About alternate lives, old friends and power cuts (this is one of those posts).

I wonder if it’s just me. I have this compulsive reaction to people and their places – to put myself in their shoes and imagine how life would be for me (as them), if you know what I mean. I do it all the time, when I visit the post office, the bank, Office Depot, Best Buy, yesterday it was HhGregg!

I watch the sales rep at HhGregg help us with our microwave purchase, I watch the teller count the currency notes at the bank, the friendly post office lady tell me the charge for my India packages and I always wonder how life would be if I were to be them.

What if I worked at the post office, wearing my smart grayish blue uniform, weighing letters and packages and answering questions posed to me in different accents, sitting under the ceiling fan (there are there in our local post office and for some reason ceiling fans always capture my fancy because I see them so rarely), would I make any friends there? What would I talk to my colleagues there at lunch?

What if I didn't work and had more time (the lack of which I complain about every other day), would I actually sign up for those yoga, swing dancing and keyboard classes? Or would I just make myself like "Manaivi" and such exciting soaps on TV (recently I realized the American ones are just as bad)? Would I be one of those oooh-my-dress-has-to-coordinate-with-the-house genteel hostesses with perfect nails and a perfect house?

Such a weird trail of thoughts but it happens all the time...

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Another of the is-it-just-me mulls – ever gone back to visit old friends having this image in your head of them that you have carried from the last time you met them (which may range from a few to a several years)? And then you notice small changes? Essentially, they are still the same person with the same quirks but them many more quirks have joined the wagon and several other factors play a role now to dictate how they talk, how they react, how they spend their time…but then you catch a bit of the old college slang, a facial expression, a gesture that reminds you of old times and a younger you and them…when things were less complicated, when you felt more at home, more to act on an impulse and say just what you feel…now you think for a second before you speak and that second makes you wonder what has changed...still, is fun to catch up and reminisce of times when we were younger, more foolish and probably had more fun?

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Okay, I see the "You are a weird one" look nice and clear(come on, haven't you got used to these kinda posts by now?!), so, I’ll proceed to talk about more normal happenings around here. Yesterday and today, after heavy rains, we had a power cut! The first sign was the alarm clock blanking out on me this morning, (thank God I had set a backup alarm on my cell phone), then I wondered what we would do for hot water (the water decided to come out hot for a short while and we managed to get ready quickly!), we couldn’t have coffee (read – two cranky zombies driving to work), and then the unexpected side-effect – we couldn’t use the automatic garage opener, so early morning, we sleepily read through the garage manual and figured out how to open it manually. It will be interesting to cook tonight without electricity (now I see why gas ranges are just as popular as electric ranges!)

So, that’s all (as Meryl Streep puts it oh-so-saucily in “The Devil Wears Prada” - watch it, it’s fun!)

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