So did I

Get locked out, I mean. This is what mac and little cat did to me with their posts about being locked in and out respectively. They sent out all those lock vibes into the universe and of course, any such vibe would head my way.

So here's what happened on Monday night, or maybe I should say Tuesday morning, since it was well past 3 am when I finally finished up at the office and headed home. It was 4 am by the time I got home and sleepily fumbled in my bag for my keys. And the realisation that I didn't have my keys dawned on me at about the same moment that I also realised I was in a situation precariously similar to mac's.

To cut a long story short, after calling up the office and confirming that the key was on my desk, and after getting myself a cab and heading back to office in double quick time, I managed to get into my apartment before disaster struck.

Yes I did!

Home?

On the flight back to Bangalore, the day after Christmas, I struck up a conversation with a group of vacationers. Somewhere during the conversation one of them asked me whether I was going home after a holiday. I was amazed at the vehemence with which I said "No".

I live in Bangalore. I like Bangalore. I love Cochin. Cochin is home.

Of tattoos and men

Episode 1
A couple of weeks ago.
Me. Laughing. Some people I was meeting for the first time.
Nice people. Also laughing.
Nice evening.
Suddenly, one of the nice people decides that I must see his tattoo.
No, I didn't ask to see it. No, the subject was not tattoos. Or even gorgeous arms.
No, I have no idea what made him suddenly decide that I needed to see his tattoo.
He just did.
The next thing I know, off comes his rust coloured polo neck sweater, up rolls the T-shirt sleeve and I am faced with a really cool tattoo of a fire horse on a really gorgeous bicep.
Well, let me just say I liked them both.

Episode 2
About a week later.
Me. Laughing. Again.
Some more people I was meeting for the first time.
Nice people. Again.
Lot of laughter, kidding and camaraderie. All around.
Me too.
And then, would you believe it, there's a repeat performance.
Same modus operandi. Different guy. Different sweater. Different tattoo.
Deep blue polo sweater. Bike tattoo.
Nice tattoo. Nice bicep. I liked them both. Again.


Episode 3
Tonight.
Me. Yes you got it. Laughing. As usual.
Another set of new people.
At some point, I relate to them how I have been viewing tattoos.
Everyone laughs.
Turns out my host has a collection of tattoos.
Nice ones.
On one upper arm, there's a wolf against the full moon.
On the other, there's the eye of Amun-Ra.
On his knuckles, there are the Chinese characters for Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.
And on his forearm, a koi fish.
Okay, in this case, I got to see tattoos because the subject of the conversation was tattoos.

But I tell you, I've never seen a tattoo up close till now, and then here I am, every time I meet a new group of people, I also get to meet one or more tattoos. And now I'm wondering, hoping really, when/that I'm going to come across a tattoo that's not on an arm.

As you can see, I'm beginning to like Bangalore more and more.

Making up my mind about Bangalore

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with the friend of a friend, during which he asked me whether I liked Bangalore. That conversation set me thinking about the topic and I realised that I didn't really know the place. What worried me at that point was that I wasn't sure I wanted to get to know the place.

A few days ago, I came across the same chap, and sure enough, up popped the same topic of conversation. This time around, I actually had answers. And more important, I had started to like the place.

What I didn't tell him, was that his enthusiasm for the place had intrigued me enough to put aside my scepticism for a while. It wasn't that he was shouting praises of Bangalore to me. In fact, he was the first Banglorean who understood that I perceived it as a style driven city, all form and no substance. But unlike the others, who had enumerated all the positives of the place (most of which I viewed as negatives), he didn't try to convince me. However, the little that he said about it, he said with a contented smile, and it was clear that he loved the place. At some point during that conversation, I started to feel I needed to do some rethinking. My logic was simple, actually. Here was a witty, charming, and altogether interesting person, who really liked the place. There just had to be something to it. Maybe, just maybe, I was wrong. Maybe, I should put away my stubborn reservations and start trying to like the place. It's really not very often that I admit, even to myself, that there's a possibility that I was wrong, but in this case, that's exactly what happened. And I started giving Bangalore a chance.

I am glad I did.