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”.