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Monday, May 26, 2008

She should have been a Goan….

This weekend saw us attending a wedding of an old friend of mine. As usual the thought of going out with Jelly brought a lot of panic into my ever over stressed brains. I kind of always try to foresee all that is going to happen (negative or positive……….well to be frank more negatives for sure) on any said occasion. So as usual when I remembered that we were supposed to go for the said function, my mind started racing at possible outcomes. What if Jelly is not in a mood to go out? And if ever she is in a mood, will she be fine in the midst of a huge gathering. And if yes will she keep running around the place and make me look like a nerd, all dressed up, swearing and running behind a toddler. If all this goes on well, will the little terror allow me to enjoy the good Manglorean food………. And so on.

Well to get to the details, this friend of mine is a Manglorean Christian (for the sake of this blog let's call him R). We got to know each other some 13-14 years back. We got to know each other through my another friend (P - who again is again a Manglorean). We soon got along well, the 4 of us, the 4th addition being a cute little guy K. We were a gang of notorious foursome. Always up to pranks, never attentive in the class, all thanks to our great friend R.

So back to the details of the evening - we were out to attend the reception dressed in our best, well not in our best…. I have stopped dreaming of being neatly dressed and remain the same way all through the function from the day Jelly was born. I have as a matter of fact nearly stopped wearing “Sarees” when going out with Jelly. I truly adore this Indian attire and love wearing them, but if I dare to wear it when taking her along with us, then even before reaching the venue I would look like I have just finished my job as a part time maid and rushed to attend the function. Ok I’m exaggerating a bit, but she makes it a point to crumple my clothes beyond recognition.

Something seems to be seriously wrong with me today; I’m just going away from the main topic - So when we reached the venue we realised that the reception had just begun after the wedding which was held earlier in the evening in the church. The lively Goan music literally dragged us into the hall. Jelly was quite excited to see the flower decoration at the entrance of the reception hall - not because she likes flowers, but because she likes to tear apart flowers and leaves to tiny shreds.

But hey for a change she was not too keen on pulling those beautiful flowers part. She was more keen on peeping into the hall. I was getting a little excited seeing my daughter behaving in a very good way. I just said a silent prayer in my mind, just hoping that she would allow me to have a good time ahead. And for once my prayers were answered. The moment we entered the hall, we got to see the bride and the bride groom along with family and close friends already playing the wedding games which is a ritual with the Manglorean Christians. They start it with the bride and the bride groom standing face to face holding hands and trying to block the way of relatives or friends ( again a couple) who want to move ahead of them. Once they give way for them, the said couple stand next to the first couple in the same fashion. This continues till the whole crowd of relatives and friends form a huge human chain. At the end of this the bride and the groom have to make their way and reach the stage. Well no function of theirs is complete without the usual loud and peppy Goan music. All along a live band was playing some awesome foot tapping music.

Now the little music lover that Jelly is, she could not restrain herself from it. We made her sit on a counter at the entrance of the hall. The little one started giving a broad smile and was trying to shake her tiny butt while sitting there. She was totally enjoying herself - She clapped her hands in merry, laughed loudly and now wanted to stand on top of the counter. We quickly pulled her off the counter and went into the hall and got seated. Once we were seated she slipped of my lap and went on the floor and then there was no stopping her. Far away from the dancing crowd she clapped her hands and danced away to glory. She would look around at the guests and if she got to see that someone was observing her dance, the performer that she is she would shake her butt a little more. The evening was a truly beautiful one.

About an hour of dancing did not tire this little devil. While leaving from there I said to SM “Looks like she was to be born as a Goan or a Manglorean……by mistake she landed up in our family” That’s when SM added - “Looks like she will find herself a Goan or a Manglorean boyfriend once she grows up..” I was just starting to laugh at it when he added “I will fix her up if she does anything like that………” I told him that its double standards, “You got married to the girl of your choice then why not your daughter?” I did not hear what his reply was because I went deep into my thoughts. She is only 16 months old and we are already thinking about something that will happen 20 and odd years later. Are all parents this way ???????

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Travel Diary - Part 1

This has been long overdue from my side. Not that I had promised anybody about it. I always wanted to keep an account of the places I and SM (and of course Jelly now) have traveled so far, with the pictures and details. Want to do this before my all famous memory stops working completely.

So here I am all set to fly back into the first travel me and SM made together. When the thought of planning for our honeymoon started we had a couple of options in our mind. But what both of us wanted was some time away from the hustle and bustle of a city life. We wanted to get rid of the tiredness of the wedding rituals, the endless flow of relatives and most of all just wanted to spend time with each other and forget the world. So without any confusion both of us zeroed in on “Maldives”. A place that is very close by, yet completely detached from this world.

For the first leg of the journey, We took our flights from Bangalore to Trivandrum (back then the direct flights betweem Bangalore and Maldives had still not started operation). We had to break the journey for 1 night at SM’s uncle’s place as there were no immediate connections from Trivandrum and the earliest connection was for the next day.

So after a short break for the night we took the next morning flight out of Trivandrum to Male. The flight journey was just another routine one, the same old beyond retirement age and grumpy air hostess, same old badly maintained flights and one of the most horrible on flight food I have ever had - all courtesy our very own National Carrier. Remember this was before air travel boom time with just a couple of private players unlike today. This was the only negative side of the trip.

The 1 hour flight had nearly come to an end and we heard the announcement confirming the same. Just as they announced to fasten our seat belts, I looked out of the window and the view was truly a breath taking one. As the flight started descending we could see tiny islands scattered all around. The water was turquoise blue and so clear that we could literally see the shallow sea. As the flight got ready for the landing we could see the runway and that sight was truly one to behold. The runway and the ocean looked only meters away from each other, just like conjoined twins - conjoined all the way from head to toe. There was nothing to hold the water away from the runway!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful sight no doubt but at the same time the landing looked a dangerous feat to attempt.....

When we got out of the airport after the immigration, we got to see that the airport was the only thing on that particular island and when we dug for more information after our return we got to know that 1000 and odd islands formed Maldives of which only about 200 are inhabited and of that nearly 90 were exclusive island resorts……Wow!!!! We had our speed boats ready to take us to our destination………The speedboat transfer took about an hour and the views of the islands that whizzed past were breathtaking. The boat just seemed to glide over the ocean barely touching it a few times during the whole journey.

This is the view that greeted us on our arrival at the resort


Just to note - these photos are scanned images of the photos shot using traditional cameras. Those were the days where simple aim and shoot film cameras ruled the roost and the now famous and convenient digital cameras had not yet made their mark or presence felt amongst us.

Now on to the trip - the resort had two kinds of rooms - Beach Villa and Lagoon Villa. We had opted for the Lagoon Villa - this villa is built on stilts on top of the ocean water. We had to take a tiny bridge to enter the villa. Once we entered the room we just felt like we were air lifted from this world to another world that was totally alien to us. At the other end of the room was a huge glass wall which gave us unhindered view of the vast beautiful ocean ahead of us.

This was the view from our room.



The four days we spent there helped us in recharging ourselves and also getting to know each other better. The food was awesome, both of us were not too interested in sweets or desserts back then, but I guess the credit goes to the restaurant chefs for making us the foodies that we are today.



This was the view from the restaurant.


The island on which this resort was located contained nothing but this resort. When they told us we can take a tour of the island on foot we were a little taken a back. How would it be possible to cover an island on foot? But as we started walking along the shore line we totally felt at ease. And before even we could realize it we had gone round the island and it hardly took us about 15-20 minutes. The island was that small!!!!!

These were some of the pictures taken on one of those walks.





Near sunset time we would sit at our very own private sun deck and enjoy the lovely sunset. From the sun deck there were wooden steps that took us directly into shallow ocean water. This was one of those things which we truly enjoyed. Even though we did not know swimming we would frolick around in the crystal clear waters of the ocean. And if we got tired of that we would sit on the steps and look down into the ocean to either find colorful fishes or sting rays swimming by or just admire the beauty of the coral reefs that was all round the place. Wish we had our current digital camera back then, We could have taken some better pictures I feel.

This was the view from the sun deck.


This is the view of the other Lagoon Villas from our sun deck




One night there were heavy rains and the sound of the waves crashing against the sun deck was a little scary. We went out during the rains just to have a look at nature’s fury. Believe me it was so dark outside and we could hear the loud crashing of the waves on the barrier far ahead. We could feel the pressure of the waves against the stilts of our villa, it was so powerful that we could feel the wooden floor and the building swaying in a very slow fashion. It was a creepy as well as an exciting feeling.

With heavy hearts we were ready to say “Good Bye” to this lovely place after four days. But we did make a promise that we would come back here for sure, probably when our family is complete.

We had a safe journey back with plenty of sweet memories captured in our camera and in our minds.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Mother's Day

My Post for-Views on Motherhood for Hindustan Times on Desi Momz Club

Dear Desi Momz,
I'm a journalist with the Hindustan Times in Mumbai and I'm working on a story about how mommy bloggers are planning to celebrate Mothers Day this year - on their blogs, at home, with other bloggers etc. So I was wondering if the folks over at DMC would want to speak to me? I'm working on a short deadline so I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!
Cheers,
Riddhi

This was the job to be done, but I’m making a small amendment to it and dedicating this Mother’s Day to this Mom………

She became a mother 39 years ago. She was just 19 years old, I would say really young to understand the whole meaning and responsibility of being one. The marriage happened much against her choice or will but soon she was trying to make the best out of it. With a lot of dreams in mind she entered the institution of marriage. But she was more of an unpaid home nurse for her bed ridden in-laws, a cook for her husband’s siblings. Once she became a mother the child was just another burden on her already heavy shoulders. She could not bring herself to love that beautiful bundle of joy. Her daughter hardly got to experience her mother’s love. After some time the in-laws left the world. Now she slowly started settling down into her tiny family life. That’s when she came to know about another addition into the family.

This time a baby boy was born to her. She tried to make up for the moments lost with the daughter by showering the son with all her love and time. The daughter felt left out for no obvious fault of hers. She found solace in her mom’s younger sister’s family. She was a major part of that household. The children grew up in the same pattern, with mother showering all her love and time on the son and nearly minimal of the same to the daughter. For the same reason the daughter also hardly felt any attachment towards her mother.

Time passed on and the children grew up well educated, with good jobs and got married. After the daughter had a son of her own, her mother loved and completely spoilt her grandson. The vacuum in the daughter’s mind started vanishing bit by bit. Then something happened that completely changed the lives of all of them.

The mother was detected with Cancer. The little distance what was there between the mother and daughter melted down. The son left his job in another city to be by his mother’s side. It was 2 years back that this happened. From that day the mother and children have built up a good bond. The moment they finish their work, the children rush to be by her side. She was able to do all her day to day household chores without an external help. But the past few days have been really heavy on the family. Her cancer has reached such a stage that there is nothing that can save her life.

Now she is hospitalized and under medication, to just ease her out of the physical pain. Her children are always by her side. As she is unable to talk the family sits by her side all the time and talk to her. The doctors have told that it’s helping her a lot. Mentally she is at such peace, probably which she did not experience all her life. She knows what she lost out with her daughter cannot be made up, but she is trying her best to make up by wanting her daughter to be by her side day and night.

This Mother’s Day I would like to ask God to ease her off her pains and worries. Let the children get all the courage to support their mother through the worst.

The Mother I’m talking about is my aunt. In whose house most of my weekends were spent during my childhood days. She is an awesome cook, a very creative person, a lady of few words……….What do I say about her. Just wishing that she does not have to suffer any more…

“Happy Mother's Day aunty !”

Monday, May 5, 2008

It's Been A Long Time !

Yes, It’s been a long time since I have written a blog . My computer is just recovering from a major health problem called “Virus”, so not been able to blog for quite some time now. Jelly keeps us active and laughing with her cute pranks. There is not a place she does not reach, including climbing the windows from the cot. She loves to chatter all the time. Either she is trying to repeat whatever we talk or if that’s not easy for her at least imitate us. At times I and SM speak in English so she is trying to pick up a few words from that too.

Aryans mom has tagged me with some homework. So here I’m taking up the tag and continuing the post. This seems like one big tag so I have kept a bottle of juice and some snacks to last a whole day; I need some strength to do this ;-)

Last movie you saw in a theatre: Salaam Namaste (I know you guys are giving me a real good stare …… but that’s how we are…..not at all a movie buffs)…..but catch the latest movies on DVD ;)
What book are you reading: Been a lazy bum ……. Not read a book in ages :D
Favorite board game: Snake and Ladder
Favorite magazine: Reader’s Digest
Favorite smell: Jelly and SM after a bath.
Favorite sounds: Jelly’s laughter and the pitter patter of the first rain.
Worst feeling in the world: Not being able to spend quality time with my loved ones.
What is the first thing you think of when you wake up: Thank God! Jelly slept peacefully last night or as in most days, why the hell was she so cranky last night.
Favorite fast food place: Any place that offers value for money, tasty and spicy food.
Future child’s name: Are you kidding!!!!!!!! Not another one………we 2 our 1.
Finish this statement- “If I had a lot of money I’d….”: Invest half for the future and use the rest to travel round the world.
Do you drive fast: Only if I’m in a hurry.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? : Been used to it for 3 and a half year with SM and past 1 and a half year with Jelly :D
Storms- cool or scary?: Cool if I’m in a safe place , else scary.
What was your first car: I’ve never owned one, but traveled around the most in SM’s Bolero.
Favorite drink: Café Frappe from Coffee day on a hot summer day( never mind it any time of the year )
Finish this statement-“If I had the time I would….”: Do some glass painting or fabric painting.
Do you eat the stems on a broccoli?: Nooooooooo, never eat a broccoli too.
If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?: Burgandy
Name all the cities/towns you have lived in:Bangalore…..all my life, for vacations Alleppy in Kerala and my longest stay outside India, in Paris for a month(wish I could go back there some day)
Favorite sports to watch: None
One nice thing about the person who sent this to you: Never met or spoke to her but feel like I’ve known her for a very long time.
What’s under your bed?: Floor.
Would you like to be born as yourself again?: Yes of course, just with better brains, looks and wealth :D
Morning person or night owl?: Morning person.
Over easy or sunny side up?: Hmmm got to give it a thought.
Favorite place to relax: Wherever I could cuddle on to SM and Jelly at the same time.
Favorite pie: Finding it hard to decide which I like the most ………
Favorite ice-cream flavor: No confusions on this one…………..Chocolate!
Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s likely to respond first?: Mira’s mom probably…………..


Phew!!! I need another bottle of juice now and hey where did my snacks go?????????