Hornbill's call

In the south western corner of our house, there is a sarpa kavu, towered by a grand father tree.. always a cacophony of birds.

Sometime during the fag end of summer vacations, they come in, the Malabar Hornbills...quite, unassuming, hidden among the branches. The first indication of their arrival is their signature calls...shrill and piercing, you could hear them far enough..You have to really strain to see them..they are quite adept at staying hidden.

My memories of this bird are always associated with rains..unlike most of the other birds, they sit out in the rain, and soak it up- without flinching a feather. Watching them, all the stories about how "hornbills are permanently looking for rains" feels so true.

Much like when we were kids. The first rains were always spent outside the house, soaking it up...

- dad, inspecting the fresh leaks from the tiled roof, prodding the dried leaves out of rain water drains, moving the plants from under the thatched shade to the rain.

- mom, standing on the verandah, trying her best to coax me and sister inside, threatening us with diseases varying from cold to pneumonia. Finally giving up and going inside to make tea and pakodas for all of us.

- my sister, running around the house with the mandatory umbrella that mom has forced her to carry- collecting rainwater holding it upside down when mom looks the other way. Standing with her mouth open to drink the rain water and picking up flowers fallen in the first gust.

- me, contended to just stand and feel the rain falling . mandatory umbrella left dutifully inside the house. Moments that feel like heaven, the smell of freshly washed earth, and the pleasure of hearing the hundred frogs and cicadas that have started a harmony.

Last night, i dreamt i was in a forest , and a lone hornbill sounded its signature call.

May is at it's fag end now...

All i need now is you, rain.

Where are you?

ένα έτος

Warning: Totally self centred post in first person narrative; about a hundred " i"s.

I am fantastic...when it comes to not completing a lot of my projects.

The older i get, i am quite convinced my dad was right when he called me " jack of all, master of none" , for nothing.

I dabbled with a little bit of everything in life...and surprisingly, did well at most.Some bit of dancing, singing, poetry,theatre, studying... Must have beginners luck everytime.I can stand in a group and associate with most people, and can say " been there, done that" in most occassions.

I lose interest in things/ activities if they are not challenging enough. This surprisingly was discovered by one of my bosses(Needless to say, he made sure work was a " challenge" then on).
If you ask me today how my life looks to me in the next 5, 10, 15 years, i will have the same response- happy, healthy and thankful for everyday.

When i come across people who have had a dream, worked towards it from a early age, are settled in life,do not go through the mad rush that my life constantly is, i sometimes feel shortchanged. I wonder how it would be to feel that way-30 and knowing where exactly life is headed.

But then , it is difficult to say whether i would have been happier,more contented if i had one goal, one pursuit in life, that i had my mind set on, pursued it and achieved it.Some secret voice inside says i would have hated myself---life would never have so many dimensions then, never have so many friends, and so many experiences.

Maybe not having a life plan and living life a day is not so bad after all.Who knows, in another ten years in might be telling V to be a " jack of all trades"..at least he'll know what he likes and go for it- rather than choose a path a end up having to like it.

The point of writing all this today?...If it had not been for a moment of madness, this blog would not have been started, exactly a year ago.I am amazed i have held on for so long..

Has to be the fun of meeting all of you, reading about your lives and the small, cheap thrill of anonymity in the big wide web world.

I just hope this blog does not meet an untimely death like many other of my interests.

The heading? means " one year" in greek. Talk about sounding like greek and latin:-)

In pictures

Some pictures from our bangalore trip, and some from V's vacation...
For want of any better ideas to blog about. Just in case you are wondering.


That is our house...

Just outside our door.. I can see my sister's house from here...

See those two almost trees, the door is right behind that...

V inspecting the pooja area..

Now some from his vacation

V and his cousin D..

At the beach..i love the sunsets here.

V with his uncle...

and, oh...that picture on the header, is the view from our very own terrace:-)

Death of compassion

We(V and myself), are having one of those nocturnal, before drifting off to sleep conversations. Suddenly he sits up, fake fear et all, points to the entrance of the room and says " Aaahhh..a dog is running towards us"

--By now, i am used to his imagination and cooly respond from my splayed out posture " Don't worry kanna, amma will shoo it away"
--V says " No Amma, wait". He then proceeds to roll up the handtowel he carries to bed, makes a gun, and aims to shoot the dog. " There, once i shoot the dog we can go to sleep without worrying".

I am not exactly the poster girl for non- violence, but something about his calm demeanour nags me. But, instead of launching into a sermon, i decide a different take.

--I tell him" Don't shoot it kanna. The dog's mom and dad will be coming behind it. They will be very sad and cry if you shoot their son".
--He pauses for the minute, raises his fake gun and shoots anyway. He then turns and tells me " Don't worry, i have shot the dad and mom also, now they will not cry"

Someone please tell me i missed the memo on " Death of compassion"!!!!!

Consider yourself a wordsmith?

Got this as a forward, and loved it. Hence had to share with all you guys/ gals:-)

Chew on these:

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
16. A calendar's days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you've seen one shopping centre you've seen a mall.
24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.
30. The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
31. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
32. She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
33. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
34. The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
35. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
36. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
37. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
38. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
39. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
40. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.
41. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
42. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab centre said: 'Keep off the Grass.'
43. A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital, when his grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, 'No change yet.'
44. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
45. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
46. Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects.

I think i might have...

There has always been two sides to me...

>The uber talkative, restless, laughing loud, constantly singing jack of all trades to the family. 17 years after i moved out, neighbours at my parents place insist that they miss my banter and singing...
>Then there is the professional me. Toned down, very diplomatic,smooth and smiling- never laughing loud. Always the listener, minimum talker.

Sometimes i have difficulty associating the two personae. Only some choice people in my life have had the opportunity to see both sides- not even my parents. My mom might have a heart attack if someone tells her i am quite at office. Do not be mistaken though, i am a great listener too. Reason why i love my current job.

Ok, so the point is, i like to talk- about everything under the sun, to anyone available. Never got tired of that. Case in point, if you ever meet TB, he will regale you with this instance.

>>We were once driving down from bangalore to kerala, a total of 8 hours ,and TB was wondering aloud how to keep himself awake during the drive. I apparently( used purely for effect), offered to keep him awake by talking the entire length of the journey- and he says i did.

He has accepted that i am like this wonly and as long as he appears to be listening, he can get away with anything.

After V was born, we kept altering between, is he a talker or is he a listener? for the last few years..it kept oscillating between both.
Now he has come back from vacation and has suddenly turned in to this 'questioning machine'. There is not a second gap between a reply and the next question...All i have done over the weekend is reply to his questions..and being the one who loves to talk and the indulgent mother i am, my jaws are aching!!
But i will not give up..me? being tired of talking ?? sheesh!! how will i face the world if that were to happen? There is one thing that i am slowly starting to accept thought...

"I might have just found my match in a 4 year old". How scary is that?

Vacation snippets

- After finishing a teeny weeny glass of complan, V tells my dad " Mutassa, i am a complan boy".
V pauses for a second and says. " Muttassa, you are a tea boy".

- They( my parents + V) watched so much of lion king/ madagascar that they sing all the songs from these movies as a choir!

- V is now officially in love with G8( our house) and F2( my sisters house). He wants to go back , because there is a terrace where he can drive his cars. Very important reason!

- He now knows about 20 grandparents and equal number of aunts and uncles. That's a start. It's a long way to go but.
For our( mine and TB's) wedding, there were a thousand guests. I can safely bet that 950 out of those were relatives, and i knew about 850 of them- not bad i guess.

- His latest gastronomic obsession is (cauli)"flower fry", recipe courtesy my mom.

- His current favourite lullaby is "Kasturithilakam"

- He watched the best fireworks of kerala at 3 AM in the morning from his vantage point- 7th floor terrace, temporary bed made of newspapers.

-Wants to know why we can't go back to kerala and work from there.If only life was so easy.

PS: There are absolutely no photos of V's vacation. My parents and TB's couldn't care less. They were too busy having fun.

Next time amma, we'll go by plane.

We are back in Mumbai. After 6 days in Bangalore, aching heels and tired limbs, we were looking forward to the 22 hour train journey to catch up on some sleep.What we did not anticipate was..

- Four very bored 8-14 year old playing "word tag", " name, place animal thing" , and "movie names" for 18 hours- closeted in one berth right next to us.
-One less than two year old in the berth on the other side, who derived pleasure out of kicking the partition board.
- People who carry a water cooler in the age of bottled water and who forget to close the tap, thereby soaking the underside of all luggage in next coupe( ours!).
-One 4 year old , gone into hyperdrive.

Conclusions after the journey...

-You can drink as much coffee/ tea onboard without worrying about the calorie intake. it is 90% hot water anyway.
- Food has improved. We actually ate the stuff...( may also have something to do with waking up early)
- Avoid journeys longer that overnite with husband who had loong legs...they don't fit anywhere. On the upper berth, he is constantly blessing who ever passes below. And in the seat, he is spending waking hours trying to figure out which angle to bend them next.
- You cannot stay in the loo for more than sixty seconds...any process that requires longer time will have to wait till destination.
- Your child will not use the loo and washbasin without remarking several times that it is grimy and quoting your " germ theory". He also insisted that we change trains and take a better looking one.
- Never attempt to share a berth with a four year old. They need more space, and most of the time are very adept at pushing off the other occupant.
- Be prepared to be embarassed when your child makes loud remarks about other people in the compartment .Eg: " Amma, that uncle is not washing hands after going to loo", " this train is very dirty, please clean it"- to the cabin attendant.
-Father and son made a chant of" Next time, we'll go by plane" and gave me digusting looks for booking rail tickets.

So much for travelling together and spending time together...Next time, we'll go by plane.

Invoking the Elephant God

Off to bangalore , for one week.

Several items on the agenda..., including bringing back offspring who has stated showing signs of missing us from yesterday. He told my dad that he is going back to " his mumbai". He also said that he is sad because dad and mom have gone to office. My son, the proud one- never will he admit he is missing us. Damn! of all the qualities of life, he had to go and inherit this? I have lived my life with the inability to share sorrow and depression...now him? Sometimes i hate what genes pass on.

The reason we are meeting in Bangalore is because we are also officially declaring our" castle in the air" ready to be occupied, by-who ever rents it out. I wish, i wish it was us staying there..but that seems a long way off. Unless there is a sudden change of tide and both of us find jobs there. In this market, that seems a loooong call.Nevertheless, we will have the mandatory ganapathy homam and boiling of milk after that. And since it is vacation time and the family is fairly jobless- retired-, they will all be there in full attendance.And my son is yet to see the castle, his castle:-) Hopefully there will be some pictures to post when i return.

Getting here has not been easy...for the past 5 days, i have spend hours screaming at the modular kitchen guys, the courier guys, pestering my sister and brother in law who will disown us very soon. Work is still moving at snails pace...considering the fact that the registration of the house was marked by some very depressing events, i am not really surprised.

Off i go..do pray that the work actually gets done before the ceremony on 10th. We seriously need some high octave prayers here. On second thoughts, please pray that we actually get to live in our house soon. That would make my life. Ciao!

“Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; And every little absence is an age”

I had to kill myself not to use that ticket over this weekend.

I have had some miserable nights....it was like sleep just refused to touch me with a bargepole. I'd read, and read, and listen to some music, fold clothes, watch some TV, read again . switch on the AC, switch it off...And, Nope/Zilch/ Nada - No sleep.

The lending library guys thinks i'm a nut- he almost said that yesterday- albeit very diplomatically. No one has taken two books and returned them the next day, consecutively for the last three days. I think i am nuts.

My mom called me to check if i have made dinner. Heh?And in true style i had not thought of that at all... no fun cooking when you are all by yourself..Muesli will do.

The milkman rings the bell to check if i really exist.." madam, you have not taken milk for the last five days,and house is also not locked- so i thought i should check". At least i will not die and rot in here..he'll make sure of that.

The medical shop owner across the street wants to know when V will come back. His stock of lollipops are not diminishing.

V's friends accost me at the playgound. They want his number in kerala. To call and tell him to come fast. I add a request from my side too..

I call TB to say good night and don't hang up till he falls asleep at the other end..when the snoring starts, i disconnect.

As for the boy...he is refusing to speak to us, more so with me. He hears my voice, and misses me all the more-so he avoids it. I tell mom i am missing him so much- next year we may not send him for so many days.

Mom pauses, and says

"I miss my daughter, the one who left this house 17 years ago. Everyday for the last 17 years, i have cringed the same way you do now. I know she is safe, i know she is happy, she is living her life, but- she is my baby and i miss her, and i will never be able to tell her how much. I miss her incessant talking and non stop singing...We spend 345 days of the year looking forward to the 20 we spend with you.
And now, in this little boy, i see a little bit of both you and TB- it is like having both of you around. This is how it feels being a parent- now you know. Just let us enjoy being the grandparents, at least for these few days, let us indulge him. "

I have no words....what could i have said?


Ps: The title quote is from John Dryden.