My friend's new house

Last night, we all went to Mona's house for dinner. Nothing extraordinary - except that Mona's just moved into her new home!!!!

Moving to your own place is such a wonderful feeling. Which is of course, accompanied by extreme exhaustion and a zero bank balance. But you're just so pleased with yourself that you know the rest is transient. And feeling happy for Mona is easy. She's so full of life and sincerity, and looking at the little corners in her house, I instantly knew the efforts that went in, as well as the look of pride in her eyes she failed to hide.

It did lead to a problem for me though.

Mona and her family live in a lovely bungalow, and my daughter has been looking at me longingly since last night to urge us to move into one. The space, the complete potential of keeping more than one dog, the wind that whistles through your teeth and the chimes that lilt... I have a HUGE problem on my hands.

We live in an apartment, and it's not bad. Except we dont have a patch of green, or the freedom to keep more dogs. But...

I'm happy for Mona and her kids. And I'm happy for my daughter because she has friends she can visit, just ten min from home... Right now, I have a secret smile that mirrors Mona's... a smile that fails to hide the pride I feel for my friend... :-)

Wild things, anyone?

I remember a bunch of us girls once went to a bar in Mumbai, and we laid bets on picking up this cute guy who was sitting with his beer. For five hundred bucks, I sweet-talked him and picked him up. Just as we reached the door, I burst into laughter and apologised to him, disclosing the bet and my giggly, high bunch of friends in the corner. He took it sportingly, joined us for a round of drinks, and left.

Later, I was told that if I were to do the same thing in Delhi, I could've been shot dead (remember Jessica Lall?), or worse. North Indian men (read Naaaarth Indian men) have an extremely inflated sense of self, hence a huge ego, and a belief that they're superior to women. Of course, there are exceptions, and the Naaarth Indian mentality is prevalent in many stuffed souls who may not geographically stem from here.

So technically, a wild night out with the girls could have ended in disaster if I was in the Naaarth. It makes me shudder. I wonder how many of you did something wild and looked back to realise it coul've been disasterous, but turned out ok... Patrique May did something wild which he's talked about. What about the rest of you?