ONE SATURDAY

And too many things to do. Sigh.

MUMBAI MARATHON 2012

The Dream Run has, well... been *cough* walked.

Took in all the sights and sounds (and myriad they sure were!) along the way, realised that the 'serious' Marathon is the Half and the Full (all 21 and 42 kilometres respectively).

Here's some pictures:

The amazing Indian Navy Band

MONKEY BREW

The instructions say it all!

LIFE WITHOUT A GOOD BOOK

... is simply unimaginable. Oh, the horror. *shudder*

Currently on my bedside table/ in my over-eager paws:

- The Immortals of Meluha (super fascinating, unputdownable)#

- The Secret of the Nagas (need to finish Immortals first, this is the second part of the trilogy)

- The House of Silk (promising start; presently my second read*)

- The Interpretation of Murder (to be read after I'm thru' with The House of Silk)

- Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn (light reading; my third read**)

* I normally read around three books at a time. Sigh. Yes, yes, I'm a nerd.

** Naturally, follows from the explanation above.





# Technically, on my office desk. Took a cab to work this morning, and didn't drive, just so that I could read en route. Bought myself a half hour of solid reading time. Hurrah!

FEAR

And you thought nightmares = fear. So did I.

Until January 01, 2012.

Here's the lowdown: On holiday, the significant other and I are happily last-minute shopping at a prominent mall on one of (let's call it) City B's busiest streets, when we decide to head back to our hotel and check-out, in preparation for our flight home. It's around 03:30 on a bright and sunny afternoon, when we hail a cab, one of those regular meter cabs that are available for hire. About five minutes into the drive hotelwards, the cabbie gets abusive, drives off the main road onto a freeway, then off the freeway into a rather seedy area, and holds us to ransom, at gunpoint. No, I don't know whether the gun was indeed real, and no, I don't know whether we were merely being small-time conned, but when faced with a gun - you don't really want to find out, do you?

The city in question is very, very touristy; you have about a gazillion people hopping into these cabs all the time. So did we, for a full three days prior to this. And then we landed up with this cabbie. That done, we were about USD 70 lighter, dropped off onto a deserted freeway outside of city limits - forced to find our way back to the hotel in a foreign country, wherein even the street signs were not in English, or any language that we understood.

What did we do wrong? Nothing, apart from the fact that we were sheer unlucky, to be in the wrong cab at the wrong time. Did we argue with the cabbie? No. Did we fight? No. Were we abusive? No. Guess we were just destined to be one of those 'we-have-been-mugged' statistics.

In hindsight, it could've been a lot worse - our passports were on us, we were alone in a strange land. Guess we got off lightly. A week after, we're glad to be alive, and whole.

What a start to the new year.

Nightmares are made of this.

On the bright side, there evidently is a God, isn't there?

BEAUTIFUL CAMBODIA

Just back from a wonderful, wonderful holiday. (Did I mention wonderful?) Visited Cambodia, or more specifically, the Siem Reap province and all the breathtaking sights it had to offer. Yes, yes, Angkor Wat! While I will write more on the place, and all it had to offer, I 'll leave you with some pictures for now.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

A close-up of bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wish you a warm and wonderful 2012, y'all!