An evening with Da Vinci

Or you can also say, my first movie in a theatre in Japan. It’s been 8 months since I got here and till date I have not been to a theatre to see a movie. Its not that I don’t like to watch movies but it’s just that I haven’t so far got company (or opportunity), good enough to watch a movie. So, when P told me that she was planning to see “The Da Vinci Code”, I couldn’t stop myself from asking her if she would like to go along with me. But, there was a bigger problem at hand. I had not yet finished reading the novel, which I had started a long time ago.

So, I asked her if she could give me some time to finish that novel. Else, I know myself. I would have never completed that novel if I had seen that movie first. As asked, I was granted some time to finish it up. I hurried through it and within 2 days I was done and ready to go for movie on Saturday (which happened to be yesterday).

The day was fun as it started with a call at 8 am in the morning from P. Once, I had told her that I am crazy about cars. So, when she saw some awesome looking cars on a ‘Saturday morning’ in her neighborhood, being a nice friend as she always has been, she called me immediately to tell me about it and then realized that it was a ‘Saturday morning’. I have no clue what I told her when she told me all this.

So, after 2 hours when I woke up, I was not sure about what conversation we had had and tried calling her up to check. She was busy in her lab so she didn’t answer the phone. I think I m suffering from short term memory loss, because when in the evening, she called me up after looking at the missed call, I had simply forgotten about the call and told her I hadn’t called. May be it’s the old age I am getting into.

So, we plan to meet at Shibuya but as soon as I step out, I realize it’s raining. I reach Shibuya and I see P already holding a coffee outside Starbucks. Well, it was raining so how could I not get one. I am not much of a tea or a coffee person but whenever I have it I like it sweet. I just added a tinge of sugar and P was after my life telling me I m nuts and all. Well, what’s the fun in having a sugarless Mocha at Starbucks? I don’t say that it’s not sweet. I just say it’s not sweet enough.

We start hunting for the theatre in rain. It was not easy at a place like Shibuya but we managed. We had one hour before the movie began so we thought of killing the time by trying to kill each other with our poor jokes (read Apy tried with his poor jokes). They gave us some brochures but since it was raining, we thought of making boats out of them. Apy started first but after a while realized that instead of making a boat I made an airplane :P. So, gave it another try and this time made something else. P got inspiration from me. After all, I give ideas for life. So after trying again and again and after a lot of (de) motivation, she was able to make one.

After one hour of blabbering, we entered the theatre only to come to know that the seats were taken on a first come first serve basis. ‘Holy crap’ was the only thing that came to our mind as the only seats available were in first 3 rows. If we had the slightest idea about this situation we would have gotten the best seats.

Anyways, the movie was okay. I won’t call it that bad but had a major deviation from the novel. I know a movie cannot possibly cover the contents of a novel well but still I had some high hopes from this.

By the time we came out, we were starving. So for a change, instead of looking for a restaurant we bought a doner kebab from a food cart and started looking for a place to eat. Found a desi place to sit, “The Stairs”. So we munched on those kebabs sitting there while people walked past us staring at us. By the time we finished we had got used to those stares and were busy yapping amongst ourselves. After this again a coffee was must. So, went to Starbucks again and got a Caramel this time and she ordered a Double Espresso for herself. Considering the size of her coffee cup and the expression on her face when she drank it, it looked more like a large Whisky peg than coffee. Again I added a tinge of sugar to my caramel, which according to P was an insane amount. I don’t know what is it with her and sugar. Again received the same old line, “You are nuts!!” (What a cliché!)

But it was fun. If I look at it from an over all day point of view. I had a good time. After a long time (complete 2 weeks), I went out and had some fun.

Can you feel it ???

Off late Apy has been whining a lot and that’s definitely not me. So, yesterday after office, instead of taking a train, I decided to walk back home. Don’t presume that Apy has gone crazy before knowing the distance between my hotel and my office. It’s just one station and now don’t you give me that *you need a train to cover that much distance* expression. Well! I do :P.

I have always associated places with either their fragrance or some music. Its not that I do it by choice but that’s the way it usually happens with me. So, last evening when I started walking down the street, I felt a cool breeze on my face and sensed the same fragrance that I did on my first day to office in Japan. That was 9 months ago and suddenly all that time of being new to this place flashed in front of me. May be it happened as it was summer then and now summer is approaching again. It’s just something in the air. I felt the same when I landed in Bangalore this time. It too has a distinct fragrance in air that reminds me of all the time I have spent there.

Similarly, air in Delhi has its own distinct aroma. May be that’s because that’s Home. No matter how long it’s been since I left Delhi, its still Home and always will be. Whenever I go to Delhi, irrespective of how much I crib about pollution, traffic and crime rate, at the end of the day, I am always happy to be there. May be that’s why I miss it so much.

Another thing that helps me to associate with places and reminds me of old times is music. There are some songs that remind me of the college time. The ones on which we used to dance like crazy at times of college festivals or those Jam sessions for weird reasons. Then those Ghazal audiocassettes that Dad used to buy, still remind me of the old time at home, listening to that tape recorder when I was kid. There are some songs which remind me of R, my buddy and my guide and in a way he too has got the same tendency. I came to know about it when I went back to Bangalore this time and he played all those songs on his new ‘Bose’ system and before playing each song, he reminded me of the memory with which it was associated to both of us. It touched me to the core. May be it had more effect as it was played on ‘Bose’. :P

So, yesterday when I switched my Nano on, the songs that went started playing were Nickelback’s “Rock star” followed by Greenday’s “Wake me up when September ends” and “Boulevard of broken dreams”. These are the same songs that I used to listen to again and again on my long weekend walks when I came to this place. So, a combination of old fragrance and its corresponding music was bliss.

Right now I am listening to “Don’t be shy” by Rouge after a long time. I listened to this song a zillion times when I was in Bangalore. It reminds me of all the fun I had with my roomie then. The list is endless. The good part is that this way I can remember and feel good as well as bad moments of my life.

So Far So Good

It all started 3 months back when I felt pain in the lower abdomen. I thought, it might be due to some eating disorder and I ignored it. But the pain persisted and I was left with no other option but to see a doctor. Gosh! I just hate to go to hospitals and see doctors (no offence meant to doctor friends of mine). They give me the creeps and scare the hell out of me. Meeting a doctor in Japan involved other apprehensions also like whether he will understand the problem that I am facing and will he be able to solve it? (Please do not forget the language issue with me)

Anyways, went to the hospital and what happened after that is history.

Visit1: My first meeting with the doctor. Luckily, he was able to speak English though I took a friend along with me who could speak good Japanese. He told me that I had an infection and gave me antibiotics accordingly.

I was happy to hear that nothing major was wrong and took that antibiotic course for 5 days. After 5 days, pain was still there and I was still sad. Nevertheless, I still went to see the doctor again.

Visit2: This time it was a different doctor and he said I had a stone. I was a little worried on hearing this but he assured me that it’s no big deal and we will dissolve the stone with medicines and remove it. In any case he asked me to get the basic tests done including sonography.

I obeyed like a good boy. Got all tests done and went to see doctor again

Visit3: A different doctor. “I don’t think you have stone, I think you have appendicitis.” My plain and simple reaction was “WHAT THE FUCK!!! Every time I come here, you scare me more and more. Why don’t you make up your mind first and then tell me what’s the matter with me”. Anyways, I didn’t say any of it to him coz he seemed to be trying to help me. He gave me some medicines and asked me to visit after 2 weeks.

I met him again after 2 weeks. He was not very sure about appendicitis and asked me to wait for some more time. He said, “I think it’s because of some eating disorder.” (Don’t even ask what my reaction was.)

2.5 months passed, spent around 500 USD but the pain was still hanging in there (Made for each other types) and my worries were at their best. At last, I begged my manager to let me go to India a week early than my scheduled trip so that I can see doc as soon as possible. The story with him is a different story altogether and I don’t even want to start with it, for now.

Reached India (Apy very Happy), and went to see the doctor (a General surgeon). I was again asked to go through all the same tests. I obeyed. I was happy to be back in the hands of good old Indian doc. My reports came out to be all normal. He ‘felt’ that I had appendicitis. He asked me if I had insurance, I affirmed. I was asked to get admitted and get a CT scan done. I obeyed. CT scan was also normal but he said he still had a ‘feeling’ that it was appendicitis. He said, “We could do a diagnostic laparoscopy (for those who don’t know, it is drilling a hole in your abdomen, sticking up a telescope in it and finding out what is wrong). In any case we will take out appendix.” I was not very sure about this. My dad was not at all in favor of cutting into, just for diagnosis. So, called another doctor (my friend’s uncle) for second opinion, told him the complete story and he too was not in favor of this diagnosis.

I was still admitted to hospital and nurse had put I.V. in. My parents were with me all the time and all of us were scared like hell. I got a little rude at times to them for which I feel sorry. “Sorry Mom! Sorry Dad!” I didn’t mean to hurt you, was just as scared as you and didn’t know how to react at times.

Even though I had come to hospital on my own, spending a night in that room made me say to myself, “Thakur to giyo!!"
Ah! I totally forgot to mention about the antibiotics that doctor had asked me to take when I met him the first time. The pain seemed to be subsiding.

It was D-day and doctor arrived. I made him talk to my doctor and he explained the complete story to him. After that, decision was left to me. I decided to not go for it. The pain subsided completely in the next few days and for a change I felt good.

I still don’t know whether I took the right decision or not but as per my belief, “Whatever happens, happens for good”; I have left it to God.