Weekend's the best kind of fun

Especially when you have places to go and people to meet. New people for my hubby. We'd been asked to lunch by this aunt of mine who'd been asking us all last year and we'd been busy or they'd been swamped and we only made it this Sunday.

Friday I went to the mall, despite a high alert situation over all of the city's malls, to pick up my pre-ordered Tales of Beedle the Bard. I had to wait a half hour until the store opened; in my enthusiasm I'd walked in too early. After a brief snack at the CCD cafe, I went for a stroll in the supermarket and bought a cake mix, hakka noodles pack and a few soups for snack time. Finally picking up the book, I browsed for a moment and then headed home. All through this visit, although there were very few people around, guys in twos would spark my antennae and two characters seemed to be studying the mall's shops for some reason from one point, peering at every shop in turn. Before paranoia kicked in, I hurried off home.

On Saturday, we watched A Wednesday. What was unrealistic was the police-squad response to a bomb alert. If it had really been as efficient, we wouldnt be living with this threat of a sword hanging over our heads or rather a timed RDX explosive. Terrorists are fighting us with weapons we are well aware of and yet, we couldnt even shoot down those who were pumping bullets at innocents through AK 47 rifles - which is the weapon preferred by Z security forces who guard our ministers. Yet, the film had a final, positive note and made the point "We are resilient by force not by choice" much before the latest bomb attack exhausted the Mumbaikar's patience.

Sunday was the big lunch with family. Introductions led to the predictable small talk and looking through albums brought in by another aunt whose kids are in the States and then led to a big meal consisting of huge chicken sukka pieces and a huge biryani with raita on the side. The curd and biryani combination is famous and yesterday was even more special as my husband interacted with my aunts and uncles and was basically adored by everyone. We told stories of our South-east Asian trip and talked about living far from my old home. Different place, different people. Yet, wonderful. What made this a truly memorable visit was cajoling my cousin to strum a few tunes on his guitar and my husband to sing along with him. We finally did, to Hello and a few Metallica songs. My cousin had taken lessons and could play it really well if he wasnt too conscious of a gang of people looking on and giving it all their attention.

We had to end it early to get back before traffic delayed us on the road back home. My aunt, thoroughly impressed by my hubby, invited us to a musical evening at home that she's planning in the near future. More fun on the cards. Hubby's feeling a bit too much in the spotlight. I'm sure he can get used to stardom; he's always been a popular guy in any circle: friends or his own family or the workplace.

I'm looking forward to work that's just come in and two weddings towards the weekend. Socialising's gone up thanks to the wedding and festive season. Christmas this time promises to be busy unlike last year when we were just unwinding both during and after our honeymoon.