I get by with a little help...

So here I was, sliding down the sinusoidal curve thats life. Feeling like the high was behind me, approaching the bottom, the bottom. Refusing to acknowledge that the next cycle was imminent, unavoidable. Sliding down, down. Circumstances also conspired to make sure I carried this ridiculous, pessimistic idea forward. You know, the usual stuff, losing precious things (not in monetary terms, of course not, its all about memories and sentimentality to me), sicknesses, discernable lapses in my thoughts and in my mind, usual stuff. I have half a dozen half-written posts on this. The only reason they did not see the light of the day is because I was also extremely busy with work.

Anyway, last week, after a chaotic Saturday juggling work and home and packing, we set off on Sunday. I did this for myself. Went to my kick-boxing class on Sunday and punched & kicked the heck out of the bag, in the wee hours, back in time to get ready for the flight. We whooshed off to Chennai, where my black mood started fading. I entered my parents-in-law's home. Had a fleeting second of that feeling you get when you get home. A bitterness for the time that has passed since you last saw it. A sweetness for its comfortable familiarity. Only this is my in-laws place. But that feeling was just awesome. Its my ideal of a marriage. You know, where you truly marry the person, you get their feelings too. For their family, for their home.

That evening, an enthusiastic friend of ours collected a whole bunch of us and put us together in a room for a party. Wow. A real party. You know, not the office christmas party types, and not the informal friends getting together in our home types. All the folks were people we went to college with. All with families. Been pretty much ages since we saw them. Kids all over the room wrecking havoc. It totally rocked. I invented the Slow Race so the little giggly girls would stop running into furniture. The husband was in his Feats of Strength mode, lifting all the gigglers (ages 2-10) suspended on his forearm. It was in some kind of hep club place. I shocked the waiter dudes by eating Idlis with my Bloody Mary. Mood picked up some more. Ideal it was, I loved all of them.

Next in line, a wedding. What an awesome one! Had so much fun and chilled out. Only tension was when a complicated looking camera got shoved into my hand and photos or videos (god knows!) were asked for. I was sweating with my inability to focus on such things as operating cameras. Hope I clicked something though. I used it as an excuse to get close to the action, and actually listen to the priest dude. He had interesting things to say, as always when you listen. Met up with lots of friends there too. Desultory conversation in between meals happened. Ideal wedding.

Off on a day-trip to Hyderabad. Upgraded by kind jet airways soul at 6 am. Gosh those business class seats are thoroughly awesome. Slept like a log, except for the drool. Kind uncle of mine fetched us from the airport, fed us and dropped us and all. We were completely spacey, must have thought us such fools, but thats OK. In the afternoon, unable to stand the official reason for visit and so on, we escaped into the very crowded and very hot city to meet a friend. Yes, another one. The afternoon is a blur of stories and promises and laughter and amusement. Major pangs of regret when having to bid goodbye to him. But then, what a good time was had!

Back in Mumbai finally, a whole week of rediscovering why I love my life. Ship-shape now. I WILL get by with a little help from my friends.