Packing up, moving on...

This is finally it then, the last commune blog written about the commune! December 2007 was a month of farewells, as 2 communists – Stefan and Chris (ok, one ex-communist if you’re a stickler for details) left Greenpeace, and one left India. Stefan headed back to home and family in Germany and Chris to explore life outside Greenpeace, yet inside India.

Not before one last commune party though, super fun as always. Though those of us who did know them did spare a thought (really!!) for the 'missing' members of the commune, its founding sisters - Namrata, Nayana and Swati.

And that's Stefan aka Chacha with his keepsake from GP India, a work of creative collaboration, but most of the donkey work was the other firang's, Chris.

So with office moving and the commune disintegrating, it was time to pack up worldly belongings and make sure that the house – home - that had been simply ‘the commune’ for almost two years was in a fit state to be handed back to the landlord.

So the last weekend before Christmas turned into one long cleaning and inventorising session, interspersed with beer and takeout food, and liberally spiced with nostalgia. As fate would have it, only yours truly and the last founding member of the commune, the lady with the razor sharp memory, Vinuta were around, with Areeba vanishing off to some corner of Kerala for reasons unknown, leaving her dozen or so bags behind for me to deal with. So this is the cleaning detail… Gomti am sure worked harder than she ever did before. I’m sure some of that dirt was there when we moved in, but hey, might as well be thorough….

Thankfully we had help from action girl Smitha, who would actually have made a perfect addition to the commune. I mean, I’ve never cleaned the fridge, but there she is, doing a pretty thorough job of it.

No prizes for guessing whose room had the most junk, er, stuff. Really Vinuta, do you actually need SO many clothes???

A couple of hours and my packing was done, and my room neat and tidy. As it always was.Vinuta didn’t like that though, so she made sure ‘stuff’ showed up from somewhere and soon it was looking like this!

This kind of work always gets the mind wandering… and cleaning is dreary work… must clear out the fridge… need a break…there’s still some beer in the fridge… am sure you see where this is going! Who are we to stand in the way of the laws of physics… beer must be drunk while its still cold said the bald wise man….

And then there were two… the shoe cabinet never looked so clean!

Sunday was bag moving day, with various bags dropped off at various places in Bangalore, and Vinuta off to Yelahanka with her 23 bags. No kidding. 23. I never lie.

I was off to Bombay the next morning, so I spent my last night at the commune taking a few pictures for posterity, listening to ‘the commune CD’ and remembering the good times. The construction next door – yes, the same one that would wake us up at unearthly hours ESPECIALLY on weekends – has progressed a lot in two years. The view has changed.

I guess we have too.

Where is everyone??

Lousy communists, all! Even though the dissolution of the commune is impending, not a peep from any one of the present or past residents!!!


You, lady! The one who left us first - whither art thou, I ask? Yes, Swati, I do mean you!!! So many holidays have come and gone, and you haven´t sent us any pictures yet, leave alone updating the blog. Must we make some MORE missed calls to you before you remember we exist??


Stefan of course has been traipsing around the planet, so one can understand how VERY busy your life has been - though when you were actually in Bangalore, your family have come and visited, been the only children to have lived in the commune, you are even about to leave the country in a bit ... and not a single update from you? Not even your holiday in the Andamans? SHAME!!!


Vinuta, dear Vinuta... you, one should give up on I suppose! If you cannot even get around to skype chats once in say, THREE months? then how can one expect a blog! So what if you are leading such an exciting life, exploring the Sundar-buns must take up allllll your time, right?


Nayana, of course, is in the land of opportunity - or at least, that is the last one heard of you from your google chats. Were the streets paved with gold? Were you walking in Memphis or losing yourself in Louisiana? Or philandering in Philadelphia all the while? Are you now in Germany? Back in Austria? You sure are taking this globalization study seriously....


Namrata, so you fell and lost your memory, and got double vision - SO? Twice as much blogging to be expected from you, now that you are on ´recovery´ leave for so long. And yes, the Westerpark sunshine pictures really must come off your laptop and onto a blog someday, don´t you think?


Ashish, one baingan bhartaa is all you contributed? I blame you, actually, for the end of the commune blogging - Your bhartaa was so dramatic that it effectively silenced the rest of us. Don´t you think we deserve to hear about your lovely holiday in Amsterdam, Paris, Oslo, Trondheim?? Or is it jet lag you claim?


Christinaaaaah - dimaag ka dahin ho gaya hai kya? Why are YOU not blogging? You have as entertaining a perspective as the other present residents do - and a responsibility too, since you have just moved to a new venue in the same city as the commune!!!! We expect detailed descriptions, and plentiful pictures, samjhi?


PS - Have we been so VERY rude as to not even invite Areeba to the blogging community once she joined the commune? Tsk tsk tsk... my dear, please feel free to vent your fury here - you SHALL be heard.

Baingan ka baaaarta?

A lazy Friday full of anticipation for a lazy weekend. The only remaining cooks in the commune (one German and one Indian, makes for multi-cultural cuisine..), now that the pirates have departed for the Caribbean, decide to stir up some brinjal. Since we all love baingan ka bharta, and our trusty cook book had a recipe, we decide to be adventurous.

Stage 1: Ignore the recipe book’s directions J! The whole roasting bit seemed complicated, so let’s reverse the order and first get all the rest of the ingredients ready. Onions, tomatoes and the rest.. all chopped and ready… Now the ‘complicated’ bit could start!

Roast the brinjals till the skin is charred… so said the book. Sounds easier than it turns out though. These things take ages to roast! The Germans of course find this use of a gas stove hilarious. And they don’t seem very confident of the outcome either! Stefan takes one look at ‘dinner’ and decides to head for the hills with his sidekick Somo!

Truth be told, the Indian had his doubts too! And yes, it might not be recognizable, but that is a brinjal!

This is getting messy!

Well, the charring bit is over, things now get more conventional… smells good, and looks more edible too!

In between of course, there’s some time for jumping around. Chris is looking forward to having the commune to herself for the weekend!

Its finally ready…. And the German approves! So that’s the commune’s first home-made baingan baaaaaarta, German accent and all!

Reunion, version 1.1

It has been a cold and windy day in Amsterdam, perfect for the 'Commune, version 1.1' to be used as the venue for a nice long evening of Indian food, spicy gossip and Indian whisky as the two founding members of the Commune (Original, version 1.0 from Bangalore!) got together after months.

But Stefan had no idea what he was really invited for :-)

Request number 1.
"Ummm, would you mind showing me how this ancient kind of fireplace is used? I'm afraid I will blow it up (and probably kill myself too!) if I try it on my own."



So he gallantly goes down on one knee to 'do the needful'.








Request number 2.

"Hey, since you're tall enough to reach it, could you please fix my curtain - one of the hooks has been loose for a while!"

And so he willingly climbs onto the sofa and stretches to reach it.







Request number 3.

"Hey, Stefan! Let's call up Girl Child - she's been feeling a bit lonely lately, I bet she'd be happy to hear from us both."

So he willingly spends the next fifteen minutes entertaining our Girl Child.



Request number 4.

"We need to post pictures of you visiting my place! Please pose nicely with me."

So he waits patiently while I fiddle with my new camera, grinning at it again and again and again till I finally get a picture I am happy with!



Request number 5.

"Now please learn how to post to the blog... you did a hopeless job last time!"

So he's willingly sitting next to me as I do this, hopefully memorizing all the details. We'll know whether or not he learnt well, only if he blogs from Bangalore soon. Meanwhile, the water stays hot for the whisky... on the cheerfully crackling fireplace. Ooops... that twanging doesn't sound too good!

PS - Coming up next week - Reunion, version 1.2!!

The shifting of the Commune

At long last, I have been able to take some pictures of my lovely new apartment in Amsterdam. The new venue for the Commune is now ready. Take a look!!!
This is the view from my main living room - don't miss my neighbour cleaning his windows in the right corner of the picture! That's what I was doing all weekend - no, not cleaning windows... watching people clean theirs! :-)


This is what the living room looks like - don't miss the fireplace on the right! It actually works.








And that couch opens up into a perfectly comfortable bed ... So don't think twice about coming over to visit.

Here is where I shall cook all my meals - my niece Thea's artwork is already decorating my teeny weeny fridge!

And this, done in my favourite shade of red, is my bedroom. It gets delightfully sunny, and is very very cozy! Room enough to hold Vinuta, Nayana AND me!

And here is the reason for the great light in the bedroom - it opens into the balcony (I'm saving that for the last!) with venetian blinds. They call it 'Blind Love' (Ok, I know that's a bad one!)
... and this is the view I open my eyes to each morning. Nice, isn't it? There's also a huge black cat who sometimes perches on that railing, but I haven't been able to photograph her yet. Vinuta, guess you'll have to come do your thing to make her stay a bit longer.
And this (ta-daaaaah!) is my personal little piece of heaven... my balcony!
There are potted plants, a great view of fir trees, and nice neighbours who peep over that railing once a day to say hello. It's a really nice neighbourhood!

Just one thing wrong with this picture... there's only one mug on the table!

Join me for a cup of tea???

Ice

Ok. It is a valid question to ask, why you have to learn something like that. I don't know. But it is fun!

Whities

So does it look like when I am together with my German friends.


Fritz is still trying to improve his style of smile.


Ok. She has an excuse. She comes from East Germany.


Julia, Sven and Sabrina.


And they are freshly in love.


No Kingfisher here.

Waking up smiling!

It was a lovely Sunday morning at the Commune. Some of us had just finished a ship tour in Chennai (more on that in another blog!!) and had returned to 'normal life' at the Commune. Ashish and Namrata, in fact, had just stepped off a bus after a 12 hour ride... so what on earth was everyone smiling about??

Nothing as exciting as waking up to the smell of breakfast cooking - especially if a certain delicious young man is at the stove! ;-)

If you want to see what he tossed together, here's a closer look...
Now you know what makes Nayana lick her fingers in sheer delight. Namrata, of course, concentrates on the FOOD.


We certainly picked the right addition to the Commune... though he can never take your place, Swati-kaap! You will always be missed... at cheesy breakfasts and bacony ones.

Cheesy again

Last weekend Ruediger and I did a trip. Guess. Right, we went into the mountains again (what else is here to see?).
But this time we went on a glacier. And learnt how to cross it. And what to do when someone falls into a crevasse (cut the rope and run away!).