MY WIFE AND OTHER ANIMALS - Part II

Part II - Coming of Age and  a Receding Hairline

........... continued from :
My Wife and Other Animals - (with due apologies to Gerald Durrel & the animals) - Part I

(photography courtesy Arunima Nair)

Gods own country gave us a wet farewell as my Daughter, my dog-Curry, my Wife and I set off towards amchi Mumbai. Our last trip down the same route, to Kochi, had been a tearing rush from point to point in the cauldron of fire, that is the Indian Summer. Our mode of transportation had been an ancient tank like car, the ever dependable Premier Padmini. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Mumbai and road trip later let's talk about Kochi.

The Sea from Vypin

 The moving on of bluebells, our cat, left a void in our lives, but the most traumatised was Curry. After the Calicut pitstop, I moved on ahead to Kochi to arrange for suitable dwellings for the depleted menagerie. We moved to a humble abode at Mundamveli. Humble because our standard of living shifted downwards. Literally Floor-bound. No, I didn't lose my job, its just that we had practically no furniture except, mercifully, beds (and a few Chairs that were wedding gifts). So boxes became tables and out-of-the box furniture arrangements. Ikea - match that. Mundamveli, like all of Fort Kochi area (Cochin as it is also known - Ernakulam mind you is across the channel, we'll get there soon) is as beautiful as rest of Gods own country.
{Explore at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundamveli }.

The Quintessential Fort Kochi
Chinese Fishing Netts 

  My indomitable wife and spunky daughter adapted with ease. Me - I was at sea, literally. Curry was distraught. I think it is about this time that he started showing an aggressive streak. A mixed bag, as he adored the three of us but heaven help others.  Beautiful and mystical mundamveli may be, but it has long lonely stretches. Here is where the tenacious curry came to the fore. The ever protective mother, my wife, swears to this day that 'her' Curry protected her against the evil designs of random hordes of drunk locals that abounded the area. Okay now let me clarify here, that logically, any statistical sample would not support the "number" of drunks and "number" of days theory. However, since I was mostly away, and for the sake of Marital Harmony,

Curry - The Protector

I will not dispute the  Brandy induced haze/mob/zombie army theory. And I will put it on record, (for the truth and nothing but the truth should prevail) that during my trips away, I was much at peace with Curry protecting my family.

Fort Kochi - Old World Charm

 A canine friend of curry here, was a Dalmatian called "Stupid". Stupid was a sweetheart, with a weak heart, or rather, a weak bladder. I am given to understand that the family has always had dalmatians and for some reason always called them "Stupid". So I don't know if this was Stupid the Second or Stupid the Third. Lets just stay with Stupid. Stupid would wet himself, and the surroundings, copiously, the moment anyone in his radius got angry and raised the decibel. Some found this funny and the name endearing, but well, I didn't. Firstly I'm not into Golden showers, near-miss, or of the canine or any other variety, secondly - Stupid! how can such a loveable gods creature be named that. Really!

Jew Town - Kochi

Other than a bike accident that KO'd me and our "Tank" the aforementioned adorable car slowly deteriorating in the sea breeze, the mundamveli phase passed off without any noticeable incident. Oh! Yeah the "Don hit Cully - pleeeeese don hit Cully, nooo"  incident also a happened. For that you have to read my previous post. { read here : My Wife and other Animals - Part I} 

 In a while we moved from the languid backwaters of Fort Kochi to the hot and happening Tarangini apartments at Ernakulam. This,  has been one of our favourite houses. It ticked all the boxes. It was obviously made by a guy with a tremendous sense of humor, had the best view in town and was centrally located (the icing on the cake being that it was fully furnished). Before I come to our 'Rise' in standard of living and humour I'll speak about the   LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. (for a very long time I seriously believed that, that was a Quote from the Movie Godfather - but anyway). { Tarangini : Location Map - today }

Bolgati Palace
View from our Balcony - Tarangini Apartments

 Tarangini Apartments are located at the mouth of the channel leading to the Kochi Harbour. Officially Off High court on the Marine Drive. It is located in a prime location in Ernakulam off Broadway and GCDA Shopping complex, next to the then hotspots of the city. Today the city has exploded with swanky new malls and new watering holes, that are symbols of India's growth. The Valarpadam Container Terminus, has ensured a road/bridge network to Bolgati Island and Vypin beyond that . At that time Tarangini Apartments were like the last bastion overlooking the beautiful channel, Bolgati Palace and harbour mouth, proverbially at the roads end. Indeed Tarangini was 'THE' place to be.

The trusted Kochi channel Ferry

Our 'Standard of living' rose considerably as our house was located on on the penultimate, viz the 10th Floor. The enclosed balcony held a panoramic view right upto vast expanse of the Arabian Sea. Soon we shifted our dining table and vast array of plants, that my wife has always had the propensity to collect, seawards, and the balcony became our living space. Trangini brought forth my wife's attempts to colonise our zoo. Bluebells still fresh in our minds and Curry becoming even more possessive, we set up a fish maternity ward. Too small for me to steal and cook. But I swear they were breeding faster than rabbits. Maybe, just maybe, they were being replenished at a fast pace. I still wonder. The place had added benefits. Party Zone, a fantastic set of neighbours and friends at close call and our daughters play school located at the ground floor. This was the place where she went school for the first time and began the process of growing wings that will one day take her on her own journey. I remember the day when she went to kindergarten by bus. My wife tearfully holding onto a stoic and beetroot red, me. The official married-man story is that "we" held onto each other. But anyway thats life.

Poetic - Gibran in our 'Living Space'

 Humour or weird? The apartments were designed with two towers at both ends like a folded hands, Indian Namaste, connected with a long stretch of a lower 4 story (or was it 5? - I forget) complex. The weirdness extended to within! Each floor had a differently designed floor plan and size. The top floor in the towering Namaste having the worst deal.  A kind of two storied house, with a staircase within and a seven-dwarfs like attic sized bedroom, with skylight kind of windows. Yeah and the - more often than not - phenomenon of the lifts breaking down was another bonus. But we loved the house, curry learnt how to navigate lifts and we learnt how to climb 10 flights of stairs without having to break into a sweat (ideal pit stops with friends at various floors and coaxing cajoling the lift mechanic and inducing him with the local favourite - 'braaandie') .

Languid Backwaters

One of our buildings fitness enthusiasts learnt the tenacity of curry the hard way. One day (maybe that was his first and last day at this experiment) he decided that climbing the stairway to heaven and health lay through the 10th floor landing. Curry my wife and I had just returned post a leisurely stroll (a venture timed with the life cycle of the elevators). By the time our adventurer reached our doorstep he was almost wiping the floor with his knees. "Be forewarned", I said,"the dog bites" and turned to unlock our door. However, our exhausted, sweaty, floor wipe, threw caution to the winds, and, as we approached our house door, he stretched his hands out for some support(crazy huh!?) and caught a handful of Curry. I swear, I've never heard a man YELP so loud. Curry defty nipped the offender in his luscious bum. I guess he sprinted down faster than he had ascended. News spread fast. My family was safe again.

Ferry Ride in the new car

The sea weather caught up with our beloved Tank - Premier Padmini - car. One day in the middle of the jam packed "Jo's" Junction we heard a loud explosion that was followed by a louder rattling and screeching sound accompanied with minor coughs and spurts. Quite surprisingly no matter how fast we drove the sounds followed us and grew persistently louder. Everybody including us, tried to locate the source of this commotion, till we all realised, that, it was us. A part of the exhaust manifold and pipe had collapsed and given way. The car was being held together by paint, rust and sheer will power. The purchase of a new Air conditioned car was thrust upon us. The buying decision rested solely on the fact that it was tall enough to house Curry and big enough to hold luggage for a road trip. Thus we set up for another round of adventures in and around Kerala in our brand new Wagon-R. We gave the food and geography of gods own country our abundant attention and were getting fat and content. Pause - I was getting fat, "we" were content. As the hairline receded the time came for us to pack our bags and move again.

Off to Mumbai, the beaches of Marve, Malad. A stop-over at Karwar. Gabbar the gigantic Boxer, the warm hearted hosts Ami and Teddy.  But that my friends is the next story. So long..........

I leave you with photo essay that can help one catch but a glimpse of Gods own country

(photography courtesy Arunima Nair)

A must in Kerala - Houseboat holiday

Backwaters

My receding hairline 

A family game, invented by me, that kept kids engaged for long hours - Plonking
(endlessly splashing water with a long stick)

Curio shop at Jew Town - genuine and manufactured antiques

(photography courtesy Arunima Nair)

IIM Lucknow - Back to school after 27 Years and associated Ladies and Gentlemen

Week One : New Beginnings - At B School 

Welcome to the Misty Temple

          Why do they call it a B school? Well Ok I'm not that dumb - I know what B stands for, I'm here after all. The point I'm trying to make is, that these are the A list  institutions of our country. And they have made the second spot "B" hot, and Primma Donna -"A" - redundant. Before you, the reader, jumps to any conclusion, let me clarify. THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT B SCHOOLS, nor is this any self gratifying monologue about me getting a foot into the door. This is about life's journey. Groan, did I just say that? Well! Ok its about ME - naturally - AND a bunch of 40 plus (a few minus 40s and a few who grudgingly accept that it is much more than 40). It's about people who make life what it is - Interesting! But first about ME - before we talk of the "Associated". Afterall every bit of a journey has to have starts and short-stops!

Goodbye 2016

      Cold is not cold till you've lived it. New  Years day  2017 was warm. Kind of light  and fluffy. The day started off with fireworks - not the domestic.... indifference variety. A new years party, music, food, friends and most importantly family. A few hours later I bid adieu to my wife, daughter, dog, cat, garden and that sanctuary called home and set off back home. Home Visakhapatnam - the city of destiny. Home, Lucknow - the City of Nawabs, where my parents live.  Back to where it all started. It was like yesterday, nearly 25 and a half years back, that my parents saw me off from Charbagh Railway station, Lucknow. To set me off on a journey of adventure tacking to blue waters. That, the journey had to first traverse through Naval  Academy, and various human indignities like - bogs on Sunday morning, rolling crawling, heat sessions, seventh heaven and many more - that it bonded a bunch of green horns into band of brothers, is another story. Like the greeks and romans of yore who first learnt the art of war, before stepping into the milder domain of school. It took four more years before reaching us on the high seas with a Nelsons ring and a golden stripe on the shoulder, but that, is yet another story.   A glorious life, a life of whites and blues, a life of dignity, a life full of challenges smiles, storms and rainbows. Nothing like a starry night and the great blue yonder.
   

Lucknow Airport - Don't ask why I got the Golf set along!
 Its still lying at my parents place

     I'll jet forward to 01 Jan 2017. New beginnings, marking the beginning of the end of a life well lived. New Beginnings to a life of fresh adventure and challenges. Bring it on.  I landed at Chaudhary Charan Singh, 'Amausi', Airport Lucknow at around 1330hrs - One thirty pm for the uninitiated - and was engulfed with the childhood memories of the warmth of Lucknowi Tahzeeb and hit with  a cold January day.    Cold is not cold till you've lived it. Kindof weird, I had spent my childhood here. Cycled to school on the same countless  foggy January mornings. Right now, right here, every pore of my body was frozen stiff. 

       

     My first impression of IIM L was - lost! Where am I?  Is this the hallowed portal of knowledge? Is this the fabled jumping board that catapults people onto the heady highs of corporate life? Ok, to be fair, we got a little lost. After a short pit stop - Home (where mom loaded 'her little boy'  {more like embarrassed big boy, as I was with a colleague} with Quilts, snacks to last a lifetime, and other miscellaneous knick-knacks) - we reached IIML Gate without incident. (A point here, I certify - MOM KNOWS BEST. These numerous knick-knacks are life savers. Love you mom).

Room with a View - All Fogged out

    Oh, yes back to the narrative! So yes we got lost. Apparently the internal road network at the institute was undergoing major repairs, so we had to use a gate further on. The guard welcomed us with a smile, gave us directions, and to good measure (maybe because my best recall of Lucknowi Hindi was way below par) gave us ominous warning of villages and wildlife beyond the haven of the campus. A road led to a thin village path! And we got lost. Thinking back, how, is a question I still cannot answer. Needless to say by the time we thankfully reached  the required destination it was near dark and we were engulfed with a white, bone chilling, blanket of Fog. Three flights of stairs - so this is what is meant by carrying your own load and feeling it at every step - led us to a comfortable snug room. Warm and cozy and with an  ever smiling a courteous housekeeping staff  - the place which would be home for the better part of the year.

   

All Layered Up

The Brothers - friendly as can be
That's in the air here
Warm and welcoming

     We set off on a journey of discovery and the first attire that I shed - was attitude- nah not the personality one - attitude of - "Oh! this is Lucknow winters, big deal, I grew up here". On came the monkey cap (to protect the big wise bald pate)  and layers of  thermals et all. The first sign of 'Wildlife' was of the canine variety. The 'brothers' gave us a smiling welcome. Though they were prudent enough to follow/lead us only uptill  the students mess, and unlike us did not go around on exploratory walks, in this cold cold weather. Walks we took, a one too many. Needless to say I came down with a nasty cough and cold. Humbled I discovered the campus doctor and the chemist and the friendly Sardarji Stationery wala. The Shopkeepers welcomed us like the knowledgeable sages who have hand held streams of similar 'students' that pass through 'Prabandh Nagar'(as this the place is called). My coursemates, who were not lucky enough to have 'Mom' in station, were accordingly kitted up with quilts, buckets and various other accoutrements in quick time. A special mention-in-dispatches to the Sardarji who indulgently withstood my (even poorer than Lucknowi Hindi) attempts to converse with him in Punjabi.

     In a later 'Welcome' address we were told about many things, a few of which stand out in memory:-

Welcome to Manthan

• Lush green campus (all covered with white)

• Abundant wildlife - Peacocks - (heard not seen by me), Snakes, including two pythons (mercifully not seen) and dogs - lots of them and friendly ones at that. 

• Something about, Heads will roll - this gladdened the very cockles of my heart - as, primarily it was not directed at us and as this was the only familiar language from the life that I was going  to leave behind .

   So we set off on a circular, sedate, perambulatory exploratory journey, much like Indiana Jones - wary and anticipatory of chance encounters with the reptilian wildlife (the whole campus is apparently set in some - 'logical' circular fashion) And - we managed to get lost again, and again and again. But lost just meant a couple of minutes before a friendly figure would emerge ghost like from the foggy white to point us in the right direction.

     At this point I'd not like disclose who are the other(s) who constitute "we".  Let me introduce some of my coursemates - sorry in the local parlance - batchmates. All 48 of them, some are introduced below.

Dramatis Personae : 

Me-Butter won't melt in my mouth - gyani baba ( spend half an minute with me and I'll tell you everything that you want to and don't need to know)

The Orator-we all are budding/aspiring- Jai Bakshi Ji

The Meek one - Yaaron da yaar. Can remain still and silent for prolonged periods (between each nano second)
The Buddy (of the Meek and all in general) - The meek shall inherit the earth

Mr Funnyman - a joke for all occasions, wanted or unwanted

Nuclea- not the DJ wala bhaiya, the brainiac

Prince Charming - Lightly he steps, hunter killer - sorry ladies- he's married (Beware)

Rock Solid - Need I say more. Correlation and logic his forte
The Chosen One - Neo anyone!!
Pun-dit-ji - Dit by dit, sorry, bit by bit this Media Savvy Sage will Communicate all
The Yoda - meditation is based on an experience call self realisation
Bindas - Jovial, Fun loving and carefree - Butter - hai kya? I love butter ( one of the many food stuff available in abundance in the Mess)

The Cool ( as Cumber) 1 - suave

The Cool 2

Other Cool ones - to be (de)classified later

The Cowboy - wears thin half sleeved Tee's in the arctic too. Jim's Gym and footer partner. The cool dude

The Jimnast - his gym routine will kill you, if not his looks. 

The Fighter Pilot- There's an old mucht used tag line/joke - how do you recognize a fighter jock in a room - Well, he'll tell ya
The Red Baron - for those who know history, he's not a fighter pilot, but smooth and dapper as the moniker

The others who shall be introduced in a later chapter

    So long till next time when we shall meet the other characters 

        

Rediscovering  Shahaj YOGA