Tuesday, May 16, 2006

A really enjoyable wkend

I’ve had an amazing wkend, so, I thought, I’ll share the details.

But, I guess, first some background needs to be provided. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of fun wkends. And I can squarely lay that blame on the doors of my partners in crime. Apy, and shu. Shu is my lab mate and has made an appearance on this blog earlier and Apy is threatening to be a regular. I guess a happy mind leads to better productivity and I’ve been having some good days at lab with all my stuff working. That just lets me enjoy some good wkends guilt free leading to some more good days at work. I am in a positive cycle. And it's a dramatic change because just a short while back, I was telling a friend that I am in a negative spiral and it can only end badly.

Last to last wkend, Shu and Apy had come over to my place. I’d cooked and apy had had some warning to stay away from my cooking. Brave of him to come! (I guess he must be thinking of getting back at me, since he invited me over for the wkend that just went by). We also watched swordfish and reservoir dogs and then went for an awesome walk on the beach.

So I was all set for getting some good food on Saturday. (We had decided on a menu earlier: P), when on Friday morning, I get a call. Turns out, a colleague of dad’s, wants to have me over for dinner. Bilbo is suddenly very popular. It feels nice, but is going to involve a lot of commute. Not to mention decisions on outfits and yada yada. Yep, sometimes I can be a typical gal and bore a person to tears talking about clothes and make up and shoes. Before I forget, we also had plans for Sunday evening and tentative plans for dinner. This was a shindig at the Indian embassy. I am guessing soon, the embassy would be the Tokyo chapter of Indian bloggers J

So, on Friday, between my experiments, I RSVPd for my two invites and thought about what to wear and all that girly stuff. Finally, I decided to go to the dinner directly from Apy’s place instead of going back to my place and then proceeding to it. Now, while it saved me half a commute, it presented the additional problem of carrying my outfit, and then changing into it. But, I guess one step at a time. So, when I got home on Friday, the first thing I tackled was the outfit. I had to find one, that was formal enough, was light enough to carry, would not get soiled or crumpled in the commute and holy of all holies, should still fit me. (I gain weight with each breath I take, my last trip to India was a good 4 yrs back and that's the average age of most of my Indian outfits. So when I fit into one, I feel pretty triumphant. Needless to say it isn’t a given and is very rare. If I am not mistaken Haley’s comet is more frequent)

Will wonders ever cease? I actually found one that fitted the bill and off course me, and, hold your breath people, I’ve had it for the last 5 yrs. Smartass (that's my bro), brought the material for me on his trip to lucknow and I got it stitched before I left for New York. If my mom had a say in it, the material would still be languishing in some trunk some where, cuz mommy dearest for all her love, is suspended in the belief that I should have my life on hold till I get married. That includes getting outfits that I am dying to have, this one included. Yeah mom, sure. (That’s an entirely different post, coming soon to a page near you. Meanwhile, watch this space).

So outfit done, err almost. Got to pick out the footwear. The devil is in the details and from the looks of it; I am on a spree and would be providing each one of em. Since my outfit was a dreamy thing in pink chikan, I decided to wear my kolhapuri chappals. My good friend Nupur hails from Kolhapur and was kind enough to bring over two pairs for me on one of her India trips. Needless to say, I am overtly in love with them. Since I did not want to carry too much stuff, I decided to go with the chappals and decided to wear a white shirt in chikan with my jeans for the lunch. Great. Done with the outfits for the day.

So, along with my handbag (which had my outfit), I had one bag containing the dessert I’d picked up and another bag containing the little plant I’d picked up for the wife of my dad’s colleague (they will hereafter be referred to as aunty and uncle). If you ask me, that's way too much stuff to be carrying around. But, a gal’s got to do what a gal's got to do. I called up Apy and let him know that I'd be carrying that much and warned him not to ask me If I was moving in. That took care of another detail.

Come Saturday morning, Bilbo gets up, gets showered and picks up her bags and is out. Guess what? It’s raining. Not cats and dogs, not atomizer rain but rain nonetheless. And Bilbo is wearing her priceless chappals and alternatively muttering under her breath and praying. (Muttering, “darn it, I should have checked the forecast before I picked out the clothes and the shoes, don't have the time to do it now.” And praying, “ Hope the chappals last the day.”). And the first moment, I got indoors, out of the rain, out came the tissues and I set to wiping the chappals. I mean I am anal, but did not know I was that anal.

Okay, now I know. Got to Apy’s place around 11 AM. And the first order of the day, get the outfit out where it wont get any more crumpled. Now, apts in Tokyo are amazingly small. Apy’s is no exception to that. It is just one small studio apt. So, he knew he’d have to step out when I changed. When I took out the outfit to put it aside, his question was, is that a sari (translation, man I am going to be out in the rain and cold for ever)?

Food, where’s the food in this blog about a lunch and dinner, one may ask. Well, Apy had made dal makhani. With, one call to India to dad to get the recipe and then one trip to the store to get the ingredients, he was all set to exact his revenge. Death by overfeeding it seems. He added milk and butter and cream to the dal, and it turned out to be amazingly good. We ended up taking second helpings. Of course there were other things too, like chapattis that puffed up (okie, one definitely did), but the dal took the cake literally.

Satiated, we set to watching Man on Fire. One word for this one – SLOW.
We’d planned a walk to the Tamagawa River nearby, but since it was raining, we had no other option, but to sit and watch the movie.

Oh well, by the time the movie ended, it was time for Bilbo to change and head out. Am glad I’d let uncle know that I might get delayed. Time again, for me to step out in the rain with the chappals. Some more prayers were sent up. I finally made it to uncle’s half an hour late. Good way to make an entry though, since every one was already there. Some more food, rich and yummy. When I moved away from the dining table after helping myself to all the goodies, a fellow guest complimented me on my plate. Turns out it was looking pretty. That's when it hit me. I am so thoroughly bitten by the foodblog bug that I even plate my own food photogenic ally. Wondering if there’s a foodie anonymous in Tokyo. Though, I am not really looking forward to getting up in front of strangers and going, “Hi, I am Ed, I have a problem.”

The Dinner was a farewell for another colleague of dad’s. He is highly talented and has tried to encourage other members of the embassy to follow their passions. He was asked to sing and instead of breaking out in one of his melodious numbers, he started calling up random guests to come and join in. Bilbo was called too. None of us having a clue to what we’d be singing. Finally we sang the Satte pe Satta number pyar hamein kis mode pe le aya. That song brought back some memories.

Some more songs later, it was too late for Bilbo to be heading back home. So while the other guests took their leave, aunty showed me the guest room.

Sunday morning, I was up bright and early. Talked to uncle and aunty over coffee and then headed out. And as soon as I got out of their place, I called Apy. I was up and he was sleeping and I was jealous so woke him up too.

I got home and brought my groceries (a tonne of fruits), made some palak pancakes and had a late brunch. Nap time. Not really, since my washer dryer creates a racket while it is on and I cant really step out. So, while it was on I tried to catch mah 40 winks.

Got up, showered and time to head out again. Am sure people are glad there are no outfit dilemmas for this day. Off late, the club at the Indian embassy has been making their own movies and screening them. They screened a spoof on sholay some time back and I’d missed it. I ‘d heard a lot of good things about it so did not want to miss the screening of their latest venture.

Apy had joined me for the screening. While we waited for it to start, we hung around the place. Bilbo smiling to random people and bursting out into hi how are you(s) and big smiles and the folded hand namaste(s) and also making random introductions that went like so and so meet apy. Note to myself, I need to pick up some people skills.

Finally, after every one settled down and all the speeches were made, the screening started. Not much to write home about but definitely not bad for an amateur effort.

Next stop, the dinner after the screening. Another farewell dinner, this time, a joint effort in hosting. We were both uncomfortable when we got there. I was uncomfortable because I did not know all the people and we were sitting with strangers and Apy, because hell, he did not know anybody. We grabbed for the spirits being served and feeling slightly fortified, began interacting with our dining partners. It wasn’t a bad experience in hindsight. We actually ended up enjoying ourselves and the food wasn't bad either.

And that brings me to the end of this great wkend. Am looking forward to some more like these. And yes, I am a greedy gal.

5 comments:

Apy said...

Hehehe.. me too had a good time girl..From the post, it sure looked like a long weekend... :P

bilbo said...

come to think of it, writing it took the same amount of time as living it. but living it seemed faster. okie dunn think i am making a lot of sense here.

Rajavel said...

bilbo !! thats a long weekend ! :0

Arpana Sanjay said...

hehehe that sounds like a fun time Billy...

'I gain weight with each breath I take'....lollz!! dont we all!! Ok the freaks dont count..the ones that can eat all they want and still look like supermodels!! bah @ them!!

How's you?? its been a long time!

bilbo said...

hey chet and chay.
Yep it was a long wkend.
and ed zachary chay, where have u been and how have u been . Its really been a long time.
joining u in a bah@ the freaks