Ten years younger.

Playing sports with someone ten years younger than you is not that big a deal. It's not. One can match their game and stamina, and even their speed and all your extra experience comes in handy.

But it's only after the game that you start seeing the difference between the two of you. Yes, one might be in good shape and all that, but it's easy to see how fast these youngsters recover.

I'm not just finding this out today, though. Few years ago I used to regularly go for a yoga class for kids. The kind of kids who can't even stand still for ten seconds. Yes I did all that yoga with them and felt great! But while I hopped onto my cycle to go back home and eat something after the class, these kids just hopped on their cycles to go to the playground to play till their parents dragged them back home with the kids often kicking and screaming. Maybe I could too, but it would just not be the same.

This was quite apparent during my MMA lessons too. But obviously these kids had been training much before I started (hey, it's a valid excuse.) They have this energy, vigour and aggression I remember having in my late teens till much after my mid twenties as well. Unfortunately, I was much older than most of them and had lost my aggressive streak and got nicely beaten up during most of my sparring sessions.

I played badminton for an hour with a girl ten years younger than me today. And although I matched her game and speed, I was reminded of this very feeling.

*Bump*

As I got into the car to drive back home last evening, I saw a white Audi A3 parked parallel to it. Fortunately no one had parked in front of my car so I was able to steer off without having to look for the owner of the A3 and make him move his car. (writing this, realisation strikes me that Audi named a car after a paper size. Heh heh heh)

So today morning I saw an open parking spot which was right in front of the same white Audi A3. As I was preparing to park at the same spot a bizarre thought crept into my mind. If I was an absent minded driver and was parking my car in front and reversing it into place, I could easily bump into the front of the A3. As it happens, I am no absent minded driver and take pride in my above average parking skills.

Even laughed in my mind at that absurd little scenario. But as I was reversing the car into place laughing at my silly imagination, the very thing I was mocking happened- I, the alert driver who takes pride in her above average parking skills lost track of my judgement and ever so lightly bumped my car into the front of the Audi A3.

Chowk.

An electrician who works with us called me today. We had sent him to get some LED profile lights for a project. He called me saying 'Usme chowk dikh raha hai'

I was stumped. I kept saying 'ah Achcha....um... dekhna padega' etc trying to make sense of what he meant. Was he at the wrong place and looking at the Chowk where the shop was located? Was he talking about a box fitting? What exactly did he mean Chowk, and why would an electrician call me up about a city Chowk?!

What he actually meant that the CHOKE of the profile light was seen.

You see, I'd never heard him talk about chokes till date. He had always written it in our bills/estimated, but I never knew what he called them. I wonder what the electrician must be thinking. 'Kya architect hai... Itna bhi samajh nahi aata...'

It took me thirty seconds to realise what he meant. thirty seconds of stalling in a phone call is an excruciatingly long time!

I fell asleep listening to music again...

And that got me thinking... I've never been able to describe my perfect man, but I think I finally have it:

Kinda brilliant, right?

Walkie TAAQies

Like so many of my thoughts, this one started with me listening to some music.

In this case, the trigger was TAAQ. 

I had the urge to listen to this Bangalore based Alt rock band's music this afternoon and I didn't have any of their albums on my computer, so I logged on to their website to stream their music. It had been a while since I did and reading through their updated content I realised they have a strong connection to Bangalore and their identity and music strongly revolves around the city. However, I'd not heard of them pre 2008 and never had any Bangalore connection except a few friends who lived there and only visited them once. I had a limited connection to the indi rock music scene in India till then. I was more of a mainstream music person.

Then in 2008, I met Praveen. The quintessential Bangalore boy. Software, bikes, music and guitar. Needless to say, we were fond of each other... for a while. And then a year later we weren't. Eventually when the smoke of a burnt relationship clears and the dust settles, one doesn't remember the person but the charred impression of the value they added to your life. Undoubtedly, music was the most important part of his contribution to mine. He introduced me to the indi rock music scene. To blues rock, indi and mainstream. To places where all the shows took place before high spirits and blue frog, many of which closed down not too much after that. To bands like Soulmate and TAAQ and so many of their live performances. 

On my part, I introduced him to musicians, bands and music I knew, and together we were this repository of rich, curiously amazing music which has the ultimate power to warm up my cold heart in many a dark winter evenings. Too poetic? I'm not waxing eloquent, it really does.

No, I don't miss him. But I miss the company of someone who can add such kind of a dimension to my life.

And as I listen to 'this is it' by Thermal and a quarter (because apparently they are three mallus and a one who is quarter mallu) I remembered a conversation Praveen, a friends of his called Arindam and I had while we were driving to a very strange local folk-blues-country band gig at Stone water grill. I remember it so vividly because I drew it.