Love and Other Disasters

"If you'd call my name out loud,
If you'd call my name out loud,
Do you suppose that I would come running,
Do you suppose I'd come at all,
I suppose I would" --- 'Out Loud' by Dispatch

The Drama in this Drama Queens life seems to have no end. I lie here on a weeknight after having watched a chickflick.... Yes, Yes! One more about love and the disasters associated with it. The reason for staying up this late is my utter boredom and being handicapped!

The last week was spent in sunny Malta. Everywhere I looked there was blue sea, beautiful endless blue. The cliffs hung over this topaz-coloured ocean, each with their distinct expressions. The waves crashed and rose again. It seemed like nature's symphony, almost as if the waves and the rocks were trying to break down the barriers between them so that they could communicate. But they couldn't. The waves rose and crashed at the foot of every cliff, while the patient rocks waited and listened. They had done this for so long now, but still they stood over the ocean and paid it their silence and patience.

It was bliss falling asleep to the sound of the sea and waking to the cries of seagulls and boats in the Sliema harbour. Sliema is a city along the coast of Malta. I saw endless boats, the traditional ones with bright colours and the ultra-chic yatchs that millionaires used to cruise around the waters of Malta and Gozo.

It was dreamland, it was my paradise. But that was not why i was there. Killing time in the magnificence of Malta was not brought on by a holiday. My foundations had been shaken by my father who was critically ill and lying in a hospital in Malta. I flew out there to see him. Which was a complete disaster in itself.

The outbound disasters:

I flew out of London on a crisp Wednesday morning. Traffic as usual was crap....but my amazing Polish lady cab driver made sure i was there in time for check-in. So for once i was there at the airport in time and in my senses !! Not for long. The princessepa lands in Milan where she has to kill some time before boarding her flight to Malta. She doesn't make it. Alitalia changes the gate numbers at the last moment so here i am at the wrong gate hearing my name being called by Alitalia I beg and ask for help from the ground staff. No use, the flights leaves. I stay! No more flights to Malta i am told!! Not only that I had to buy new tickets to get the next flight which was more than 24 hours away! I spent three hours crying at the airport wondering how my dad was doing!! I make frantic phone calls to everyone i know. My sister in New Zealand, my friends in Amsterdam, my mother in Bombay, my friends in London, my friends in Italy etc...

However, I spent the night in Milano with a friend i had not met in 10 years!!! It was amazing to catch up over a bottle of wine and some dinner which she was gracious enough to cook for me...didn't feel like that much time had passed. Although she has been married for five years now, and i wasn't even at her wedding. I have no clue why, where was i?
Anyway, I arrived in Malta, the sun kissed my face and the wind blew into my hair...an all too comforting welcome from the forces of nature. I had a happy tune playing in my head until at the luggage department they said my bag hadn't arrived!!!

I was in the same clothes for three days already!!! ughh!!!


Anyway, I had arrived, and i was happy to see dad. He looked frail and weak. This really shook the ground beneath my feet. My dad to me is the strongest man on the planet. He is my rock, my supreme court and my world bank. Seeing him in that state snapped me into realising a lot of things.
That i needed to start saving for a rainy day, though this time it didn't pour that bad. But the sudden wake up call that your parents are getting old is a hard one to face up to.

Malta and Gozo and the Blue Lagoon!!

The islands presented me with a sense of peace and calm and 7000 years of history. They had been ruled by every perceivable power in the Mediterranean, from the Romans to the Turks to the British. This is the reason why the Maltese 'look' isn't uniform. Its a culture that has emerged from centuries of varied influences. People have names like Matthew Metcallif, showing their Arabic heritage and the very Christian present. As, I mentioned earlier, there was beauty everywhere you looked. In the old buildings, in the new ones and the golden haze everywhere brought on by the limestone constructions which reflected the sunlight in all their vigour.
Though there wasn't much time to see the splendour there was, I was content with whatever came my way. My primary purpose of being there was dad.

Big fall on the rebound

Did was discharged and in my jubilant mood i took a tumble down the stairs of the hospital rupturing a ligament in my ankle. The result, a life confined to crutches for at least two weeks and travel in wheel chair class.
It's funny how people look at you from that height. Some people stare outright, some act condescending and try to help you out even though you don't need their help. Overall, its not a very nice feeling. Though people may not mean it, they end up belittling you.


Now... back to the present...
I'm sitting with my foot propped up on a pillow laptop et all at arms length. No need to even move to get to the essentials. I haven't indulged in alcohol at all, been eating healthy and low calorie food as i fear i may be a few kilos heavier once i am able to weigh myself!!

I've watched two romantic comedies so far today and i feel very angry at myself. Was just thinking to myself why do these movies make me feel inadequate!! Like finding love is the ultimate aim if people's existence. Bull @%$*!

Anyway I still feel miserable and I know i am still the soft and disgustingly soppy stereotype of women..bleh...

That's it! Time to call it a night!!

In the Isles - Part II October 17, 2007

The next morning the journey began towards scenic seas and white cliffs. We did our sight seeing part of the tour and ended at the Needles on the Isle of Wight which has the different coloured cliffs and the needles...
It was fun :)..

there were loads of laughs on the way...
The next day saw me tired and blurry eyed at work :(

Surrounded by Sea, Guided by Lights: Isle of Wight - Part I

"The sea beckoned,

Everywhere you look,

its presence felt.

The air

heavy with sea spray.

Distant cries of seagulls,

Echo over the white cliffs.

Waves lap your feet,

an invitation for a quick dip,

the wind plays in your hair,

carrying whispers of stories

from far away oceans.

You close your eyes to the blue sky,

fighting the urge to be lost." ------------ME

Friday morning I woke up to the realisation that my immune system, had little immunity to all things viral, bacterial and environmental. It rained and it poured and people sneezed and coughed, all around me in the week that led to this fateful Friday. Not Friday the 13th but Friday close to the 30th. Perfect! Because it was close to pay day…no…actually it was pay day!!!
With renewed confidence in my finances, I woke to the usual dull and drab morning, only to realise that I was late. Extremely late for work. I was to be at my desk by 9. instead, I was still wiping off my sleep from my face at 8:30.

The crisis alarm rang in my head. It was time to call my boss and inform him that I would be late. So my fingers dialled the number and my ears patiently waited for the phone to be answered. What my fingers, ears and brain had not counted on – was the performance of my vocal chords. Until that point in the morning, except for a slight irritation in my throat and a blocked big nostril (this needs explanation: due to a comically tragic event in my youth, my nose suffered a fracture, since which time I have one big and one small nostril)
Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

So it was obvious that when I began to speak, I surprised my own self with a voice that sounded like Gandolf the Grey with a blocked nose. This, originating from me!! For a second I wasn’t sure if I was talking at all. I was advised to stay in bed, I took the advice for the next 2-3 hours. Sheer boredom drove me to have extra enthusiasm for my profession and my work. I was all set to get to work when I was advised for ‘health and safety reasons’ to stay in. (so that I don’t make other people ill)

Common sense would have told anyone to stay in bed the weekend and rest until better. But then again, when did I ever possess that virtue! So I packed my bags and began my journey to Isle of Wight via London and Bristol.

The Plan:

To get to London, meet Taeko (who was incidentally also submitting her dissertation the same day) and head up to Bristol. Then meet the rest of the gang on Saturday morning to head up to the Isle of Wight.

Why Bristol? Well, the gang that was about to set off on this arduous mission of exploring the Isle of Wight comprised of 5 individuals, two of whom were from Bristol. So the route had been mapped out. We were to drive from Bristol, via Bath and Salisbury (the short way through little lanes and the country side)

So, THE PLAN…was to meet Taeko by 6:30 to get to Bristol by 8. Never happened, only left at 8 and got to Bristol by 10. The Friday night attraction for me was to catch up with my Uncle in Bristol. Catch-up happened over midnight programmes on TV and breakfast.

Eashwar was supposed to come pick us up at 10:15, however, according to the grey cells in his brain, the time was registered at 10:50. It didn’t help matters that he had also got the post code wrong and therefore was late!!

After the morning drama of 10:15 and 10:50 Eash, Taeko and I set off to Eash’s place which was the rendezvous for the beginning of the trip (yes! It still hadn’t begun!). Finally everyone was at the same place by about 12:30. Already bloody late we set out for the Isle of Wight. Little did I know there were to be many more stops? Ravi (the dude with the car, the man in control…by in control I mean the absolute supreme controller) and his partner in crime Anand were seated in the front while Anand was playing DJ.
Eash, Taeko and me stuffed in the back. Well the other two are quite tiny, so I didn’t have problems ‘fitting’. But this time I made sure I was not going to sit in the middle. Taeko seemed to have a natural liking for the seat in the middle, which worked out just fine for me!! J *evil grin*

The Panic Pancake Stop

From a prior trip to Salisbury sometime last year(which Anand and I were a part of), Ravi had the remains of the taste of pancakes he had eaten there. The desire for this pancake drove him (and therefore automatically the rest of us) to visit Suzette’s Pancake House in the Salisbury square.
Well I am glad we did though, T and I could go to Body Shop and buy ourselves some much needed lip balm and head up the little town square to the pancake house. Once all had been consumed…we set off again to Southampton from where we took the Red Funnel ferry to East Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

The Ferry

On the ferry, we all jumped and danced around with the two digital SLRs onboard which belonged to us. Everyone was going click happy and click crazy!! We were trying to fit the whole world into a 3 x 5 frame. It is a 45 minute ride to the Isle of Wight which is brilliant when the weather is good. We had no such luck…hehe

The Hotel

The place where we hung our hats for the night was a quaint little hotel in Newport. (These Britons have an obsession with Newport as a name, its every where, there are two of them in Wales a few in England and now I found one on the Isle of Wight as well!!)
Anyway it was called the New Quay Hotel and all five of us were stuffed into one room which was an attic conversion. Truth be told, I quite liked it. It was ….cute ….hehe!!
After checking and dumping our bags we went on the hunt for food and the sea and scenic beauty. It was already twilight and rainy therefore just figuring out the scene proved difficult, let alone the scenic beauty.
Hunt for parking space followed by hunt for the beautiful sea led us to Shanklin another town by the sea where we walked along the beach and drank a bit of local ale toasting to good health while I annoyed Anand about hypocritical Indian men...just like him *wink*


The Mad Cow and Eating

Past are pre-dinner arguements we set off on foot to explore the culinary delights the island had to offer. Pub food was not an option. Ravi didn't want to eat anything Chinese. Eashwar had no opinion. I for certain didn't want to eat Italian or pub food. Taeko and I had our hearst set on a bit of sea food and some rice. It was 9 and my stomach was rumbling so loudly that it was embaressing. I feared we would never come to an agreement and all the restaurants would stop serving food. Saturday, hungry and alcohol-less!! It was going to be my worst nightmare!!

The Mad Cow came to our rescue, she offered spanish Tapas! With everything everyone liked!!! Including Sangria!!! Decision was made we dined at the Mad Cow (where I also lost my umberalla and one of the waitresses was extremely arrogant).

Live music at some random bar

Drunk on 4 huge glasses of Sangria i floated to a bar where i heard live music, Anand also floated there and so did Taeko. Ravi and Eash were not very impressed. I couldn't care less i was extremely drunk and happy!! I strutted up to the bartender and asked for another glass of red wine! (BAD BAD BAD IDEA....WORST IDEA IN THE HISTORY OF BAD IDEAS)

I vaguely remember dancing on the stairs of that place before being reprimanded and asked to get back into the car. The cool sea breeze in my hair and some annoying music in the car kept me quite happy till we reached back to the hotel. Eash and I were singing some old Hindi song in the hotel lobby trying to embaress Anand and we succeeded, he kept going "shhhh!!"

HAHAHA was so funny, till I had to lie down and then the fun stopped. Everything started going round and round. I was thinking to myself, I must be getting old! There was a time I could have done a lot more than this!!

I am glad i could fall asleep in the end...

(For reading convenience ....The rest of the story will continue in the next blog)