:-)))))

Life is good.

Deepavali ventures!

This Deepavali we attempted to make friends with our neighbours. So one evening armed with sweets and smiles we knocked on three doors. The first door was not unfamiliar in the sense we knew each other. So it was "oh please come in" to "have some coffee" to discussion on cricket to "we celebrate Deepavali tomorrow." Over all not awkward.

The second door was a tricky one cos we do not know them at all. So we ring the bell and peep into a hall full of older generation staring into the TV. We say "we are your neighbours we thought we will come and say hello"...this throws them all out of gear and in response we get only "uh oh" and we repeat again we are neighbours. Then the shock wears out, we are seated and the younger ones in the family are introduced. Both husband and wife are software engineers. Within minutes we know that entire family including grandparents have passport and visa ready to go to USA except for the newest entrant in the family who is just a year old. We also are introduced to the newest mobile phone in the house that they bought at a Deepavali sale just that morning. Then one of them says "It is good that you came and introduced yourself, we don't have time for this you see" UH?

Then we say bye and head to the next door and knock. An absolutely shocked girl opens the door. We introduce ourselves and say we came to say hello. The girl simply replied "Hello" and there is absolute silence. We don't know what to do, so we just give her the box of sweets. She says thanks and shuts the door. We just stood there staring at the door!

So much for making friends :-)

q?

Nothing screams out change in oneself and all around like a festival. Nothing seems the same. Of course I know nothing is the same but how long will it take to get used to the change?

Sounds...

With 200 houses in the apartment complex it can get quiet noisy around my house. The sound of high bass level from my bachelor neighbours just never goes away. Last Sunday I rang their door bell when their song starting interrupting my radio and my conversation with Vivek. I had to ring it three times before I could stir the guy sleeping right next to the door! It was 11 in the morning mind you. And then he wakes up and decides that it was his cell phone ringing and so looks utterly puzzled to find the phone quiet. I was so shocked at this that I ended up being very polite and saying "could you please turn the sound down." It worked only just that once. The whole week the guys have been giving me dirty looks and continue to play music in at decibel levels beyond the permissable levels.

And then there are people who bang things in their homes at unearthly hours. No problems with that except that it happens over our heads! We still haven't figured why would one bang every night close to midnight. Vivek says it could be voodoo!

But yesterday something different happened. I heard a female voice very sweetly singing Bhagyada Lakhsmi Baaramma. She was singing just that one line over and over again. It was friday but 11 in the night is rather late to invoke Goddess Lakshmi so I was wondering about the timing of it. Then I heard a baby humming along. It was a mother singing to put her baby to sleep. I didn't hear any other voice. Just a very intimate moment between a mother and her child. It felt very nice to listen to that. My mother too would've sung for me......did I hum along too?

Time for some education?

Today's The Hindu reports about the arrest of a 24-year-old, non-violent and suave burglar. The report is absolutely hilarious. It says he read up about Charles Sobhraj and decided to burgle people in a suave way. He did own a gun but never fired at anyone. Education is reaching far I tell you. There are more non-violent robbers these days I suppose; yesterday's The Hindu reported about another bunch of fellows who used a spoon wrapped in a kerchief to rob people! The headline read "Gang of 'gentle robbers' land in police net." Unfortunately there is no link to the report on the net edition.

Gentle robbers??? Suave burglars???

If a bunch of robbers can read up and be more suave in their profession. Shouldn't we the citizens do the same and equip ourselves to be smarter with these burgalrs?

A word of caution: If by any chance you are faced with a pistol don't act smart and say I know you won't fire at me. Not everyone is a fan of Charles Sobhraj!