SwInGeRs CLUB, anyone?!

Rajat Kapur made a movie called Mixed Doubles a few years ago that dealt with wife / couple swapping or what in popular parlance is called Swinging! How true! Swing from one partner to another! Of course he gave it a desi touch with the couple not being able to go ahead with the whole thing on the said night. (I kinda like such desi happy endings! they keep complications out!). Around the same time I ended up watching a similar themed Hollywood movie, whose name I don't remember now! The husband there has been wanting to spice up their lives by swapping with his best friend and his wife for whom he has always had some hots! With all the begging, pleading and logical(??) reasoning the wife gets convinced.

On the D Day the hubby cannot go through with it and the wife does, if only to keep her of the bargain. The rest of the movie is about how the whole world goes topsy turvy when he has the gall to blame her for infidelity! Geez!

I wonder what makes couples want to this? In a way is it more 'honest' that closet affairs and one night stands? Whatever it is, its not a sign of a healthy relationship!

But that's not the kind of swinging I wanted to talk about! I just want to talk about the good ol' play swing aka as jhoola in Hindi and jhopala in Marathi! :D

I just LOVE the swing! I don't remember when did this fascination start, but it has never ended. I guess it was when i was in school and went to Ichalkaranji and Kolhapur for my summer vacations. Being in Bombay with hardly any parks in the vicinity, jhoola was a not a common thing! I remember the parks being full of kids in summer and having to wait endlessly to get a turn on the swing. Sometimes we had fights too if someone stayed on for too long!

Finally you got your turn. You sit gingerly on the swing as if to test its height and strength. Then you take it all the way back till your legs are straight and it's just your toes touching the ground! All set and you let go with your legs folding under! Up and above! You come down and push your legs back again to get the speed and height you desire! Take it higher than ever before and actually enjoying the feeling of your stomach turning and churning as the swing goes down from its l'il flight fighting gravity! It was your very own sasta and tikau roller coaster ride! :)

Even today I see a swing and temptation to just go and take a swing is just SO strong! I love it as I sit on one and take it higher than I ever could as a kid! The wind making my hair fly astray as my head moves back and forth with the jhoola, as if one with it! :)

There are many parks in Bangalore, but alas I am not a kid anymore. I did try at one close to our place, but the chowkidaar came running with a stick in his hand and loud whistle telling me to get off!! :( It was too embarrassing to try again. Not that it stops me from trying to grab a chance anyway!

So whenever I go to nice big colonies with a kiddy play area, i make the most of the opportunity! Hehe! Just the other day when we went to Corner House at Hotel Airline at 11pm. The place has a kiddy area outside. Everyone was sitting on jhoolas and see saws and enjoying their ice creams. M tol me to go and take a swing! :) I don't know why I said no. By the time we finished the divine Cake A Mocha both the jhoolas were empty (there was a cute couple enjoying PDA on one of the swings) and I just couldn't resist myself!

What a feeling it was! Yet again! God bless the person who invented this thing!! :p

Am hoping to teach Cubby the fun of it someday soon! Right now he just cries on swings and slides! :)

So if you see an old, fat woman going crazy on a swing, stop by and say hello! :D

The world this week!

Remember this series that used to be aired on DD when Pranoy Roy became the first celebrity TV news reporter and went on to even bigger things. But every Sunday (?) night we waited for him to come and SHOW us what has been happening all over the world where even one week old news was breaking and incidentally useful or interesting!

Well, this one isn't to go on a DD nostalgia trip, its just about OUR world this week. It's been a pretty interesting week when Friday the 13th decided happen on Thursday the 12th instead!

Yeah yeah! You heard me right! I had a small accident with an auto guy hitting my bike on my way home Thursday. It was almost totally my fault since I was in a rush to get home. Thankfully it happened really close to home and it wasn't much. Some scratches and muscle ache, most of which is OK now. I worked half day on Friday and chilled at home for the rest.

Before that one of the days we went to watch Aamir at Fun Cinemas. Dinner happened a cute l'il place called Orange Peel (previously known as Zync Cafe) on Hospital Road, just off Safina Plaza at Commercial street. The menu is continental and food was really yummy. Cubby was ofcos on his worst behaviour and insisted on not eating his food prophaly and throwing all his toys around! He was OK by the time we reached the theatre and slept through the movie! The movie AAmir is really over hyped. It's a tad too slow and though trying to address a sensitive issue ends up being predictable. Can easily be watched on DVD. M kept giving me dirty looks and sunaoed me for god knows HOW long after that! Sigh!

Saturday we had invited a cousin and his family home for dinner. Cousin has two adorable kids, a son (who is insanely jealous of Cubby) and an adorable elder daughter who is around 10! We cooked up a quick Thai red curry and steamed rice and fried some ready to cook starters and everyone settled in our small balcony / landing taking in the fresh breeze and uncluttered view with kids weaving in and out every now and then. LOT of attention and energy was put in saving precious crockery from destruction with Cubby's improved mobility! :D Next time it's paper plates! Hehe!

By the end of the evening l'il nephew V had made friends with Cubby and was asking me sweetly"Can we Please Please take your baby home?!"

Sunday we went to Shopper's Stop to use up some gift vouchers we had. I finally got meself a new handbag!! Pretty different from my usual humongous bags (hubby fondly calls them jholas) to something l'il smaller and hopefully feminine. :p Cubby sat in the pram for first time out there and howled till we showed him it moved WITH him. Even then his patience ran out pretty quickly and we were back in godi!

Evening we decided to go and SEE Lido mall with no better plan in the offing. We reached almost at closing hour and were quite impressed with valet parking and double parking system with cars lifted on top of each other and all that jazz! Rest of the mall was pretty unimpressive. They do have lot of really high end (read EXPENSIVE) brands like Guess and Body Shop etc. The sizes of all clothes seem to have shrunk even more and I felt like one old and fat aunty.

"I felt so unhip that I am surprised my bum didn't fall off!" - Phrase twisted courtesy The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy (the 2nd book precisely (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) which I am in process of reading and thoroughly enjoying!).

We thought of having dinner at the mall, but then decided to go to Indiranagar Dhaba instead. It had been ages and it was such a regular haunt till about 2 years ago! We were glad to find Danny Lamba da Dhaba as is with rickety metal tables, plastic chairs and mosquitoes! The menu card came slightly newer with fewer spelling mistakes, but the plates were still misshapen melamine! We ordered chicken bharta and methi kofta in palak. First bite and we thanked god for not letting danny lamba change his cook or the recipes! :p The food was too good to be true and we all hogged on the food sipping chilled Sprite while trying to keep Cubby sitting on his chair! He loved being in open air and it wasn't too embarrassing when he dropped the finger bowl because on mud it really doesn't make a difference! ;)

M asked Papa if he wants to have ice cream or something and we said Yes!! Then began race against time. It was almost 1045pm and we had to reach an ice cream parlour before the dreaded Cinderella hour that comes an hour earlier in Bangalore. :( Thankfully we did find a Corner House open and had a delicious Cake a Mocha which had bitter coffee flavoured ice cream with warm brownie and hot chocolate sauce! Perfect end to a fun weekend!

How was your week?