Post marathon i was out of action for 2 days with a strained ankle. Given the pain, i was fearing a stress fracture but thankfully it didn't turn out to be anything that serious. Had to limp to work for more than a week though. In hindsight, the marathon was actually an exhilarating experience and i feel i am hooked onto it for good. Unfortunately its an attriting sport and in the long run your knees tend to get shot by running on tar. Till i find a good grass track i have been taking a small break from it. Below is a pic of me having to work with a tortured ankle....
Meanwhile, was travelling quite a bit over the past month and had an opportunity to visit Bangalore and Hyderabad again. Managed to plug in two weekends at Bangalore so did have plenty of opportunities to go pubbing around with friends. Was quite looking forward to the biryani at Hyderabad but the gastronomic delights at the clients place proved too hard to barter.
Was quite impressed with the city though. Good people-comfortable with HindiEnglish so communication is not a problem, its a small city with good roads so transportation is also not an issue, and perhaps the best part....its quite inexpensive to live in as well.
My batchmates Amit and Anushree got engaged in Delhi over the past weekend. First couples from my batch to go the distance-so congrats to them! Unlikely people- one a Garhwali bustling with energy and opinions about everything under the sun-and the other a Bihari who's totally laissez-faire and cant understand life otherwise. Good going u guys, real heartwarming to see this materialize! Amit, buddy, i hope u realize fully what u're getting into. There's still time, its just an engagement! [:d] Managed a dinner with Anushree on Wednesday at a place called Kabura Resturent in Hyderabad where i got a good download on happenings around the event. All the talk about convincing parents, introducing relatives, settling down, starting afresh etc. hit home with the realization that the same thing is going to get repeated at some point with moi. Quite sobering!
Also, my cousin brother Uddippan threw in the bachelorhood towel. Only, as with almost all things with him, it turned out to be a bomb cause Prachee is a Marathi. But the dust settled soon and we decided to visit his in-laws place in Badlapur this weekend. Its a sleepy township, 3 hrs drive from Mumbai along the old Pune highway. Being at the foot of the western ghats gives the place a hill station feel with winding roads and houses with sloping roofs built atop stilts. The family turned out to be genuine marathi manoos with an open heart. It was good fun trying to interact with Prachee's two grannies who could speak and understand nothing except Marathi. Since my aunt and my mom did not understand even a word of that language, they together only contributed to the general noise. Imagine a room with 4 women speaking at the same time but none understanding the other and u get the picture! But the good part was, all were able to see the funny side of things and soon left the communication to my other cousin Rikul who could manage with patchy bits of that language. Things went off pretty smoothly since and as a next step the girls parents come down to my aunt's place in Assam.
Was in Goa over this weekend and let me tell u that place is fabulous as ever. Had hired a self driven car this time around with which we roamed the length and breadth of the state, literally. Did less of the beach thing this time around, so I got to see a more non-touristy sort of a flavour of the place. I still could not escape awesome food, good roads, and cheerful trusting people. What more could u ask for in a holiday?
