Me, the Thrill Seeker.

Yes, I know its been a while. 

No, I'm not dead yet. 

Yes, I'm back home in Tech City. 

The Big Apple was a looooong time ago (and I'm planning another trip!!)

So, like I said before (here) .... I'm a thrill seeker. Serenity doesn't understand or share my love for being scared to death - but he accepts it and even encourages it. This, then, is the story of how I walked off into empty space 150' above the ground (that's the height of a 10 storey building!!) with a rubber band tied to my legs! Not a mob hit, but pretty much walking the plank..... also called Bungee Jumping.

Oh wait! Did I just let you think I did that peacefully and calmly with no hysteria whatsoever?? You're in for a BIG disappointment! :D 

I was part of this event conducted at a popular mall in Tech City, and the Event Manager told me to come and have a shot at it (with Serenity and whoever else I wanted to invite!). The event was being setup with the guidance of one of the best Bungee Jumpers in the world, he's done stunts for 007 !! So I went. Serenity did not accompany me. A visiting friend did. He resolutely decided to stay on the ground though! So I get all geared up, kitted out, take many brave pictures going up etc etc.. and then I'm in a cage with one side open, hanging at 150' from a crane and looking out on building tops and skyline.......

THIS is the point where my legs turned to water, my blood ran cold, and I almost S#@& my pants. Yeah, you can laugh now. I had a death grip on the cage.... got till the edge with pretty much only my heels resting on the platform..... but could I "Conquer my fear" (as I had so snidely put on all the artworks!) and let go off the damn cage and step off? I'd also like to clarify that at this point, it had gotten dark, so I could only see the little lit circle of the landing area..... and lights..... "Dont look down, look straight ahead at that tower over there!" didn't help either!!! The guys in the cage did the count for me..... MANY times! 1, 2, 3... GO!! 

ummmm..... I didn't. 

I just clung to the cage, stood there and pondered my life for a while..... begged them to give me a little push.... which they will NOT do. So I figured, if they're not going to push me, I'm not going to jump. After over 10 minutes up there in that swaying monstrosity and hearing everyone yelling "jump, jump, JUMPPPP!!!!" from way up there, I came down. And didn't do it. I chickened out. 

You haven't seen a Walk of Shame like that one, believe me!! I felt about 2 inches tall. 

I squirmed every time I thought of it. Had difficulty sleeping that night, picturing myself on the edge of that cage over and over. Just the thought of it had my palms going cold and clammy again!

BUT. 

I DID JUMP!! A whole month later, but I did. TWICE!  So now, I can take that off the Bucket List! :D The Event Manager, he's done a ton of jumps. He told me they'd never push me.... but they COULD let go! 

So that's what I did this time..... 

They held on to my harness while i leeeeeeaned out..... and let go on the count of 3 (I had to give verbal agreement, though talking was the last thing I felt like doing)!!! I was FALLING!!! And yowling! .... and then the yowling turned to squealing once I opened my eyes and started enjoying it! All too quickly (read a minute and a half) I was being lowered to the landing bed. Over? Already??? And because they saw how much I enjoyed it, they asked if I wanted to go again!! SO I DID!!! Two back-to-back jumps!! 

IT WAS AWESOME!!

Would I do I again? HELL YEAH! 

Am I feeling like the bee's knees? OH YES!

Mad Mallu goes to the Big Apple!!

 So, after long LONG hiatus, here I am again.... and writing in from the Big Apple!! Calamity is on a walking and eating tour of the city - exploring the Upper East side on foot - eating and walking .... and then eating some more! So far, I've done the Guggenheim and the New York City Museum, a part of Central Park, lots of window (and real!) shopping. I LOVE reading the inscriptions on the benches in Central Park... even shot a couple!! Walked into a frame shop because the display was so colourful, the proprietor turned out to be Bangladeshi! The picture below the frames is of the Rotunda, the atrium in the Guggenheim.... and the last picture is of a couple of my nieces' snowglobes...

Yesterday, I walked into this quaint little shop which had the COOLEST stuff.... and the friendliest shop-owner....She was TALL!! Her shop had these cushions and plaques on the wall with the coolest sayings! And Oh yes! Indian shopkeepers!!  I've made friends with a LOT of Indian shopkeepers! Seems like a lot of the hotdog vendors are Bangladeshi, and the convenience store guys are Indian.... The bagel shop I go to is owned by a guy from Delhi, who was SO thrilled to talk in Hindi with me!!

Today was absolutely magical... ended up near Central Park and walked into a church - which had THE most gorgeous stained glass windows.... went and sat in the chapel, I was alone... and then this gent came along and sat down at the piano and just played.... and played.... and all I could do was stay... and listen. Walked through Central Park and was lured by the sound of a violin.... there was a wedding happening near one of the fountains (small, intimate, beautiful little wedding..... sighhhhh!!) and this lady was playing the violin... again, stayed for a while, listened and left..... Walked around the rest of the day with the happiest smile on my face, only to have a cabbie smile and wave, and when I waved back, he said "Te quiero!" I must have looked baffled, because he said "I love you!" and drove away!! 


New York's been great so far, hotdogs, sushi, super salads and cheesecake all the way!!
I'm loving this, but I miss my Serenity....

The Cooker Monsters!

Another one of Mimi's brilliant ideas (no, I'm not being sarcastic!) that I actually bought into is this one - 

A cooking blog..... She cooks, I cook, we put up pictures and recipes! And its gone LIVE today!!

And so, ladies and gentlemen...... presenting.... *cue fanfare*.......

The Cooker Monsters!

Mid -week Nom Noms!

Mushrooms, Leeks and Parsley come together in this mushroom pie / quiche.... Accompanied by strawberries and sweetened vanilla whipped cream! Yayyyyy Tuesday night dinner!! 

Conversations....

So what do people who've been married 4 years talk about? If you've been a reader of this blog  piece of verbal diarrhea, you won't have ANY trouble figuring out who's saying what!


1. "So if there's a zombie apocalypse and you've turned into a zombie, will you spare me or bite me too so we can be zombies together?"
(the answer for this became very convoluted - on how zombies are not human and he wouldn't want to make me one etc etc)
2. "Why do you love me?"
    "Because you're special..."
    "Special as in retarded???"
3. "What's the one job you'd NEVER EVER do?"
    "Manual drain cleaner.... and you?"
    "Oh! a butcher! Definitely never a butcher. I like being non-vegetarian."
4. "One super power you'd like to have?"
    Me: Flight!!!
5. "If we were friends, or had friends in common, do you think we'd have still ended up together?"
    "No."
    "Why not?"
    "Because."
6. "There's a 70% off sale at my favourite shoe store...."
    "Are you competing with Imelda Marcos???" *looking exasperatedly at the 2 overflowing shoe racks.*
7. "If I died tomorrow, how soon will it be before you remarry?"
    "Never, I'd miss you too much."
    "Awww.... but you know I'd want you to be happy etc etc"
    "Okay, maybe a couple of years."
    "That's IT?? You'd get over my dying in a COUPLE of years??" *sulk sulk*
    

My Four Year Old...

I have a 4 year old...... which is happy and giggly and bouncy most of the time, and sometimes weepy and sulky and stubborn. No, I do not refer to Serenity. Serenity and Calamity have now been married for 4 years, and the temperamental 4 year old is our Marriage!


How time flies!! We have days and weeks that'll go by in beautiful machine-like precision like a well-orchestrated ballet.... and then suddenly one day, we feel like we're all over the place and then sparks fly. I think the move to Tech City has been the best thing for us as a couple, given the fact that the City-which-wakes-up-early caused me nothing but angst. We're SO much better now (because I am so much happier now!)... happier - which I think is MOST important. 


Yesterday felt like any other day - morning hugs, a working day.... and then in the evening we both got all dolled up and went for a fancy sushi dinner, came home and opened the Ardbeg and sat chatting on the balcony like we used to in the City-that-wakes-up-early. Those balcony chats were always special, sitting in the darkness, having a drink and just talking, talking, talking. It was how we got to know each other - and it was quiet time and it was for us alone. 


Considering how we had a (not so typical) Arranged Marriage, we had a lot of "getting to know one another" to do. The balcony chats were when he told me what irritated him about me, and I told him about the things he did that pissed me off. It was neutral ground somehow, and nothing that was said could be taken offense to (that was one of the ground rules!).... and so over 4 years, we rubbed each other's corners raw, got angry, frustrated and wanted to break things.... and made up....and stayed together. We still fight, of course, but we're a lot better at dealing with it. Serenity has figured how to make a PISSED OFF Calamity laugh in the middle of her yelling and tears.... and then he shakes a finger at me and says "You laughed, so you can't be angry any more!"....and yes, it IS usually left to Serenity to make me laugh, because if Serenity laughs during a fight, you can put money on the fact that I will NOT be calming down - the opposite in fact!!


In our wedding pictures, there's more than one picture where I look worried and pre-occupied, questioning myself whether this was what I wanted - to marry him and move to a city I had no one in.... I look uncertain and scared even. I can confidently say today, I made the right choice. Marriage has been different from single life, but Serenity's been SO good to me, good for me. We've grown into this marriage, like a pair of leather shoes that pinch when you wear them the first time and now just fit your feet like a glove that was made especially for it, it feels sometimes like we've always been together..... and yet, just like those shoes, when you stop and look at them, they look great - a little scuffed maybe, but they make you feel like you're on top of the world and they warm and protect. (God! Typical woman - SHOE metaphors????? - I can SO picture him saying that!)

So yeah, like I said, my "shoes" are 4 years old, scuffed, comfortable and with a LOT of wear left in them - they're my favourite pair in the world !!

Regrets of the year gone by....

1. I STILL haven't made my website. Bad, bad, BAD girl ! (how am I EVER going to widen that freelance web??)
2. I didn't stay in touch enough.....
3. I STILL haven't hit my target weight.
4. I made it to Thailand, sans Serenity, but not the other places I had planned to visit with him.
5. I didn't save as much as I should have.
6. Though I have mellowed (quite a bit, according to me..... not enough, according to Serenity), I'm still not zen enough to not yell and scream and get homicidal when we fight.
7. I STILL hate my killjoy partypooper bitch of a neighbour.
8. I don't get enough exercise. 
9. I shopped wayyyyyy too much..... also refer point #5.
10. I've stopped checking my glucometer, I don't think I'm making much progress with keeping my blood sugar levels down.....also,
11. I haven't gone back to my diabetologist in a year almost.


.....and as far as resolutions go, well.... its the 6th of Jan and its not like I kept mine even on the 1st, so the less said about that, the better!