A little down south and to the east

Thats where i have moved to...down south and a bit towards east from Mumbai. At Bangalore.

Mentally i have moved here many times, went over what all i wanted to do once here , a million times in my head. Reality,has been very similar for a change.

For now, i am enjoying the space that the house offers me...my sparse furniture from the Bombay flat is looking like individual islands in corners of the house.

That hacking cough that followed me like a shadow in Mumbai has disappeared for now. I actually go for a morning walk and stop by to observe the flowers in the neighboring compounds.

The kid has made friends, re started his music classes and speaks a new Kannada word everyday. Yesterday, he sang two lines of a Kannada song - this one-to a much surprised audience including me , mom and sister.

I am back at work- as part of a 3 member team. The 3rd member being myself. Still haven't figured out travel in the city, and is completely in awe of the Volvo buses.

I come home to family - a six year old and an almost six month old who make my day completely worth while. And the sister i adore, and parents and the brother in law who make it complete.

My house is complete.. the home, not yet. My heart is in Pune. Everything is started by the " i wish he was here" thought.

I am happy with my material life as it is... it's the heart that hurts. I wish he moves here soon.Then i can call it home.

Down and out

That's pretty much me, these days.


Being a single parent and managing a long commute in this city is taxing. It's almost despicable! And it is turning me into someone i don't like.
I don't like to speak to anyone outside my routine, and hardly have any friends over. The last time i went to a friends house? Don't even go there..


Technically, it was very easy to decide that the husband will be in another city for a while. I am the brave one- you see. I pretty much run the house on my own anyway. All he does is come home in the evening and spend that few hours on the couch. How much of a difference can it make if he does that once in two weeks. Managable, really. Reality ---- is nothing like that.


Everything in the house runs like clockwork. We leave on time, we reach late( blame the commute here), everything stays in it's place.The cushions on the sofa are intact, there are no shoes lying outside the shoe rack, and no wet towels on the bed. My ideal world!!


But i am hating it.


I miss looking forward to catch the tell tale sound of the car lock, time his way up the steps and waiting with an open door. I miss asking him to stop reading the paper in the loo and step outside so we could use it.
I hate not being able to spend that five minutes talking about our day. I miss the noise, the commotion the father and son create.


Above everything, i miss his presence. Sometimes all i want him is to be home. I can live with him contributing nothing to the goings- on  in this house. He could be glued to TV all day. But the fact that " he is home" makes up for all that.


Who knew this would turn out to be so difficult?. May be this is what love matures into.... a beautiful companionship where the mere absence / presence of a person makes it all worthwhile.

11.1.11- and on this day...

I became an aunt, yet again.
This time , to a baby girl who looks like strawberry pudding.

And she looks exactly like how her mother did 28 years ago. Then, the mother's elder sis caught sneaky glimpses of the baby being bathed inside the labour room, and announced to everyone that there was a very cute baby inside. She continued to wait for her little sibling, and the nurse bought the chubby cute baby outside and told me she was my sister.

I fell in love, for the first time....

In the many years that followed, her cheeks stayed chubby and rosy and i spent much time defending them from my friends, classmates and random people. The chubby cheeked girl followed me all around the place, pretty much adored everything i did in life( at least in the early years) and grew upto be my little best friend.

And yesterday, she gave me the most beautiful niece i could ever have. Chubby cheeks, snub nose and looking like a pudding. My little baby just had a baby of her own. I am still getting over the excitement!!!

Maybe i should teach V techniques on how to defend the baby's cheeks from random people now :-)