Friday, September 24, 2010

I miss my black beauty...

…really, really do.
With all the silver linings that Singapore as our new home is offering us, there is still this big big gap to fill. The absence of a car in our lives. How much I am missing my car which we dutifully sold off before coming here. And whoever you are, who has bought it, better take care of it!
So now I use public transport to commute to work each day. A train to be precise. My complaining won’t be justified as the MRT system here is super comfortable. We have taken a house next to the MRT station and in Singapore that’s the biggest achievement one can boast off. And then there are busses. And for weekends there are cabs, in abundance!
But still, I miss my car. I miss driving. I miss the comfort. I miss the sense of ownership.
My colleagues who have been here for a while, tell me that this is just a phase and sooner than later I will be more than happy about not having the hassle to drive, park etc. Owning a car here is not as easy as having one in India or any other country for that matter. First the government is not too excited by the idea of people using private transport, so taxes are really huge. So is parking and then the cost of car. About 65% people use the public transport on a daily basis. So yeah now I am part of the majority.
But having said all that the crux of the matter is that I terribly miss the black beauty which we sold off before coming here. It was our first car, bought in the first year of our marriage. Ah so many memories, so many trips. The least I can hope is that the new owner cherishes it as much as I did.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Of This and That

I feel the need to do another Blog Marathon. Only then will I be regular here. Truthfully I miss this place. But life is just running past me, while I huff and pant and try to catch up. It’s fun, it’s stressful, it’s confusing, but it’s worth every bit.
Yeah so coming to the Marathon bit, anyone ready to join??
Moved to Singapore and settling in. Found a flat and shifted in last week as well. It still looks alien, the kitchen, the bedroom, the living area. It’s all mine and yet nothing belongs to me. But what’s fun is the settling in part. It’s just like the good old days when Aman and I were just married and were building our lives together. The place is pretty comfortable, furnished with all the essentials. So we are basically saved from the hassle of buying a lot of stuff. Now the hunt for a maid has started. Hopefully I shall be blessed soon.
It wasn’t easy to give up a well settled comfortable life back in Bangalore and come to this not so far land. It had its own set of uncertainties, its own sets of odds. But we took the plunge. And so far it’s been good.
We attended a barbecue party a couple of days after we had landed here. It was predominated by Indians and most of the women present there were non-working mums. And never before have I been in the company of so many non working mums. Therefore the generalization I am trying to draw here might be completely off track and for that don’t bite me please. Yeah, so coming to this group, there was just 1 bachelor amongst them and all these women were trying to convince him to get married. And the entire spiel was around how he could get good food and ironed clothes. How he didn’t need to bother about maid and cleaning once he got a wife. I mean, it was appalling!! How could they speak like that?? And being women at that!!! My better sense prevailed and before I could break a few skulls and I quietly slipped out and joined the men where they were discussing cricket and beer. Ha, so yeah, Singapore is no different from India!!