The Rambunctious Rambler

This has been loooong overdue but I had to let you know that Directi featured in an article in the online edition of the Outlook Business.

Yours truly featured in the article You can read the article here.

This morning I got up and ran the Half Marathon at the Standard Charterd Mumbai Marathon 2010.

This has been my first participation in the event and it was an awesome experience While you can read all about the marathon at a variety of places. Here you will read my story.

Directi was signing up its employees for the various marathon races and I promptly put my name down for the half marathon mentally making up my mind to practice hard.

Well all my “practice sessions” didn’t happen but my love for a good long walk propelled me to the finish line clocking 2:45:00.  Not bad I think for someone who had no practice at all!

So what did  my numbers look like?

Number of kilometers ran/brisk walked: 21.097 officially plus the walk to my means of transport home

Number of bottles of water consumed: 10 minis

Amount of food in my system: 2 bananas, a glass of milk and a sweet

Number of camera crew who stopped me along the way ( u know to ask how I’m enjoying myself and if this was my first race) : 2

Number of people who paced with me: 1 (all the way from Worli Seaface to the finish line)

Number of bones in my body that hurt: At least 20!!!

Number of people who met me at the finish line: 1

Number of SMSes sent to mark each 5 km achievement:  28

Number of hugs I got after the race: 10

While I had no NGOs or causes that I ran for printed on my Tshirt. These are the special people in my life I ran for -

Your the bestest sister in the whole wide world no matter what – I ran for you

You work so hard so that we can have a better life -I ran for you

You always encourage me to try new things,  willingly support me to  those ends and never laugh at my dreams. You were the only one who said “I’m proud of you” after I completed the race - I ran for you

You continue your relentless battle against cancer – I ran for you

You quit smoking 10 years ago and have never smoked again – I ran for you

You won your battle with cancer – I ran for you

You always tell me to do my best and don’t worry about the results – I ran for you

You brought me up when my parents were away – I ran for you

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.   Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.

We should’ve known… ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.

My friends have been worrying me for years to go commercial with my handmade cards and all the while I had been putting it off never really believing that I was cut out for the business aspect of it.

So when KJD cajoled and encouraged (and pushed) me to give it a shot this Christmas and also agreed to help ….  I finally decided to take the plunge. And with some marketing volunteers who promised to help with the promotion and business aspect I can happily stick to making the cards.

I have called the venture Little Piggy Design (we are still working out the logistics of the website) which is currently featuring Christmas Cards and Gift Tags for the festive season.  We are also offering handmade paper bags and  packaging services to suit your style

Below is a showcase of the cards I have made so far. Some are original ideas and others have been inspired by the work of other card crafters. I will keep adding to these

Christmas Cards

Christmas Gift Tags

All these cards have been made with a lot of love. If you would like to order the cards or know anyone who is interested drop me an email at littlepiggydesign@gmail.com

My sister’s friend has been looking after 2 kittens who now need a home. If anyone would like to have them please drop me an email at marise.lobo@gmail.com. I’ve included a few pictures so that you can go ga – ga over them

Here is Ginger aka Adraki

Presenting Pepper aka Mojo

The kitties

Hindustan Times(Delhi Edition) ran an article titled ‘When Work Rocks’ in which Directi was one of the companies that featured.  Have a look

“The article has a bunch of photos of Directians in it and it talks about the various work-life balance measures like dance lessons and yoga classes at Directi. Bhavin has been quoted as saying that it is natural for us to ensure a healthy work-life balance as the individual is at the core of our business.” - Directi Announce

My cousin Michelle married her best friend Jordan in a lovely wedding in Toronto, Canada. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Hope along here for some more

I  had a super duper birthday party this year (I know I know it has been a few months since then….. but since I’m in the mood to do some blogging … here is another post)

Although Ajay was a wee bit reluctant I decided to go ahead (steam roll him as usual) and plan a combined b’day party . Not sure how many of you know but we celebrate our birthdays on consecutive  days

The gang from SCMHRD came over – Sneha, Akshat , Neha, Arijit and Aditya (who flew in from half way across the country- Thank you so much for that), my friends and  family. We sure did have a ball.

Thank you guys for coming.  We love you.

Here are some pictures for you to have a look at

After plenty of planning and some more,  we finally decided to leave caution to the wind and head out to Nashik . The purpose of the trip – wish Joel for his birthday and see rural Maharashtra.

I asked the car to come pick me up, picked up KJD and then headed to Vasai to pick up Virgil, Joel’s Mum and Granny. We might have gottten lost in Vasai itself if it had not be for Fr. Wendell who gave us precise directions to get to Ambadi – sitting in Nashik!

Loaded the car and set out for Nashik only to get LOST in Bhiwandi ….. just when it seemed like we had to call our long distance navigator again we managed to get on the right track and sped to Nashik.

We got to Nashik and promptly lost our way to the Novitiate – AGAIN! (maybe its a sign that we need to go there more often what say Tony V? ) A few phone calls and a motorcycle escort later we reached Sadhnalaya and our darling Joel

We dropped both the aunties there and headed to Sula Vineyards which is about a 15 minute drive from the Noviatiate.

Lunch was at a local restaurant from where Wendell picked us up. I have never been to the Infant Jesus Shrine in Nashik and our trip there provided a perfect opportunity to pay a visit.

I fell in love with some pottery and had to stop and buy. I ended up buying a lot of stuff which I belatedly realized that I had to cart all over Nashik!!!!

We then drove to MPSM along long beautiful winding roads. After an exotic supper we tucked in for the night in anticipation of the long drive through rural Maharashtra the next day.

We had a short mass and headed out. We ended up driving hundreds of kilometers in the interiors of Maharashtra all the way to Ambatta and back. We visited two Jesuit mission stations, heard the stories, learned about the plant kingdom from the two Botanists we were traveling with, the shocking tale of some political lobby’s plan to submerge a whole valley to build a mammoth dam and the hope filled story of the idea of building hundreds of smaller dams that will be connected to each other thereby enabling pumping of water from dams that have filled up to those that have not at no risk  of displacing people.

Two trips to Khandala in the middle of the rains made me realise that Khandala CANNOT be captured in all its breath -taking- away beauty.

Here is some pleasure for the sore eyes the city gives you.