Beard of "experience"

Antara and I gaze at our reflections in the mirror. I realize that the whites of her eyes are a pristine white with not a blood vessel in sight – good! But what surprises me is the sight of my own eyes. The whites are really “Off whites”, distinctly so, and remind me of my childhood. My father and I did very much the same thing – gaze at our reflections. I remember proudly telling him – “Appa, my eyes are nice and white. Why are yours so yellow and tired? Why don’t you use some toothpaste?” Hmmm, the tide has turned…

I am nearing a very significant age. Soon I will not be able to check the box that says "25-29 years". I near the feared 3-0. Symbolic representation of the end of childhood and the start of maturity??? WTF - are you sure you want to give ME this certificate??

We recently had some close friends over for Christmas dinner. The last significant vacation we took with them was a brilliant road-trip around Brittany & Normandy. We were 4 folks out on the road, gulping wine by the liter, enjoying crepes and making plans at the flip of a coin. This time around, they brought their 10 month old daughter to meet us. We had a 5 month old and a 10 month old dictate tempo all evening. Another sign of age?

Well, interestingly, we still managed to polish of a bottle of Sula Chenin Blanc. We had a great time. Also the night before had 25 people partying hard in our living room, while Pebbles snored it up in our bedroom. Margaritas, mulled wine, baked veggies, hummus & pita, pasta salad...yum! A great time and a lot of drunk people.

I guess I have found that life continues and even peaks in the 30s. You see, I can now afford many luxuries I couldn't at 20 or 25. I also live completely on my terms. As for childhood, I spend every morning and night singing "Old King Cole" and "Teddy Bear Picnic". That childhood enough for ya?

I tell M that I will hit my absolute peak sometime in the coming decade, and my gym-battered body would tend to agree. An interesting job, the best "work-life balance" i have enjoyed in my career so far, a strong marriage, a delightful baby, it seems I have all the big check boxes semi-ticked (never jinx it by saying "ticked").

I seem to be partying as hard as I can remember (not counting the ridiculous year at INSEAD of course), and with a mix of friends from abroad and dudes/dudettes in town, the parties are so much more fun these days.

Oh - and another thing - age does not kill wanderlust. I still ache to get my passport stamped in a country where they barely speak english. But I have promised M that our next trip has to be deeper exploration of L'Inde.

A friend recently asked me - Whats with this beard you have these days?
My answer - Just trying to look my age.

One things for sure - the babyfaced casanova ain't so much a baby any more.

Redoing the Tag - The Famous Five take 2

On being scolded by the tagger, I am redoing my assignment.

The famous five TAKE 2:

A. Five things in my room:

1. My pillow - its mine, flat and just the right firmness. A slight change and I wake up with a stiff neck.
2. My bottle of water - i cannot sleep without it by my side. Need my hydration!
3. My wife - may object to being "objectified", but I need her there.
4. A pen under the bed - dont know why, but there is always a pen that has rolled off under the bed.
5. A good fan - If I dont feel breeze, I just cant sleep.

B. Five things in my bag:

1. My laptop - never know when you need to IM, blog or check email.
2. Breathmint - this allows me to have garlic for lunch before the important meeting :)
3. 2-3 USB keys - Always carry memory with you.
4. Business cards - Never know when a good contact comes by.
5. Spare pens - Just in case the one under the bed goes missing.

C. Five things in my wallet:

1. My drivers licence - Need that always.
2. Pics of my girl and my baby.
3. Moolah
4. Credit cards - make me feel rich until the monthly statement cometh.
5. Medical card - in case something morbid happens, you know my blood type and other issues.

Phew. Hope its alright now??

Tagged - The Famous Five Tag

Well, a second tag for me. The "famous five" tag (the way i read it) can mean anything in quantities of 5 which is meaningful to me.

My top 5 favourite movie characters:

1. Kaiser Soze (from "The Usual Suspects" - played by Kevin Spacey - absolute classic role)
2. General Maximus (from "Gladiator" - played by Russel Crowe - scarily powerful)
3. Michael Corleone (from "Godfather" - played by Al Pacino - cool yet vicious)
4. The Bride (from "Kill Bill" - played by Uma Thurman - super sexy & violent)
5. Mufasa (from "The Lion King" - played by James Earl Jones - a true leader)

My top 5 favourite food dishes:

1. Puliyodhare (Tamil dish - this was not even close!)
2. Veg. burnt chilly fried rice
3. Rajma Masala
4. Sambar
5. Spaghetti/Penne Arrabiatta

Well, that was my attempt at it. Now, in fine tradition, i need to pass on the tag.

This tag is passed on to M (http://mayahariglow.blogspot.com)
& Pri (http://priyankka.blogspot.com)

Sawadee ka!

"Sawadee khhhhaa" sing out the chorus of salespeople at Zara. All of them bow and fold their hands, in synch.

Coming from a country which also follows a similar tradition of bowing heads and greeting with folded hands, I realise some subtle differences between home and our current holiday destination - Thailand. Here, seemingly every time you enter the air space of a Thai person, you trigger the "alarm" and they shoot out a friendly greeting of "Sawadee ka" (hello). This could be a great game for a cheeky kid (hehe).

Scene: 1 cheeky kid + 1 friendly Thai

Location: Any service location (Hotel, restaurant, store, spa, airport, etc.)

"Lights, camera, action!"

Cheeky kid enters stage left and shoots accidently into friendly Thai air space.

Thai: (Bowing and smiling) "Swaadeee Khhhhhaaaa"

Kid: ???

Brat drifts a bit out of friendly air space. He then decides to try out his evil plan...he drifts slowly back into shooting distance of the Thai.

Thai: (Bowing and smiling identically to the first time): "Swadeee Khaaaa"

Kid:

Kid exits and partially re-enters the kill zone.

Thai: (3rd time a charm?): "Swaade.."

Kid leaves the zone...only to re-enter.

Thai (Thinking: "I hate kids"): "Swaa.."

And thus continues this horrible game..

I can truly see this happening. You see, i believe the Thais are THAT committed to service and seemed very, very friendly indeed. In central Bangkok, this is almost to a fault. An old INSEAD friend would always cry out "Sawaaadeeee Kaaaaa" when he started a story on one of his adventures in Thailand. I now get it!

Not to say that we are dealing with saints. We heard horror stories about Thai prisons, and God knows that Muay Thai (Thai kick-boxing) is seemingly reserved for men with cast-iron noses and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

But, all in all, Thais know how far service can go to building repeat clientele. They also know how to serve tourists like no where else in Asia. Tours of the Grand Palace in fluent Spanish, French, German, Mandarin & Japanese + Overall friendly atmosphere + Liberal mix of eastern influences & western indulgences = A great vacation!

As with all great stories, there is a caveat. And this one's a doozy. "Lady boys". WTF????

These cross-dressing wonders have befuddled single middle-aged white males for decades. What starts out as a great catch - a young, lissome exotic oriental babe who seems to like me inspite of my lack of hair, class or "a life" - turns out to be a shocking surprise. These "ladies" are thai boys who expertly disguise their manhood.

One night with one of these dude(ette)s will give more than a lifetime of memories (or shall we call them nightmares). :).

The questions you folk need to answer for me are:

1. How do you hide your Adam's apple?

2. How does a fairly conservative society have this practice so openly followed? I even saw school kids with one young boy wearing a skirt and with long hair (trust me, it was a boy!)

With 25% of the Thai GDP coming from various versions of the sex trade, I guess this land of service and hospitality does provide quite a few with a "happy ending". But, remember the old adage - sometimes things that appear too good to be true, are just that!!

Swaaadeeee Khhhaaaaaaaaa, all!