My new thing for today

So lately I've been on a F.R.I.E.N.D.S trip. Watching episode after episode till my deadline, or the one-hour power cut stops me.

Recently, I watched the one with all the resolutions - I don't ever bother with that because I won't do it and it's all one big comedy. Anyway. Ross says he wants to do one new thing a day, and it ends when he goes on a disaster date with Elizabeth Hornswagle (I know, right?), wearing leather pants no less.

I realised I get to do at least one new thing a week in my job. Well, at least it was that frequent when I first started working here. And it's all about the experiences, be it interacting with the election commissioner, randomly adopting a puppy from an adoption drive or just getting a chance to eat at all the fancy places in the city.

Today, after a long time, I had a new experience. I went sailing. Yes. In a regatta (or Raghuthaathaa, as my dear boss calls it). I even handled a jib sail and all. So fancy I felt. Of course I got queasy because there was no wind and our boat Tern kept bobbing up and down even though the water wasn't so choppy or anything. It was fun nonetheless, getting onto a boat with three other people I had never met before, trusting them not to let the boat capsize (mostly because I had my BB with me, and it has thanni-la gandam, or bad luck with water) and actually making it past the finish line first. Oh yeah. We did. Woohoo.

At least for the one race I was on-board we won. Who knows what happened after that. I abandoned ship. I had to. I had a deadline. BAH.

But still, I got to go back to the Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) in a motorised dinghy controlled by a muscular, wiry coast guard guy. That was a lot more fun, believe me. Sea spray on my face, wind in my hair... Ahhh.

But the best part of it was being able to share my experiences, by putting it down in words for readers to read the next day. And that was when the experience became whole and complete.

  

Lovers on the beach...

Found this in my drafts. I still feel this way:

What makes the beach, the seaside, so romantic?

More often than not, our beaches are covered in trash and smell of fish. Hardly the aroma of love!

Still, at any time of the day, at least a dozen couples are to be found, doing whatever it is lovers do. Ok, so I DO know what they do, no need to give that sceptical look. I've done my fair share of it too. Ahem.

Personally, I have many memories of the beach, including one very windy, rainy evening. Oh those Mills & Boon romances have got it right.

Anyway. Yes. I shall stop mooning over the past and get back on track.

Every time I see these couples, sometimes even at 6AM on a Saturday morning (when I'm there bleary-eyed in a rumpled kurta covering a rally or walkathon or something similar), it makes me wonder about where they come from, where they go.

Especially the secrecy. Never having to hide the fact that I'm going to meet my special someone whenever we went out, the situation is very strange to me. How does one hold SUCH a big secret inside, and not share your happiness with the ones who love you the most?

So puzzling.

Being near the sea just makes me feel like there are infinite possibilities in my world. The horizon is endless. And I think those lovers on the beach feel it too, unshackled from the lives they lead when they leave the waves.

Hello.

So. MORE than a year since I blogged, but recent inspiration has brought me back.

 So much has changed. Even the blogger dashboard is different and I got confused looking at it. But that's just me - confused as always.

Be that as it may, I can safely say I do not miss writing. It is after all my job now, to write what I see, sometimes what I don't see. Either way, I get to write. Flow words all over the page. Type. Click clack click clack.

I've even learned to type without squinting at the keyboard. Yaay me.

Yes, I crib and cry about the hours and the stress, but never about the monotony. It is never still. I am never allowed to be still. Yet, I love every moment of it. Every fibre of my being is tuned to be on the go at a second's notice.

It's tough being on the move without my scooter. Without intending offence to those who have lost their legs, I feel like mine are cut off at the hip. And it's just been a week since I sold my old bike and impatient me has driven my poor father to madness by asking him 15067 times a day when the new one will arrive.

I wonder how some of my colleagues go reporting without wheels. I mean, I've taken the bus once in the past week, and the fact that every time I take public transport I have to yell at a guy to stop falling on the ladies side of the bus... Well, I just don't have the patience any more.

Therefore, I am this week's auto-rani. I don't even bat an eyelid when they ask Rs 100 from Purasaiwalkam to Kilpauk. Nice, no? Rival newspaper has started ad campaign to bring back auto meters and all, but I doubt if it will appeal to the government. Considering they have a defamation suit filed against them by the CM, among other things.

That's the story this week. Hopefully new tales to follow.