A Tale of Two Cities............

I am sure the title reminds you of the famous story by Charles Dickens. But it’s not what you are thinking; it is the story of my life. Well, it’s not even a story…. It is actually my life. A life of living across twin cities of Pune and Mumbai……..sounds crazy right???? Surprisingly, I am not the only one. Here is a telltale of a regular Mumbai-Pune traveler.

I wonder about it every Friday when I am on my way to Mumbai and every Monday morning when I have to get up early to take the bus back to Pune. And the same thoughts come to my mind the next Friday and Monday and then the following. I know these are not just my thoughts but the thoughts of every weekend traveler. There are so many familiar faces I see every weekend, travelling from Pune to Mumbai and vice-versa. I know some people who have been doing it for over 3 years now and are still running this mad affair. You must be wondering “why do people do it and how can they do it every weekend?”

Well, we do it not out of choice but circumstances…… “the tragedy of being employed.” It’s ironic to see that you will never get the kind of job you want and there are always options available for things you don’t want. With both the spouses working nowadays and to make matters worse “job” is not the main driving force here. It’s the type of work, future career growth, location and many such parameters that run your life. The matrix of these parameters, their variability and dependence is devastating at times. So the trick is to find a perfect job and location otherwise it’s obvious that you will be struck in the “job-location” matrix. Everyone talks about the work-life balance but I guess this job-location matrix is trickier. It’s beyond a regular human brain to imagine how exactly it feels. But feel free to ask any of the migratory us, and we will tell you how exactly it feels.

I just started this trend and I am already tired of living like this. Believe me, it’s not just tiring, it’s draining…… mentally, emotionally and physically. It’s very difficult to deal with the guilt of staying away from your loved one and live two lives. Two lives that actually make you go crazy. I literally am living out of a suitcase in two places, managing two houses, and dealing with work, responsibilities, career and personal commitments. And most of the time, I keep wondering where did I keep ‘this and that’ of things? Well, if this is called multi tasking then I am the ‘Queen of Multi-tasking’.

I know you guys will think and judge “us” that we all do it because we love our “freedom”. But think about it “is it really freedom?” Well I don’t think so. …………. I don’t think I am going through all this because I want freedom………

Yes, as it seems the easiest and logical solution would be to end this madness…………… Obviously I know that. But even that is not an easy option. I have worked so hard to get where I am. I love the urge to get up in the morning and look forward to a day full of challenges. I know we will survive this temporary phase and start living soon.

This blog is dedicated to all the Pune-Mumbai weekend travelers; I admire your courage and compassion to do all this. And a big ‘Thank you’ to all the spouses for understanding and making our lives wonderful, without your support we won’t have survived.

Cheers!!!

Angels Day Out In Mumbai!!!!!!!!!!!

Life without friends would be so colorless, lifeless and soooooooooo boring. Every friend has like a special place in our lives……….some cannot stop talking, some don’t talk but listen very patiently, some cannot stop eating and some can’t eat, some love dancing no matter where, and some can peacefully sit back and be your DJ….. smile when you are going crazy dancing, some love cooking, some don’t enjoy cooking but they love you pampering them, some can be very outright, some diplomatic, some emotional, some practical, some just trying to irritate you till you go crazy, some super witty, some super dumb, some will sit with you all night to get your work done, some will take care of you when you are sick, some will scold you when you get a little too adventurous……. I am sure we all have some crazy friends that we get very close to. But even with all that craziness and no matter what happens we still love them Truly, Deeply and Madly :)

This is what Charlie’s and the Angels (as we are popularly known as) are about… just fun, fun, and more fun. Life goes on and obviously we all will move on, but I still want to capture this part of my life; when we 4 crazy people got together and gave fun and friendship a new definition.

So the adventure begins a week before and I (The Planner) plan the trip for meeting Charlie alias Rahul (well Charlie………. is just Charlie) in Mumbai. Deepti (our crazy little girl) left for Mumbai in the morning as she had to meet some of her friends. I and Christeena (The Cool Manager) decided to leave post lunch and meet Deepti and Charlie directly for dinner. I had so many things to do with the wedding coming up and shifting and God knows what all and completely venerable. Thanks to the Cool Manager Chris, she comforted me and did an awesome project plan for all the tasks I had to do. She cooked an awesome meal of sambhar and steamed rice for lunch.

Now, we were all set to go with our backs packed, big smiles and all excited, hunting for a rickshaw in the blazing Pune sun and we couldn’t find any. Finally, we got one and went to the Neeta Bus stop. Aaaahhhh!!!! Neeta Bus strike??????????? What????? And the smiles dropped :((((((((((( but we definitely couldn’t give up. So we waited for a while and the guy tells us I can arrange a non-a.c. bus. Chris & I just exchanged looks and got adventurous……. And next thing we know was that we were getting baked in the bus. Even then it didn’t prevent us from having fun, we talked and talked. We were almost near Vashi and the stupid bus driver pulled over a km or so from our bus stop. Damm!!! We crossed and walked and same issue……..no autos here as well……what’s happening man? Bad luck again? Auto strike in Vashi, can you believe that? We took a taxi home, where our driver was waiting. Ohh, I didn’t tell you about the driver (we had to meet Charlie for dinner in Andheri , so we had called for a driver).

In the record time of 10 mins., me & Chris got ready and got in the car for our final destination. Finally, relaxed after getting in the car….. making calls about where to meet, how to reach and obviously getting struck in the great Mumbai traffic. Finally, we meet Charlie and Deepti……… our next destination was Charlie’s favorite place “Koyla”. With bad luck again, their roof top was under renovation so we went down to their banquet where they still served dinner. We were super tired and hungry, so we sat down in what looked like my 3rd year birthday party amidst of balloons but thankfully minus kids :P

We sat down with a sigh of relief that all the efforts paid off and the plan was well executed. And here we were back again giggling, gossiping, bullying each other and lost in our world. The Food was served and hungry “us” just went Slurpppppppppp!!! With starters over and “critical me” with Deepti were bugging Charlie about the place and “Chris” supporting him. It was so much fun to see Charlie disappointed a bit and you could see that there was something going on in his head?????????? What???? Obviously a place for Desserttttttttttt (Gujju hai na!!!! )

We got out hunting for a good Dessert place and just to be on a safer side I suggested Baskin Robbins, and for some reason Charlie says………..nahhhh let go to this place called “Cocoberry’s” , they serve frozen yogurt. Our eyes popped out….. “Cocoberry”…..” frozen yogurt”……..sounds yummyyyyyyyyyy. As soon as we got in and looked at the menu it felt as if we were born again. I was so excited to see the variety of flavors and combos they offered. We ordered “Nuttings gone change my love”, “Banana Safari” and “Blueberry Blush” and mannnn it was lip-smacking and so yummy with those fresh fruits and topping that it just made our day. Thanks Charlie :)

It was time for goodbye and we had to go a long way back. Reaching home all exhausted we all slept like babies. Morning had a beauty of its own; we were fresh and rejuvenated after a hectic Saturday. Me & Chris got up early had the special “Mango Tea” with a pesto sandwich. Believe me, there is nothing like a girl’s day out. We gossiped and gossiped till we realized that we should go shopping…. obviously ;)

Finally after an hour or two we were out in the Inorbit mall sipping coffee at Costa Coffee to refuel ourselves before the shopping. Shopping with Deepti is obviously fun because we both are crazy shoppers. :P We can do a day in – day out shopping and won’t complain or get tired. Chris got out of the shopping that’s why we obviously lost track of what all we were buying and how much we were spending. When Chris came back she is like ‘hey let go back… enough of shopping’ and we realized we hadn’t had lunch: P what????????? Yeahhhhhhhhh I know we kind of forgot about lunch.

We stuffed some sandwiches and left for Pune. Here again, Neeta bus strike :((((((((( But we just got lucky when a Mysore bus stopped and he couldn’t say no. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeee we got the bus and with Deepti sleeping all the way like a baby and me & Chris talking non-stop about our experiences with travelling just make the ride more fun and enjoyable.

This trip was just not a trip, it made our relations stronger. No matter what happens between friends we all still stick together…. For friends’ distances, arguments, grudges don’t matter because whenever you get together you will pick up from where you left.
Cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!