'Supdates.

Yes yes, it's been a while. It's the laziness that one feels after a long bout of hard work and non-stop busy-ness. So anyway, here are updates:

1. Salsa Congress was awesome. Got to see some amazing performances, gave an amazing performance that got a standing ovation from not just the crowd but also the international dance instructors at the Congress. Woo hoo!

2. Learnt the basics of Bachata, Colombian Salsa, Reggae and some fancy footwork. Didn't have time for any other workshop. And the after-parties? Oh my God. There's no place i've seen that's so full of life and vigour as the after-parties. People dancing in a ground the size of half a football field!

3. Nivel Uno de Espanol. Complete. I passed. Distinction. Nivel Dos will start in September, but i want to keep the months from here on for travel.

4. On the cards: Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Goa, Rajasthan.

5. I got back from Hyderabad on Wednesday morning. This was the first time i was visiting the city during Ramadan, and boy does the place know how to celebrate. I pigged out on Haleem and Sheermal Nahari at Charminar, and ate a paan (Kimaon) which i swear never to eat again because it got me high enough to throw up. Twice.

I also partied, chilled, spent time with family, and got myself some soul comfort. Very different, very memorable trip.

6. Work's going good. Pretty busy, actually.

7. I'm considering marriage. Seriously.

8. I spoke to a friend whose husband gifted her the world map and said, "Any place you put your finger on, we'll go for a holiday there." That's going to be one of my qualifying criteria to get hitched: when i meet the guy, i will put a world map in front of him and see what he does.

9. I desperately, desperately want a house of my own. And i'm contemplating telling my parents i want to move out.

10. Weight loss. Yay!

11. Flirtations, here and there.

12. It strikes me in the middle of the day that i will be 28 in another four months. 28!

13. I feel lumps in places they have no business being present. Need to get tested.

14. Sleep is my priority these days.

15. I held a baby in my arms after over three years. It didn't feel strange. Does that mean i'm ready? Gah,whatever.

16. My weekends are free again, and i suddenly find myself with more time on my hands than i know what to do with.

You succumb, and then you fall for it.

Back in college, Life Of Pi had strong psychological associations for me: pretentious, arty farty, intellectualised to the extent of being disgusting, blah blah blah. Don't ask me why, i just did.

Recently, i happened to chance upon it at a friend's place in a moment of boredom. Here, i have to pause to tell you that when i'm in the kind of bored mood that requires reading to make it go away, i will read anything - even The Times of India. So, of course, i decided to quell my boredom, and my faint curiosity on what could possibly be so enthralling about the book.

The first few pages amused me. A few paragraphs fascinated me. And some sentences stirred in me a deep understanding of human behaviour.

I was hooked.

I bought myself a copy, and finished reading it just sometime back. I can't say that i love it, only that there's something it does to you - spiritually, physically, psychologically. And with the last line of the last page of that story coming to an end, i decided that i would begin a new one by researching Pi Patel, carnivorous islands, Oika Shipping Company. What i found left me devastated: every single bit of that book is a fig-ment of Yann Martel's imagination. It didn't. Really. Happen.

Now, i just feel cheated. More cheated and betrayed than any other book has made me feel.

One performance down, the bigger one to go.

The student performance was last night. We grooved to a full house with a mixed crowd. Whistles, ego boosters, loud applause, catcalls - everything happened.

I made a couple of mistakes but then just went with the flow and had a blast. Lots of first times - first time performance in front of 300 people, first time showing my midriff to a whole bunch of strangers and a couple more that i prefer to keep private. It felt awfully awkward and weird - the rare conservative streak in me showed itself - but i like dancing more than that, so i got comfortable soon enough. Besides, it's a once in a lifetime (or twice, if one counts the coming Salsa Congress) thing, so it should be okay.

I had the troupe director's husband walk up to me and say, "My god, you were so good, and you looked so pretty! I couldn't take my eyes off you!" And apparently a lot of people told the director that they enjoyed watching me perform.

Happiness has happened. Two months of strenuous training for three and a half minutes of near-perfect bellydancing. I just have to make sure i'm even better at the Salsa Congress.