I returned from India 2 days ago. I feel terrible. I miss my family, I miss the comfort of home where every single need of mine was taken care of (by someone else!), I miss the food, the faaantastic, droolworthy concoctions made at home or in restaurents, even at times on the street.
And I miss television.
I never thought I'd admit it, but I'm really curious to know what challanges are faced by Saloni from 'Saat Phere'. Has that thick headed husband of hers (Nahar??) developed some brains or is he still naively listening to that snake, Neel? And what about that poor woman who got batterred by her husband in 'Betiyaan'? Last I saw, she was visiting the same husband in prison, probably even taking gajar ka halwa for him. After all, she is a true sati-savitri. Yes, I totally got hooked on to Indian television there. Not just the K serials, but also the new channels. The amount of footage Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai got in the last 3 weeks, prior to the release of Guru was, frankly, not funny. Has Mani Rathnam totally lost it? From when has he had to resort to such publicity stunts to sell his films. The only other soul who got the same amount of TV screen time was that murderer from Noida. And for very good reason too.
Bangalore's traffic is worse, the roads are all jumbled up. Although I've lived in the city for 8 years, I still had to ask for directions because all the familiar routes had changed after the introduction of one-ways. Airport road is bad. The new fly over has made life only marginally easy, and I am convinced nothing can improve it further. CMH Road, which earlier used to be a quieter road, with just enough restaurents and shops to pass a pleasant evening, is now as busy as M G Road.
Watching movies in Bangalore hasn't changed much in the last one year. It still takes atleast an hour to reach any movie hall worth its name. One still has to go much earlier to book the tickets because Bangaloreans have nothing else to do but watch movies on any given day. I watched Don at PVR and Dhoom2 at Innovative. Don was really good (SRK rocks!!), and Dhoom2 was tolerable only because of Hrithik. By the time Aishwarya spoke her first dialoge in the film 'I am hot', I was gagging. Really, what has got into her. First Umrao Jaan, and now this? Her acting in Dhoom makes one appreciate her earlier films, its THAT bad. Abhishek wearing flowery shirts and dacing with the incredibly hot Bipasha didn't impress me AT ALL. He should steer clear of anything Hrithik. Thankfully for both of them, today's release, Guru has gained some positive reviews. I am looking forward to watching it now.
4 days into my vacation, I flew to Cochin. The lush greenery of Kerala was in sharp contrast to the crazy city that Bangalore has become. So were the hills at 'Motta Kunj' (loosely translated, it means egg mountains!) and Ayyampara. It was so peaceful to sit on the hilltop at Ayyampara, just waiting for the sun to set. I captured quite a few pictures. The only othertime I saw such a beautiful sunset was on Andaman & Nicobar (I forget the name of the island)
The boat ride on Kumarakom Lake was divine. Everytime I saw a house boat, I promised myself that the next trip to Kerala would involve travelling or living on one. This trip brought me closer to Kerala than all my earlier trips. It was five days of fresh air, greenery and nothing to do but eat and relax. A perfect vacation!
Now it's back to the grind (not the old Channel V program where women wearing less clothes gyrated to songs at swimming pools or on the beach). The first shock (and a rude one at that) is when you eat your first meal at work. Man, I would have to eat this till my next trip to India, which is far away. Then when you switch on the TV, you realize you'll have to watch some DVD because there is no Aaj Tak or NDTV to entertain you. I actually miss watching that Noida killer on TV. And the worst of all is the layers of clothing one has to wear before going out. Actually its not that bad this winter, it hasn't even snowed, but coming from India, it is still a big change in weather. This is the grind I am talking about.
I am too depressed to proceed any further.
