Another first after two decades of flying
I could hear the wheels of the plane coming down. That was my cue to take the earplugs off the Amjad Sabri qawwali I was enjoying and pack my stuff up to land. Moment I took my earplugs out, I could hear a lot yelling going on upfront. It appeared two male passengers were yelling at each other. One of them – a rather young gentleman – was clearly out of control. And there was a young lady trying desperately to defuse the situation. My biggest fear was it was a case of a psychiatric patient gone wrong. (Having two parents with psychiatric issues, that is often my first conclusion).
We landed smoothly and reached quickly to the gate. But you could see the person was perturbed – he just would not sit down and follow instructions. Full credit to Delta air hostesses for keeping their calm. It took us a couple of minutes after reaching the gate to get instructions to get up. At that point, I was sure it was a security issue. Very efficiently, St. Louis airport police showed up and promptly took him away without any incident. I later found out he was totally under the influence…
I took a few pictures but am posting one that does not show his face just to respect his right to privacy.
Never ever have I experienced this before…
I am getting smarter!!
Some of you may remember my handwritten notes for the girls that I had put up on the fridge before I left for India. The ones with sharper memory might even recollect that one of my instructions was to keep the shoes in the shoe closet and leave the floor for the purpose of walking. Well, that has been a struggle for a long time.
At home I am the one who likes keeping everything back in their proper places and the girls like to just infuriate me. By not putting everything back in their proper places. Especially shoes. Given that we live in the forest, we do get some occasional bugs here and there in our house. No problem!!! There is at least a couple of shoes within spitting distance regardless of where you find the bug.
At one point, I got even some elaborate shelves built in our garage with a lot of space for every family member to entice them to keep shoes back in their places. Want to guess which shelves have more shoes out and around them than inside?
Then again, sometimes, problems have a way of sorting themselves out.
On that note, please meet our new family member – Jay Jay – a mix of cocker spaniel and a terrier. He is the one closer to you in the picture. The other one is Princess – our thirteen year old Maltese. You will be amazed how a three month old puppy’s unyielding energy to chew anything and everything in its eyesight can quickly bring shoe discipline at your home.
Evidently, all these days, I was simply “barking” up the wrong tree!
Enough said!!
On the lighter side….
From the bartender’s corner – Pink Lady
This drink is dedicated to Jayeeta Bose – my friend from Chennai days who I have not seen in over a quarter century. Yesterday, through FB, she requested that I make a pink drink today in deference to International Women’s Day. (By the way, that is how I found out today is so).
This is the classic version of the Pink Lady with gin, white of an egg and a few dashes of grenadine. The garnishing is inspired by a picture I saw while researching for a pink drink. This was one of the first popular “girly” drink. This was the drink of choice for high society ladies in the 1930s – just around the time when Moscow Mule (based on vodka) was snatching popularity from traditional drinks like whiskey among men. Over more than a century, various mixologists have come up with different versions of this drink with applejack, lemon juice, lemonade and so on.
Since Anastassia had asked me to rate drinks, I would say this is “sweet and smooth with occasional bite if you have too much”. Just like a woman, I guess 🙂 🙂 ha ha!!! Okay, okay, I am kidding. It is more of a martini taste without the edge of dry vermouth. And the slightest hint of the smell of an egg.
International Women’s Day
Quiet evening
From the bartender’s corner – Racquet Club
Catching a break
Unwinding on a Friday evening…
… With a few classical qawwalies by the Sabri brothers from Pakistan.
A memorable sher from the “mukhra” of their song “Ab ke saal poonam mein”…
“Tujhse milke bhi dil ko na chain aa saka,
Tujhse milna bhi ik haadsa ho gaya;
Tu nahi tha to furqat ka gham tha mujhe;
Ab ye gham hai ki gham bemazaa ho gaya…”
Here is an attempt at translating it..
“Even after meeting you, my heart could not find any peace
Because meeting you created a whole new problem for me
Without you, I had the constant company of sorrows of separation
Now, with you, my sorrow is that all the fun of separation sorrows has been taken away from me”