Living the good life ...

Let me ask you the typical question... do you think you have it all or do you think you need more? I am really not much of a philosopher but one particular conversation between me and my baby's maalish bai whom we call maushi really jolted me and made me think.
As she likes to say, she stays in the better part of the slum area behind our building. While going about her job, she was telling me about her life and her life changing experiences... 4 children, 2 girls and 2 boys, all graduates, a couple of them married ... she said 'only i remember how we raised 4 children and educated them inspite of the poverty we had. Clothes, water and even food was limited to help save for the books and fees. But we knew education was the answer to live a better life and we did all we could for all 4 children. Today all of them have office work and we live a good life - today we have a room made of bricks, have a bulb at home and I cook on a stove! Now we are financially good too!' In her marathi words 'ata aamchi paristithi changli ahe'
... she sees the better life of so many homes where she works, but she still feels she lives a good life in her own right. It truly is appreciable!

I believe I can fly - Para-sailing!

While under water experience was a treat for me, being up in the air was more of a brave deed that I have accomplished. I have always been scared of heights, even if it was something as simple as long flight of stairs. We had an opportunity to do some parasailing in our honeymoon and even though the height factor got me a little scared, my 'go for it' spirit did not let me say no. So yes, there I and SJ went on for parasailing. We were taken to the middle of the ocean and we settled on a simple wooden platform floating on water. Few couples had already arrived before us so we got to observe them from a distance. What we saw wasnt very encouraging though with people screaming with fright when they went up in the air and another couple having a very bad landing and injuring themselves real bad :(
Finally it was our turn! I and SJ had decided to go together in one chute and the organisers strapped us on to it. After that, much to my amusement and SJ's shock, the instructor started explaining chute landing techniques to SJ!! ... it turned out that our landing was completely in SJ's control and he had quiet a task in front of him!! .. lol.. when we were ready, the boat that the chute was harnessed to took off and we were swept up high in the air and whhhooooooaaaaaaa what a sight it was...the vast ocean and the long beautiful sea shore was all in front of our eyes and it was a sight to behold... I and SJ were just giggling and laughing, taking in the sights and the beautiful sunset when suddenly we realised we were decending in the middle of the ocean..the boat had started to slow down..the chute started coming down..that's when we suddenly fell silent and just looked at each other with a 'whts happening?' expression on our faces .. I started checking on the life jackets that we were wearing, our feet splashed on the ocean water and while we were still trying to comprehend what was happening and looking towards our boat, the boat took off in full speed and we were sooooaaaaring up in the open blue sky again! Oh well, they were just playing a joke on us and yeah, since all went well, I can now say it was a good one :D. When we turned back towards our base, we knew SJ had a major task for himself. I wasnt so worried though coz I did trust my hero completely, ahem, and also, ahem, wanted to rather enjoy this flight until the last minute..hehe..paisa full wasool karneke liye hubby, aur kuch nahin :D !! SJ had to start pulling down strongly on one of the ropes while the boat slowed down to direct the chute to land on the base within a particular area .. and yes no prizes for guessing that he did an excellent job and we had a cool landing..I dont remember if we came down on our feet or if we fell though ... can you help here SJ? My fear of heights you said?? aahh yeah yeah ... well with SJ behind me do I have worry? ;)
It was a fab experience!
Life mein ek baar we experienced the freedom of the birds...

Another world - Under-sea walk.

I love water and so hubby dearest planned a fab honeymoon in Mauritius, a perfect beach destination. As if the well planned week long honeymoon was not good enough, SJ surprised me with an under sea walk expedition!. It was a dream that I had since my childhood and had casually mentioned it to SJ in one of our chats just like that. Wasnt it sweet of him to make it come true for me :)
The organizers took us to a pretty coral studded beach, and we went a little deep in the ocean by boat. The professional diver all zipped up in a full diving suit announced that we need to be ready to go down on the ocean floor in our swimming costumes that we were already wearing. That is when we freaked out because the water was cold and yeah we did expect to be provided with diving costumes! The diver explained that it wouldn't be much of a problem once we get accustomed to the water temperature and while we were still coming to terms with that, instructions were provided and we were all wearing our oxygen masks. When the moment of my dream turning to reality finally arrived, the excitement took over me and I was just raring to go under water! As for SJ, I still dont know if he was ready to dive in just in swimming trunks...sorry SJ, forgot to check if you were comfortable or not! We went down, and what a sight it was....just amazing, just beautiful ... just so euphoric! Such a different world it was as far as eyes could see, so vast and so pure... fishes swimming around peacefully in swarms, ocean bed full of beautiful corals at your feet, if you looked up, you could see layers of sun rays moving in water with such sensuousness that you just get carried away... It just made me realize that while we live in a world full of economic crisis and materialistic power, there exists a whole another world right in front of our eyes where life is still governed largely by Mother Nature. We were given bread pieces in our hands and the fishes swarmed around us to nibble on it right out of our hands. I tried to hold them but of course i couldn't. We were then asked to walk in a straight line and yeah, that wasn't so easy because of the ocean current. Though it wasn't too strong, it was still an effort to walk upright and straight. SJ and I walked around, enjoyed the sights, got a few snaps taken and then we came back up, completely mesmerised with what we saw.
Life mein ek baar I was a part of another serene and sensuous world, I have done the under sea walk. Thanks a ton for this SJ!!!

RJ audition at Radio Mirchi...

I had come across this job opening at a time when I was just out of college, dotcom bubbles were still popping and so landing a decent IT job was still a problem and night shift jobs were a complete no-no from home at that time. Saw this RJ ad in the newspaper and thought 'Why not, what do I have to loose anyways..' So I went to the audition studio. I was given a script to practise for a while. It reminded me of the elocution competition we used to have in school. When my turn did come, I went in the studio and put on the big headphones. It is supposed to block all outside noise but I could still hear my own heartbeat! I couldn't see anybody from where I was seated but there was a kind man talking to me through the headphones.
Kind man : Good morning, have you practised?
me : Yes.
Kind man : Are you ready?
me (now thinking, what the hell am I doing here!) : I think so
Kind man : Ok then, at the count of 3, you can start, we might record you. One, Two, Three ...
me : Good morning Mumbai....blah blah blah....Radio Mirchi, its hot.
(Yeah, no exclamations anywhere because my narration was that dull and boring ..)
Kind man : Thank you, we will get in touch with you if necessary.
I just ran out and was still trying to comprehend why did I even think of coming here?? But I did love the experience, life mein ek baar I have been to a Recording Studio and actually auditioned :)