It was the end of Kiran’s exams. He needed a break and Amma decided to join him to Bangalore for a stay at our home. They reached on Friday evening. As usual I was held up at office until 8pm. Mentally though, I was home since 4pm wondering what Amma must be doing, if Kiran had started playing on the Wii, what were they talking, what was all the fun that I was missing.
Come Saturday morning, Amma got ready early and started pestering us to go out somewhere. The next two days we were out on the roads of Bangalore, armed with a Bus Pass each. A Daily Pass costs Rs.32 and allows unlimited bus travel for an entire day. We went to places far apart within the city, without having to worry about buying the ticket or waiting for change from the conductor every time we changed buses.
I mostly sat beside the window cocking out my head trying not to miss any of the happenings outside. Most of the places I had never seen before. I was excited for sure, and I think it showed on my face. We visited relatives, went to ISKON and a couple of other temples nearby. We reached home as late as 8:30 both days, priding ourselves that we hadn’t spent more than the pass fare for the entire excursion.
It had been long since I ventured in that side of Bangalore and I was both surprised and amused by the walls in the city. They were vibrant and colourful with paintings. Huge image on various topics – musicians, old heritage structures, dancers, artisans, nature, birds, waterfalls. It was an exhilarating sight. Initially I was so drawn into the artwork that it never struck me to click a pic. When it finally 
dawned on me, I realized my mobile was with Kiran who was sitting far away in the back seat of the bus. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Kudos to BBMP on their new initiative!! I know there are some folks who have opposed this saying it is a waste of money, but I personally feel that this is a great way of creating opportunity for talented painters to showcase their skills. I had begun to feel that India has lost all its talent to History but I guess last weekend changed my opinion.
On our journey back home from Majestic, there were two girls sitting across me in the bus. They were definitely discussing something very interesting. Unfortunately they used a medium beyond my understanding – mere expressions and lip & hand movements. They seemed really engrossed in their conversation thankfully oblivious of my stare. Insensitive though I may sound to their disability, I enjoyed the experience. One of them especially gave such pronounced expressions, it almost looked to me like a dancer in performance.
Looking forward to more trips around the city like this one. Hopefully in future I will have a fully loaded camera in hand to bring back my musings.** Pic courtesy The Hindu
It is that time of the year again, when the countdown to the New Year has begun. It is once again time to make resolutions, check on old resolutions, and renew the contract for some past resolutions. It is once again the shortest day of the year and it is once again the day when this blog was started.
For one, I can pat on my back for having braced the storm of distractions for an entire year. The number of posts made in this year is 26, which on an average means a post a fortnight, which sounds good and regular. However, I regret not being as regular as the average seems. There have been times when I posted twice a week and sometimes, months when posts never happened.
The past year had a good mix of personal thoughts, festivals and incidents. I may not call this a laudable beginning, but atleast it was a beginning. Having stepped on the one year milestone, it is now time to take my blog somewhere. The journey so far was unplanned and the target as just to fill; to remember to come back to this space; not let it bury under the sands of time.
This was my New Year Resolution for the year 2009, and I grant myself that I lived upto it. This year, I renew my resolution, although making it more competitive. This year I resolve not just to add on to this page but to find a Purpose to this blog, Plan my entries and follow a Pattern. I also plan to put up pics occassionally alongside the text.
Incidentally today I also complete 7 whole months of marital bliss. True to the word, it has indeed been bliss. Like the wise men said, “Marriage is an eye opener”. It not just opened my eyes to the fine person that Hubs is but also to a few qualities in me that are too deeply etched for me to deny. No matter how much I disagree, I realize I am quite a stubborn person with a fixed mind, rarely open to change. Another surprise to me was that I am not as calm a person as I thought I was and can sometimes have a really short temper.
In the beginning of the New Year, I hereby also resolve to overcome my shortcomings gradually, bit by bit, one after the other.
On this yet another hopeful note, I conclude.
Ah I forgot to mention, coming weekend there is a trip to Ooty awaiting me. Hopefully I should have a piece about it before the New Year sets in!!
Coincidence has it that my father and FIL share their birthday- 11 December. As Mysore is an easy access from Bangalore and also as 11th this year fell on a Friday, hubs and I decided to surprise my FIL by landing up there without notice. We even conspired with Kiran to buy a cake and leave it at a Patti’s home so we could pick it up on our way from the station.
As luck would have it, another relative saw Kiran carrying a cake into Patti’s house and promptly called up Pa to tell him that something was awaiting him at 10pm. Dad kinda guessed that Karthik and I would be there. We consoled ourselves that the cake would yet be unexpected. But lo, Appa decided to go seek Patti’s blessings. Old people as far as I know have this sheer joy of surprisingly busting a surprise such that the person giving the surprise is taken by surprise themselves and the one who is to be surprised is surprisingly happy that he already got to know of the surprise!! Patti did just that. Her blessings ended with, “they have left a cake for you here. Karthik and Shilpa will get it at night”
******
As the train screeched into Mysore station, we promptly called Kiran saying we have reached. He and Dad (!!!!!!) were there to pick us up. I usually get very upset with such sudden turn of events because I will miss the ‘joy in the eyes’ that is a definite response to any surprise. This time though, I thankfully had another surprise for dad (this one, nobody except Hubs knew about). We waited for Dad to cut the cake and then I slowly motioned a box of me-made Besan laddoos towards him. Appa was overjoyed coz he had heard a lot about it being my specialty and kept asking me to make them for him. It had never happened for one reason or the other. Within no time, the box was empty and Kiran and Dad were smaking their lips.
This post should have happened atleast 2 weeks back when finally the Wii came home. But I guess it is a good excuse to say that I was playing rather than sitting down to write about it. Yes, the Wii came and brought along with it winds of change. The first couple of days were dull as Hubs fell terribly sick and kept me busy tending to his various needs, leaving little time for the game.
Now, our evenings are action packed as Hubs and I fight about who will play what. I just about pick the remote and like magic, evenings turn into night. Life after the Wii is super-awesome. There is no derth of pastime nor physical activity. Both Hubs and I are so involved in the game, we literally screech at each other like we just missed the Wimbeldon trophy. After a series of tennis matches against each other, we thought it a good idea to rather play in the same team rather than trying to match our prowess. Tennis games are a lot more peaceful now. I consistently beat him through the nose is Bowling. In all other games though, it is me who takes the beating. He is really good at sports, and now, I am convinced. Just to save grace, I blame all my misses to lack of practice because I don’t have the time. I have to do so much work at office, around the house – cooking, washing, cleaning, blah blah. You have all the time in the world to practice the game. I get away with it.
The coming weekend I will be away at Mysore. But the weekend after that, I am hoping to spend an entire day Wii’ing… much fun!!
I accept that I am averse to change… or anything new for that matter. I’ve noticed for a while now. Quite late to the cyber world, I was probably one from the last lot who created an orkut profile. I avoided Facebook until I got atleast 75 requests and finally gave in. After so many weeks of steering away from Farmville despite the discussion my friends and cousins had, everytime telling me that it was fun, I got weak today when my sister asked me to look after her farm until she returned from vacation. After doing the minimum that her farm required, I promptly sent myself a request from her id and went ahead to create my farm. Now that I have started off, I am checking my farm every 5 mins to see if my crop is ready for harvest… am I addicted already??
For this, I just have my no-work office status to thank. Had I not so much time in hand to kill, I promise I wouldn’t have even peeked into any farm. Talking of farming, in so many years, growing plants/gardening has never been close to me. In fact at school when we had to grow plants for Work Experience class, I made sure either amma or my sister planted as well as nurtured them.
Last week, our company started a green drive and gave away Basil plants to all employees. I carried one home as Basil plants are considered sacred and having one in your home could bring in good fortune. I found a nice pot for it and placed it at a corner in our balcony. I have now grown so fond of it that I moved my regular exercises to the balcony so I can be in conversation with the plant even while I am developing a few muscles. I have heard that plants respond to speech. If this is true, my Basil plant is sure to flourish. Besides, this may be the small start to my home garden to come J
It was yet silent and dark outside. A pleasant wind was blowing as I opened the main door of our house. The entire building was in deep slumber. I cautiously swept the area in front of our door and squat on the floor wondering what design to draw today. I was doing this after very long and was immediately reminded of my younger days at home as a little one when my sister and I fought about whose turn it was to draw the kolam.
Amma would wake up early in the morning and get the area outside the house ready before waking us up. The one whose turn it was that day, would get out of bed with a lot of effort and start drawing with the fine powder even while murmuring curses under the breath. We always wondered why it was so necessary to do this ritual every morning and always tried convincing Amma that this could be postponed to another time of the day. But Amma was always stubborn. She said that this was the way of welcoming Lakshmi Devi to the house without which, she would turn away angrily.
As years went by Amma stopped pestering us in the mornings. In the afternoons though, after our maid cleaned the kitchen, I would draw small kolams in front of the puja area. The days Patti would come home, just for impression sake, I would draw bigger kolams concentrating more on the steadiness of the lines. “Shilpa draws the Shangu(conch) very well”, Patti would say and I would feel elated. Slowly I developed a liking for this and soon had my own book of kolams which I would fill during lazy afternoons, copying from the Mangayar Malar magazine that Amma subscribed to, or sometimes from Amma’s old kolam book.
As days passed, studies, tuitions, exams took more priority and this hobby was kind of forgotten. It was only once in a year, the night prior to Diwali, when my sis and I would sit out there for hours drawing large and intricate designs, and filling it strenuously with the choicest colours. This too was lost in the tide of time as I moved out for my PG first and job later.
Yesterday, when I was out on my weekly shopping spree, I stumbled on a vendor who had the white powder heaped in front of him. Flooded with memories from my childhood, I bought some of it hoping to carry on the tradition in my home.
I spent a few minutes today reading one of my age-old blogs and boy, was I impressed?! I never realized then that I have a flair for writing. Now, when I have started writing again after a break of few years, I see in myself neither talent nor passion. My command over the language seems to have disappeared. I often find myself struggling to make my point while the right words never make it further than the tip of my tongue….probably coz its been more than a while since I picked up a book to read. Besides, I am no more a thinker that I once used to be.
Lack of thoughts – rather, not spending enough time with my thoughts leads to a drop in the number of posts. My diary which used to be randomly filled with my tryst with philosophy and the inner mind, runs dry.
Talking of changes, I have almost given up my daily prayers so too my exercises. It wouldn’t be fair to blame all these changes to my ‘hectic life-after-marriage’. If anything, my life now is easier than before. I have the entire morning to myself, whatever way I choose to waste it. Cooking happens only for one time that too invariably spills over for the next day’s meal.
The only way to explain this then, is to confess on my laziness. Now, is repair time. I plan to get back all the good habits that I once had and at the first place stop cribbing about lack of time. Closing this post on a hopeful note of having more topics to write on more frequently….
dawned on me, I realized my mobile was with Kiran who was sitting far away in the back seat of the bus. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Kudos to BBMP on their new initiative!! I know there are some folks who have opposed this saying it is a waste of money, but I personally feel that this is a great way of creating opportunity for talented painters to showcase their skills. I had begun to feel that India has lost all its talent to History but I guess last weekend changed my opinion.