Albeit a little too late, a fond farewell to 2008.
Which despite some sad stuff, turned out kaafi great!
*This Bollywood fan discovered the modern “Mela” of life – where you re-unite with ‘bichdey’ parivaar & friends ….. FACEBOOK!! Where letters, phone calls, visits …. didn’t work, FB to the rescue – nephews, nieces, long lost saathis, young friends, all sprouted like fresh dhaniya & voila, we E-hugged & E-bonded! If u can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em on the parallel universe, FB!
*This year revealed the secret behind my karmic connection to the one, the only, the “historical”, hysterical Himesh Reshammmaiyyya …. his topi was shed & guess what; I realized that he & I shared the same hairstyle!!
*Adi Chops taught us to ‘dhoondo Rabb’ in our jodis – only problem is that my Suri Ji will have to contend with many Rabbs, given my ‘healthy’ proportions …. he can find Lakshmi, Parvathy, Saraswati, Durga …. ample space here for all of ‘em & more! A whole temple, in fact!
*The landmark US elections taught us that losers can be winners too … John McCain’s speech conceding defeat was so gracious & a real class act!
*Discovery of the year was that Barkha “Butt” of NDTV had feet of clay – how the mighty fell! Lots of valuable print space was wasted on her hotly defending herself – me thought the lady protested too much! With the bouquets come the brickbats, Ms Butt! Part of the territory, mere dost!
*Witnessed the grossest scene ever, in one of the coolest films of the year – Slumdog Millionaire! Gut-wrenching, hard-hitting, awesome & the happy, philmy ending is the icing on the cake! Back to the disgusting scene I was talking about – when the little boy jumps into a pool of crap …
*2008 also marked the end of a love affair – mine with 007! Yeah, yeah, Daniel Craig is hot, vulnerable & honest, but who the hell wants reality???! I miss the one-liners, the flirtatious ways, the womanizing, the oh-so-cool gadgets … & how can a Bond movie happen without “Bond, James Bond”???!
*Attained enlightenment on Rabb’s (the real God & not Suri Ji!) mysterious ways … like I have been whining about never having purchased a mobile phone of my own & sadly had to do with leftovers from beti & my Mister! But when I did finally buy an exciting, shiny, purple contraption, I just couldn’t get the hang of it … the latest in a series of mishaps by this clumsy Sagittarian was a sms “free to chat” meant for my “Chaathi Saathi” (bosom pal!) Nalini, which went out to all my contacts. Imagine the recipients of this msg ranged from my houseboy (whose ringtone is a romantic Tamizh song!), the laundry delivery man & the surly Chinese guy who sells us DVD’s! That’s why God didn’t want me to get a phone!!!!
*Finally understood that clichéd saying – When in Rome …
For the first time in my considerably long life, I went gold shopping by myself. With no ‘mummy’ (I am a loyal fan of Himesh Reshammmmaiyyyya!) or Kaushik-garu around, when the gold price dipped just before Diwali, yours truly rushed alone to the only gold shop open on a Friday morning – a Malayali outlet! There are a few rare times in my life when I count my blessings for being big … this was one of them! In a shop full of chattering, noisy men, buying gold like it was alu-tamattar, the store guys looked through my large looming presence like I didn’t exist. In a land of Malayalis, there was no room/time for the ‘non-Malayali’! When the shutters were half shut & I realized that time was running out on me, did something which amazes me even now as I write this – desperation is the mother of invention & innovation!
To my very bad Tamizh, I added a nasal twang & croaked out something like ‘nyaanu Pallakaadu’ or something! While I was taking a valiant shot in the dark, my newly acquired lingo had the effect of “Open Sesame”!! It worked & in no time I had a smiling Mallu salesman attending to me & I walked out of the store, a satisfied customer!
*Bid alvida to 2008 by ganging up with old friends, getting sloshed, playing a rowdy round of antakshari & trance dancing to Kishore Kumar numbers … the gen next, our yuva peedi, watched us with disgust & horror & locked themselves up ... the circle of life wouldn’t be complete if you didn’t completely disgrace yourself in front of your children! So where that’s concerned I can say, dhan dhana dhan, GOAL!
