I had a truly brilliant day , I spent a few blissfull hours at a park, I otherwise  only saw while being seated in a crowded tube , getting squashed between a bunch of strangers and trying NOT to die of the various body odours floating around mixed with even more toxic deodorants failing miserably at their jobs.

My gal pal S and her super cute and smart 4-year-old boy had a blast of day starting by gobbling strawberry flavoured icicles, followed by grocery shopping , hungrily eating many Indian street style snacks under the garb of being ”devislishly hungry”  and then rushing to this awesome park.

Oh yes , but the HIGHLIGHT of my grocery shopping was that I purchased a dozen HAPOOS AMBE (Alphonso = Hapoos ,AMBA= Mango in Marathi , my mothertongue), I cannot describe the happiness I felt as I sunk my teeth into a ripe,plum slice of the King of Fruits. I will probably dream of drinking chilled mango milkshake early in the monring and ending the day by eating chilled slices of the hapoos mango with dollops of fresh cream ,which I totally enjoy squirting out from it’s can and telling myself that since it’s ”low fat” ,It can be that BAD after all !;)Just the thought of an alphonso mango brings back a string of memories , my most recent one being that of being transported staright to heaven as I had my first ever ”MASTAANI” that too a MANGO Mastani in Pune at one of the most favourite college haunts of Punekars- ”Sujata Mastani” in Old Pune ,Peth area.(I shall stop here as I will sink hopelessly into a whole journey down memory lane and totally loose my way …hummm I do see another blog write up coming up , all about Mangoes and memories ,aha the good LIFE !) Oh yes and S and me took great delight in haggling over our purchase and managed to bring down the price by £1.47 , my mom will be so happy to hear this (jeevan safal moment for her,LOL !). I say this because I am terrible at bargaining and after years of seeing mom successfully doing it while buying veggies I hated myself for being such a failure 😉 ,now that is exactly WHY I love Modern retail , imagine trying to ask the cashier at one of the Supermarket chains ”Surely , since I am buying 3 instead of 1 , you HAVE to drop the price by atleast 50p !,or else I DO have the option of WALKING OUT and buying from so-and-so competitor” – all this with a raised brow and a really fake serious expression on my face !( AHO KAKA, asa kai karta , 3 dabbe ghetoi na hapoos che ,tar kahi tari bhaav neet vichaar karoon sanga !!!) (Btw, Mastani is basically a thick ice cream milkshake with dollops of ice cream loaded on top and real fruit slices stuffed inside and on top of it is way way better than a falooda and is a dessert which has originated from Pune city and is a local must have !)

Never have I seen a larger gathering of tiny tots all dressed in summery bright clothes and happy parents in one place !

I had my moment of calm amongst the chaos, as I sat on a wooden bench and gazed up at the bright sky , the trees gently swaying in the summer breeze ,thanking the gods for bestowing us with such a lovely day, I watched a few bold squirrels scamper around for food .

I left my mobile and my camera behind though , I wanted nothing to come in the way of me living in the moment .

I am turning into a person that dislikes mobile phones , rather a dangerous place to be in, in todays ”connected world” I say …hummm

But who can take away from me the memories I have clicked ,farmed and stored away in the crevices of my mind , to be pulled out on  a cold rainy day , am sure I will smile as  I think of this perfect day, a 4 year old innocent banter , my friends happy smile as she sat on a swing after many,many years and the feeling of the warm sun on my face ….sighhh….