Dilwallon ki Dilli - Part Deux

Time for another post.

Life has been cool till now. We don't get to see much of sun, and evenings and nights are swallowed in books, music, movies and loitering. I'm about to complete the second book today. Firt was 'Made in America - Walmart' and the second "Diaries of Anne Frank". Walton's writeup was certainly cool. I really liked Walton's emphasis down-to-earth simple lifestyle.

I expected a lot of action in the second book but I'm kind of terribly disappointed. For starters, the book is about the real life diary of a 13 year old Jewish girl called Anne Frank who along with her family hid themselves and lived for two years in a warehouse in Amsterdam during World War Two. Finally, she goes to the concentration camp and dies there. I had lots of expectations from the book - I was expecting to get a feel of what was running in the minds of Jews during war, the travails faced by them etc., but the diary is loaded with material related to her adoloscent, wavery state of mind, mom-daughter troubles, love life etc - the kind of material that has never gripped me. Hope the remaining part of the book is more about politics.

Other than books, we've tried quite a lot of hotels - expensive and otherwise - around here. I've been to PVR cinemas and Saket four times in these 9 odd days, and I've seen two movies. South Delhi is 'offensively expensive' - Right from our one room flat that costs 3125 per head each month to movies that cost 150 Rs. to South Indian meals that cost 75 bucks. Having lived in relatively small cities - Tier II ones for the most part - in 4 bedroom independant houses with gardens and space for parking 2/3 cars, life looks very different here. Small rooms, dungeon like apartments, shop keepers who think they are doing a favor to the customers, zillions of cars, Page 3 material, huge variety of markets and products, a common place 1-hour travel, flashy lifestyles, a huge job market, companies etc... it would be interesting to see whether I'd really be interested in 'settling down' in such cities, if given an option.

My project is in a mysterious state. Yeah, that's what it is. I was assigned to be a part of a huge 'ongoing' project. The project involves a lot of things, and decisions etc would be taken in bits and pieces for a long time, may be around 6 months. I fit in somewhere for 2 months and that is one reason why whatever I do has been a bit disconnected as of now. Hope to see some good changes in a day or two.

Rest later!