So on my darling Mayank’s recommendation, I decided to go see what the hype is all about, and I have to say, Suketu Mehta blows you away. The book (also the title of this post) is simply amazing. Some quotes from it:

- Powertoni. I realised what the word was: a contraction of power of attorney, the awesome ability to act on someone else’s behalf or to have others do your bidding, to sign documents, release wanted criminals, cure illnesses, get people killed. Powertoni: A power that doesn’t originate in yourself, a power that you are holding on someone else’s behalf.

- If you want to make sure that the money you send to a poor place will be spent properly, give it to the women who live there.

- Shortly after we move to Bombay in 1998, the country explodes five nuclear bombs, including a hydrogen bomb, and there is this great feeling of: We have shown the world, bhenchod.

- Sau mein ek sau beiman,
Phir bhi mera bharat mahan
101 out of 100 are dishonest,
Still my India is the best.

My personal favourite (which is so true in the light of things in today’s world):

- The wars of the twenty-first century will be fought over parking spaces.

Do read it if you get the chance..

.. with bomb blasts, eight of them to be precise, on the western railway line. It’s a sad day.

So me, here! In mumbai! For Bryan Adams concert today!

.. after a long hiatus! Details soon. Let’s just say I did a bit of the below, and then some:

- Met up with an old friend
- Had an amazing 2 weeks
- Tried, tried and tried again to get my laptop fixed
- Read the City of Joy, having lost my Nick Hornby – Fever Pitch on the bus
- Stayed offline most of the time
- Slept less, and worked harder

So the last couple of weeks have been good, and fruitful. A lot of firsts, and then some.

Have been taking life easy, post appraisal at work, which in itself is an interesting process. I do have a post about it, which will come in a day or two. (The reason for my sloppiness in maintaining a diary of everyday events is that my dearest laptop is in the hands of Apple, for it’s logic board was on it’s last leg. I got it fixed, but the fellows have not sealed my laptop correctly, which causes me enormous pain and I have sent it back for them to seal and close correctly.) Coming back to the appraisal process, I am dismayed to note how some people can misconstrue a good self appraisal as a silent pitch for a raise! More on that later.

I have been spending weekends on the bus to and from Mumbai, which makes for interesting reading. I carry with me no less than three literary works (or rather types), ranging from Scientific American to City of Joy by Dominique Lapierr. This not only ensures a variety of reads made available to me, but also ensures that I keep abreast of the latest developments in science, keeping in line with my interest.

This apart, seeing my cousin sister grow up is worth all the shuttling between two cities. Will post some more pictures soon, after i get my beloved laptop back.

So it’s been a while since I’ve had time for myself and for some close ones. Work has been keeping everyone on their toes the last couple of weeks, including me especially.

But today I got back to doing some of the things I love:

• Read a couple of short stories at Crosswords (our local Barnes and Nobles). Discovered an amazing book called the Merck Manual of Medical Information. It’s a truly impressive storehouse of medical knowledge, and makes for interesting (and very long) reading!
   
• Had some good cold coffee, though I need some better!
   
• Came home to my friend, philosopher, guide – Manish. He isn’t doing all too well, which has kind of pissed me off. I have been running with him from doctor to doctor!
   
• Played with my baby sister Kavya, and there will be pictures soon. I know I need to upload pictures from my trip to Punjab also.. soon enough though.

Currently chilling in Mumbai, but will be back in pune tomorrow. In the mean time, what’s your story, morning glory?

So this is for my girl Mayank, who has been whooping my ass all morning asking for a post. So imagine the scene where s/he is standing under my balcony and screaming, “Bunty we love you! We need another more detailed post from you!”. How can I not oblige?

So coming back to the post itself, nothing much has been happening to really talk about, and that which is happening can’t yet be written about. So I’m kind of at a loss for words.

Have been reading a lot, with Geetanjali and Old man and the Sea.

On another note, went to Mumbai over the weekend and had a blast with Manish, and also met some great people. My cousin Kavya is growing up to be a very tall lady. She is already over 2 feet tall, and is not even a year old! Here is a video of Kavya [1.2 MB, MP4] that I took this time around (you might need either Quicktime or VLC to play it).

That apart, Skype rocks my life, and yay for voice communication innovations on the internet.

So I made a visit to Mumbai recently, and had a gala time. Met up with old friends, and missed out on meeting a new one. But all in all, an amazing time was had.

Spent a great deal of time home with my kid sister, Kavya. Some pictures

And so I did go to Mumbai this weekend. Had a long list of things planned. This is a partial list:

- Meet Hemir (friend from Atlanta, and also an ex-roomie)
- Play loads with Kavya (my seven month old cousin sister)
- Meet Anuradha (friend of a friend)
- Collect important papers from my uncle’s place
- Shop a little bit
- Inventory books and other things still in Mumbai
- Get my camera charger so as to allow some picture taking
- ……

As you can see it was meant to be a packed weekend. Now I will show you and updated version with what was accomplished and what was not:

- Meet Hemir (friend from Atlanta, and also an ex-roomie)
- Play loads with Kavya (my seven month old cousin sister)
- Meet Anuradha (friend of a friend)
- Collect important papers from my uncle’s place
- Shop a little bit
- Inventory books and other things still in Mumbai
- Get my camera charger so as to allow some picture taking
- ……

The reasons for not meeting the people on the list but managing everything else has to say something for my people skills. Well not really, since there were genuine issues which lead to us not meeting up. These will be expounded later.

Oh and btw, I did go to Shoprite in Mulund. Awesome place, that!

Okay this post is to make Paul-ass (pbandy34) jealous, and I’m going to try (notice the stress on the word try) to take away all his girls!

My mama (maternal uncle) Manish who is more of a best friend than an uncle, recently adopted an adorable 4.5 month old baby girl. She is the cutest kid I know, and I’m glad to finally have a little baby sister (I’m an only child).

Here are some pictures for you all:

Kavya by the way, means poem.

Two more pictures under the cut