zen and the art of choosing cars!

Finally, after much debate, head-scratching, opinion poll of family members, we have bought a Zen Estilo. He wanted it before his parents come over on Thursday so it was sort of a hurried decision - of course we have spent many hours debating on whether we want to go in for a big car now – his dream CRV – or settle for a smaller car which we can dispose of later but i felt we were rushing it a bit. And since loan processing would have taken some days, he decided we should pay for it in cash so that we could get the car on Thursday. i didn’t feel like raining on his parade so i went along with his plan.

He wanted a WagonR because he didn’t like the look of the Estilo – well, truth be told, i don’t like either one of them but hell, the lesser of the two devils. We spent almost two hours at the showroom trying to make up our minds – he being a bit miffed that i didn’t go along with his choice. Oh great! i mean, people ask for your opinion and when you give them your opinion, they actually get offended that your choice is not to their liking! Anyway, there we were, checking out the two cars – oscillating between the two. In the end, i asked him to go for WagonR and he insisted on going for Estilo! God! His logic was that after he gets his CRV, i can drive the Estilo! Given a choice, i would dispose it and get myself something bigger – like a truck. Anyway, after looking at the features, we decided to ignore the not-too-impressive snub-faced look of the Estilo and went for it. S says it looks like a frog. i feel it looks more like a bug whose face has been squashed. But, as long as it can take us places, oh hell, does looks really matter? Oh well, it does. The only consolation is that we are not going to stick to it for a lifetime, so there.

And i am going bonkers about the 3D plan – we downloaded the trial version and god, am i impressed. We stayed up till 1 yesterday designing the blueprint of the flat. This is an excellent tool!

so tell me, do you fight?

The weekend – sigh, the weekend that was – punctuated with fights and make-up sessions. i am so tired of our silly tiffs – Friday always seem to bring out the worse in both of us. We both need a lesson in conflict handling. OK, making up is oh-so exciting but i would rather do without the fights. Do other couples fight too? Or are they so into each other that there is no scope of misunderstanding? i wonder.

Maybe it is partly my fault because i am too independent – i am too much into myself sometimes, OK, most of the times. But why should being independent be a fault? i guess i don’t like compromising and i cannot sugar coat my feelings – i mean i can be so blunt at times that it hurts the people i love. But what is the point of not being yourself with the ones you love – or even the ones you don’t? i mean, i don’t see any points in hiding my opinions or saying things i don’t mean just to make people happy. i know, as usual, i am being extreme. But i have been born with this attitude (eh?) – i love blaming everything on my genes! i just cannot hide my feelings – i have got too expressive a face for my own liking sometimes. Truth be told, i don’t like hiding my feelings – i would rather have it out in the open than have it festering inside. So be it crushes or loathing, you can always see it on my face. Which makes me a difficult person to be with – i admire his patience and love for having stuck to me for so long (it could be i have made him sick of girls now!! ha ha. Hey, i do have a weird sense of humour, ni?)

Oh enough of all this soul-baring-wearing stuff.

We are still undecided about which car to buy – it fluctuates from a 800 to Zen/Getz and their cousins. Now we are thinking of checking out the Indica Xeta. Such indecisive frogs we are. Which reminds me that i should stop being just a lazy ass and get my license.

And we are both going crazy about the plan for the flat – we keep changing our minds about the size and locations of the rooms. We went to meet the promoter on Saturday and he did help us out with some suggestions. He said yes to my plan to have those folding doors leading out to the balcony. But no bay windows .Now i am thinking of signing up for one of those online 3d software – just 15$ for a month and it is supposed to be helpful – much cheaper than hiring an architect or interior designer i say.

the cyclone that never came....

So the cyclone never came. Which left me slightly disappointed – i know this sounds cruel when you think about the havoc it could have created on lives but still…i woke up in the middle of the night and asked him if the cyclone had arrived. He said ‘no’. In the morning, the first thing i asked him was “Hasn’t the cyclone come?” He gave me an indulgent smile and said no. i had been preparing myself for heavy rains and gushing winds. Oh well, i should think about all the people whose lives were spared because a cyclone with a mind of its own decided to change its path. Maybe cyclones don’t fancy me.

i have been busy trying to make sense of all the data i have accumulated over the years. i think i have about 15 GB of data – which includes official mails, Design documents, my collection of songs -bangla, Hindi, Manipuri and English songs - my poems, recipes and what nots. It is getting quite out of hand. i wonder what i would do if i were to change jobs. Data hoarder – that is what i have become. i have deleted nearly 3 or 4 GB worth of data and it hurt – and i still have the 15 GB to safeguard!

We have been busy trying to re-design the new place. We have decided to go in for a 3 bedroom flat – with a study cum workshop kind of room where he can paint and i can make candles! It is tough trying to figure out how best to design the rooms. i want bay windows – it creates an illusion of space and i do need lots of space, as petite as i am! It is going to be a big place and i am looking forward to this project – this seems like a challenge worth taking. We would go meet the promoter tomorrow and put forward our design. The kitchen is going to be BIG and that is making me happy happy!

four blind mice...

Four Blind Mice – after abandoning yet another book halfway, i am reading this one now. By James Patterson, it is fast paced and my type of thriller – tales of murders sprinkled with a li’l bit of romance never fail to entice me! i think i will manage to get to the end of this one. i don’t know where this habit sprang up from – i have never been the type to discard a book without seeing to it that i read the last word. Am i growing old? – obviously i am.

My specs broke into half, literally! i went back from office yesterday, took out my lens and then i found my specs under my pillow lying there broken! i was heart-broken – of course i am being melodramatic. Since i cannot see that well without my glasses i had to put on my lens again. Ki kando. Now i have to go find someone to fix it. The troubles that dog us mortals!

S – the one onsite – says he wants to come back home. He is missing home, the poor soul. So i teased him about it – don’t expect me to dish out sympathy. i know he would find it tough to chuck his successful career over there. As i keep telling him, well you cannot have your cake and eat it too. So suck up and bear it or just come home. Life is all about the choices we make and how we deal with what our choices bring in their wake.

the weekend that was....

i am a ‘mashi’ once again - S gave birth to a baby boy this morning! Her husband called me up some time back to pass on the good news. i talked to S but she sounded groggy so i told her to get some rest and i will get back to her later. She told me the baby has my colouring. i am so happy for her! Like i said before, she will make a very good mother. She asked me to come over to Bangalore and have a look at the kid. S is like a sister to me. She is so different from me – very feminine, god-fearing, can never say ‘no’ to anyone and ‘bhodro’ down to her toes! She is the one who helped me master Bengali and appreciate Rabindra sangeet. My sister says i have very few friends but the ones i have are the kind who are willing to die for me – we are that close! S is one of them. And i love her.

The long weekend – i didn’t even have a chance to take an afternoon nap which is one thing i look forward to on a holiday. Friday was hectic – we did some cleaning around the house, went shopping for diyas, sweets and flowers. i made the first alpana of my life – we made it together. Then we lit the diyas (we ran out of ghee so we used mustard oil!!) and candles on the balcony – rushed down to take pictures! Then we went to the neighbour’s place with sweets – his idea, rather his mother’s idea. We went up on the terrace and watched the fireworks. i was planning on making jalebis for him but i didn’t . We made do with the stuff we bought and the sweets i got from my office. i don’t have much of a sweet tooth – i cannot or rather would not have more than one sweet at a time. But he loves sweets esp. soan papdi.

We went to visit the new place under construction – it would be complete by March next. It is about 20 minutes away from my office but would be about an hour or so from my place. We have booked two 2-bedroom flats and now we are wondering whether we should just merge the two and have a big 3-bedroom place with a bigger kitchen and bathrooms. The brickwork is not done yet so we have the option of making the modifications we want.

We went car-seeing on Saturday. Since our earlier plan was to fly the coop, he had dispatched his santro to Imphal. Now we are searching for a suitable car. He wants a Honda CRV but it is so expensive. Since we are not too sure about our plans i thought it would be better to buy a cheaper car so we would not have any qualms if we had to leave it here in case our plans take us overseas. i didn’t like the i10 – it does not do anything for me. But the new version of Getz looked OK to me so i was telling him maybe we should go for that. We also explored the option of buying a certified pre-owned (a better term for second hand!) car though i am not too keen about it. i mean, unless we are careful, we might end up with a car that would cost us quite a fortune in maintenance Maybe we will end up buying a Maruti 800! That would be fun. Or a rickshaw or maybe a tractor. Or a bicycle. Or maybe just stick to the ol’ faithful legs!

Yesterday, we were invited to bachou’s place for ‘ningol chakouba’. Emaibem is one of the best cooks i have known and we were looking forward to a great feast. And we were not disappointed. We were quite late – he took time getting ready, changing umpteenth shirts, asking me if he should wear this or that –the peacock! We had ilish (esp. for me!), baul mach (sareng), cauliflower, dal and singju. i, being a glutton, stuffed myself till i could hardly move. We decided to skip dinner and had tea and leftover kelichana. And i felt so hungry today that i called up the canteen at 12 and asked them when they were planning to serve lunch – much to S’ amusement! He said i must have overstuffed myself at lunch yesterday just so to save the money for dinner!

Bachou’s place is like a second home to me. i love spending time with them. Bachou is one of the most erudite persons i have known. He is the one who has inculcated in me the love of the written words, genetics, logical thinking and crosswords. i remember him teaching me chemistry and maths when he used to come to Imphal. Of course, we always argue – he thinks i am like a 5 year old because i watch cartoons with such glee! Emaibem is an elegantly soft-spoken person and she is like a mother figure to me. In a way, i am lucky. i am surrounded by such nice people. You would think some of their niceties would rub off on me but hard luck! i remain as refreshingly evil as ever!