A tangy slice from childhood

The once in a year 'exhibition (fair)' that came to Salem town was the annual highlight of my childhood right from age 5 to 11. New age kids living in the current era of fairs and exhibitions almost every month, and theme parks and fun rides at every nook and corner will never be able to comprehend the magic that an almost rustic, annual event held for me.

Giant wheel rides that made the stomach go woo wooh woosh; fluffy and oh! so pink cotton candy right out of the churning machine that seemed almost like magic; dinner plate sized 'appalam' (rice pappad) with a sprinkling of red chilli powder; 50 paisa worth bubble solutions; miniature kitchen sets that were tiny replicas of steel pots, tavas, and pans; little boats that propelled on water fuelled by the oil and wick lamps placed inside; magic shows; and yes, the 'new frock' bought from the one of the stalls at the fair.
Nothing to beat that boundless joy and unadulterated fun those simple days held.

The view from my window

I woke to warm fingers caressing my face. Someone had opened the blinds and let the early morning rays peek in and onto my face.

The morning, as seen through my bedroom window, was a resplendent medley of colours.The huge Jacaranda tree was abuzz with life. Every branch seemed to be flaunting its profusion of lilac & violet flowers. A cool gentle breeze gently cajoled a few flowers to float down from their high perches. A natural carpet was slowly being woven on the ground below.MAARIE, the milkman was returning home with his bevy of bovine beauties.

Every day, at dawn, Maarie arrives with his herd in tow and milks his cows as his 'clients' - the neighbourhood restaurateurs & chai shop walahs, watch on. “It’s for the benefit of all those new generation non-believers who think I give them diluted milk”, he says in disgust. Maarie belongs to an indeterminate time in history and no one really knew how old he was.

Grandpa has already started his morning round of poojas. He has his private conversations with Aditya, the sun god, every day.I am so glad spring’s here and I am even more pleased that I woke up in time to watch the world in celebration.

Week 14 - A list of my favourite things...

Some of my most favourite"st" things are associated to smells. My husband accuses me of having an extra sharp olafactory sense, I could be a police dog replacement, or so he says :-D

-The waft from earth after the first showers. So warm, so invigorating, so full of hope.

-The smell of temples.The divine aroma of freshly made sandlewood paste, incense, camphor, gingelly oil, parijatha & jasmine flowers, and sacred ash (bhasma) take me back to my thatha's (grandfather) house at Salem; if I close my eyes and concentrate I can revoke this fragrance that used to fill the home after his early morning pooja session.

-The mild perfume of Pond's cold cream.As a child, the smell of Ponds Cold cream heralded my mom's arrival.To me then, the round, white plastic bottle held the secret to beauty :-)

-The clean, beautiful special fragrance of babies. Just can't get enough of this one. I love holding my little one close and take in a great whiff of this before she grows too big and it all vanishes.This is not to be confused with the trademark Johnson's baby product smells, the yuck smell of babies whose mothers lag in the hygiene department, or the smell of tots smothered in oil and talcum powder. The baby smell is unique to all babies, kept clean and subsist on milk.The smell continues, well into toddlerhood unless the baby belongs to mommies who've already set up beautification regimens of colognes, and perfumes, and fragrance lotions.

- The smell of books. I love rustling the pages of a new book and breathing deep. Bliss! The mustier, older books are ok too. Lesser bliss ;-)

-Freshly ground coffee smells sexy to me though I'm a hardcore tea lover.

- Women's perfumes with undertones of musk :-)

I think my list of favourites are never ending, so let me stop for now :-)

With unseen strings, I stay attached...

This week our theme is "The very first time..." The key lies in the ellipsis, it could be the tale of our first ever, whatever:-)So, let me tell you the tale of the first ever gang I ever belonged to. We were a gang of nine - 8 girls and 1 boy on the tow, each as different as chalk from cheese. The all brains one, the femme fatale, the joker, the serene as a buddha type, the forever complex stricken, the nymphette, the hot headed one,and the always practical made up the girls team. The lone male was nicknamed 'the comet' by my dad because he tailed us around and also because it was around that time comet shoemaker-levy was creating news.
College in Kerala always implied scores of unprecedented holidays thanks to the gazillion student political parties and their who-knows-what-for strikes. We used these days quite effectively landing as a mob into any one of our homes or going for movies.The practical one lived with her mother in a small one room apartment they'd taken in a women's help organization cum hostel. Her dad worked in the middle east and since mom and daughter were alone they chose this small nest of women comaraderie as home. It worked well for us too since it was just a hop, skip, and jump away from college. So, it was there we landed mostly and aunty (P's mother) was the most cordial of hosts. In fact, P's lunches were so delicious that Buddha and Joker, who sat next to her in class, finished it all up by mid morning. Hot headed got all worked up over this, at times, but I can't recall them ever having a show down over this. The gang did not take hot head seriously, anyway.
Towards the end of the first year of college P and her mom took up a  lovely little house even closer to college because her dad was going to retire and come back to live with his family. Initially, I remember feeling a little apprehensive about this sudden intrusion into our freedom but that wore out. I still remember the warmth with which P's dad greeted us when we first met him. With time, I came to love him almost as much as I did P and I could sense he too harboured a special, fatherly affection towards me. We just clicked. That genuine click of affection never happened with any of the others' parents, who were all equally cordial and nice. With time, I realize that God was perhaps priming us for what was to come.
As usual, our gang too had its share of cliques."A" and "D" were bosom buddies but "E" thought "A" was HER best friend, "B" wanted to be best friends with "F" who tried to run away as fast as she could,"G" was quite clueless, "C" was popular most and everyone wanted to be friends with her, while "P" remained the glue that held us all together. Someone was actively trying to woo comet and we had a tough time stifling the urge to slap the stupid female and save our comet since he then was really and truly a helpless, innocent, unworldy little chap.
The road inclined a little steeply from P's house to college. Her gait was as steady and slow as her practical disposition. I remember trying to impatiently pull her hand and make her go faster. She would try but stop in a couple of minutes, smiling and breathing in equal profusion.
Days and months rolled by and after what was the best time of our lives (subjective comment), it was the study holidays before the final exams.University exams in Kerala, in those days, extended over weeks and by the time they got over and the results were declared admissions in most other states, for higher studies, would be closed. It was the begining of April when our class teacher called me up and told me P was sick. He said she had a urinary tract infection but it was not bad.
It was easter week and since the exams were still days away I goaded my parents to take me for movie, a second show. On the way, on impulse I asked my dad if he would take me to P's house since she was sick. We live a good 25 kilometeres from the city (and the college and the theatre) and dad who generally did not accomodate impulsive social visits readily agreed, this time. I was elated that he agreed and really excited that I was going to pay P a 'surprise' visit. But when we got to her place, the door was locked. Someone told us that they had gone to church for Maundy Thursday. But just as I was getting back into the car, I heard P's voice excitedly calling out to me from further below the road, her dad and she were just coming back. I was so so thrilled. She told me she was just fine and I asked her to come along with us to the movie, which she refused. After jabbering away for some more time, I left. P, as usual came out of the gate to wave.
On sunday morning, April the 7th, 1996, Easter day, my class teacher called me again. To tell me, that P had died.
Years have rolled on. I visit P's home each time I go to Kerala. I feel I somehow owe her that especialy since fate made it so that I was the only one from the gang to have met her so close to death. Also, because I see her dad's eyes light up each time I go and her mom stifle a sob each time I hug them both, as fondly as I have hugged her. Uncle died a year ago. The last I met him, he was sick and a muscle debilitating condition had made walking without help, impossible. I lingered around for sometime, jabbering as usual but deciding in my mind that I should convince him and aunty to move into a cared residential facility, just for safety. I hadn't driven two kilometers from their house when I recieved a missed call on my mobile, from uncle. I called back immediately, worried. He simply said, "I wanted to check if I had your new number right". It was an unspoken request to come and see him again before I flew back to Muscat. So, I went back a few days later with Abhi. Uncle desperately held onto my hand and suddenly Abhi broke into violent and uncontrollable crying. I left soon after since she wouldn't stop. I knew I had seen uncle for the last time. I met aunty the last time I went to Kerala, it is much more difficult with uncle not being around. To see a soul in absolute lonliness.
P was the first ever friend I lost, to death.This is the first time ever that I write it down.

Colours...

Stuff and NONSENSE!

Cholestrol FREE, indeed :-D Did you know that even the most educated consumers fall for this marketing gimmick. Since when did plants start producing cholestrol?

A pound of flesh...

"Its a boy, again! How I wish I had a girl. My own doll", she says.

"We want a boy", chorus the newly wed, "Someone to do my last rites and light my path to heaven", adds the "traditional" groom while his coy bride smiles on.

"This year to the girl child", announces the man in power.

" We've tried almost all the best infertility clinics in town. This one is our last resort", sigh the couple.

" How dare the government talk to us about birth control. Let us propogate our kind", exhorts the religious head, all sound and fury.

In between all this cacophony, the little whimper is almost inaudible. Now, it is louder. Now it is feeble. And, now it is gone. Call it the innocent victim of a man's lust or maybe a woman's mirth. Call it a 'could've been happy baby', 'would've grown up soul' or maybe just a to be rotten 'pound of flesh' in the communal dustbin.

Resolutions, yet again?

This time I decided to keep my resolutions tangible and acheivable. Afterall, where was the point in consistently promising myself the moon and consistently failing, each year every year. So, this time it is doable. And, not just any old doable. These are things that I anyway love to do, in bits and spurts as and when time and convenience permits. Here is the list:

1) Set aside10% of whatever amount is spent on all of our birthdays or any other special day for any one social cause that, we feel,really makes a difference. In my case, child and women issues top the list.

2) Write down a small review/account of every book  I read. My absent mindedness makes me forget most names, both that of books and of authors.

3) Stop offering help to people who do not ask for it. By that I dont mean I quit helping someone obviously in dire need and not in a position to actively seek help.

4) I am a chickatarian (dont know if that usage is official, but anyway) and so, I quit eating that for the whole of January. Don't ask me what purpose that serves. Maybe, just checking if my long term plan of shifting gears to complete vegetarianism is achieveable :-D

5) Actually count and write down atleast one incident/person who has been a blessing, each week.

6) Resume Yoga from mid january. Pushed till then since I want to go back to a teacher, atleast for a few sessions, to get back into active practise.

7) Give my little girl undivided attention for set hours. By that I mean, not to let my reading, cooking, cleaning or facebooking interfere with the time I allocate for her.

8) Learn one new skill before the year is out.

There, now it is all out in the public :-D