Monday hating and vacation dreaming

It's been over 1.5 months since I returned from my much needed holiday. Away from work and responsibilities, only with friends and family. And 3 whole weeks spent travelling across Spain and Portugal, eating the best meat and fish and drinking the finest wine. I don't think I could have asked for a better holiday. Maybe just another one sooner rather than later.

Speaking of holidays, Mondays are the most difficult thing to return to. Monday hating exists. And for a very good reason. Though the beginning of the week, it is one of the most unproductive days of the week. It is spent catching up with colleagues, replying to emails sent over the weekend, discussing conquests/wastage of the previous weekend, meetings for catch up, meetings for planning, meetings for meetings. You get the idea.

As I try to get through another Monday, all I can think of is why there exists this particularly horrible day of the week. Then all the wisdom that I have gathered in my almost 25 years of existence make me realise that Mondays exist simply to take the pressure off Tuesdays. So, good guy Monday. No, bad guy Monday. Still a bad guy for me.

I'd rather be vacation. Lying next to the pool or on a sunbed at Marbella. Or sipping on cava and eating tapas at a bar in Barcelona. Or just crusing through the Duoro valley after more than advised amount of port wine. Speaking of port wine, have you ever heard of green wine? Green wine is basically made from fresher grapes, with lesser sugars. Therefore, it is much more fruity and less fermented. And tastes SO GOOD!

Dammit, I am back to vacation dreaming on this Monday hating.

Ah well, it must be in the stars today.

Listening to Happy by Pharell Williams to get me through this rather drab Monday.

xoxo
The Rambler

The afternoon tea

I was just watching 'The Hairy Biker's cookbook' on 'Travel and Living' (God help me but I love that channel!!!). Anyway, I saw the guys enjoying the afternoon tea. And it brought back all these memories of the afternoon tea that I had had at Hampstead Heath. It was wonderful. The entire experience. The tea was tasty. It was a quaint little eating place. And the cake was so vibrant in taste and look. It had fresh strawberries and blueberries and I don't know what other berry. But I loved it. It had just the right amount of sweetness(which was a major win for me, since I am not too much into sweets. ) Also, I had good company. (Sneha, take a bow) It was also the perfect weather. Not too hot, not too cold. God, I sound like Goldilocks.
But I love this tradition of the English Afternoon Tea. :)
I have only realized a few days back that 'High Tea' is something completely different. High Tea involves the full meal (meats, fish, eggs, cheese, bread, butter, cakes). Whereas, in the afternoon tea, along with tea, there would be pastries with clotted cream or preserves, delicate sandwiches and scones.
My 'afternoon tea' was a highly toned down version of the actual thing. Still, I never thought I could enjoy something sweet with my tea ever. I generally enjoy my tea by itself. No accompaniments. But somehow, the cake seemed to be the perfect accompaniment. The fact, that I was sitting close to someplace where George Orwell used to sit did contribute to the extremely pleasurable setting. I loved it all.
I tried doing the afternoon tea back at my hostel. Horrible disaster it was. I didn't have cake. Instead, I used Jimjams and Bournbons My tea, made from a tea bag tasted quite ordinary. And my desk was an absolute mess. The weather was terrible. It was quite hot for the rainy season and it was sultry coz it was the rainy season. And the only virtual presence I would've got of a literary luminary would've been from my laptop. So, therein ended my experiments with afternoon tea.
Hampstead Heath is a wonderful place btw, with its parks and ponds. I really liked it, more so probably because of the afternoon tea. :)
Anyway, back to work for now.
Waiting for my next 'Afternoon Tea'
xoxo
The Rambler

Egypt

I remember visiting Egypt last year. I LOVED my visit. The awe which had filled me when I heard or read about stories of the kings and pharaohs and pyramids was still very much present. Fueled by fiction on paper or on celluloid, I have always and will continue to be fascinated by the sheer enigma of all those structures like the pyramids and the tombs.
The pyramids (there are 6 of them btw, of different sizes. Only one of them is one the wonders of the world. They come from a different time era than when the tombs were built. They were built for the kings to show the 'god' status asserted to the kings. I could go on, but the point of this post is not pyramids but Egypt and there is way more to Egypt than pyramids. ) amazed me. Their sheer size... OMG.
I was fascinated by the temples and the reasons for which they had been built. I was fascinated by the gods such as Amun Ra (forgive me for all spellings if they are wrong) for whom the temples had been built. I was fascinated by the Valley of kings and the king Tutankhamun, the queen Hatshepsut (who happens to be one of the two.three queens to be buried in the valley of kings. Its coz they were that powerful) and the beauty of the tombs. There's a valley of Queens too, but its not as well known. If I had to die, I would definitely die the way the Egyptians did. They celebrated death, the after life. Something I can appreciate.
I loved the visit to the Suez Canal. And to the military base nearby. I GOT TO SEE SHIPS PASSING IN THE SUEZ CANAL. Too awesome it was.
I also took a cruise on the Nile. I got to see the Aswan Dam. Beautiful. I got to see the rocks from which they made obelisks and how some of them were left behind because they developed a crack.
I saw so many temples. I saw beautiful sculptures and carvings. I saw this amazing Light and Sound show in Luxor. Cairo was a systematic chaos. The museum was actually something I rushed into and checked out each and everything I could.
I enjoy the cold mornings and evenings and the harsh heat of the afternoon. I loved the cold breeze of the Nile even as we sat on the sundeck.
While coming back home, I realized something. I wanted to go back to Egypt. I mean I had found Switzerland far more scenic and had probably enjoyed the walk on the Champs Elysees in the evening compared to a walk through the markets of Cairo. But, there was something about Egypt. The fascinating stories. The way they celebrated death did not make you afraid of dying. It gave you the confidence to enjoy life knowing that you will be looked after well in you after life.
I loved Egypt for all the grandeur that it had and that was an integral part of it. Even though unemployment and poverty is a major concern in the country now. I remember our guide, showing signs of discontent at the Mubarak rule. Can you blame him for not having enough employment opportunities? The guy was quite well read and could communicate effectively. I cannot imagine anyone like that having to work as a guide in India.
It's quite sad... The state Egypt is in right now. With some of the artifacts being destroyed, I feel quite sad that I won't be able to see all those things again.
But if something positive comes out of it, I hope that happens.
I just want to go back to Egypt and experience awe again
xoxo
The Rambler

i'm so dead

right...i have a cp paper tomorrow and i've spent a good portion of half an hour discussing fashion with gary...and bitching about some people...
so...i'm pretty much going to be screwed in tomorrow's paper...please forgive the use of that word, but that correctly states my state of mind at this point of time...i'm irritated and lazy coz of this sultry weather...its so hot, i don't feel like doing anything but lazing around the whole day. that too seems impossible at times, coz every time i go to sleep, i wake up drenched in my own sweat...
i can't wait to go back home...except for the aspect of having to eat fish again. i don't mind it, fish is tasty...but there are too many bones in it. and i'm too lazy...
well, tomorrow is my second last paper...and then there's eg...am really scared about it...
anyway, got my bio paper yesterday...did k...but then i did get marks for writing a lot of crap. i bet they got irritated and bored while correcting my paper and then just decided to get over with it and gave me whatever marks they felt like. i was expecting so much lower...and then i get what i got...i'm happy and i'm not complaining...this is cool.
the sun's so strong here...i went for a walk and the sun was scorching...
the above sentence somehow doesn't sound right...but then i don't really care...this is a shitty post anyway...of no consequence whatsoever...
ooooh...i wanted to crib...
for some people tomorrow's the last paper...its so unfair...
they get to go home early, but we don't
its a different matter that they like morons are staying till the 16th...complete waste of holidays...i mean...bbay is a much more happening place...
anyway their choice...i'm goin home b4 them...so i'm happy...and they are still morons.
2 and a half months of holidays...in the true sense of the word...life couldn't get better.
anyway...better get back to studying, else am gonna face the wrath of the cp paper tomorrow...
signing off
waiting for these 5 days to get over as quickly as possible
waiting for bbay
xoxo
the rambler