snow

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Creating memories

Its funny how certain things can trigger memories of totally unrelated incidents….Am sitting with a wobbling mountain of work behind me.Yeah…Its behind me cos I have turned my back on it to write this post…and hopefully until I finish this post,it wont collapse on my head…..I reached home and logged back in to work and told S to go home.And as usual the considerate chap asked me if I was sure and if I wanted he cud stay back for another 45 min.I told him to go home and take his wife out for a candlelight dinner.And for once the man decided to do that…Not cos the romantic part of his brain hidden by that huge dust bunny had woken up.But for the plain and simple reason that “I am damn hungry.I’ll take her out somewhere”…Yeah…that’s right.I cant think of a better reason…Before I cud tell him to make it a surprise for her,the danged man had gone….and I was left thinking how much more fun it wud have been for her if he had rung her up and told her to get ready in ten min cos he was taking her out to dinner…The sheer excitement of the impromptu outing wud have made the gal so happy……But who can reason with a hungry man?

For some reason the incident took me back to my childhood,when every once in a while out of the blue,when we wud least expect it,Mama wud answer the fone,talk for a minute,hang up and then tell us “Get ready.We are going out”.As Bun and I grew up,at times we wud ask “Where are we going?” and the answer wud be “Just like that.For a drive”.And that wud be it…All of us wud get dressed in 20 min and by then Pops wud be home and we wud lock up the house and go out….It was either dinner at one of our favorite restaurants,or a visit to Mama’s uncles who lived nearby or best of all,a drive to the beach,ending with the car parked outside a restaurant called Mama’s and Pappa’s which served cutlets with no salt.When I was small I read a story about 2 brothers and a magic mill and how the mill ended up in the sea grinding salt non stop.Apparently that’s why the sea is salt.And I used to think that’s why the folks at the restaurant didn’t put salt in their cutlets.Cos there was salt in abundance to be had in the sea.Yeah.I told u I was loony.And if u still don’t believe me then ask my mom who reads each post of mine and goes,”Yer loony,Anupama”.Which when translated into plain English means “Decent post,Anupama”.If she says “Ugh,Anupama”,then that means “U call that a post???”.Its mama-talk.And each mama has her own special language which only probably her kids understand.

Sometimes we would go to another restaurant called Woodlands also facing the beach.I loved this restaurant cos it had a lawn with a swing painted blue.Most of the time my parents preferred to eat in the car.But once in a while we would sit out on the lawn.After dark,the area would be spotted with dim lights shining through dusty lamps.It wud be quieter too.Sitting in the car,peering thru the dark,waiting for the server to bring our masala dosas,listening to the sea and my parents talking with the cool salty breeze blowing around,is one of my coziest memories.Right outside the restaurant were a string of ice cream parlours.Some were fancier than others but our favorite was a small shop,named Snoosh which belonged to one of Mama’s friends.To this day I think the ice creams in Snoosh tasted the best…

Once in a while dad wud have to go back to office to pick up a file or something and that wud be a good excuse for all of us to go on a drive. We wudnt even bother to dress up and wud pile into the car looking like a bunch of ragamuffins and more often than not,stop to pick up a icecream cone on the way back home.Sometimes the dog also came along for the ride.There was a time when power cuts became scheduled in our locality.When the summer heat made sitting at home during these cuts intolerable we took it as an opportunity to go on a drive.Exactly 5 minutes before the cut off,we wud rush around the house locking doors and pile into the car.For some reason it seemed absolutely imperative that we get on the road before the current went.Lol….Yeah…we did go on a drive every single day for a week.I bet it was my Mama’s idea.She is the one who generally has such nice (and um..loony) ideas.Most times we trotted up to the terrace.And then there was the time when we decided the best thing to do during a power cut was to clamber up the scary ladder from the terrace to the top of the house and lie flat on the warm roof and look up at a star studded sky.The cool breeze blowing,the warmth of the roof beneath me, my parents voices and the stars …That was when time seemed to stop…peace and quiet and darkness….exactly when the half hour scheduled for the power cut wud get over and the lights wud come blazing on like a blaring foghorn.Uffff!!!Those were one of the times I wished that the power had stayed off….I had often wanted to sleep up there and am sure we cud have done it…but we cudnt have got any bedding up there with that crazy ladder.Getting up that ladder was quite easy.It was getting down the damn thing that gave me clammy hands and feet.

I am not sure if my mom and dad realized it then.But they were creating memories with all those lil things that we did together.Makes me appreciate the fact that it’s the lil things we do,the times we grab out and hold on to the moment now,without a care abt tomorrows to come,that stay with us thru and thru.And maybe that’s why ,when Anup and I went out on all those crazy impulsive outings ,(That deserves another long post),I’d ask Anup,”You know what we are doing now?”and he wud smilingly ask,”What?”.
“Creating memories”.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Bear with me!!!

Good news first.Am still alive.And yes,that is good news.(Nods firmly)Its practically ages since I wrote a post.But honestly its not for lack of trying.I have on several occasions found myself staring at a blank screen with an equally blank brain,willing myself with my whole heart to write ….Ok ok…so lets say blank mind instead of brain since I can hear the protests all the way here. Won’t even let a person lay claim to a brain, and a fictitious one at that, will y’all? Ok…So finally I decided that I am suffering from a block…well,not necessarily a writer’s block since I really don’t fall into that category.But some kinda block and we are definitely not talking abt constipation here,ppl.So don’t dare suggest it.(U think somebody being constipated is funny?).Btw has anybody ever wondered why when ur intestine is blocked,u are said to be constipated but when ur nose is blocked,ur bathroom drain is blocked,or any other blockage for that matter is still referred to as a block?I mean why does a writer have to suffer from a writer’s block;why not writer’s constipation?So many crafters refer to suffering a creative block when they find their creative juices seem to have dried up but nobody calls it creative constipation. Why?Hmm…I think Amitabh Bacchan was right when he referred to English being a “pbhunny” language.I totally agree with u,AB.Btw totally off the topic,I think u are a lot like wine.U just got better as u aged.Really.I think I love u more now than I did 20 years back.U are absolutely gorgeous.Well…not as much as the man I married but then I guess u’ll have to live with that.

So today the whole point is abt getting around that block and the only way I can think of doing it is by writing or rather jabbering away abt a bunch of totally unrelated ,uninteresting things which keep flitting through my head at any given time. There is this other side effect to this block.I find myself unable to tap out mails to ppl….All those long mails that I used to tap out ..Poof!!!gone..Revs.Now u know why u seem to be getting no mails from me these days.Am constipated.Hopefully after this forced post,maybe things will take a turn for the better.
Anup and I celebrated our respective birthdays this year.Yeah.On 2 sides of the globe..and things were quite confusing with all the time difference.But Anup is working the night shift this week.Which means we have some real good fun mailing each other all through the day.Well,my day and his night. J In fact am writing now cos he has strictly told me that am supposed to write a post in the next one hr and send it to him.He insists on keeping the madness in me unleashed.Sigh.I’ll never make it to the sane squirrels club in this lifetime.

And so what have I been upto all this time?I read;I crocheted;I painted;And yeah,I forgot.I got myself a nice new roomie who practically lives upto the description “Girls are made up of sugar and spice and all things nice”….Yeah.I finally got over that man leaving me alone and going away though some side effects still last.Anyway,my new roomie is an amazingly nice kid who doesn’t mind cooking, minds her business, so far has not protested to me jabbering away at her endlessly, has adopted my obsession of endlessly smoothing the bedspread for her own to the extent that I have stopped smoothing the bed cos there’s nary a wrinkle on it at any given time and is obsessed with her cellfone.That’s one thing I cant figure out.She really really loves that object.In fact I think she wud be the greatest fan of the Bell guy. Alexander Graham Bell.But considering that she doesn’t mind having a roomie who is obsessed with wrinkle free beds, yarn, crochet hooks, beads, dolls, paints, colors and what not, I am not complaining. But honestly she is an adorably nice female and I wud be really sorry to see her go.In fact she looks like a nice round plump little gnome …And she totally understands why I craft.Oh bless her buttons and shiny boots!!!And u know what,she got me a cake and a gift for my birthday.Nice gal,na?

I simply can’t understand why ppl don’t like showing their teeth if they have ‘em. I mean if they are ur own and if u haven’t stolen them from anyone and they are an extremely nice looking set,then why not show them when u get a snap taken?After all someday when u don’t have them anymore,u can always look at the snaps and tell ur grandchildren nostalgically, “In those days we had good strong teeth.See mine here”. Now if u insist on taking every single snap keeping ur lips pursed together, then God forbid, someday ur grandchildren are gonna look at ur snaps and say “Oh, look,they didn’t have teeth even in those days”.Now u know why I insist on baring my teeth at any one who takes my snap.

I have started painting again…and managed to paint 2 pictures in the last ten days….The first one turned out to be quite Ugh..The second one so far seems ok but the more I look at it the less I like it….and when I told her this, my roomie asked me to stop staring at it so much cos she thinks its an awesome painting.See,I told u she is nice.
And am planning on learning tennis.Atleast I have found one unsuspecting guy who is willing to coach me.Since he doesn’t know what kinda dud I am,he is still quite enthusiastic abt it.

Btw did I mention its spring?Its the best part of the year as far as am concerned.Just walking to office in the morning is a treat…The flowers are out,the bees are buzzing,the sun shines,the wind blows,the grass cudnt be greener,the bare boughs are tinged with green,birds are chirping….Sigh….Reminds me of the saying.
God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.

P.S. As for my constipation,well,lets see if I can write another post.