In my life.

On the same day as one of my best friends in the world is flying 1000s of miles to see me, I get a 12 page letter, 2 packs each of Penguin Bars and Jaffa Cakes (Jaffa Cakes, people!) from another one of my favourite people - None than than the lovely Kitty Stokes!

Sometimes I am truly overwhelmed by how many wonderful people I have in my life, and how ridiculously lucky I am to know all of them.

Watch out, my heart is about to explode with love.

(P.S - Less than 12 hours until Rosemary...)

Got my travellin' boots on...

In less than 72 hours, Rosemary will be here. In my living room. Drinking tea with me. Rosemary. Like my best friend from Montreal who lives in New York will be here. In Bombay. India. With me. In my house. When I said, "see you soon" on MSN, I was being quite literal. When I see her at the airport, I'm afraid all rules of decorum shall be unabashedly flouted; I anticipate squealing and manic hugging.

In less than a week, we will be making our way to the North of the country to explore Delhi, Agra and finally Rajasthan. I am SO excited about this trip that I can barely talk about it coherently. Not only is this break much needed, but I'm going with Rosemary. To Rajasthan.

Here's what our itinerary looks like:

27th Jan - Bombay to Delhi by Rajdhani Express (overnight train)

28th Jan - Reach Delhi in the a.m, spend the day and one night there (probably at Raghu's)

29th Jan - Take an early morning train to Agra to see the Taj and other cool stuff. It's only a two hour journey. Spend the night there with my mum's friend FOR FREE!

30th Jan - Take an 8 hour bus to Jaipur where we'll stay at Hotel Umaid Bhawan Spend 30th, 31st, 1st nights there, since we'll be too tired on the 30th to see/do much.

2nd Feb: Take a bus to Ajmer, see stuff. Take another bus to Pushkar which is only 1/2 hour away and spend the night at Hotel New Park.

3rd Feb: Look around Pushkar which is the ultimate tourist town. Spend night in same hotel.

4th Feb: Take bus to Udaipur where we'll stay at Lake Pichola Hotel, and spend 4 nights there since it's the city with the most to see, and also, the 4th will be spent entirely on travelling.

8th Feb: Take either a train or bus back to Bombay - haven't decided which. There are a bunch of luxury buses that are a lot more convenient since there isn't a direct train back to the city.

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Rosemary's here until the 17th of February, which gives us a little more than a week to do Bombay. My mind is reeling with the possibilities - film festivals, dinners, chocolate, queer parties, train rides, alcohol, shopping - and I'm trying to write down everything so I don't end up forgetting to take her somewhere really awesome.

Excuse me while I do a little jig of excitement.

Blur say it perfectly.

It’s over
You don’t need to tell me
I hope you’re with someone who makes you
Feel safe in your sleeping tonight
I won’t kill myself, trying to stay in your life
I got no distance left to run

When you see me
Please turn your back and walk away
I don’t want to see you
Cos I know the dreams that you keep is wearing me
When your coming down, think of me here
I got no distance left to run

It’s over, I knew it would end this way
I hope you’re with someone who makes you feel
That this life is the night
And it settles down, stays around
Spends more time with you
I got no distance left to run

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Yeah you read the first line. It's over. Khatam. Shesh. Sumpleh.

Hello 2006...

What a perfect way to bid farewell to 2005: A blend of old friends and new, drunken phone calls and sisterly texts, of unsurprising revelry and surprising sobriety. For some reason, though, I was really restless; I came home a few minutes ago, unable to restfully sleep at Sowmya's. Pictures will be uploaded as soon as Auri finds her camera cord, but suffice to say the evening included "I Love You" balloons,picking on Emran Hashmi (or whatever his name is) and valiant attempts to defrost bottles of Kingfisher by trying to seduce them.

As the rickshaw trudged along at 5:30 a.m, something about the alchohol-shrouded morning made me SO glad I wasn't one of those now-dishevelled little-black-dress clad girls, holding on to equally sloshed boys for support. I realised that I am lucky - no, privileged - to have the friends I do, and to be able to have a fantastic evening just doing the seemingly mundane.

Also: Happy Birthday, Anam! You know, despite being such radically different people, the two of us have remained amazingly close for the past 13 years. We've seen each other through a lot of shit; we've laughed and joked and cried and squealed and sang and danced and loved and sighed, and I know that that is never going to stop. I love you, Bunsie, and I honestly don't know what I would do without you...

The problem with my brain is that the bastard is an outrageous stealer of sleep.

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I found the cord! Here are pictures!