Mac tagged me

Many weeks ago, Mac tagged me. He wanted to give me an excuse to write, or maybe deprive me of my excuse not to write. It worked. It took some time, but it worked. I kept hearing him in my head; 'Hey Orange, tagged ya!'. I tried ignoring the voice. Tried really hard. But to no avail. It kept popping up most unexpectedly. Well, like I said, it worked. Here I am, meekly doing the tag.

I am: Not what you think I am.
I think: Too much. I tend to overanalyse everything.
I know: I should get back to writing more often.
I want: To travel more.
I have: Some really great friends.
I wish: I could drive.
I hate: Losing sleep.
I miss: You.
I fear: Many things. Salamanders, dark nights, dentists and the list grows.
I feel: At home in Chennai.
I hear: The music of the spheres.
I smell: The aroma of jasmine on the rain drenched night breeze.
I crave: This one's easy - chocolate.
I search: For the truth hidden within myself.
I wonder: Where I left the candles. Every time the power fails, it's the same story.
I regret: Not going home more.
I love: The rain.
I ache: To see the monsoon clouds rolling in.
I am not: What you think I am. Really.
I dance: I do?
I cry: I do!
I don't always: Do the right thing.
I fight: When I shouldn't.
I write: For myself.
I win: Sometimes, when I lose.
I lose: Very rarely.
I never: Want to hurt anyone.
I always: brush my teeth with Himalaya Dental Cream. It's a toothpaste like no other.
I confuse : Mostly myself.
I listen: To voices in my head telling me to do a tag.
I can usually be found: At work.
I need: My family.
I am happy about: How happy my eldest niece is.
I imagine: The worst. Always.

Save your things, do!

My most popo, Jane Doe, just returned from a trip to a neighbouring land. And as most most popos do, she shared her experiences. She had some fun moments, she did! Here's one place where I visualise her throwing her head back and laughing out loud.

Blogpals

Sometime last month, Mac came visiting. He's the first of many blogpals I've made. We commented on each other's blog on and off, and tried to figure out why we felt like we knew each other. We didn't, actually. One day, he suddenly put two and two together, and came up with the answer. Turns out, we had both studied at MCC, albeit in different decades, and that was good enough for both of us to shift from blogpals to almost-real-life-pals. Of course, when he returned to India, we made plans to meet, and we did. Mac came over to Bangalore, along with a box of safety pins, and we met at Koshy's for a drink and dinner. Somehow, neither of us felt like we were meeting someone new. It was just two old friends catching up. We chatted about a lot of things and hope that it will be the first of many evenings of spiritual bonding. His spirit is whisky and mine's beer.

After dropping Mac off in front of Chinmaya Hospital to wait for the Jujube, I went on to meet the Poet and Calvin, both of whom I was meeting for the first time. Now since the hour was advanced, and since I had an early morning flight to catch, this meeting took place on the pavement of a Bangalore road. It lasted quite long, though, with curious rats popping out from behind a garbage can to check us out, and other curious rats stopping their bikes to check us out too.

On my way home, it struck me that I had met all the blogpals I had made when I first started posting. And three of them in the space of an hour.

I enjoyed that evening. It reminded me how much I loved blogging. I'll try to post more often.

Finding friends

When you've moved to a new place, it seems logical to assume that you'll be finding new friends too. In fact, that's one of the exciting things about a move. Getting to meet and getting to know a whole bunch of new people. That's right. New people. People you've never met before.

Some are people you work with. People whom you see on a daily basis. People you're getting to know pretty fast. And like, in many cases. These are people with whom you have something in common. Work. So, starting up a conversation is easy. You can talk about the latest, hottest campaign and voila, you've found points you agree on or points you violently disagree on, but whichever, you've found a topic of conversation. And there you are, you have a work buddy.

Some are friends of friends. Chances of making friends with them are pretty high. First of all, your friend and you have something in common. So does the f-o-f and said friend. So there you are, something to talk about. And you hope this is going to be one of those times when you make a new friend.

Some are people you met randomly. Now, these are the interesting ones. You don't know them. They don't know you. But for some reason you smiled at each other. maybe you were both thinking the same thing at the same time. Maybe you were both standing at the same checkout counter in the supermarket and noticed that your baskets were filled with similar stuff. Worcestershire sauce, bitter marmalade, dark chocolate, a slice of gouda and white wine. And brown eggs. Or something like that. Whatever. You've definitely got something in common, so a conversation is easy.

While I was writing this, it suddenly occurred to me that moving to a new city is so similar to setting up a new blog. First, it was just me and my blog. I'd write. And then I'd write again. And again. But no one read it. Or so I thought. And then, out of nowhere, the comments started to come. But I also realise that I ventured out from my blog, visited other blogs, left comments and became a friendly blogger. First one, then two, then a third, and slowly, I found so many new friends. So, yes, am now sure that in time, I'll have new friends and oh yes, you can bet your last penny, I'm going to enjoy the whole process of making new friends.