Be Still My Heart!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! I just noticed that the hotel breakfast actually serves mishti doi AND fresh mango!

Happiness! I'm grinning from ear to ear and everyone is staring at me as I laugh to myself each time I take a mouthful. Heeheehee.

Thank god I brought my laptop down with me for breakfast. At least I can take my time and enjoy my food. Except I think the guy next to me just farted. Eww.

But back to me. I wonder if there is such thing as too much mishti doi and too much mango. I wiped out half the tray's worth of mango cos this is the small sweet one. Slurp. OMG I'm in such a good mood now.

And Now I Remember Why I Love India

Just had breakfast. Mmm Indian food.

India: Thoughts On Being Back Here Again

I hate India. Hate hate hate hate hate. Can't remember what it was I loved about the country.

It started on the plane, where I realise that almost every single passenger got up to use the loo at least once. It's only a bloody 4 hour plane ride, does everyone have a bladdar the size of a 5c coin? It's especially annoying when the passenger with the window seat does it. Fuck you asshole, next time get an aisle seat can?

After landing, everyone crowds at the baggage carousel, and seriously, why does everyone have to shove their stinking bodies right smack in front of me? Fuck you assholes, obviously they have never heard of personal space (I guess it's hard in a land full of a million billion people.)

Everyone does the little dance of the baggage carousel, bobbing your body sideways to see if the luggage has arrived. And when it does? No one gives way. Fuck you assholes, I think to myself as I swing my 23kg luggage in a large arc.

I get out, and pay for a pre-paid taxi. They don't take credit cards in Kolkata. Got my receipt and hunt for a taxi. Someone grabs my receipt and says "taxi taxi" and walks towards the car park. A boy "helps" me with my luggage, and at this point I'm too exhausted to care. Hop into the cab, boy asks for a tip, which I refused to give. Fuck you asshole, I didn't ask you to carry my luggage.

Cabby then passes me a laminated piece of paper with the names of various hotels and a list of really exorbitant (for India) prices. "You go to hotel? Pay booking charge." At this point, I snap. WHY SHOULD I PAY SOME MORE WHEN I HAVE ALREADY PRE-PAID? And he tries to tell me that the pre-paid chit that I have was for the first booking, and now this is the fee to get to the hotel. Fuck you asshole, I think to myself for the umpteenth time that night, storming out of the cab.

I finally get to the right cab, yelling at anyone who tries to even touch my luggage. LEAVE IT ALONE! (And, fuck you assholes.)

After confirming with cabby2 that I would not need to pay anything extra, I settle in the cab, and ignore everyone who stands by window asking for tips / money / Singapore coins. I'm too tired to even think. The cab drives off and I break down in sobs.

Everything about India makes me feel like a knife is piercing through the heart. The crowd. The dusty roads. The posters on the walls. The incessant honking and weaving through traffic. The overgrown plants on the side of the road.

I'm exhausted, and emotionally drained. Too tired to even muster up an ounce of sympathy for the many homeless people sleeping on the streets.

I reach the hotel, and a new battle ensues. My travel agent made a wrong booking and breakfast is not included in my booking. I check in to my room and wait for 30 min for them to deliver one of my boxes. Another 30 min to get a pair of scissors to open the box. After a billion calls, I take a shower, shoot off a couple of emails to my travel agent, and settle to bed. And the only English channel on the telly? Sellavision.

Seriously. FML and fuck you assholes.

Happiness Is

Happiness is getting my leave approved for my Ladakh trip..

Happiness is downloading an app on my iPhone that allows me to take panaromic pictures..

Happiness is cutting off all the dried, damaged hair and having smooth, healthy locks once more..

Happiness is eating mee siam for lunch..

Happiness is having friends who care about my erm, wellbeing..

Happiness is being shortlisted for job interviews..

Happiness is.

Say, What?

Got a very loving (not to mention, very random) SMS from CH today which put me in an absolute non-stop laughing fit. Was a little undecided about whether I should blog about it, but it's too priceless a gem not to share.

"Anyhow, got a dildo for you. Shall I pass you before you go India? :D"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

And The Downside To My Job

Was packing up the brochures that I'll need for my work trip to have them sent to the hotel. Had to pack a box for each city I'll be heading to, which meant a total of five boxes.

When I was done, my hands looked like I had spent the afternoon playing pattycakes with Edward Scissorhands. Argh.

Papercuts, though tiny, inflict so much pain. It's annoying. I feel like slathering my hands with aloe vera and just will my skin to heal. Lol.

Let's see if I can summon up my inner Wolverine..

Happiness Is Getting Approval For Work Trips

So pleased. My work trips have been approved! Well, I kind of knew they would have been, except that Oscar spoke to me on Friday. He said he wanted to discuss my strategy (my only strategy was to go to cities that were fun and also to new places that I had never been to before) and perhaps I didn't need to go to all the cities I had planned.

Cue major panic cos my Ladakh tickets had already been booked.

But of course, I R CLEVER and VERY SMARTS. So I went to speak to him this morning, and discussed my strategy (without actually having to write it down in a proposal. Wahahahah I IS SO BIG BRAIN.)

Identified problems, nay, challenges. Proposed ideas on how to tackle these challenges. Gave him feedback. Actually had a dialogue and engaged him. Without rolling my eyes too!

I think what he wanted to know was that I wasn't blindly following routine. That I wasn't just going for the sake of going (erm actually..). And yes, I managed to convince him that I had a plan.

Wahahahaha.