Musings From New York

Moving On ...

The last month or so has been pretty hectic over at Chez Axe. Several days after the Lady & I returned to US shores was spent pounding the pavements looking at apartments. For some weird reason, we couldn't find any 2-bedroom apartments in our price range ... well, that's not strictly true. We found a "2-bedroom" (i.e.: 1-1/2 bedroom) 2nd floor walkup in an really old brownstone). We had a lot of criteria, which I suppose contributed to the narrow range of apartments we had to work with.

Ultimately. we ended up taking a 1-bedroom apartment in the upper 90's, pretty close to the subway. A 19th-floor, south-facing apartment in a luxury building (totally swanky lobby, gym & swimming pool, and so on).

The weeks since signing the paperwork have been spent packing and throwing out a ton of stuff ... mostly old clothes that I don't wear much anymore (hopefully someone finds it purchase-worthy at the Salvation Army store), old notes & case studies from my MBA, and such like. I'm selling all my old JLA trade paperbacks, but refuse to give up my Hellboys, Sandmans, and such. I even bough a little binder and pouch set to store all the comic books I'm currently reading.

The discussion is slowly turning to what purchases we need to buy after moving in ... We've gotten a ton of gift cards and other presents for the new home (thanks, guys!) so we're slowly compiling a list ... coffee table, side tables, flatscreen TV, an espresso machine, a blender, and so on. I need to get a good NAS to combine the Lady's photos & music, and mine.

Of course there have been some items that have been approved that I've insisted upon.

Ready ... Set ... Wed!

We (as in, the groom's side) had our Devara Samaradhane yesterday. Its meant to invoke the blessings of the Gods upon the wedding. The puja itself started and ended pretty late, but it was good to meet family that I hadn't met in a while ... and to eat the "traditional" lunch!

I got to use Dad's Nikon D40 Digital SLR camera. I'm not very familiar with SLRs in general, but Kartik gave me a crash course in it's use. I plan to take it to the Maldives, and photograph some good desktop wallpapers (at the very least!). I've yet to organize the photos from yesterday, and figure out what I'd upload. Indeed, I'm anticipating that most of the sorting would be done here in Bangalore, but the final sharing & uploading would be done when we get back to the US ... mostly because of bandwidth & connectivity issues.

I've only a bit of shopping left now, probably finish it off today.

Creature Comforts

One of the nice things about my parents' new apartment (well, I say "new" ... they moved here about 2 years ago) is that the bathrooms are equipped with showers. Now, in India, running hot water is a rarity, and my parents had the design foresight to hook each bathroom's water heater to the showers and taps.

Only problem is that the heaters' capacities affords about 15 minutes of hot water at a trickle, which means one has to really, really ration the usage through the order of the bath. I was just thinking to myself this morning that upon my return to NYC, I'm going to spend 15 minutes just soaking in a massage shower.

Yes, maybe I'm spoilt. But of such luxuries are the the halls of civilization built!

Updates

I'm leaving for Bangalore in a little over a week, and back in NYC around Jan 10th. Let's see, how might I best sum up my trip? Hmm ...

1. Wedding Shopping
2. Wedding Panic
3. Wedding Partying
4. Wedding Hangover
5. Wedding
6. Wedding Gifts (Gods Dammit, there better be some gifts! This is my only chance to make out like a bandit)
7. Wedding Pilgrimage
8. Honeymoon

In between, I hope I get the time to meet friends, hang out a little bit, and so on.

I doubt it.

But that's OK.

Walking For A Cause

The Lady will be taking part in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes in 10 days' time. You can read more about her commitment to the cause on her blog, and I urge everyone to leave a note of encouragement (monetary, or text, it's up to you). It's a very worthy cause, close to everyone's hearts and minds.

If you're in the Boston neighborhood next weekend (29th), please drop by to cheer her on.

Isn't Technology A Wonderful Thing?

A little known factoid ... this past Saturday (15th September) was the first "Email Anniversary", marking the 365 days it's been since I first got in touch with The Lady (for the record, I emailed her). I'd say our relationship is young enough to account for these seemingly-silly anniversaries and dates, yet I'd think it's fair to say that when we're old & balding (her & me, respectively) I'd still remember 15th September 2006 as the day my life changed.

And as much as I thank Google Mail for that first email, so too must I credit Google Talk for keeping the lines of communication open. At the end of th day, that's how The Lady & I got to know each other well enough to decide to meet up, and well, the rest is history.

I even have every email and chat transcript ... it's fun to read them and think back to the days I was desperately trying to seem funny and interesting. Well, yes, that was last Wednesday too ... and those couple of times last month. But you know what I mean.

It got me thinking on how technology's changed my life, and how it's changed the way I communicate with people. I don't think I've actually picked up the phone and talked to someone distant for a long time ... and I don't think I've written a letter for the last ... let's say 10 years. I mean a real Letter (note the capitalized "L" there). I'm talking about the kind of letter one would publish as part of a slim book.

Yet, I have been able to keep in touch with friends flung far and wide. The volume of text typed in chatting
alone must equal the volume of letters. It seems so intimate to have that immediate gratification & one-on-one relationship with the person at the other end, and yet strangely disembodied and distant.

The Look ... Let It Be (Naked)

You could hear the sounds of screams from the bathroom sink Sunday morning. Specifically, the initial screams were from the vampire killer beard lice (totally awesome name for a band) that were resident in my goatee, as they were forced out of their haven, into the sunlight. The later screams came from The Lady, when she saw the end result. Although to be fair, she'd probably not yet had her morning coffee, and thought she was in some Twilight-Zone-esque nightmare.

Yes, I decided to do away with the ol' double-chin-hider this morning. No special reason. Just something I wanted to do for a while, just to remind myself of my baby-ish charms. This doesn't mean that I'm going commando-style from now on. The Lady has made it ferpectly clear that she *hates* this new look, and in fact begged that I have the goatee for the wedding. She went on to add that although the lack of beard makes me look 10 years younger, she wants to be the younger-looking one in this relationship, thankyouverymuch.

You remember that scene in The Nutty Professor, where Klump looks down and is bemused that he can finally see his ... umm ... his toes (yeah, let's go with toes). Well with me, it's bemusing that I can look down my nose and see my lip!

I'm Not Dead (Yet)

Yes, I know, I did one of my frequent slide-under-the-radar deals recently, but I had good cause. Those of you who are on my many IM-buddy lists would've seen the status/ mood changes ;)

In any case, my project in KC has been wrapped up, and I've now started my next project right here in NYC. I'm a little hazy on some of the details of the project, but in any case, I should be here in the city till the end of the year.

There goes any hope of retaining Gold member status on Marriott!

A Big Round o' Thanks ...

... To Kartik (my brother) for his leet Photoshop skills in modifying the banner image above.

The photo was taken on the rooftop of the Rockerfeller Center this afternoon, on a gorgeous summer day.

Engaged! ... Again!

Yes, again! ... Rather, officially!

What a weekend ... What an amazing, dizzying, electric, terrific and terrifying weekend ... I took 4 days off, but I gotta tell you, between the 8-hour one-way, soul-crushing (not to mention spine-crushing) travel from work, engagement planning, and driving/ running around over the weekend to make sure things were just-so ... boy, I need a vacation!

So let's see, where to begin ...

Friday Afternoon

Most of Friday afternoon was spent in a traffic jam with the world's worst backseat driver, The Lady's sis-in-law ... Nah, I kid, she's really sweet. But I wouldn't be in any hurry to hitch a ride with her, if you know what I mean. We spent a few hours going to a CostCo 3 miles away to do some bulk shopping for Sunday's brunch.

Aparna & Parag (The Lady's cousin, and her husband) had invited the whole group - numbering over 20 at this point, I think - over to their place for an icebreaker, which went on till about 10 or 11pm. An early night for an early morning.

Saturday Morning

Most of our guests had arrived on Saturday ... including surprise last minute trips from The Lady's cousins in San Diego. I have to admit, I wa a little nervous about meeting a few of The Lady's cousins ... I'd been told they were very protective of The Lady, and I might have to face some tough staredowns, games of chicken, or even arm-wrestle them into submission. In fact, they are the nicest bunch of people I've ever met ... a really fun bunch of folks that kinda reminded me of all the hangout groups and cliques in BITS or UIUC.

Saturday morning was the little puja, and the reading of the contracts between my parents and The Lady's parents. Something along the lines that I agree to marry The Lady, and vice-versa. The Lady's cousin - a professor of Sanskrit in Toronto - read out several verses from (as yet unknown) text. Gifts were exchanged, ... bling was exchanged, and the whole thing was over in a couple of hours, and was followed by some most excellent South Indian grub.

Saturday Evening

The main party on Saturday evening. Lots of food, drink, and good company. The Lady's, and my, father gave a toast (which Arjun recorded on the camcorder ... gimme a few days to edit and upload it). We didn't have an opportunity to reto ... umm, reply, as we had to cut the cake and officially declare the party started. Unfortunately, the music system conked out before we could dance much, but we probably got an hour of naach before we had to pack up at 10pm. The "youngsters" then moved over to Aparna & Parag's place and ended up talking, and playing a fun game called "Mafia" till about 2am.

I swear, when I saw The Lady dressed up in that elegant light peach sari ... I really thought I'd died and gone to heaven. She was just ... perfect.

Sunday Morning/ Afternoon

Sunday morning saw a brunch at The Lady's apartment that went on till about 1pm. We changed back into the party wear from the previous evening to go to a studio photographer. I feel guilty about haranguing The Lady's family into this, as they were all obviously very tired ... hell, even I was! But last was probably the only occasion for a long time where both families  were together, and I really didn't want to miss the opportunity to capture the moment.

Sunday Evening

Sunday was The Lady's mother's birthday, and we celebrated by going out to Bombay Club in Harvard Square.

...

And that was it, really. Wound down on Monday, and flew back to New York. My parents and Kartik stayed back in Boston to do a bit of sightseeing, and are set to return today (Thursday). Dad & Kartik leave next Monday, but Mom will stay on till 3rd week of July. It's a pity I'd spend most of that time in Kansas.

A lot of people took photos over the weekend ... I have all the photos except Kartik's. I've picked out the better photos and put them up for all to see.

I'm sure some of you might find this to be a rather dry account of the proceedings. Luckily, I have a backup :-)

PS: A plug for one of the Lady's cousins in SFO ... search YouTube for "nithin guitar"