there they go across europe!

they say the child imbibes from the parents'....the reverse can be so true!

for the last 2 yrs my folks hve been zigzagging all across the country....now that they r unburdened of the excess luggage of m'self n my sis (:-))....but then i guess the stories of my excursion provided them the boost for their next item on the agenda...the euro trip!!

if it had come by in a normal-seen everyday-guided tour kinda way....i had no issues whatsoever! but no...they banished the thought of the guided tour...bought themselves a lonely planet guide...got talkin to their friends who had been to europe better...charted their own 'flexible' itinerary....n got all ready to fly off!!!

imagine me....sitting 1000 of miles away...how wud i react when they say..."we cud go to berlin...or maybe go first to vienna...and then maybe take a nite train to berlin - if we get a reservation - or wil take a hotel in vienna"...jesus christ - this aint your backyard!! get a fixed itinerary!! but no...my parents after all...hve to stubbornly sustain that streak of adventurism!!

then started my trans-continental calls to all my friend-base/ acquaintance base in europe...calling ppl...trying to put those places in the folks' itinarary...tryin to make my mates meet them at various places...tryin to make them stay at their places...spking at my 2 Am-3 Am...spkin to them mine 12 pm/6 am...time zones of all the major cities of europe at my fingertips!
so at last they flew...got one of me mates to meet them at first base at frankfurt-heidelberg itself...still cant totally calm the nervous wreck that i had become and wont to remain so till they land back in Cal again!

just before i wrote this, i had placed a call to them to check on them...they were supposed to be at lucerne today. this is how the gist of the call went...mom took the call...

me: hello mom...how are ya? where are u guys?

mom: hellooo beta...we're all good. me and ur dad are on the top of mt. titlis rite now...

me: wat?! top of where?! u were supposed to be at lucerne lake today?!

mom: been there...seen that & left lucerne for mt. titlis...and now we're 10000 ffet high up on top of it...the temp is arnd -5/6 degrees i think..

me: (totally speechless n doubly concerned n literally shouting) negative temperature?!?!? u guys hve enuff warm clothes i hope...u not feeling cold or nething...hve some coffee...glug some brandy....

mom: aare relax beta...we're all cool...had some special swiss coffee as soon as we reached the top...and me & ur dad just finished a game of throwing snowballs at each other! dont worry...we're fine!

a smile broke across my face at hearing this. atta boy...thats my folks!

guess i dont need 2 b so concerned abt them...they are managing just fine! which doesnt mean at all that i'm not damn tensed rite now wondering whether they went down by the ski lift...or the cable car....or did they try something else...or....

jeez...stop it...stop it....let them enjoy themselves! they will be fine.let them go on travelling and having fun....and i will try and keep sending my mates as chaperones with them just like i had sent my mates in heidelberg...in zurich and are setting some up in belgium, paris, scotland n london!! :-)

hve a gr8 time folks....travel safe n come back soon...ppl back home are missin u already! :-)

the passage of nearly 365 that went by....

jeez....nearly a year that i scribbled down sumthing!

so much went past in da passage dat went by!

spent time in aus, came back to blore...settled to life in blore....usual weekday-weekends colleagues-friends cycle!

various hues passin by thru personal life too....unsurprisingly managed 2 run thru various ppl as is the wont...got to get rid of some unwanted baggage in life...new ppl - old ppl..ppl comin back...ppl movin far...

on the good side, last year provided complete formal closures to a lot of chapters, chapters...chapters which cud hve had other endings if only i had shown the inclination to...but guess i didnt, and dont incline to i guess for sumtime! but i guess after these closures, some good bro's of mine will stop hounding me for not doin what they thought i ought to hve done! watver happens, happens for the good!

wat else went by...mmm..home trips...random trips...trips here n there...a quick jaunt to the himalayas for GIM juniors' wedding...usual mumbai trips from where i dont really feel like comin back...the guys are there!! it re mains a sanctuary apart from home dat i like to run to!


got another tattoo done...took a friend to show the parlor, and got one done for myself too! lower back center...slightly upwarsd of the lower-back tattoo zone...solomon n nefertitit!! :-) <>

on work front? umm...nuthin much...client paid me to sit on my ass, just becos they wanted me and they cud not start then! wish my bosses were as realistic as my client ;-)!!

wat else...wat else? lost an extended family member...kaka...actually dad's kaka. strange character he was! may his soul rest in the musical peace which he spread so magically.

aus beckoned again. sandy slated to fly off to sgpore. indiranagar breaking up. especially dbpc @ bangalore...
as i sit here typing today....i hve already spent 4 months back here in sydney. experienced the full blast of the southern hemisphere winter, and didnt like it one bit! been to adelaide n back, crazy horse more memorable than last time...full fledged trip along coast of queensland to snorkellin in the outer great barrier reefs packed in already!

nearly that time in space of this year when last year i had landed in sydney for the 1st time!

dunno how long wil be here...but landing back in blore seems a dangerous predicamant now! did all the closed chapters and the half-closed, semi-opened and just-opening all hve to congregate over there?! crowd of any kind hastens the claustrophobia in me ;-)

i bow...to lord confusion!

hope to scribble in some more...soon!