The blue sky

A trip to Dombivli was planned 2 months in advance as my brother-in-law was getting married in Novemeber. Train bookings were done, well in advance and everything was planned for that 1 week stay. I was happy that I will be meeting all the relatives on Atul's side and will be able to enjoy the wedding before the baby arrives. Once the baby arrives, I may not be able to concentrate on social activities as earlier, at least till he/she grows well enough to understand such celebrations. But suddenly, Atul had to go to Germany for a month and all my enthusiasm and plans seemed to be fast vanishing in thin air. How was I going to travel alone and who would have accompanied me to Mumbai from Bangalore. As usually happens, the rock in my life, of course my dad came running to Bangalore and took me to Mumbai for the wedding! And I was going to be there till Atul returned to Bangalore and then to Mumbai to fetch me. That means I was going to be there for 1 good month!...

This year has been a year of babies. At least 10 people of my acquaintance have a new addition to their family and 8 of them have been blessed with a baby girl. The very mention of her makes me so happy. Arrival of a baby girl in one of my close friend's life set me thinking.  I have been the only child to my parents and was born after 11 generations of boys in my family. My grand-parents were very happy and they named me Deepa very lovingly because I was born around the time of Diwali and supposedly I brought light to their home and lives. My family spared no means to educate me and they encouraged me in everything which I took up. Without them, I wouldn't have been where I am today. The relationship of a daughter with her father is totally different and the daughters who share a wonderful rapport with their fathers can very well identify what I am saying. This is one of the reasons, I want a baby girl because I want my husband to experience that bond and make him re...

"Look your baby is clapping", the radiologist exclaimed! Lying on the bed for the 20 weeks sonography, I peered at the screen to have a look at the life thriving inside me. My joy knew no bounds. Tears welled up in my eyes. I watched at it continuously and was wondering, when will the baby land in my hands? My father was there in the room too. It must have been a totally different experience for him to watch his own grandchild even before it has taken birth. The trend has changed so much. My dad saw me only when I took birth, but now he is watching his grandchild even before it is born. Atul missed the sight as he was away in Germany for work. I couldn't get the recording either to show it to him. The radiologist examined the baby for 15-20 minutes, took all the necessary parameters and showed me all the vital parts of the baby's body like his face, stomach, spinal cord, hands, legs, eyes, nose. They were so tiny, but were developing as expected and the baby also...

Hello Folks, I have lost the count of time since past 3-4 months. When was it the last time that I wrote on my blog with the ever-infectious enthusiasm of mine? Think it was on my birthday, almost a month back. What was holding me back? No one had prohibited me from writing. I had all the means to write. Internet, laptop, but still why had I become so lazy? There were thoughts in my mind, but then putting them on paper became so difficult that I wondered at myself. I once wrote daily about some thing or the other and now from past 2 months, I hadn't even bothered to open the home page of my blog and check it out. Well, my life now revolves around different priorities. Finally god has answered my prayers. The good wishes and blessings of my elders, relatives, friends, acquaintances has finally received a nod from that almighty and he has given me the greatest happiness a woman could ever get. He has bestowed upon me the chance of bringing another little life in this world...

माझी शाळा विलेपार्ल्याची "पार्ले टिळक विद्यालय". माझी शाळा त्याकाळी नावाजलेली - प्रसिद्ध होती व अजूनही आहेच. मी इंग्रजी १ ली ते इ. ७ वी (म्हणजेच आताची ५ वी ते ११ - त्याकाळी म्याट्रिक ११ वी असे) म्हणजे म्याट्रिकपर्यंत त्याच शाळेत होते. त्याकाळी शाळेत पाच सहाशे मुले असायची एकूण. एका वर्गात फार तर ३० मुले. आणी प्रत्येक वर्गाच्या दोनच तुकड्या. शाळा चालू होती त्यातच १९४२ ची 'चले जाव' चळवळ सुरु झाली. सर्व पुढारी तुरुंगात गेले. आम्ही सर्व लहानच होतो ११-१२ वर्षांची. पुष्कळदा शाळा भरायची पण सोडून द्यायचे. वातावरण गंभीरच होते. त्यातच दुस-या महायुद्धाची - लढाईची पळापळ. मुंबईवर बॉम्ब पडणार म्हणून सर्व मुंबई खाली झाली. पुरुषवर्गाने आपली कुटुंबे गावांना पाठवून दिली. मुंबई खाली झाली, पार्ले ओस पडले. आम्हीपण कोकणात मामाकडे वर्षभर राहिलो. मग हळू हळू सर्वजण मुंबईत परतू लागले. आम्हीपण पार्ल्याला येऊन आम्ही चार भावंडे शाळेत रुजू झालो. तेव्हा पार्ल्यात "जागा भाडयाने देणे आहे" अशा पाटया झळकू लागल्या. मालक पण आपल्याला जागेमधे भाडेकरू मिळावेत म्हणून २-४ रुपये भाडे कमी करू वगैरे ...

Birthdays for me are a celebration of being alive and healthy and kicking. It is the most special occasion for me and I see to it that my family members and close friends are well wished by me on their special day. Today is my 32 nd birthday. But this year, there was no child-like enthusiasm for it and or lots of expectations from it. Did the age have to do something with it? No idea. There was a surprise in store for me, for sure, from none other than my dear hubby. He is of the types who don’t believe in giving gifts which are of no use later. I was actually reminding him from past 1 week that the day is approaching and that he better be prepared for it. He was constantly telling me from past 2 days that he couldn’t get time to buy me a gift and so I should forgive him this year, which I readily did and did not pester him again. In the morning, a big greeting card and a box of chocolates sat adorning my dressing table and I instantly knew that it has to be him. He was sheep...

Sorry folks to have been not very active on the blog recently. There were so many things happening around me that I was totally caught up in them and my writing had to take a backseat. Nevertheless, I am back again with a very fresh and burning topic in my life. From the past 1 month, I was been pestered by 2 cell numbers, which I did not know or recognise. It all started with Kannada messages from 1 unknown number. Thankfully, I do not understand Kannada very much, so whatever he/she was sending was Greek and Latin for me. I tried to overlook it for some days. I also messaged that person that please stop sending messages as I do not know you. But I think that person did not even understand English. I tried calling that number many times, no one picked it up. I tried from different numbers, but still in vain! The sound of SMS irritated me to core now because now I knew that it will be from that unknown number. One day I got around 15 SMS from that number. I thought of a...

Lord Ganesha is my favorite God and I await his arrival every year with so much of anticipation. As most of you know by now, I shifted to my new house in the month of June and this place seems cut off from inhabitation and other routine things which one sees happening around. Ganesha celebrations in the Tippasandra house were so different. I could see people with idols or hear them sing bhajans or hear the drums beat while the groups took Ganesha home. I felt that there was something festive going on here. But in my new house, it seemed that only my family had Ganesha in the entire complex and none of the people, I had invited, bothered to even come for the darshan and oblige. All my close friends in Bangalore were working, so they couldn't make it for the day. One Marathi family came for the morning aarati and my immediate neighbor came for the evening aarati. That's it. That was it. That were our celebrations for the year, with just 4 family members in the house. Th...

By next Thursday, there would be festive atmosphere in many parts of India. Maharashtra, Karnataka and a few other states celebrate the Ganesha festival where people bring home the idol of Ganesha and worship it for anywhere between 1 and a half days to 11 days. There are lot of sweets which are prepared at home and then friends, relatives come over for the celebration. There is a lot of positivity in the atmosphere and I just love this season. From the time I moved to Bangalore, I see a different picture of celebrations here. They might not seem as grand as the ones in Maharashtra, but the fervor is no less. Everybody is charged up, people are busy cleaning, decorating their houses, children have holidays and they get new clothes. People have so many ideas for decorating the pandal for the Ganesha to sit. It ranges from mere Rs. 100-200 to Lakhs of rupees. Off late, people have addressed social issues in the decorations for the Ganesha festival and when people throng to visit that G...

Nothing happens in life as we want. You would find every single person complaining like this. Is it always so? If I ask 10 people, 9 would reply in affirmation saying yes, that’s right! Nothing happens in our lives as we had expected. I am also one of those 9 people who would happily agree to the fact that they are challenges in every walk of life which we lead and not always things happen as we want them to. But then what will be the fun if life was predictable and we knew all that was coming our way or saw in advance what was going to happen in our life? We would lose all our strength and vigor to fight it out and just become a character which just follows the script of a serial! Though many of you might argue with me on how we are mere puppets in the hands of god and destiny and how we just come and play our parts here. But also while playing your parts; have you given your 200% to that role? Do you believe in yourself and that role so much that God would be compelled to say, arr...

I got to know this interesting story from my best friends' mom, which is a true story. Someone amongst her relatives is sad and depressed from the past 1 yr. That is exactly from the time, a pet in their family died. Her relative (let us call him grandpa) is almost 75 yrs old and has lot of complications in his health after that. Yes, it was a dog, a Pomeranian by breed, but grandpa wouldn't call him a dog, he felt it was an insult to call the dog a dog. The dog, Kittu was very much a part of their family and it stayed with them for 9 yrs, which is quite a bit for his breed. Kittu ate all things which were prepared in the kitchen. He loved coconut and tomato very much. He also loved milk, rice, biscuits and all types of sweets. Grandpa invested in Kittu emotionally to such an extent that now its void cannot be filled by anything or anyone in this world. His relatives, his family have tried so much to cheer him up, but he just doesn't respond an...

Friend This word has so many meanings. 1. A person known well to another and regarded with liking, affection, and loyalty; an intimate 2. An acquaintance or associate 3. An ally in a fight or cause; supporter 4. A fellow member of a party, society, etc. 5. A patron or supporter All I know and understand is.. A new me and a confident me is a result of efforts of all my friends who have been there with me in all the walks of life and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all. I am the only child, always missed a sister/brother, but not after I started teaching German in the Mumbai university. That was a turning point in my life. I changed into a dynamic and confident person from a very depressed and a sad person who had a negative self-concept. Interacting with my students and seeing the joy of learning a new language on their brightened up faces gave me a new found happiness and changed me to what I am today. I want to thank my first set of students ...

Yesterday was the birth anniversary of the legendary singer Kishore Kumar. 94.3 Radio One was celebrating this occassion with great enthusiasm. All day through they played his songs and also what other people had to say about him. There is hardly any music fan in India who does not adore Kishore Kumar. He was a versatile man. An actor, director, singer, composer, producer, lyricist. But I always liked his singing better than any other quality in him. Yes, he was an eccentric man, married 4 times, was very concerned about being paid for his singing, but he was responsible for creating magic in the Bollywood music. He rendered his voice to many actors. My personal favorite is the combination of Amitabh Bacchan and Kishore Kumar and also Rajesh Khanna and Kishore Kumar. Who can forget the ever-green song of the movie Don, Namak Halal, Silsila where Amitabh was the hero on screen and Kishore Kumar the off-screen hero? Or the soulful songs of the movies Aradh...

Mother, Maa, Amma - Let the language be different but meaning is same... I want to dedicate this to my mom who is world to me. There is a saying - “A good mother is better than 100 Masters". Yes mom you are my master. They say the first school starts from house & the first teacher is MOTHER. YES it is very much true. You are my consolation in sorrow, my hope in misery, and my strength in weakness. You are the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness. Mom your hands were always open when I need a hug. Your heart understood when I need a friend. Your gentle eyes were stern when I needed a lesson. Your strength and love has guided me when and gave me wings to fly. Thanks for giving me this wonderful life. You made a decision to have a child – “It’s momentous. I feel it is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” As I grew up with your unconditional bounding, love, care, affection, Mom I stopped seeing you with the eyes of a child, I saw...

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem. This poem was written by Horace. He must have had no idea that this phrase would create a revolution in the lives of people including me. This has been a theme of many songs and movies in Bollywood and also Hollywood. This phrase is popularly translated as "seize the day", which means live this moment without worrying much about the future. Future is uncertain and full of surprises, so why waste today, which is a present from god in thinking about what will happen tomorrow. Why am I explaining this to you all my friends? This is the after-effect of watching the movie "Zindagi na milegi dobara". This movie has been the talk of the town since its shooting started. Lovely backdrop of Spain, well-written story, seasoned actors like Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar and meaningful songs have left me in awe. 3 friends set out on a road trip to Spain for the bachelor party of one friend, who is soon ...

There is this girl and this boy. They stayed in a small town and studied together. He is a North Indian Oriya boy and she is a South Indian Kannadiga girl. But both are brought up in South India. They both started liking each other. They moved to a bigger city for job purposes and dreamt of spending their lives together. No, I am not narrating here the story of Chetan Bhagat’s “2 States”. But this story is more or less on the same lines. Except that the climax and ending of their story is still waiting to be crafted by their respectable elders. Cut to the story.. Boy tells his parents about the girl and his family is dead against this alliance. Reason? She is a Kannadiga, speaks a different language has a different culture, upbringing and life style. Moreover she does not belong to his caste and community. The daughters of boy’s family have a lot of liberty and freedom. They are highly educated, intelligent girls, working in reputed companies. They also have had love marr...