morning, I woke up coz of many phone calls and wishes. showered with cold water coz the water tanks were being cleaned. couldn't decide what to wear so wore un-ironed clothes. was late in leaving home. went to class. met Aditi at the Dept. then a trip to CP n Oxford with Anuja. Got Di's examination card for JLPT from New Delhi House and came back home. ordered pizza and checked emails etc. then slept. nothing special.

Just bought myself two books - Shantaram and The New Life. I really wanted Snow, but it wasnt available. I have wanted to read Shantaram for some time now. And I ordered The Trotter Nama. Will get it in a few days. I also finally got the membership for Oxford Bookshop, so I can get points each time I buy a book and then redeem them later. Everytime I went there, it so happened, a sale would be on, and they don't let you become a member during a sale.

When I checked all the facebook wishes, it was soo.... how shall I put it... eye-opening? ...nice, flattering! Thank you all! It was those many msgs that made the day special! :)

Laika

I read a newspaper article about the space dog Laika today. About her tragic fate. while reading I started crying. She was a stray, picked up from the streets and chosen among three dogs to become one of (if not THE most) famous dogs ever in human history. And even though she became special, she still died - the proverbial - dog's death! "Terrified by the roar and the vibration of the engines, the dog lurched desperately to free itself [perhaps from the chains that held her in place] as the rocket took altitude, its heart racing at three times normal speed." (TOI) What makes it all the more indignant is how this little mutt was the center of a political game. In a race to hurl insults at America, USSR may have paved the way to space travel but at the cost of a dog's life!

I vividly remember when I first heard about Laika. I was a little girl and we lived in our joint family house then. It was late at night, all had gone to bed, but my sister was still studying and I as usual was pestering her and asking what she was reading. And then Di told me that she was reading about a dog. She then read me the story and I remember asking her why did they send Laika in space if they couldn't bring her back! I remember wanting to pet and hug the poor creature. I remember trying to remember her name.

I never forgot the name. But I had forgotten the story.