WAW!

1st things 1st... WAW isn't a way of saying "wow" (like my best friend goes "WAAOOW!!!"... dunno why, but she's incapable of sayin it straight hehehehe)

"WAW!" stands for "what a weekend!". have had a few crazy ones in the past... but this 1 takes the cake.

worked on friday and then had to rush off to do some apt-movin. rushed on over to LA... ahhh! good ol' USC side for a meal: the two-nine cafe... old friends... couldn't ask for more. well maybe a blonde or two :P :P

saw a friend off at LAX... this place has some real bitter-sweet memories. have never visited this place and not wanted to board the flight myself. he was heading back to india, for gd... back home, for gd. yes jumpin him n grabbing his ticket did cross my mind! we had a decent conversation. something became clear: when we leave india, some 15 ppl see us off at the airport... when we leave now for gd, some 15 ppl see us off again. so what's different? it took 22 yrs to get 15 ppl to say adios, & only 2 for the same... that says something. we're not just friends here... we're family. gonna miss him. n he, us.

we dealt with the sadness the only way guys know how to; yup... we saw a late movie: harold n kumar part2. insanely hilarious in a gross kind of way. lol!

saturday morning went hiking for 5 and a half miles.... did it in sum 2 hrs or so baby! we were warned about mountain lions n rattlesnakes, although none of them really turned up! hehehe.

have spent the past coupla hrs helping this mad cat plan her trip :P :P

tomorrow is some more moving...

now you know... what a weekend...

am luvin' it.

conversations

sometimes, some conversations stick with you. a few words spoken here n there, without much of an effort... even lesser of a thought. they have a quality of... je ne sais quoi... lingering on.

engineering:

was reminiscing about some old engg days with this friend... didn't even know her then, but yeah she's been through the same rigmarole as i. we discussed how univ oral exams were tougher than written ones. we used to dread vivas; i mean these guys were outright brutal! bear with me as i paint this picture of nostalgia. we cud be asked anything... & "anything" included the following question:

"yeh panvel hai, yahaan se 5 km door ek gaon mein ramlal naam ka ek aadmi rehta hai... jiski teen gaay (cows) hain... us mein se doosri gaay ne apne bacchhde ko aaj doodh nahin diya......
...........
...........
kyon ?"

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAA... gotta luv old friends, & the senseless conversations you can have with them. good times, good times...

quick quips:

* on being asked by a friend why i didn't plan to visit home when out of a job for 3.5 months:
"i plan to become a free lance bawarchi... u have no idea how passionate i am abt it. i luv the cooking... but it's the chef's cap mostly."

* on being asked by a co-worker if i was lucky & would win lots of money in vegas:
"ppl talk abt being lucky in luv, or lucky in gambling… i'm not so picky in this matter. good luck in ANY kind or form will do… even if it’s something inane like always being able to guess what the cafeteria's serving before hand. this way i know whether we should bother heading to the café or just plain go out to subway. i can hear their praises now, “you’re right again Tushar! "u da man, Tushar!” aaaah... fans. voila! i'm the hero... and ofcourse, a hero that’s eating good food."

P.S. she doesn't talk to me much now... LOL!

* on hearing this wannabe acquaintance complain endlessly about how much kooler she was than other "lame" indians:
me: "hey, is this spelling of baccalaureate correct?" (honestly, this was unintentional!)
her, proudly: "no! it goes 'B-A-C-H-E-L-O-R-E-T-T-E' ."

lifer:

yeah, that's a term i use for ppl i've had around for a lifetime... yeaaaaaaars can go by without a single word being exchanged, yet the conversations flow as smoothly as ever:

-- begin conversation, after 3 years of "ssup, all kool?" exchanges --
============================================================

frnd: say, tush, do you like india more or the US?
frnd: i mean with you living here or there
me: its a tough question dude
me: here thr is a lot of work appreciation, u know?
me: life is more comfy in bombay without a doubt, but then you spend 70% of ur life at work
frnd: that's true man
frnd: hmm, so US is better professionally and home's better personally, then?
me: in a nutshell, yeah

-- end conversation --
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it's ironic how weeks go by slowly, while life passes you by so fast. yet some things stick around... like conversations ;)