Dykes on bikes! 

Pride X-travaganza

So I walked in the parade. I have walked in the gay pride parade!!! How cool is that??!!!

I went to the parade around noon with my roomate Al, and his boyfriend Ron (who also recently moved in). But I was so enamored with the drag queens, that I lost them in five minutes.

Anyway, Indian-fetished Lot and me walked in the parade with the Salga contigent. And of course, Blonde white Lotte was walking directly behind the Salga banner. So, it was us plus 5 other Indians walking behind a beat up pick up truck with dupattas blasting bollywood music and a potbellied drag queen dancing in the center of the pickup. Jhankaar beats comes to New York!
We lost Salga after we met Ana, another friend from the broadcst group who was filming the parade. We hung out with her for a bit, and then walked the rest of the parade- all 57 blocks of it!

Man, pride is exhausting - you need a week to recover from three days of partying!!

Pre- Pride Partying

So when my class got over on Thursday, I was completely exhausted. But Navneet and her boyfriend, Jan (pronounced Yan) were coming that day, and so I was getting all prepped to take them around town - and show them the real New York!!

They came, chilled out for about half an hour before we left for Camille's farewell party (Im going to miss her lots!). A standard journalism soiree where Beyonce, mascara and Jan breaking a chair dominated the conversation.

But the real fun was the night after. Being gay pride, Navneet wanted to see drag queens, so we hunted all around the east village to find some. Opaline had a ridiculous $20 cover, which none of us were willing to pay, so we ended up going to the Slide (Bowery betw 3/4), where, purely coincidentally, there was a Habibi (the gay arab group) party happening. Lot, my swedish fag hag supreme who grew up in Abudhabi almost had an orgasm when she found out - so we pretty much ended up going there. Lots of lebanese hotties, and a male belly dancer provided a sample of the entertainment that pride weekend had in store.

Saturday night we ended up going for the Salga (South Asian Lesbian Gay Association) on the boat which was so much fun. DJ Rekha was playing the tunes, and she did show up late, and screwed up the initial half hour - but once she got rocking, I was ecstatic! And of course, the shirt did come off when she played chunarri chunarri. Navneet and Jan decided to opt out of the dancing and do the couple-ish thing of sitting in the corner taking photos of Zeena Diwani (the drag queen) doing choli ke peeche!

desi drag : choli ke peeche kya hai? 

Lot trying to take advantage of me at the boat party 

I'm exposed! 

Stalker, Texas Rangers 

Gentlemen prefer blondes 

Three queens 

Why can't I have a body like him? 

Hell's angel? 

Babla dabao!!! 

Team Fission: (Behind) Peter (Susan's bf - not fission), Me, John Faure, Not Sure, Dan 

Via ATA air

WELCOME TO NEW YORK NONITA WAGHMARE AND YOYO MAKCHANDANI!!!

New York Chase Corp Run

My time was 35:29!!! For 3.5 miles, I don't think that's so bad. But in any case, the real fun came after the run - freebies galore : propel water, snickers powerbars, smuckers jam, bananas, and tee shirts! I got two of everything - a gujju's dream come true!

Chase Corporate Run

For those who wish to spectate/will be there to participate : I will be running the corp run tomorrow at 7pm in Central park. The race begins/ends at W72 and CPW - if you will be coming send me an email (aneeshsheth@gmail.com) or call 646-552-9647.

Jersey Boy

So, I set off this weekend to visit the brother, who lives in New Brunswick, NJ. Now this, for me, is not an extraordinary event. Every two - three weeks, I take a virtually empty bag (which comes back filled with food) and make the 45 minute commute. Then, part of the formula, my brother keeps two indian cook books in the car. I'm supposed to go through them, pick 2 dishes (no meat, no potatoes - my brother's ridiculous diet) while we drive to the Indian store. While I'm at the store, I pick up the groceries we need (brother dearest pays) and we head back home to begin the marathon cooking session (which lasts about 3-4 hours).

But this time was different. We detoured to get the car's tires changed, pick up a tv, a pot and a microwave from a chinese lady's garage sale. And a whopping 12-cup food processor (oooh yeah!) from wal mart.

We were done (literally and figuratively) by around 10, after which we feasted on really really really greasy chicken makhanwalla (aka butter chicken) and methi aloo from sunshine, a local fast food indian joint.

Sunday morning, I got up bright and early at 5am because I was getting a ride to the city - my brother was running the 8k prostate cancer run. So, grumbling and morning mooded, I got into the car and we drove to the city with a couple of bhai's friends.
Here's the deal - for people who aren't morning people, NEVER go to a morning marathon registration. Loud music, cheerful people - man, if I had a machine gun...!!

In any case, I waited till they finished the marathon - and got a free greek meal in the bargain (because I was the good abused younger sibling baby sitting the bags - man, I milk the younger sibling thing so much, I should get an oscar for it!!)

In any case, got back home and then worked on my stupid final paper which is due Thursday. (ugH!)
This is the week from hell for me - I have this paper due on Thursday, my slides for the Roche presentation are due on Tuesday and I'm doing the Chase Corporate Challenge on Wednesday (but that one i'm looking forward to) !!

But on the bright side - my Nonie and her german boyfriend will be here on Thursday - after which it's PARTY TIME and GAY PRIDE!!! WOOHOO!!!

B of A = Bank of Assholes!

For those of you who are unaware, I used to bank with Fleet. Fleet then got taken over by Bank of America (big corporate merger style), and therefore, I now bank with Bank of America.

Now, when they did the merger, Bank of America allegedly sent out new debit cards to all customers in April. Obviously mine had dissappeared in the mail. So I went to them to tell them that I hadn't got mine, and that I didn't want to end up at an ATM desperately needing money and then find out that my fleet card doesn't work. So, the stupid idiot who was in customer service told me not to worry, and that he had just issued a new card to me which should reach in the mail. (This was a week back).

So obviously, I run out of cash today (and I mean NO cash - not even a dime), and spend the entire lunch break trying to get some bec the chinese food place doesn't take credit. I go to 3 ATMs to find out that my card doesnt work. Then I look for a B of A branch, which doesnt happen to be in the ten block radius. Once I'm there, I have to wait for 20 minutes in a line for the lady at the counter to do another 20 minute long procedure - all for 20 bucks!
The idiot last week didn't tell me that my old card is automatically inactivated when he sent out for the new one.

And guess what - of course, the new card came in the mail today!!

I am so switching to citibank!

Brice

And so Marie, my landlady, got a new dog today. Her name is Brice, and she's the most adorable, quiet, cute, Golden Retriever. Although this also means having limited freedom because I'm going to have to do her morning walks, for the moment I'm still captivated by her cuteness.

I miss my Groucho.

Instant bad-karma

So my luck has begun to fade out. First, my column which I was so looking forward to may not actually come through in the way that I intended. The DNA team back in Bombay has decided to drop the 'youth' page, and want me to do either a 'art and drama' or 'books and music' column.

In either case, there are so many cultural differences between the two countries that they rarely spark interest in your average Indian reader. In my reply to Farhad, I wrote " Why would your local train Lalita be interested in an Andy Warhol retrospective going on at the MoMa, when it's never going to reach her? And I'd have to spend 200 (of a 400 word column) explaining the cultural significance of Andy Warhol!"

Still awaiting his reply, but not really thrilled about not having to write my fun Bombay-boy-in-New-York take on things. I'm neither an art and drama critic, nor am I a literary or musical expert. Bollywood fanatic perhaps, but not really the epitome of "culture vultures."

And then there's the work woes. This big presentation that my boss wanted me to go on, might not actually include me in it. I mean, I will be working on the presentation, and do the major part of the grunt work, but I don't think I'll be physically going to meet with the Roche execs. Well, this one at least I kind of expected. My boss has a reputation of saying things in the heat of the moment, and so has been telling me for the last two weeks that I will be going. But according to the other employees, it's not really that professional to take an intern with you to the pitch (which is understandable, since I have neither the MD/PhD behind my name, nor the experience). And even though nothing has been set in stone on this one, I have a funny feeling that I won't end up going.

And I didn't get laid on the weekend - inspite of dressing up really slutty and hanging out at all the hip gay pickup joints.

*sigh*

I'm going to die a bald, single, bitter, man with a flat bald head! (Seriously people, you could iron shirts on the back of my head!)

Life sucks!

Weekend Woes

So, went to therapy with fag hags lot and nicole, with token dyke anna. While the three of them stayed at one table and had multiple kamikaze shots, I went around the bar scrounging for men.

Of course, knowing the wonderful luck that I have in bars and places such, the only luck I had was 4 men aged 50+ hitting on me - which is not good luck by any standards. So, disheartened and (still) convinced that I am going to die alone, I left for home.

Fortunately, Sunday was more fun - and relaxed. Went to Edison, the Indian capital of america my friend Rina, her hubby Shri, and my brother to be treated to a multiple course Indian brunch. Starting off with Indian Chinese appetizers (drums of heaven..mmm..), we went on to eat the snacky stuff - which included dahi puri, bombay sandwich (with beet..mm), khasta chaat and other Indian delicacies. We finally finished off with Kulfi Falooda and paan. I did initially try the tutty fruity ice cream (ironic, it was my fave ice cream as a kid - and it was pink!), but it sucked, so I finally went for the kulfi.

I was so full, I could barely carry myself to the train. There ain't no grub like Indian!!

And 7 months later... 

My family - picture taken in Nov at my friend Rina's wedding - she just sent us the pics now! 

Phone Frenzy

So after a rather uneventful day of work, I went out to find a good deal on a new phone. Taking down locations from the webiste, I listed at least 5 T mobile sellers around downtown and was prepared to go to each of them.

The first two I went to were offering me horrid deals, and actually expected me to pay for a phone (idiots - don't they realize they're in NYC - land of uber competitive cell phone deals). Anyway, so while I was on a crosstown bus, I looked out of the window and noticed a shop which wasn't listed on my internet search (they were still authorized t mobile sellers). So obviously me, the shrewd gujju, walks in and tells the salesgirl mamta (and Indian - gultu I guess) that I want a cell phone where I get the maximum money.

She looks at me and tells me there ain't no such thing - the best she said she could do was give me a free cell phone - no phone company actually gives you money! After 45 minutes of bargaining and showing her the amazon.com website, I got a Nokia 3120 (worth $200) + $75 in rebates.

Am I the great gujju or what?

AAARRGGHH!!!

And so I've lost my phone. For real this time. It slipped out of my pants while I was on the bus today (the M14 between 7-8pm). Which stupid designer makes pockets so big that cell phones can slip out??!!!! Rot in hell H&M!!!!

Marie and me.  

Al (my Kazakh roomie in the blue), Amitabh (scattering the ashes), Ron (in the black) and Marie.  

A day for Cody

So, the dog I used to walk for subsidized rent, Cody, died about a month back of cancer of the spleen. Marie Runyon, my landlady and local legendary low income housing activist, got his ashes last week. In his memory, my housemate Al, his boyfriend Ron, Marie's former tenant Amitabh, his girlfriend Kaveri and me decided to scatter the ashes around the path we used to walk him. (The tree he used to pee on, the spot he used to poop at, and most everywhere in between).

As all of us did a little ash scattering, we actually got to know each other. It's amazing how, living in a city like New York, you don't even know the people whom you share a house with.

We came back home for brunch, and discussed Indian Godmen, Osho, and humanitarian principles over Marie's famous pasta casserole. Amitabh and me, both true desis, were quite anti-them (Godmen, not principles). Ron, who is doing his PhD thesis on the relationship between the culture of science and religion, knew quite a bit about Osho and had a more neutral (perhaps, even leftist) view point ("What you may consider as a hoax, may actually be what some person believes in"). I think, overall, it was an interesting conversation, and that even though Americans (and Kaveri, who was raised in California) can't quite understand how bad the situation is back at home, they keep a fresh mind about things.

The bablas! Me (squeezing Nicole's Bablas), Kerman (across from her) and Roxanne. In Blue Moon - a mexican restaurant in chelsea. 

Chelsea Night

And so the New York summer is officially here. I set out to explore the SALGA (South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association) meeting at the LGBT center in chelsea today, only to find out that I had the date wrong - it was next Saturday.

So, it was 4-30pm, friggin' hot and humid and I was stuck in Chelsea. Now, I think it's traditional that every time I'm in the area, I have to drop into Big Cup (which should actually be called Big Gay Coffe House!). So, I trotted along there with intentions of hanging out only for half an hour, after which I would go to the gym!

I'm usually good about my commitments, but chilling out with an iced tea in the summer checking out hot Chelsea guys? Gymming can wait! (Although it's been the second day in a row that I haven't been - am going tomorrow for sure - can't let this body go away in the summer).

So, for the next four hours, I was at Big Cup 'reading magazines' and sipping iced tea. Was then joined by the Babla babes Nicole, Kerman and Lotte, with special guest Roxanne (Kerman's friend from Bombay who now has a job at Merryl Lynch).

[Babla story: The first phrase in hindi that Kerman and me taught white girls Lotte and Nicole was Babla Dabao (squeeze boobs). So, for that whole day, Nic and Lot were saying Babla Dabao like broken records. So, they were then christened the babla babes]

Anyway, did a dinner with them in Chelsea, after which we trekked down to the east side to check out Nicole's hot date, whom she spent the day with. Of all the places in the world, he has to work at Dos Caminos, the Mexican Restaurant in my office building!!
Anyway, he was pretty hot, and while Nicole awkwardly made up some story about why we were in the area, the three girls stood behind and giggled in awe. I, on the other hand, made small talk. Whoop dee doo! *sigh*

Oh, and somewhere in between the four hours at big cup, I got laid.

Farewell Jen

So the entire company got together yesterday night to say goodbye to Jen, a medical writer from the editorial department, at a bar on 2nd ave between 29th and 30th. 2 beers down and I was doing impressions of a dominican lady! Of course, I made an utter fool of myself in front of the company folk (fortunately there were no bosses around), but hey, ek to kum zindagani usse bhi kum hai jawani. (You have only one life, and shorter than that is your youth).

Took the bus back home with a new friend I made, one who works at the Met. A NY virgin, she'd only been in the city a week, and I think was amused (to say the least) to see a bunch of drunken fissionaries conquering the bar. But in any case, I tried to entertain her (and I think I did manage) by telling her stories of ancient Hindu Mythology. She's a Masters in archaeology and works as an assistant curator in the greco-roman department at the Met. So somewhere between the conversations, she tried to form a link between the greco roman myths and ancient hindu mythology.

In all, it has certainly been a fun week.