GCF - Girls Chat Forum

From being the only girl in the team, to entering a team that had more women than men, my professional journey has bestowed me with a wide variety of experiences in terms of people and relationships.

This friendship day, I’d like to celebrate my team girls, who are one of the biggest support systems both on and off work. I’m really glad and grateful to have them in my life. Each of them are unique and inspire me in a variety of ways. 

1. Swetha - Well, the first girl I got to interact with when I joined into work. Surprisingly, she also happened to be someone I’d known from my previous stint with the company, but hadn’t interacted much. She’s definitely the most caring soul I’ve ever met. One of the biggest connoisseurs of all things food and kids. I believe she’s the happiest when trying out new foods or talking about her kids, absolutely dotes on them. She’s also a meticulous planner and always thinks of the best things you could gift someone for their special occasions. 

2. Subi - My pillion rider (soon to become my driver - she’s getting her driving license this month, yayyy!!). She’s possibly the gang’s most disciplined and health conscious one - always on the lookout and trying healthy, eco-friendly sustainable alternatives. Our conversations as we ride to and from office are something that I really look forward to. She’s always ready to share all her new learnings together with what’s worked for her. And oh, how can I forget, she never fails to follow up on me when I commit some task / routine to her. Drops a gentle message or quick nudge over the desk to check if I’m progressing with it or not. Accountability partner of sorts.

3. Srinidhi - My buddy at work, the one from whom I took in the role transition. To describe Srinidhi in one word - proactively hard-working. She’s always on the lookout for what might come next on her work table, and ensures she’s already on it. And god, she’s quite meticulous, in the sense that she never shies away from multiple follow ups and collaborating with a multitude of people to get the things done. Side note, the two things that can always lift up Srinidhi’s moods are - Ice creams and movies / series. 

4. Swedha - This is one chutti kozhandhai of the gang. She was possibly the youngest (or rather one of the youngest) of the gang at some point in time. She’s a creative genius. Our self-appointed photographer and reels creator. Always has a ton of ideas up her sleeve, pushes us do the acting and last,  but not the least, produces a perfectly edited masterpiece that’ll forever be beautiful memories for us to look back on. 

5. Madhu - I’m always in awe of Madhu for the way she puts forth her thoughts and opinions. She’s one of the most bold and confident women I have ever seen, quite vocal who never backs away from challenging things. I don’t know if it’s just me or do others also feel this - she’s brings in a completely different perspective to a lot of things that we discuss, given the plethora of topics she reads about, making it all the more interesting. Also, the gang’s the first and best chauffeur (just kidding). The only girl from the team that drives her car to work, and 90% of the time brings along people with her (carpooling) - good job on being socially responsible Madhu. Side note - She makes the best Risotto and Wraps (with some lip-smacking dips!!)

6. Thamil - A mostly quiet but keen observer, Thamil is the best version one could wish for about their health. I truly admire the ‘way of life’ in her family, about how health is given the utmost priority, over anything else. Her meals are always the most nutritious with a variety of vegetables. She’s the gang’s OG in terms of staying away from sweets / desserts. Always happy to skip them, while most of us would go weak on our knees over the mention of a waffle or basundhi.

7. Maha - The most optimistic person in the whole gang. She’s the one person who always looks at the best in everything. I’ve never met someone like her, always bubbling with joy. Even when she’s complaining about something, she never loses the smile on her face. She’s by far the one person in the gang with the widest variety of experiences and that definitely shows in the way she looks at things. Always inquisitive, observing and appreciating little things about all the people she’s interacting with, never failing to share it all with us, she’s someone I look up to. 

8. Sreeja - Mostly to herself, but really sweet when you talk to her. She’s one person that is very disciplined, once committed to something, especially with diet. Most of us don’t bother about hoarding ourselves on some days, but Sreeja is always mindful. 

9. Sowmiya - Another one of my buddies, who’d been away for a while on a sabbatical when I joined, but was back again last year. She’s chatty and witty, and very easy to converse with. Quite an ardent web/OTT series lover, she’s always open to recommendations and provides honest feedback. 

10. Priscilla - The one who always radiates calm and composure. I quite admire the fact that she comes up with really interesting questions in the various meetings. Questions that are usually practical, but never get asked in the forums for the fear of repercussions. 

11. Devi - A fairly new girl to the team, she’s one enthu bundle, always ready to try out new things and is curious about everything. I’m quite sure she holds this whole gang as dear as I do, feeling super grateful to have landed in this role. 

12. Darsini - My very own junior. She’s all that I wish I was when I was younger. She’s quiet but curious, always giving her best to solve any issues or questions that come her way, ever willing to help in any which way she can! Her transition into this role happened in quite a jiffy, but she took it in all too well, and is definitely doing a great job at it Gosh, this is going on like a performance review, sorry Darsh! But yes, she’s super sweet and a die-hard fan of dramas in all languages other than Tamil, lol, just kidding - she adores K-Dramas, watches a bit of J- and C-dramas too I believe (for the uninformed K is for Korean, J Japan and C Chinese)

There also a couple of others, like Keerthana and Vimala, who have very recently joined our team, and slowly getting to know us I hope and wish they enjoy our company. 

And with that, I wrap up my friendship post, forever grateful for having these girls in my life. Here’s to more years of fun and food :) Happy Friendship Day!! 

Happiest Birthday Swetha!

Oh Swe, where do I even start? It’s only fair to start from the very beginning. The first time I ever met you was back in 2015, when you were part of Uma’s wider team. We didn’t get to interact a lot, but I remember your smile, the very-genuine-reaching-up-to-your-eyes kinda smile. There were the occasional hi-byes when we crossed paths during the day but don’t quite remember a lot of conversation happening.

Cut to June 2022, I join back Barclays, but this time into your team. I didn’t know this until I started, and honestly you were the first best thing that happened to me at that time. I used to tell a lot of people that rejoining Barclays felt a lot like Homecoming, because of all the people, and you are definitely in the top of that list. Somehow the conversations right from the beginning felt very natural, as if some old friends reconnecting after a long gap. What with having a lot of things in common, like, sharing birth years, mat leaves (lol), kiddos sharing same birthday months, the mutual love of food - Gosh, all these things that connected us closer. You are such a joy to talk to. Always bustling with enthu, and a warm smile.

The one thing that always stands out about you, the one that always inspires me is - your care! All these 3 years, I have seen you care, for every one of us in the team, the kids, your family, friends and anybody that you know. The amount of care and love you shower to the people around you is something that’s truly admirable. It seems so easy and natural coming from you. You diligently follow up when someone calls in sick or has any issues. I still remember the one time I called in sick, and you had whole list of remedies that I should be looking at, and constantly followed up with me. Thanks for always being there, Swe. No matter what, I’ll also be there for you, always and forever. 

The next thing that probably has us, or rather our whole girls’ gang connected is FOOD. That’s possibly the one topic that we never tire of talking about or experimenting. The ideas that are shared over lunch, tried in the respective kitchens and brought in to taste another day, has got me feeling orey the wow, what did I even do to deserve such a lovely gang of people. I sincerely think we could start a food blog with all the recipes that we’ve shared amongst us and enjoyed savouring. You are our gang’s best man(woman) to pull everyone for a break when we are sulking over long spreadsheets or never-ending meetings. Oh my, those 6-8months when you were on mat leave after the birth of Jaanu, we really felt the vacuum. The breaks were never the same and we couldn’t wait for you to come back. So glad to have you back at work since November. 

Guess I should probably stop here and tell what I’ve been skipping to in the first 20 lines - Happiest Birthday Swetha!! May you light more souls with your care and talk and, let the universe shower you with abundance of joy and happiness for the years to come :) Thank you so much for coming into my life, and I do hold our relationship very dearly. 

Love,

Gayu

🚂magaluru (Chikmagaluru)

I have always gone on trips with friends from school / articleship / Ctc, but never with people from work. It started quite on a whim between me and a couple of colleagues, and before we knew it we had a group of 14 people readily agree to join. And thus went the first office trip, to Varkala in 2023. Like every other gang, after a couple of months since that trip we’ve been going around in circles trying to plan something similar once again - in an attempt to make it a yearly ritual. But as it always happens, the trip kept eluding us - time, budget, choice of places - each one of us wanted to do a different destination. The conversations kept happening now and then, but nothing materialised for 1.5 years.

Finally, by the end of February 2025, about 6 of us sat together and finalised the dates and destination for the trip - the Good Friday long weekend - Chikmagaluru. As we opened up the option to rest of folks at work, we arrived at a total of 9 confirmed interests (8 of us from Chennai, and one guy from Bangalore). Accommodations and travel tickets were booked. We were to take a bus from Chennai to Bangalore and then hire a van from Bangalore to Chikmagalur. 

So, Thursday night, 17 April, we take the overnight bus from Koyambedu to Bangalore. The excitement that we are actually doing the trip kept a few of us wide awake for a couple of hours, in which we ended up playing a couple of rounds of Uno and some random Youtube music quizzes. We managed to get about 3-4 hours of sleep, as the bus dropped us off at Majestic at around 5:45AM. Our van was scheduled to arrive at 7:00AM, so we had almost an hour to kill, and decided to find a place to refresh, but couldn’t find a proper place and ended up sitting outside the Metro. As we waited for the van arrive, we explored various reel options for the trip, and finalised on the cross clap transition thing (the final output was definitely worth the effort - the insta savvy trip youngsters definitely did an amazing job at editing)

Sharp at 7 AM, the van arrives, and along with it the last man of our trip, the guy from Bangalore arrives as well. It’s an AC van, having a SmartTV and all - orey luxury only. As we start to move along, the van inches forward really slowly, and guess what could be the reason - the infamous Bangalore traffic, as always. Gosh, even at 7AM on a Friday morning, the roads are jam-packed with vehicles. We stop at this beautiful and serene looking place called “Krishna Kesava” for breakfast. The place was vast and crowded, but we did manage to secure a table quickly and place our orders. To mark that we were in Karnataka, we did go about ordering Benne Dosas and Thattu Idlis. The food was mostly served quickly and turned out to be delicious. The only problem we faced was, the waiter annas never served drinking water - you stop them ‘n’ number of times and ask for normal drinking water, it never came. Sort of forced to use the bottled ones - not really a great thing! And we off continued to trod on.

Krishna Kesava’s entrance

Thankfully, the traffic thinned out a bit, but it continued to peek out at the toll gates. Doesn’t every office trip always have this one guy who’d act as the Music DJ? Well, we definitely had one, and our DJ fellow was so true to his DJing that he’d never play a song for more than one and a half minutes. Any song you request would invariably be played, but before even the charanam starts, the boy skips to the next song. After a while of trying to stop him from skipping songs, we decided we were better off not playing any music and resorted to Mafia and Dumb Charades. Mafia was quite entertaining, sort of brought back memories from our previous trip (to Varkala) when we first played this game. Dumb Charades never loses its charm  ever, right? Googling to come out with the most weirdest movie name ever (e.g. Kekraan Mekraan, Athipatti Muthupandi) it was super fun to see everyone try to act out the words and make their team find out the names.

Phew, thus flew another 4-5hours, and we were close to Chikmagalur. As we settled down to have our lunch, we started to discuss on where we could go that day. Honestly, our itinerary was quite blank. We just had a handful of places to go, and never really planned out much. So, we decide we could go to some view point for the sunset and then go back to our hostel at night. But our driver anna - I’m not really sure if he was helping us out, or was just trying to minimise his time at the wheels, definitely had other plans. He outright denied to take us to a view point for sunset, saying we didn’t have a lot of time, and the places would close their entry by 4:30-5PM, and we had no chance of reaching there by that time. But, he offered to take us to a lake, Hirekolale Lake, which was enroute to our place. Apparently, the weather outside didn’t look really promising - it was rather a bit too sunny. All of us were a bit dejected and worried about what’s the point in going to a lake in Motta Veyyil? We grudgingly agreed to his offer - but in a surprising turn of events, 5 minutes into the drive to the lake, the weather completely changed. It became much cooler and breezy. As we reached the lake, there were mild drizzles. The lake in itself was stunning - pristine waters, surrounded by peaks on either sides, a neat sidewalk - we were floored, atleast, I was. We spent a while there walking around, trying to see who could throw a stone into the water farthest, taking pictures, and not to forget, take that 3 second clip for our transition video (Yes, in continuation of the one we took at the Metro). It felt a little too awkward to request people to take that video for us, but the promise of the final output made us go for it. 

Hirekolale Lake

From the lake, we drove over to our stay, the Hosteller. Well, nestled amidst coffee plantations, this place was definitely a gem of a find - a nice outdoor common area, dorms with cool balconies, an open play zone. We freshened up a bit, and headed to the town for dinner. Dinner was at Town Canteen, another round of Benne Dosas - we were starting to get a bit tired of it. Came back to the hostel, and spent a while playing Uno, Geistes and chatting about and retired for the night. The night was cool with occasional rains.

Hosteller

The next day, we started off at about 7:30AM to go to Z point trail walk and Hebbe Falls. We reached the entry point to Hebbe around 8:30AM after having a breakfast of idlis and pooris enroute. Z point was a little further from here and we were confused for a while trying to decide which one to do first. Ultimately, it was decided that we’d do Z point and then go to Hebbe. Z point trail walk had an entry fee of Rs.118 per person (well, that’s 100 + 18% GST - ingeyuma GST moment). It’s a 3km walk one way with almost 75% flat terrain and about 25% incline. The first half of the walk was inside the forest cover and felt cool. We did encounter a small waterfall even. After this, we were almost at the top of the mountain, and directly out into the sun. And the sun wasn’t kind that day, it did get a little too hot as we ventured forward. After about 20 minutes of walk, we reached the peak. I definitely missed the monsoon greens. The grasses and the forest beneath were quite dark and dry, owing to the winter and the summer that followed it. This place takes its name as Z point trail owing to the trail resembling the shape of the english alphabet Z. The walk down was fairly easy, but quite draining because of the noon sun.

By about 11:30AM, we were back at the entrance of Hebbe Falls. To reach the Hebbe Falls, you had to take a 40-minute jeep ride and then walk down for another 15-20 minutes. The ride costs about Rs.590 per person, and each jeep had a capacity of 13 people. Unless you’ve 13 people, or you agree to pay Rs.7,080 to have a full jeep for yourself, the jeep wouldn’t start. Luckily for us, we were a group of 9 ourselves, so we quickly got another 4 people to join us. This jeep ride was just like every other jeep ride ever, jostling you in all directions, but much better than the one we had to take in Kudremukh. After a while, we reach a spot from where we are to walk down to the falls. There’s this mild drizzle in the air as you get near the falls - that feeling of water spraying in your face is something I’ll always love and never get tired of. The falls is magnificent. It pours down onto a big rock, so you are barred to go really to close it. But as it flows there are multiple little pools that you can get into and enjoy the water flow. We spend a good one hour there and are back at our jeep, for the return ride. It was almost 3:00ish by the time we are back at the entry point. We grab a late lunch enroute back to the hostel. 

We decide to explore the town of Chikmagalur in the evening and walk around the market road, buying some coffee and eating some chaat. The dinner that night was quite an experience - we waited for almost an hour at a hotel only to know that they haven’t even started preparing our orders. Eventually, we were forced to walk out and eat off a quick dinner at Domino’s and reach the hostel at 11! We’d wanted to start off early next day to go Bandekallu Gudda, but the chances of us making it there the next day seemed very unlikely after this whole dinner fiasco. So, we call it off and decide to have a slow morning. 

A slow morning, we did have the next day, strolling about the roads around the hostel. These lavendar blooms that lay strewn on the road right outside the hostel were so beautiful. Of course, some photos were taken. I even posted myself a photograph of that from the Chikmagalur Post Office. 

We bid goodbye to the hosts at the hostel and start our journey back to Bangalore, stopping enroute at the Belur Chennakesava Temple. Though a little blinding and hot, the temple’s carvings and architecture never failed to charm us. Having visited this place earlier, I tried to flaunt around the little knowledge that I’d gained previously. We wind up from the place in less than an hour and continue to trod on towards Bengaluru. During our pitstop for lunch, we were surprised with a kutti spell of rain showers which felt quite refreshing after the day’s heat. As always, as we near Bangalore; we could feel the traffic building on, and the van inching through the maze of vehicles. 

Even the ceilings had intricate carvings

Dinner was had at Bangalore Cafe, a fancy vegetarian (alas!) restaurant. Their menu had some really cool pictures of various food items and we were tempted. The mushroom noodles were really yummy. But the star of the day was the dessert - Tres Leches, and the Rishta Pucca (which was gulab jamun with vanilla icecream with a very generous drizzle of nuts on top). With this dinner, the trip officially came to an end, as we walk along to the bus stand and board our bus home!

The amazemax Tres Leches

It’s definitely a trip to cherish - the people and places, with lovely memories, for which I shall forever be grateful.

How much does Happiness weigh?

On an otherwise dull Friday evening, this impromptu question by a friend got me thinking for a while. Can happiness be measured? My mind immediately, without a second thought, came back with a "YES" and started making quick notes on what all makes me happy? How much of something makes me happy?

So here goes the list -

• 1 medium French Fries (Because its always food first :D)
• An evening spent in Beach.
• An hour long phone call with a dear friend after ages.
• An all-nighter at home with my Girls Gumbal (Remember the night before R's Wedding)
• Solving (read, trying to solve) the Crossword Puzzle in Vaaramalar (its a weekly supplement of a Tamil Daily)
• First sprouts of the seeds sown
• Late night movie watching at home, during weekends
• Meeting up someone I know all of a sudden in a random place. Gosh! Every time I met someone like this, I would be beaming the whole day for no reason.
• A run along the 200ft road stretch!
• One night's peaceful sleep
• Sunrise!
• Crescent & Full moon
• Petrichor - the smell of soil from the first rain
• Balloon shooting at Bessy
• Staring at the horizon from the peak of a mountain / hill after a trek / run.
• Bread Omlette from Metro Juice Park
• A good run with the CTC folks.

This post that stayed in my draft for 2 long years. But even now, most of the above still continue to give me happiness. A few more that I'd add on now -

• The smile of Athiboy
• Vacation trips with a girlfriend
• Harvesting home grown food. 
• Late-night conversations with the brother man. (Remember the nights we'd spent talking about random things when Bul didn't let us sleep)
• Reading while eating
• Gulab Jamun mix
• Daily calls with Appa
• Sleeping baby
• Communicating with Paati through actions and expressions, as she has trouble hearing clearly.

Most of my current list revolves around family, because just like everyone I'm also staying home in this COVID-19 Lockdown. 

This list might need updation over time, but the items mentioned here would surely continue to make me happy anytime. 

5 May 2025 - Made this post see the light of the day by posting it in the blog after 5 (or rather 7, I suppose) long years of being the draft. The list is still very valid. 

Athi's first volunteering!

The Jawadhu Hills Ultra (JHU), a trail marathon, comprising of 30km and 60km distance, was organized by the Chennai Trail club (CTC) in Jawadhu this weekend. Being part of CTC, we naturally opted to volunteer for the event and decided to take Athi along. We have been wanting to take him to one of the CTC events for a long time now, but somehow it kept eluding and this time we decided we have got to do it. Because we were taking him along, we opted to volunteer at the start/finish point - that's the one place that has people flowing in and out all the time, unlike the aid stations that are deep in the trails, with very minimal people around other than a few locals and the runners passing by. 

Up until now, every time we take him out for trips, we'd always been carrying some quick food, and a couple of his toys. But this time, given he is almost 5 years old and this whole trip was going to be mostly outdoors (the school ground), I took a bold call that we are not carrying food - he'll have to eat whatever he's being offered, and a strict 'no' toys!

With a kid, preparation always helps - be it doctor visits, trips, friends' playdates, visiting people, anything and everything. When they are suitably prepared, they'd be ready and acceptive of changing surroundings / environment. So, every time we plan for a trip, we always ensure to tell him atleast a week in advance on where we are going, with whom, by which mode of transport, what are we going to do there, etc. and when the actual day comes, he is more ready than us and excited about the whole thing! 

And thus, our preparation for JHU with Athi began a month ago, telling him about the place, the running, what were we going to do there, how is it going to be, etc, and as the day neared, he kept popping us a variety of questions getting curious about a lot of things. As we neared the actual day of departure, we also told him about the no toys rule but promised him that he'd have other kids and an open ground to play. Although a bit reluctant at first, he agreed.

The whole of evening before the day of the departure he couldn't contain his excitement and kept asking more questions and begged us to start packing and offered so much help with that - choosing his clothes, remembering to take his toothbrush, offering to carry his bag. 

We started off on Friday morning, after breakfast and had lunch at Polur and reached the school (in Jawadhu) at around 3pm. The preparations for the event had started the previous day, and there were people all over the school ground. The Shamiyana and the chairs and tables and bibs and banners were getting set up - the energy and josh all around was palpable. Athi walked around a bit, saw other kids, but didn't really interact right away - felt a bit overwhelmed, I suppose. Venkey then took him along for a dip in the well and the boy came back rejuvenated and all ready! And that's when the bromance started between him and Aegan. Somehow (believe they conversed and understood what the other was saying) the boys figured out that they were of the same age and could as well play amongst themselves, running about the place or walking around or pulling out leaves or feeling the sand in their hands and building sandcastles. Any moment you could see them holding hands, walking around together or hugging each other. Wouldn't say it was all rosy all the time - they did have their fair share of disagreements, but nobody interfered with them and that totally helped, because before you knew they were fighting they were already back to holding hands and hugging - so adorable. Occasionally some volunteer would engage a play with them, or mind over them when they were trying to run into the dark. The whole afternoon until night, he would have hardly talked to me for 5-10 minutes - and most of the conversation revolved around me calling him to eat something, or him coming over to just check where I was and update me what he was upto. The ground was bit rocky, and he tripped once and got his knees slightly hurt, but he managed fine. A quick wash and pat later, off he went, to wander again. He came over to me excitedly post dinner appraising me of the fact that he and Aegan shared their dinner on the same plate. 

Bromancing bros!

As the night fell, the boys wanted to sleep together and dozed off as soon as their head hit the floor, even though there was so much of light and banter in the surroundings - the sheer exhaustion from all evening of play. Finally, as everyone dispersed off to sleep, we took them and put them in tents to continue the sleep. 

The race started off at 5:30AM next morning, and we were all up by 3:30-4:00AM to finish off last minute checks and set up. Athi woke up at 6AM, all excited that he had woken up early and enjoyed looking at the morning sky before sunrise. Slowly the other kids started waking up and the gang was all up again roaming around. 

After breakfast, as they were loitering around spotting monkeys, touch-me-not plants and blowing their whistles (yes, the runners were given a whistle to blow in case they were stuck somewhere in the trail and needed help), the first runner arrived. Seeing all the volunteers getting excited cheering for the runner, the kids rushed over to the finish line and were handed the medal to present it to the runner, and boy, they really loved doing that. And that is how it started - every time a runner came, they would rush over to the finish line, take their turns to give the medals. As time went by, they started running to the moment they spotted a runner running to the finish line, held out their hands to the runner, paced along with them and crossed the finish line and gave them their medals and congratulated them. Imagine someone doing all this, a 100 times over. That's what all the kids there did - the event had close to 350 runners, and these kids would have easily done this to the atleast more than half of the runners. The runners, initially surprised at seeing the kids running around, slowly started embracing them and were glad to receive their medals from them and clicked pictures with them. It was such a joy watching the kids run about happily with no worry and enjoying the event as much as we did! 

Both V and I were really glad we took Athi along for this event and are immensely grateful to other volunteering parents who decided to bring their kids along, for all this wouldn't have been possible without those other kids. Teamwork, definitely! We are pretty sure this event would be as memorable to Athi as much as it was to us. It is so true that kids learn a lot of things from observing those around them and the spirit of volunteership that was demonstrated by each volunteer out there, definitely got to the kids. 

Forever thankful to CTC for everything that it has given me :) Proud to say, Athi is also now part of CTC!

The pacer gang!

Book fair Nostalgia

If there is one thing that all the kids in our town awaited with bated breath, it has to the Book Fair. It has about 60-80(?) book stalls of various publishing houses spread across a big ground, and then to finish your evening on a high, there was always joy rides that included giant wheel, tora tora, cup and saucers, dashing cars and once, a water slide and go karting, even! And not to forget the food counter serving Delhi Appalams, Gobi 65, Fried Idlis and what-not! The one thing I'm always guilty of skipping is the auditorium, which used to have speakers/authors from across the State, sharing their views on various topics. I think this again had a separate theme for each year and a sub-theme for each day. 

It happens every year around June-July, for a period of 10 days. Starts at about 4:30PM in the evening and ends at 9:30-10:00ish. Every year there used to be a theme for the entrance decor, which kept getting better year on year. They had a daily entry pass or a seasonal pass for the entire 10 days, both of which if I remember right, didn't exceed Rs.50. 

The only motto during the book fair days was to rush out of school by 4:00PM and finish off all the homework, and get to the book fair by 6:00PM. This was possibly around Class VI-Class X. There were separate visits with friends and family. With friends, it always used to be loitering around each shop trying to find a book that you like, and note down the shop name & the book name, go on all the rides, hog on a little of the food that was bought on shared money.  I wouldn't call myself a voracious reader - most of my books were Tenali Raman, Mullah, Akbar Birbal and the likes. The one other thing I was absolutely fascinated about were puzzle / activity books like word finders, 365 pages of activities, etc. The day I come with parents is always with the motto to empty their pockets - buy all the books shortlisted, eat so much that you wouldn't want to have dinner when you go home and go on all the joy rides, all over again. 

Something else that was very interesting to me in book fairs were bumping into your class/schoolmates (people that I haven't really talked with). It feels like you get a glimpse of another side of their life outside the school gates.

Thinking back, I'm honestly stumped at how NLC had managed to pull off a book fair year after year, because it is definitely no easy job. Bringing together so many people, publishing houses, scouting for speakers/authors, logistics, theme ideas - all of this required so much time, effort and money - but I'm ever thankful that they did it, because it was all absolutely worth it. Anyone who had lived in Neyveli, would definitely have fond memories of any time they spent there. It was as close to an annual oor-thiruvizha you'd have in any village - this was our oor-thiruvizha.

You may wonder why all this nostalgia all of a sudden. It's because of this one picture that a friend of mine shared. Apparently, there is a book fair this year at Neyveli, after a gap of 4-5 years. This picture triggered out a lot of old memories, stashed right at the back of my mind, which I felt were worth putting down here!

Happy Birthday Naveena!

Dearest Navi, 

I still remember the first time I saw you. It was in Class XI. We generally have our morning prayers in the class, but during the week prior to the Independence day, the morning prayers happen in the ground. On one such day, while standing in line for the prayer, your earrings and hair caught my attention. A hoop earring I guess, a little bigger than what is usually worn in schools. And two pigtails on a silky smooth hair. I was in awe of both of these and kept staring at them all through the prayer for the next couple of days. I was new to the school and you were in a different section, so I had no clue about you. On the Independence Day you were part of some girls dance performance - that was the last time I caught a glimpse you. 

Fast forward to two months' later, I joined a Math Tuition. And guess who I saw sitting before me - you! I was so done with stalking you anonymously, and decided I need to talk to you. We had a common friend Shruthi, who introduced you to me, and we started exchanging pleasantries. Slowly our friendship blossomed as we got to know each other better and started talking a lot in the tuition. 

I clearly remember the one time when you invited me and Shruthi for lunch at your home. Your mom cooked one amazing meal. That was one of the finest home cooked meals I have ever had. 

By the time school got over, your dad got transferred out of Chennai, and moved to into a college hostel that didn't allow the usage of mobile phones for students. Neither did I have one of my own. We were at the mercy of home visits (for you) and parents visit (for me) to have a conversation. This continued for a year, and by second year (or probably third) you moved back home from hostel, and as we both had our phones, our conversations did pick up a little. And that's when you did the sweetest thing that I have ever had happen in my life. You invited me to your college annual day. I was ecstatic. For someone who has never stepped into a college ever before, this was the closest to having a glimpse of how college looked like. And that day, was probably one of the bestest for me. The food, the people, the place, the energy everything felt so good. Navi, a sincere heartfelt thanks to you for inviting me over back then. You never knew how much that meant to me! 

As years went by, and you further moved cities, we managed to stay in touch albeit occasionally, and met up atleast once a year when either of us travelled to the other's city. I think it was during the years after college just after you landed up your first job that our friendship blossomed to a stage where we no longer the hi-bye types, but something more, and that's when we became each other's confidants. 

Our first night out together was when I came over to your house in Bangalore for a day's stay and we went about exploring the Mallya Road and UB City, and the dozens of pictures we took out there. And out we went on our first ever trip to Gokarna with a bunch of others, and had a fun time. It then almost became an unsaid rule between us that each year, we go out on a trip somewhere or do a night out at either of our house. I genuinely enjoyed (and still enjoy) the times we spent together - speaking out our mind without having the worry of judgement. 

Our unforgettable Mumbai Trip. You definitely know how it was for both of us. The evenings in Marine Drive with Ilayaraja songs, the Andheri staff quarters stay, Zostel, shop-till-we-drop at Colaba, the Lassi at Dadar, the Worli Sea Link view, Bandra Fort, Gateway of India, Churros, the innumerable train rides, so many varieties of food, Bandra Skywalk, the Trampoline Jumps, trying to bargain with our broken Hindi. Oh, how much we fun we had. Time and again I keep reminiscing of this trip and feel thankful to have you in my life. 

And last but not the least, your Wedding! Girl, I am totally in awe of you for having pulled it all by yourself. The amount of time and energy you put in for it totally showed up in how good the actual events turned out be. And I thoroughly enjoyed all the bridesmaids duties, and felt immensely happy just being there for you.

To more years of fun, travel, banters, rants, planning to set up healthy habits, gratitude journals, random philosophies - I love you girl!

Happiest birthday to you!! May all that you wish for be granted, and have a fantabulous year ahead!

P.S.: Thanks to my ever lazy and forever procrastinating mind, I'm three days late. But better late than never - and that's why this post now!

Loads of love,

G