My most exciting moment of 2008?

Well, it wasn't driving on the Autobahn at 210kph or the amazing pizzas, pastas or gelatos in Italy. It wasn't missing the train from Venice and taking the night journey halfway around Europe. It wasn't sliding on ice on my bum at 30kph in switzerland or watching the Prague castle light up around dusk. It wasn't even the 5 for I took while bowling legspin for Turnham Green.

My most exciting moment of 2008 happened to me as I walked out of a meeting in India. It had nothing to do with work. There I was sitting and minding my own business when Anusha called me from the UK to tell me that she was pregnant !!!!!

Yep, you read it right. We are having a baby... YAAYyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

Of course that's a big reason why we haven't been travelling much for the last couple of months and I don't think we will be for the next month or so. Although come Feb, our Trips tag should start seeing some more action.

The other thing I am planning to do is to start off a blog. A support group for fathers-to-be :) Let's see if I get any traction on that one. Surprisingly, there are a few people I know in the same boat and am sure there are thousands of others out there ! :)

Then there was Germany...Chapter 3

Passport passport... where are you ?

One of the incidents that happened to us while we were on this trip confirmed to me that my brain is in my stomach.

It was about 9:30pm by the time we made it back from Antwerp to Dusseldorf. Of course we were hungry and we had decided that we will stop by a McD or a Burger King and pick up a burger or something.

We pulled up at the McD's on our way and as usual, I carried the "backpack". The "backpack" is usually an extension of my back. It had the laptop, camera, ipod, cash, passports. Basically everything important. So rather than leave it in the car, I usually carry it around.

So we walked in into the McD, looked at the menu, found nothing vegetarian, and walked out. Simple - 2 minutes flat. We got back into the car and drove off to our hotel to eat at the indian restaurant opposite. Once there, Anusha got out at the restaurant to reserve us a table and I made my way to the basement to park the car. It was when I was locking the car that I realized that I had left the backpack at the McD. Running like crazy, I found Anusha at the restaurant. Both of us ran back to the hotel reception without paying the restaurant bill (but promised the guy that we would be back to pay take care of the damages). Back in the reception, I was rambling incoherently to the reception desk fellow, partly because of the panting and rest because of this choking senstation that usually occurs when you have done something really stupid.

As with any other city, there are umpteen McD in Dusseldorf and we had no idea which one it was. All we knew was that it was close to the big tower and tram lines. With the reception desk dude calling every McD in Dusseldorf, Anusha calmly suggested that we try to trace our way back. We left our mobile number at the reception desk and drove off trying to find a place we both knew we couldn't find. We headed out trying to retrace our steps but no breadcrumbs to lead us to this place.

Fortunately for us, the hotel called a few minutes later. He had found the right McD and they had informed him that the bag was safe with all its contents in place. Thanks to the GPS, we found our way to the new address, found the bag and all its contents intact.

What was most noticeable was how calm Anusha was during all this. I know it's easier to be calm when you are not the one who has made the mistake, but her being calm was exactly what we needed. Needless to say, Anusha never let me forget this incident for the rest of this trip or the next one.

The stupidity-of-the-day was enough to drain us every ounce of energy we had left after a full day of travel. We went back to the Indian restaurant, ate, paid our bill this time and went back to our room for a good night's rest.

Bulk processing of posts !

Finally after a long 4 month break, I'm back.

Somehow this busy world has a way around letting me get to my blog. It seems like a big conspiracy. Thinking a slight bit harder, I realize how un-important I am it is probably my incompetent time-management skills, when it comes to my personal life, that allow time to dictate what I do and don't do.

Anusha and I have had an eventful past 4 months. Trips to Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, had my parents over here for a month, then a trip to Austria.

The last 4 months have also contained unknowns about the future leading to Anusha's failed trip to Hyderabad (and she is not happy about this) and my failed trips to Singapore and Oz.

Finally, we have about 4-weeks of visibility. Thats 4-weeks more visibility that I have had in the past. Will start writing more.

Cleaning pains...

Why is it that cleaning the house seems like such a pain to men and such a pleasure for women. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a clean house very much but I don't want to be the one cleaning it every 3 days if you know what I mean.

To me a house is clean when things don't look dirty. Granted I am not one of those people who looks really really hard either. If its visibly dirty, it needs cleaning.

Let me tell you a bit about yesterday though. It will put things into a bot of context. Today wasn't all unfair given that Anusha gave in (this is unprecendented btw) to my constant pleadings of living in nothingness for one whole day. Yesterday was all about doing nothing but sleeping, eating and watching TV. We woke up at about noon, ate, chatted, vegetated,
watched some TV, ate some more and saw 4 movies on the trot and went to sleep around 3 in the morning. So all in all a perfect day.

Anyway, today couldn't be more different. Today was just one of those cleaning days. We woke up around noon. Did nothing for the next hour. Spent some time chatting to Anusha's parents online. so far so good right? I thought it was just going to be a repeat of yesterday and just about then... BANG !!!! Anusha has that gleam in her eyes that she only has when she is thinking about her favorite pastime.... CLEANING ! I knew then that this was going to be a work day. Far cry from yesterday.

So far, today has been about sorting out my old papers that I have been accumilating for a few weeks, vaccuming the house, folding clothes that Anusha has been washing... :-(( and of course, my regular, cooking. Life just gets better and better. Things aren't exactly looking up.

NOW, I get to work on getting my tax filing in.

oh... life goes on...