Wish each of you a lovely valentines. May this I-land of luv continue to blossom and may life proffer its choicest blessings on all my charming friends (and foes). Have a wonderful day.

Take care

Shweta

First and foremost I ask forgiveness for not being an active participant in our virtual circle (read gang) for quite a long time now. But trust me, all this while I have been seriously attempting to put some stray thoughts into perspective.

In this post I would just like to muse over the last couple of weeks of my life. Might be boring for some of you but I don't care. After all what are friends for. :).

So here I go. The last week of December started off on an enthusiastic note as I set off for Goa to celebrate my second wedding anniversary. My husband was ecstatic or rather relieved that I, for once, had planned a beach trip. I love hills as much as he despises them.

My first step in Goa was on Christmas day. A table by the beach, the candle flame swaying to the tunes of cool winter night breeze, a sumptuous meal of goan fish fry and fish curry and daaru (liquor/alcohol for the sophisticated ones) and the soothing sound of the lapping waves were the perfect Christmas gifts. The place was not as crowded as I had expected for that time of the year.

Needless to say my husband had the best five days of his life (since we got married), what with all those beach shacks filled with white women who treasure their clothes too much to wear them. At this point, I need to make a special mention of the one thing we considered as the best thing to happen to us during our trip. That was the precious bike 'Activa' that we had rented right on day one. That vehicle gave my husband a free hand and I know he must have secretly and sincerely prayed that I stay off the back seat atleast once during the trip, for reasons you may all be aware of.

Well, let me not stray from the topic. For the whites (goreys as we call them) it was customary to be scantily clad and frankly didn't really look too bad on them with all that tanned skin peaking from all corners. But what caught my attention was this young group of desi teenagers who left no stone unturned to fit into the hip hop western crowd. Short skirts, skimpy tops et al. I might sound a bit out of fashion but well in my personal opinion there is always a limit to everything. A day by these beaches and one starts wondering if Goa is actually a part of India.

Now, before you form an opinion about me, let me quickly add that there certainly is a positive of all this westernized culture. The people in the area have officially adopted the swimsuit as their traditional attire. As a result, men in the area have already attained nirvana and do not ogle at women like unidentified objects descending from an alien spacecraft. I actually saw men in crowded buses turn away from the opposite species where there could have been easy trespassing of private property.

Hmm.how I wish this could be the case in Delhi too someday. Really wish some of those Goan hippies came over to the capital city so that men here do not treat the presence of women around as something short of a miracle.

Anyway I shall come back to my trip details. So beaches, fishes, cakes and drinks are what we enjoyed for full the first three days. We celebrated our second anniversary on the fourth day and in what better way than in Goa. We visited our respective temples and the adventure was the 200-odd kilometer bike ride from north to south goa and back. The last day of the trip was spent in the usual shopping rituals.

The trip ended with the sunset of 29^th of December 2007 but memories of it will stay on forever or atleast till I get bored again and start pestering my husband for another trip. Till then I will cherish those memories (and of course surf the net for some new travel ideas). Chalo m done with my bakwaas. Now its ur turn fellas.

Do write back

Regards,

Shweta

Herez wishing all my adorable virtual buddies a happy and rocking new year. Hope 2008 brings you all mountain loads of happiness with a perfect blend of health, peace, and prosperity. Have fun and keep blogging :)

Take care

Shweta

thanks a million

Shweta

· A winter evening.
Four friends.
One barsaat.
Four glasses of chai.

· Hundred bucks of gas.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.

· Maggi noodles.
A hostel room.
4.25 a.m.

· 3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.

· Rain on a hot tin roof.
Pakoras deep-frying.
Neighbours dropping in.
A party.

· You and mom.
A summer night.
A bottle of coconut oil.
A head massage.
Gossiping about absent family members.

· You can spend
hundreds on birthdays,
thousands on festivals,
lakhs on weddings,
but to celebrate
all you have to spend is your Time.

catcha soon

Regards,

Shweta