Getting there...

" Our House" is being registered this wednesday. Then we officially become co owners of our"castle in the air". Right now i have all my fingers crossed- hands & toes- that its impossible to even get up.
Here's hoping for the best and asking for all the blessings so that it turns out be the right thing to have done in the long run.
" V" has been told by valiamma that we are buying a new big ( huh!) house. He was thrilled...he even showed me his room on the floor plan. Now for all the dreams to turn into reality..waiting, very patient here....

Global Citizen....

I was at a conference last week where one of the speakers said something interesting. He talked about an article that said that by 2010, the numbers of car owners in India will increase exponentially, and why this is significant.
The Indian psyche is very different from the rest of the world, he said. To us, buying four wheels is a tangible way of saying " i have arrived" and, this will be done only after he/ she has provided for family expenses, self, health and education. So that means and average Indian will spend in this order...
1. Family expenses: Parents/ Spouse/ Kids-daily expenses
2. Health: Insurance policies
3. Education: Policies/ funds
4. Infrastructure: House/land
5. Four wheeler
6. Other expenses: Entertainment/eating out/gadgets/ holidays etc
So it necessarily translates that by 2010 the number of Indian's who feel they have " arrived" go up, which will mean that we have better GDP's( hopefully).

I am trying to apply this theory to our life and see how it holds good.
Lets see.....
1. We bought a TV first in life( priority no 6 in list)
2. Then all the paraphernalia( again priority no 6)
3. Then a car( Priority no 5)
4. Then policies for kid( we seem to be going up the wrong direction)
5. Some amount of protection for our life( priority no 2)
6. Fortunately we have parents who are self sufficient and quite benevolent,so we have been loaned in times of need rather that we providing for them( i will make up for that..some day)
7. A house...( priority no 4).

Does that mean we are not quite Indian? Or are we just mixed up in life?
What is the possibility that a good part of my generation will have a similar list? My bet is that there will be many....
At least i can tell myself that is how the rest of the world thinks..after all, i am a global citizen:-)

Radio then, radio now...

Every night from when i was 10 year old, one of my definite activities at night was listening to " Binaca geet mala". The day was incomplete without it..and then there was" Fauji Bhaiyon Ke liye", before or after that. Can't recollect for sure. I still can hear Ameen Sayani's voice like yesterday though.
By the time i started listening"Binaca" had become "Cibaca" and " Ceylon Radio" was" Vividh Bharti", but geet mala stayed on. And i continued listening to it. When there was nothing to listen to Vividh Bharti, i turned to vernacular songs on AIR.
We had a Old Panasonic Radio that was about my size when i was ten years old. Most of the time, my grandmom would listen to Tamil sings on AIR on that. Then came transistor, and we got a new philips transistor around early 90's.
That was my liberation. I walked, studied, slept, played with that transistor in tow, Literally!
Mom could never understand how i could study with the radio on and me singing along. Eveyone needs a certain conditioning to approach studies..music was mine i guess. As long as there was some music in the background , i could get anything done. I could even study biology , and hindi grammar(for the ignorant souls, this is what is called learning " greek and latin").
I have been taken to task for the leaving behind the radio hanging on the mango tree after my post lunch reading session- for those who think i am fibbing, plase check with my mom, she'll fill in the details. The tree unfortunately was cut down some years later as it decided to be a little modern and not bear any fruits. It was one of those low branched, easy to climb trees with plenty of room for all of us cousins to sit and talk. We loved it. May its soul rest in peace.

Back to our topic, the Idiot box became popular around this time, and listening to the radio became passe'. I went away for my studies and radio became a part of my childhod memories. I started collecting Audio cassetes, and subsequently CD's. But something was never quite the same.
I am not a sucker for retro being in fashion again...same for retro stuff too. But Radio is something i am definitly thrilled to have back...and how!

From the "Radio city" at bangalore in 2001 to the 10 stations that i flipped through today morning...radio rocks. In the gap between the vividh bharthi days and the revival of radio i owned Tape/ cassette player/ CD players and an iPod. All the while it never felt like listening to the radio. And i kept wondering why?

After much deliberation, bought myself a hand'sfree last week and have started to listed to radio during my long commute to office and back..Feels like old days. And i realized what makes radio tick for me. It is i guess the compilation of songs i get to listen( today's theme was rain), and above that, it is the anticipation of not knowing which song will come next...

Long live radio!!!

Mumbai

There are lot of things about Mumbai that amaze me...everyone has their own reasons to like this city...here are some of mine. And i will not add the regular stuff that everyone likes.

This is strictly in random order..................

1. I love the small patches of land between the railway tracks and the road that are effectively used rotationally for seasonal crops( there were greens in summer and right now, there are ladies fingers and brinjals). Of course i get these digusting looks and comments when i mention this. But hey! show me another place in the country which has so innovatively used space to make a living? The thought counts!

2. The pani puri's are out of the world( no offence to puchki's ..i love them too)

3. There is always a shop that sells what you need( and enough kind hearted souls to tell to how to reach the shop)

4.There is always some eatery open at midnight, unlike a lot of other cities i have lived in.And you get to eat any cuisine you like..its all here.

5. Sea is just a drive away( i think this must be among the top three) .

6. It has the most ecclectic mix of people you will ever find, rubbing shoulders with each other during peak hours in the same train...never in other city.

7. We spent the first few days( 30 days to be precise) of living together after marriage in this city.

And many more that in can' think of right now. There are of course 100's of reasons what i don't like about the city..but right now i am in this " i love mumbai" frame of mind. So we shall keep the bad stuff for another day.

The bigger red bicycle with triiing bell

The older yellow cycle and the new one......The photo above was taken on V's request. Guess he wanted to pay tribute to the cycle before throwing it out:-)

Its monday again...and i am back after a very brief gap. Lots of not very important things happened in these few days. The only one's worth mentioning are...

1. We are finally buying that house( one part of me will refuse to believe it till i actually see the papers..this is the more optimistic part of me writing). Hopefully in another ten days will will be able to register the same and be proud owners of a home. In a conventional sense i am still trying to figure out what have i bought
(1)...a home?considering i am not going to be staying there at least for a while, it is not home yet. (2)....a house? Yep, maybe but will be lived in by some stranger(s) who will pay us for using the place. So whose house is it anyway?
(3)....my own piece of the world??aah, here it gets a little tricky. What world? I only have 1600 sft of space in air. See, i actually don't own the land it stands on. So do not even have a piece of the world to call my own.
So what do i own ? my guess is as good as anyone else's. Let me know if there is a more sane explanation.
When i have a piece of land to myself, then i will be more confident and say that i own a piece of this world..till then, i have my castle in the air( literally!)

2. V got a new cycle:-)- this was an all weekend event. Ever since he managed to break his second cycle in 2 years( as in break into two halves- handle bar seperate/ seat and back tyres seperate), he has been diverting that energy into running behind cycles at the park- not very safe at all.
So after a brief poll at home ( 3-0) we decided to get him a new cycle( bi- cycle as V calls it) now, and not wait till rains get over. So he was told that we will buy the cycle on sunday when TB is off. The buildup started from friday evening and by the time it was sunday, he had a very clear idea of what he wanted- bigger red bicycle with trriiiing bell to ride with buntu( his playmate). So that is what he got..Bigger red cycle with bell and a rear view mirror. Some pics of it should follow later. He refused to park the cycle outside in the common area. So we lived through a sunday with a cycle being rode in and out of bedrooms/kitchen/ bathrooms annd incessant ringing of the triiiing bell!!! But he is thrilled, and the kiss we got said it all. I can live with a cycle on my bed for its worth:-)

3. Rhymes session for parents at V's school: Must admit i was feeling very stupid when it started, but by the end of it I was dancing and doing all those kiddie actions. I had a ball....though i got some very quizzical looks from the more conservative parents and a very admiring dancing partner in V. This one was deadly!..i came away feeling very much like a kid, and loved it.

Need To..need to

I need to reduce..weight, that is. Of course i can't write here how much i tilt the scales at right now, but it is definitely a very memorable figure( nightmarish!)
Well, it has not been this way always....i have had my days as the svelte, lean framed 18 year old. Not very sure if i looked any better than now at 48 kilos( please note- exacly 10 years ago)...but was definitely healthier.
I keep promising myself to reduce, every time i find a pretty dress and figure out it is two sizes small. What amazes me is that, a good 70% of the women i see on a daily basis are either healthy or putting it blankly, oversize for their height!. Then why is that 95% of the readymades available are not made for them??
Time someone gave fashion a serious thought!..a practical sit down thinking!
Coming back to losing weight, i even manage to put myself on track and actually start following sensible eating etc..but no exercise..very bad.I of course have the regular excuse trappings..no time, working mom, cooking dinner, child demanding time etc etc...
There are these dozens of people in my building who, unlike me, appreciate the activity of keeping fit and spend time doing what it takes...there are so many of them running around in different directions in the morning, i get worried we might have a pileup right here on the walkway. Wouldn't look too nice. They depress me!!I despise,loathe and envy them.
There i go again...
Ok,so the reason that i really started writing this is because today morning onwards, i have decided that i should maybe go back to sensible eating..more importantly, get TB also to do that. He loves food...preferably the kind that runs and swims.
When we were newly married, TB's aunt told me something that stayed.She lost her husband to Diabetes. He loved his food and at some stage, it just got to him. I repeat it here as my version to remind myself - which is very often.
" What is the worst thing that can happen to someone who loves eating and does not care about what it can cause??...living with a person who finds pleasure in cooking and feeding them"----we, that way are a match made in heaven...and a disaster in waiting.
Now that i have explained the reasons to myself and am partly convinced...i need to, need to put my eating habits in order....

The week is over..just like that. I have no plans for this weekend, except to stay home with V and TB. Maybe watch some movies on DVD.
V is down with a viral fever. Poor thing has been having frequent bouts of high temperatures and wants to just be held, by me/ TB or maramma ,whoever is close by. So it has been three days of school and then two days of convalescing this week for V.
I am waiting for him to get better ....the house is so dead when he is not active. I will not fight with him if he decides to write on the wall..or on the floor...or leave crumbs in between the sofa slits. All i want now is for him to get better and naughtier....

The first step!

Finally the loan sanction is in! and for all the tension we went through over the last week...it is still a little wary. Can't yet come to terms with this.
The agreement is being done and we take the first step towards buying that house we loved:-) I know this is just the beginning of many more sleepless nights..loan disbursement, registration, finishing touches..woodwork...the list is quite long and the trauma is yet to unfold. Yet, i believe in a rainbow at the end of the tunnel. Slept better after a long time....

PS: The Chocolate chip mousse was attacked by a three member army last night. All that is left is stains on V's T Shirt:-)

I had a wonderful weekend....wonderful as i spend time with V and TB and stayed at home. Good things about the raging rains is that you cannot plan to finish that 10 things on the fridge list( most of them being quite irrelevant, but done just for the fact that you spent time writing them down), because it is raining. I am kind of liking the excuse.

So i spent time reading to V, helping him with his crayon drawings, trying to make stuff with play -dough( i must confess here that my artistic skills have hit a wall, all i could think of making was funny faces, while maramma- V's 60 year old best friend came up with a multicoloured snake- complete with hood and tongue).

V has found himself the perfect spot in the living room for enjoying the rain. I think it is quite cozy and moved the sofa there so i could enjoy watching him look out at the rain-could have spent the entire weekend looking at him and answering all the inane questions. He was thrilled when we made his favourite jelly....and put it in different moulds so he could have different shapes after each meal. I take him insisting to share his jelly is his way of expressing his love, and it made my weekend:-)

The weekend ended on two very notable occurences....

1. My tummy decided to call it a day and gave up on sunday night...thus having to forgo the Chocolate chip mousse from Baskin Robbins

2. Gave the Canadian Grand Prix a miss for the same reason cited above.



We wake up today to first day of school..and set the precedent to-fight/ scream/ cry / shout/ threaten throught breakfast before school. Hallelujah!

Rains are here...

And we have rains in mumbai...earlier than predicted and bringing with it the gross misery of a city that is always underprepared for any amount of rains. I returned home last evening after a brief 30 min showers on the first day of monsoon and saw kids playing in waist high dirty water on the main road!!! and panicking drivers manoeuvering to avoid both kids and water.

I love rains!!back home our village is a picture of serenity after rains. Gleaming , freshly washed asphalt,the bushes and trees looking green and clean, and the occassional cicada and hoardes of frogs croaking from their hidden dens. Wonder what they do during summer?
Anyway..back to rains.. monsoon has this uncanny knack of pouring exactly when you are out on the road...on the way to school...during the lunch break and invariably, ten minutes before the school bell rings....
By the time we reach the last leg of out travel and walk home from the bus stop, it usually becomes a drizzle. I do not remember ever having opened an umbrella during a drizzle, esp when returning....there will be puddles to jump on...and clean the sandak slippers. We would stand under the bigger trees and wait for the wind to shake off the drops from the leaves.
On holidays we would pester amma for bhajji while watching the rain lashing outside and wash down the various fried vegetables with steaming chai. How i miss those days...

Of course i bought myself a new umbrella and a bright raincoat for V and mentally prepared for the rains. I even took V out for the first shower of monsoon...he inaugurated his raincoat and i did my umbrella...and we just stood savouring the rain.
Somehow the rains here seem to be a different animal altogether! I can't seem to associate all those pictures i portrayed earlier with rains here..I am worried about traffic snarls, trains getting delayed, about flooding on the roads, contigency plans ( TB thinks i am going paranoid- i tend to
agree most of the times). And what i saw yesterday seems to fit into my worries perfectly well.

At office we are back to spending the first twenty minutes dicussing travails of travelling in monsoon and sharing our daring experiences of just trying to get home....

Despite all this..i love rains and hope that someday i will live in a place that lets me savour rains as they are.

I am not sure if i am frustrated, anxious on plainright depressed. Our loan is not approved yet and there seems to be no indication of why and when this will actually get done.
Right now, i am feeling that same numbness that sets in when everything seems to go against us..over and again.
Everytime i have wished for something with all my heart, it has not happened. I learned to not to expect anything out of my wishes. If they happen, wonderful. It they do not , they were never meant to be.
I do not want to think that way now...i want this to happen. I loved that line from OSO.."kehte hain ki agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaho to saari kaynaat tumhe usse milane ke liye lag jaati hai"..i love that house..and i want it!