Hope you guys had a romantic Valentine’s Day! If you have been wondering what I did, all you have to do is scroll down. Plus, find out what we take to be temporarily insane and some kitchen romance to go with! Hop on…

News gets to Rachael before they do to others! This was another such instance when Rachael told me that Tom Cruise got a car for his three-year old daughter, Suri. When I got the news, I had this obvious thought running across my head: was it necessary? Here we are running millions of dollars short, there are so many families fighting to make ends meet and here you have a stinking rich bloke getting this absolutely unnecessary gift for his kid! Donna made a light objection, saying, “When you are a dad and you have that kind of dough, you will do the same!” Guess it’s the mother in her who’s talking, but frankly, it seems quite insane to me.

It’s not just the rich guys who go completely over-the-top when it comes to splurging. Trust our own Irina to provide ample competition! When Irina is out on her shopping sprees, you never know when it will come to an end. Her boyfriends, at different times, have complained that Irina never knows what to choose from and more often than not, ends up buying the wrong clothes. And Irina is averse to the idea of throwing out clutter. You can well imagine how her wardrobe must look with all these unused clothes piling up over the years. Shopping is acceptable, but spending to buy stuff you don’t need, that’s way too much for me!

A little slice of romance was cooking in my kitchen the other day. Cathy was talking to Adrian about banana breads. Though Eleanor has often fed banana breads to Adrian, he told Cathy that he has never had one! Taking pity on the poor lad, Cathy offered to make some for him. Sensing a good time here, Adrian requested her to teach him how to make it. Cathy agreed and when I came home from work, I saw the two of them poring over a recipe book. It didn’t take me long to realize that Cathy had no clue about banana breads and was just experimenting. Now it’s not easy to do as the cookbook tells you. The proof was a couple of burnt banana breads in the trash can.

I let them be and came to the living room. It was very clear that they were most certainly not interested in the banana bread. After a while, Adrian sauntered out with a plate of what he thought was banana bread. Cathy stood proudly behind him. Kong, who was disinterested in the proceedings before this, wagged his tail and approached Adrian. Happy that someone is interested, Adrian cheerfully offered Kong. Kong took a hard look at the discolored bread and sniffed. To someone who’s used to the delicious goodies of Eleanor, this was almost revolting! He turned back and went to his corner on the couch. I tried to keep a straight face, but don’t think I succeeded!

For me, this Valentine’s Day was the most memorable day in recent history! After Sarah agreed to be my Valentine, I made meticulous plans to take her out to a fancy restaurant and dinner and all those wonderful things new couples do. But I was met with a veto. Sarah told me, “Let’s not do what others do and what’s expected that we would do on V-day! Let’s do something different!” That’s exactly what we did. Instead of having dinner elsewhere, we decided to have it at my place. Sarah said that she would cook for me. I couldn’t have thought of a better plan myself.

But we did meet outside. We had a nice walk and then came back to my pad. Adrian was out with Cathy, so we had the place to ourselves. We watched ‘Notting Hill’ and then Sarah put on the chef’s cap. I helped her, more in messing things up than actually making things easier. But the food was excellent. It was the most romantic dinner ever. No pushy waiters hovering around, no talk drifting in from nearby tables, no music that sounds redundant when you are so lost in each other that you don’t care about the ambiance anymore. It was an evening of moments that will remain carved in stone.

We have a colleague working with us, Elisa, who has a couple of toddlers. The kids are really well behaved. Sometimes they are at the office with their mom. The timings change sometimes due to some reasons and Elisa has to work at odd hours. Getting a babysitter at such short notice is a problem. So Elisa has no choice but to bring them over to the office. As a matter of fact, Elisa feels apologetic about this but friends like Donna make her feel comfortable, assuring her that the fact that Elisa is there for work is good enough. Donna likes hanging out with the kids, too! Guess it brings back memories of those days when Ethan and Emily used to wait in the office after school.

But there are some grumblers. They do not like the idea of kids going around the place when they are concentrating on their work. I agree that if the kids are restless and pranksters, it becomes a problem. Elisa’s kids pose no such problem. They sit in a corner with their drawing book and keep themselves occupied. Now I don’t think anybody should have a problem with that. Donna sounded really miffed when the word reached her that some co-workers were complaining. “Don’t they have a heart?” is what Donna told the person who informed her about this thing. A curious point I noted is that the people who are complaining are in their early twenties. Does that ring any bells?

Here’s a Tom Stoppard quote for all those who can’t connect with their childhood anymore: “If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.”