Thursday, March 08, 2007

Headed for Lara-land

It’s been a mad couple of weeks. In fact, it’s been a mad February and March has been madder still.

We had hardly shifted house and begun to settle in when the surgery happened. That put me out of action for a few days, and also had Ajitha in a bit of a tizzy, with her Time Out work getting hecticer and hecticer. Just prior to that, there were a couple of these 15-minute-notice trips for work…not bad, but unnecessarily hectic.

Following the operation, there were trips to Calcutta and Bombay. Not bad at all, if you think about it, considering that I could travel on office money to Calcutta for a couple of days before leaving for the West Indies. The weather hasn’t started getting as bad as it will eventually be. The food at home is as good as it ever was. The parents are doing well. All of Calcutta is seriously excited about Sourav Ganguly, and Dada is certainly adding fuel to the frenzy.

Bombay was good as well, and a lot of fun was had when the team left for the West Indies on the 28th of February. It was madness. Of the sort that I haven’t seen since the time the team left for their first tour of Pakistan back in 2003. Or was it 2002? 2003, I think. Madness. Absolute, undiluted madness. Bade Miyan still rules of course. And I paid my little homage to Him. Missed having food at Mahesh Lunch Home again. This is the fifth time I have planned a visit to MLH and failed to make it.

And if all the jet-setting wasn’t bad enough, the work in office is also getting madder.

It was also tax month. Mucked up on most counts, but eventually managed to get everything done. Have lost loads of money, but have done enough to ensure at least some of it comes back at some stage in the future.

And now, it’s Caribbean Calling. I’m quite sure I will find some time somewhere to catch a bit of reggae, a bit of rum, some beach-time, some whateverelseisonoffer in the middle of all the hectic – yes, that’s life – travelling between the islands – Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada, Guyana, Antigua, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis. Yup! Going to all these places. Places that have basically been cricket magazine names and ESPN postcards for all these years.

Should be fun. But did I mention that it’s a 53-day trip?!!