Strange Woman

R came down with a bunch of his friends this Tuesday. As wifey isn't here, so my house is kind of a 'hang-out' place for them - well, I don't mind. After finishing the beer that R brought, we went out for a drive to play pool, all the way to Salt Lake. As the manager put it "..the only club/bar in calcutta where you can smoke and drink."
Oh well.
Once there, our friend Scott (let's call him that) got engaged with a group of ladies from Xaviers, who more than welcomed him. Being a bachelor, we just let him be. From the look of his face, I knew he was irritated with the blaring bollywood music in the background and all I could see was him shouting at her ears.

A few minutes later, they parted, and he joined us.

Scott: "Strange woman...ajeeb ladki hai, bhaav dikha rahi hai"

Me: "What happened?"

Scott: "Well, I asked her where she was from and she said 'THE US'...some NRI crap, you know. Well Jimmy., just to have my own trip, I asked her 'what part of India is that?' and she kind of looked at me funnily and said South India"

Me: Okay

/I had a good laugh nonetheless

Turning 30...it IS special

Spent most of the night alone. Went to a club with R, played pool with his boring friend...Talked to Nepali Raja and Captain - All that 'Nepali' could tell me was about the @#$% that's happening in Kathmandu - yeah, his Dad was a Mayor in Kathmandu.
"You guys are fucked up and how come you allowed these 'so-called' elite in Kathmandu exploit those folks in the villages?"

"Jimmy, I don't want to talk about it now. Just call me in this number..ok?"
Lots of developments:

Rupen is married - LOL (Love you bro, miss your company a lot! - the authentic Mizo stuff is still on the way) :D

An announcement: As Insi put it, this would 'probably' be the last birthday that I 'might' celebrate as a non-parent. Yeah right, Ateii's pregnant.

Missed the presence of Dad and Ateii a lot on my birthday.

For Dad (from Kolkata)
...

HOME

This happens - always! I come back from a vacation/holiday, enter my apartment, and I end up asking, "Is this home? Is this where I belong?" Whenever I go for my vacations - that could be going back to saddi dilli, or going to a place called 'home' in Aizawl. Since 1999, I've been moving around - Delhi, Pune, Chandigarh, Chennai, now Kolkata. Yeah, Microsoft - Beijing was another call. All I end up asking myself is "Where do I belong?"

What is HOME? Where is it? Am I a Delhiite? Is my home in a place called Mizoram? Thanks to someone, I happened to hear of a THING called Third Culture Kids. Am I one? I think so. I'm just a misfit everywhere, be it Delhi, Mizoram or Pune. Gosh, I shudder at the thought of having my kid being as confused as I am.

Off topic blabber - I go home on vacation to our good ol' house in Rohini or say Aizawl. My thoughts meander at one thing - the cobbler is still there, the barber has a new 'machine', the 'General store' owner who used to sell some cheap Deo(s) now sells 'parfums', and the errant and loud Dilli neighbour is still there. Nothing, NOTHING has changed but what have I noticed is, I have changed and it is ME who has changed. I look at the place differently . I look at all of it so differently. Gypsy for life?