I *heart* Bombay (and well..Boston)

I'm urban..in the way other people are mountain-people or tunafish junkies. I love city life...something about dreary concrete blocks and grumpy people totally gets my juices flowing. Ergo, this will be a blog about me, my two favourite cities (Bombay and Boston), my addiction to Vietnamese coffee and my views on Gregorian chant and it's efficacy in curing some types of tympannic membrane rupture. Enjoy!

Monday, January 05, 2009

And it's another year gonne by...

Happy New Year everyone..

I know it's been forever since I blogged...but trust me when I say absolutely nothing new has happened in my life since then. Well, nothing I'd want to share anyway - after all, reading about long commutes and endless cups of coffee don't make for much enjoying no?
New year's Eve was quiet. Didn't get asked out (a part of me held out making plans hoping that someone would step in at the last minute and ask me out to party) so rather than get back into the gay Bombay party scene, I just piled up all my Johnny Depp DVDs, put on my PJs and sat in front of the TV...was tough to prise the remote away from my dad and whatever crap it was Star Plus or Zee had decided to spew out.
Thankfully, a last minute call from S. (my "end of 2008" new friend - intelligent, hot and super nice...and straight) got me outta the house to hang with him, his girlfriend, Domino's, Kingfisher beer and yes...Johnny Depp on the telly - I guess I'm not the only one who is fascinated by the man. Was reasonably quiet, we had no music other than what his neighbors kept blasting out (I found "Jiye Bhutto Benazir" a rather strange song to play..but Hey! my other option was humming Auld Lang Syne over a quiet glass of wine).

2009 - a year of change?
Well, Barack Obama thinks so, so do a couple of friends who're giving up years of playing the field and settling down with wife, babies and dog. Which leads me to think that perhaps I should do something drastic too this year? After all, my most drastic thing last year was the tattoo that I had hoped would create some discord in my family and instead ended up being appreciated by all and sundry. This year perhaps I'll take that vacation I've been pining for and postponing till I found someone. That is probably not going to happen in 2009 either so I might as well pack that single toothbrush and book my twin bed in Pondicherry now.
Am gonna try to learn to swim, drive a stick shift car and kick box this year. I'm 32 and I guess I should've done all this by now...but true to procastinating form, I've managed to live very well without knowing any of these. Just keep me away from the sea, a car rental and a prospective mugger.

And lose some weight.

For someone who's been underweight (and drastically so) all his life, my thirties and my sudden slide into weightwatching is freaking me out. The same mom who begged me to gain weight (yes, guilt will work, mom!) is now begging me to lose some. It's not like I'm fat - I'm just no longer Bombay gay boy skinny. And explaining to a prospective date the reason why I'm "fat" (a dumping reason) will involve me having to disclose my age as well ( another dumping reason). So there's this delicate dance one has to do around this - which pretty much involves not meeting up and instead hiding behind a newspaper if one is spotted. Sadly, I've gone from hiding behind a magazine to behind a double spread Sunday edition now.

And finally, to appreciate the people who care about me this year. 2008 ended with another terror attack on my city - one that hit very close to home with my workplace being affected. Made me realize (once again) how much I take some people for granted. So this year, I'll be a better son, brother and friend - and that's one resolution I'm sure I will keep.