the blog formerly known as musings from mumbai

Monster At Large!

2012-02-01T10:01:00.000+05:30

I have to note this somewhere, lest I forget. So here I go, taking the plunge... POTUS has been away for the past few days. We are struggling a bit to manage - like Bannu, I ought to give myself a quantitative evaluation criterion for this - but instead I get the idea to have a spiked drink from her blogpost. Vodka Sprite with ice hit the spot really well last night. I would hesitate to call it

& I am back

2012-01-29T11:35:00.003+05:30

I know my English teacher would have cringed if I put in an ampersand in the title. And if I started with an ampersand. And so on. But! I have had my PMS-ed outing for anon and feel all super liberated and free as a consequence and anyhow its not like you come here for lessons in grammar or whatever, right? So, I sat down and thought about a lot of things. I slept extra. I always sleep extra

Face the facts...

2012-01-27T14:28:00.001+05:30

A friend of mine told me yesterday that facebook is his blog. I nodded sagely as if I knew what he was talking about. But then seriously, that shit makes no sense to me. I have a facebook account, I mean its there. I am using it mostly to figure out what my friends are up to and to write messages to them once in a while about this and that. I am subscribed to a billion various versions of

Mud on your face...

2012-01-24T14:59:00.002+05:30

Almost literally. In keeping with my resolutions for the year (the word is Procrastination. Preceded by a giant big NO), I have had a productive morning ticking things off my list. I have taught my class and feel justified in a bit of time off for 'creative pursuits' as I call them. I have so many blogs to give blog-love to now that this one gets short-changed. Damn! Here is a story. This

Race day and beyond...

2012-01-20T20:18:00.002+05:30

What would it feel like? I wasn't thinking much about it. I guess its a big deal to complete a full marathon. And there were points in my training when I felt like it would be impossible. I still remember the numerous times I have run half marathons and noticed the full marathon kilometer markings - and thought - hell no, girl. That sounds insane! But when it came down to it, it wasn't insane.

Walk the talk

2012-01-17T15:58:00.001+05:30

It all started back that day in Somerville. July, was it? I ran a small race with MSB that day. It was a great feeling though I was physically in bad shape (jet lag, lack of sleep, alcohol, age, you name it). I was not too concerned about it but that day left me with a feeling of 'slowing down' Ever since I started running long distance, I have consistently run at the same, or better speeds. I

Boring Old Fogies

2012-01-06T20:00:00.000+05:30

I am bit worried about us becoming boring old fogies, as a couple. Has to happen sometime no? Is it now, 2012? Is it time to hang up the socks? I remember when we were in grad school, no scratch that, when I was in grad school, we were the cool ones. The couple that people saw 'separately together' as the saying goes. Meaning, we had his friends, my friends, and our friends and the worlds

Pocket Philosophy

2012-01-06T19:31:00.000+05:30

One of the things dad used to say was, you got to have your life philosophy all clear. I mean, I felt like he was semi-accusing me of not being philosophical enough about things. But I don't think it was that. He was just trying to pass on some of his ideas to me. I guess. Even though I have followed in his footsteps career-wise and all, when I look back now, I am a very different person than

Christmas Day Run

2011-12-28T18:35:00.002+05:30

We had to rush off to Mysore for a couple of days. Our plan for this year was to NOT GO ANYWHERE. Seriously, it was even on some planner/agenda thing of my husband. To SPEND ALL DECEMBER in Chennai. Because the weather is good (like, heavenly, by Chennai standards). Travelling during December is hellish with all the crowds and the potential for flu and germs. There is the music season which we

Girl Power!

2011-12-20T15:44:00.000+05:30

I reached school a little early this afternoon. I was in the area having lunch with a girl-friend and as always I over-estimated traffic etc. and reached well in time. I have not been picking the monster back from school too often these days since her father is entrusted with that one now. It was my most hated task anyhow so was always happy to hand the reins over, albeit temporarily, to someone

Blue Screen

2011-12-17T08:29:00.002+05:30

"Amma your laptop has gotten the blue screen" the monster screams periodically. She uses my old Vaio sometimes. To do 'HeyMath' - no, I don't know what that means. She was also diligently doing the math olympiad e-quiz for a couple of weeks. I thought it was kind of nice that they were putting up new questions every day. But also kind of not nice that for 8 year olds they would have a lucky draw

Eat, Fatso!

2011-12-13T15:10:00.000+05:30

One of my friends loves those episodes from the TV show where Monica is super fat. He insists that I am going to be like that sometime in the future. It used to scare me a bit when I was in my twenties. But after I was pregnant and had the child and then am what I am right now, it just sounds very funny! I am (reasonably) confident that I can never get that fat by just eating. But the reason he

Some things never change!

2011-12-08T09:44:00.001+05:30

It was in Rochester, NY. Damn that cold place. I really don't know how I could contemplate such a move - from Chennai to Rochester? I mean, what was I really thinking? I did have a good year there, lets say, but I was real glad to move on from there... to anywhere, really. Even if it was only a slightly less cold place. I guess I can blame the fact that I was so young that I was utterly clueless

Miles to go...

2011-12-07T13:27:00.001+05:30

The semester has ground to a halt. I cannot believe how fast it has gone. At the same time, as I put my mind back to the beginning of this semester, it feels like it was an age away. So much has happened in this semester! I really wish the mind were sharper so it could hold on to all those memories, carefully. Part of the reason I maintain this little journal here is that at least, I can read my

Food, Dreams, etc.

2011-11-28T09:46:00.001+05:30

Over the years we have pondered long over why the monster is as she is about eating. I have hidden away Dr. Spock because its so painful to read what he has to say, realise that I have tried that stuff, and been grossly unsuccessful at it. I recall snippets of conversations with non-desi mothers about the ridiculousness of the desi-mom, and cringe. Of course, bottom-lines out like this. I was (

Tunnel, light, etc.

2011-11-22T09:57:00.001+05:30

Through the arduous years of my Phd, I would tell myself. 'Kenny, there is light, at the very end of the tunnel, but light there is, nevertheless.' With hindsight, I know that it wasn't as difficult as I made it out to be in my own head. I have the 'necessary qualities' - always did. Aptitude, attitude, needn't say more. So, it was, really, no big deal. But who can think like that when all the

Step by Step

2011-11-17T09:56:00.001+05:30

My head is full of running trivia and stuff like that. I have to run a 100m distance 462 times. The current major point of excitement is that the husband occasionally says he will run a half marathon. I think he is serious. But I also know that the title 'Anti Runner' rests pretty easy on him. So I don't know. I would love to run with him. We have done our share of difficult mountain hikes/treks

Post Marathon Blues

2011-11-15T13:07:00.001+05:30

The night after the marathon, everyone was feeling super good. Emails were flying back and forth, thanking us for the event. And most people said it was well organised, though we knew where the lacuna were. We have a list with things that we should improve on, we will do better next time. "Bask in the post-event warmth" didn't happen for me as you will see below, it was time for me to move on...

Back in radio contact

2011-11-15T12:39:00.001+05:30

"Its good to feel like the past week was misty" commented a friend when I told him that I cannot believe its the 15th of November today, last time I checked, it was the 3rd.. or 4th.. The deshvaasi & I were driving around in circles near Bala's office picking up the packet of running bibs... I have promised MSB a list, so here goes:: Nov 3rd-4th:: Talk to the high school principal, security

MARG Chennai Runners Race - on Sunday!

2011-11-04T07:09:00.001+05:30

This is it folks. The weekend is nearly upon us. I have new-found appreciation now for all the race organisers of all the races I have been to. Its a veritable nightmare! And I haven't even been involved in scary things such as catering (breakfast!), medals, doattend (the web-site that does the online registrations), etc. Just working with the deshvaasi on the race location logistics & within

Delhi Avenue

2011-10-24T10:17:00.001+05:30

This is the main artery of the campus. Which means, I travel it several times a day. Cruising in the car, sometimes I talk on the phone, sometimes I read my notes or papers (Yes, although the child is totally banned from reading in moving vehicles, I am not). I don't like this road over-much then. Its just a route to get to point O (office) from G (gate). Big deal. But when I run on this road

Khushboo Hands

2011-10-20T13:46:00.000+05:30

It was a long time ago. I think 2000 maybe? Or earlier even. We were back in India for some reason, someone's wedding or some such (not our own, for sure). I had to get my passport stamped so we lugged in that nasty US Consulate line. Like a romantic date. Thank heavens for being young. I don't think we complained much. So my stamping thingie got done and I emerged out, and searched for him. And

A little bit about running routes...

2011-10-07T12:32:00.000+05:30

So, there we were, Andaman Islands. I have a rule for packing for trips. Each of us owns a pull-man. And I strongly recommend fitting all out shit into that pull-man each. And wheeling it around individually. This can be a bit stressful at times, because, after all is done, my shoes and my big bag of toiletries (puh-lease. Its not Make-Up. Just enough toothpaste to last us a month, my special

Two ways to do this

2011-10-05T12:29:00.004+05:30

We were away on vacation last week. It was pretty awesome family time for the three of us. I am sure glad that there was no TV (or internet or phone service, for that matter) because I really think we managed to chill out a lot thanks to that. (We did watch a movie on the ipad, I admit. Mounaraagam, was nice). I woke up (inside the mosquito net) one night - the second night we spent there - and

A tale about how running can make you fat…

2011-09-20T12:06:00.001+05:30

The Kaveri Trail Marathon is supposed to be one of the tough marathon courses in the country. It winds through farmlands and past a river. Rocks abound. The weather is usually very warm, and the entire trail lacks tree cover – absolutely NO tree cover. Whenever I spoke to friends, even the ones from Chennai, said that the weather and the sun were a big deal at KTM. Even the organisers, at the

Gender Strong

2011-09-12T07:06:00.001+05:30

The monster goes to an after school thing few days a week. She spends an hour or two there while I am at work and does something. I have long since stopped trying to figure out what she does there - I am confident that she is well cared for and enjoys it there, gets some exercise and has a couple of kids she is friends with. The trick is, I have discovered, is to not expect too much from all

Me Pocket Full of Empty

2011-09-08T17:10:00.000+05:30

My musical influences from childhood are really, absolutely ridiculous. Now, how on earth would I know almost the entire lyrics to Calypso Blues? Of course partly because it reminds me of an innocent time long ago, has very funny sounding lyrics, and a foot-thumping beat, I love the song. Although I hadn't heard it in a long long long while. Me throat she sick from neck-tie Me feet she hurt

Meanwhile, away from Chennai

2011-09-04T11:04:00.004+05:30