Happy Birthday Manu!

It is just like how Harry and Ron sat next to each other for the first time on the Hogwarts express. We had no idea we'd become such good friends and be together for almost 8 years. HP has actually played a major role in this.

May be not as adventurous as this, but we sure have had our share of fun together. I didn't know what I was thinking, packing my bags and taking that train to Wayanad with you. Maybe if we had thought that through a lot, we wouldn't even have had the guts to go there alone. But it turned out to be a fun trip.

From people who kept talking, judging others, passing comments, gossiping all the time, making friends with other rich people, it was a welcome change to meet you and the much needed silent company you provided ;)  I was glad to have had your company to talk my kind of books and movies. You were a tough one to crack, I've always thought of you as "Miss Mystery" since it was hard to know what you were thinking. But soon you became my Partner in crime for all the things I am sure I wouldn't regret when I grow old. In fact, there is still quite a lot to do on that Bucket list.

GOA was an altogether different experience. Don't remember the last time I had so much of fun on a trip. Going to exciting places is one, but having a person who enjoys the same things you do is very rare. It was one hell of a trip which I will cherish for a long time to come.

You have no idea how much you mean to me, especially when it comes to our "Workplace". It is not only reassuring, but also very consoling to know that a soul just like yours is sitting somewhere in a desk nearby, hating this job as much as you do and is probably dreaming of a similar faraway land with blue beaches, white sand, tanned swimmers, and cool drinks. 

I still have a lot of plans that involves you and me and anyone else who's interested, in taking that World Tour to all the places we've dreamt of going. Let's make a 5 year pact and visit at least one new country for every 5 years. Here's wishing you a great birthday and a lot of happy surprises this year.

World Reading Day 2015!

I miss the time when I used to lock myself up in my room for hours together, and read. Keep reading unless I have to eat or pee. Reading has kept my childhood lively, creative and helped me conjure a hell a lot of imagination. Thanks to reading, my English is what it is now. I see a few people in my work place and wonder if they have ever set their foot in school. My pre-independence era born, 8th grade failed, 93 year old grandmother can speak better English than a few people in my work place. I don't know if I should feel sorry for them or gloat about my more than average abilities. But this place has ruined reading for me, they are trying to make me one of them by constantly making me accustomed to bad language. I might forget what little I know and adapt myself to the conditions here. God forbid, I should not live to see that day.

Immaterial of the number of New Years I have spent after joining work, or number of resolutions I have thought about making, I have never been able to sit back and finish reading a book ever since. Getting married has only aggravated the situation. I have no alone time now. I know a lot of people suffer from loneliness and depression, and I shouldn't be cribbing about having no space for myself, but I can't help it.
I wish I could go to some exotic location, have food and drinks brought to the place where I sit, where I can find myself a cozy place to sit with my book, that also has an awesome view and READ.
Read as long as I am  bored enough to come back to this world I so hate and lead the monotonous life that this is proving to be. Wish I had a Time Turner. Wish I were Hermione Granger... or any other character from HP for that matter.