Small things do matter a lot

Last Thursday, Teju and I were jumping in joy (not literally!) because it was a long w/e. Teju was going to visit her parents and I was going to Ooty for a 3-day trip.

We left early from the office so that we could do the packing and other stuff. As soon as we came out of the office, we saw our usual 333 W Volvo bus, which would directly take us to the stop nearest to our house. We again jumped in joy, this time the joy reflecting on our faces and in our voices. We hopped on to the bus and sat with our bags and baggage. All the people were staring at us. 2 ladies and 4 huge bags? Are they traveling to the moon or what was their expression? We didn't pay much attention to them and were in our own sweet world talking to each other.

Tickets paliz!

We came back to the real world and realized that I had a 1000 Rupees note and Teju had a 500 Rupees note. The conductor gave us a very weird look and said, no madam. Change kodtini. Then we rummaged our bags, sacks, all places where there could possibly be small change here and there. After 10 minutes of this endeavor, our bags finally (and thankfully) dished out Rs. 50/- in form of coins and small notes (Rs. 10 and Rs. 5 etc.). We were relieved and handed over the entire lump of change to the conductor. This time the conductor smiled very sheepishly and we couldn't stop giggling too!

After this ordeal, we settled down with the tickets given by the conductor and realized that though we paid him Rs. 50/-, he gave us tickets of only Rs. 30/-. Teju tried her best to argue with him in Kannada, but then the conductor succeeded in tricking us for Rs. 20/-. We showered all kinds of abuses to him (obviously in Marathi and Hindi) and said to each other, "He took Rs. 20 from us, he will surely lose Rs. 40/- somewhere". All this did not have any effect on the conductor and we got down at our stop with a feeling as if we lost some thousand rupees. Then the next step was to take a bus or an auto from that stop to our homes. Again, the question of shelling Rs. 8 stood staring at us with a grin. We had lost heart and hopes and didn't search our bags again for that change. We quietly sat in an auto whose driver demanded Rs. 30 for a distance, which was not even 2 km, but then we literally had no choice.

Teju and I were quiet during those 10 minutes in the auto. We both were thinking, we had big money in the form of Rs. 1000/- and Rs. 500/-, but it didn't quite help us. We had to arrange small coins and change in order to travel such a short distance.

In real life, small things bring great joy, don't they? A hug of a mother, a cup of hot tea, the first showers of rain, a mail or call from a long lost friend, the first non-sensical words uttered by your baby. Can big things e.g. a duplex bungalow bring the same joy as you had bought your first 1 BHK flat? Or can driving a Volkswagen Jetta gives you the same thrill when you first rode on your bike? Perhaps not. The first things in life and the small things (which really look small but bring great joy) should be cherished by one and all in their lives. So, learn to appreciate the small things in life. They give us good memories to sustain in bad and tough times. Learn to look beyond yourself and your so-called worries. Life is not that bad when we look at others, who are less fortunate than us. There is a beautiful world out there if we have the right vision and right attitude.

So which small things do you cherish in your life?

Black Beauty

What is the first thought that strikes you once you hear the word “Black”? With what do you associate the color black?

For me black is something beautiful, elegant and intriguing.

A black Stud, especially when it is running a derby race!

A black Mercedes or Volkswagen Jetta car

A black Flat screen television

A black Refrigerator with flowers on it

The movie black, which depicted the life of a blind girl, whose world was nothing else, but black!

A person wearing a black tuxedo suit or a woman wearing a black sari

The trophy for the Filmfare awards, which is Lord Shiva doing a dance.

Huge, tall black panda bears, Black panthers

All these look beautiful to me.

Black eyes, black hair are a symbol of beauty.

But a black face? No, one is usually called dark, if he/she is not fair, calling someone black is considered as an insult to a particular race residing in far away countries. Majority of the people in India are not very fair like in the European countries and this color plays a very important part when it comes to seeking alliances. Everybody wants a fair, smart, attractive wife, even if the groom himself is not fair. Why are we so finicky about this white color? Why are there hundreds of beauty creams in the market for making someone fair? Is being dusky or dark a crime? Why should someone be ashamed of it? It is the color which God has chosen for us and I think we should be very happy about it.  When I was in Germany for some time, people stared at me initially, but then a German friend told me that they stare me for my brown, dusky colored skin. I saw in a beauty salon later that they were offering people to get tanned at a price of 25 Euros per hour. I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Those people want to become brown and tanned and people in India want to become fairer and whiter day by day.. It is rightly said, one doesn’t not realize the value of what one has until he/she loses it.

I have seen many so-called “modern” ladies coloring their dark, black hair into brown or pink or golden. I detest it, why should we tamper with the natural things which are conferred to us? Why use chemicals and destroy the natural structure of hair? Who would tell the consumerism driven society that black is really beautiful and pink, brown, golden wouldn’t match it at all? Matter of choice, I guess!

Coming back, I always wrote all my exams with a pen which had black ink. Somehow I have fascination of this color over blue when it comes to writing. And I always scored good marks with it, so I do not think black is unlucky or unfortunate.

The night also black robes the color black, night brings rest, calmness and coolness with it. Many people are afraid of being in pitch dark. I know people who panic when the electric supply goes off in their own house at night and when it is dark around. Maybe this fear is rooted somewhere in the childhood and didn’t fade away with age and experience.

Black is also associated with ghosts, evil spirits, darkness, death in the Indian culture, but in the Japanese culture, Black is associated with honor, not death, while the white color is associated with death.

The black belt is a mark of achievement and seniority in many martial arts. Black tea or black coffee is relished by many in this world.

Black comedy is a form of comedy dealing with morbid and serious topics.  The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well. Blackmail is the act of threatening to reveal information. Black market is used to denote the trade of illegal goods. A blacklist is a list of undesirable persons or entities. A black cat is known to bring ill luck, but my host mother in Germany has 4 black cats and she is doing extremely well!

These are a few expressions which are associated with the word black, which are not very encouraging, isn’t it?

But it still does not stop me from appreciating this color in its various forms.

What do you associate “black” with?

World isn't so bad after all

My friend Teju was a bit sad yesterday over lunch.

Her colleague, Manish, lost his brand new cell in the Volvo bus while coming to office. Generally he comes with his friend on bike. But yesterday, his friend didn’t turn up and so he came by the bus. When he reached office, he realized that the cell was missing. He had put aside some money for a few months now and had bought the new cell and now he had lost it within a week. He was sad and so was his team for his loss. He didn’t have any insurance on the cell and hence couldn’t even get a replaced cell from the stores he bought. When we buy a high end mobile cell nowadays, the store itself offers theft insurance for free and it is always safe to have an insurance, because we do not know what awaits our cell in future.

Someone suggested him to file a FIR in the police station, but who has got back his/her mobile cell till date? I haven’t heard of it till date that someone got back their cell with everything intact. So yesterday, the mood of Teju’s whole team was a bit down and everybody was trying to cheer Manish. But Manish was feeling so lost that just tears weren’t there in his eyes as he was in office!

Today over lunch, Teju is jubilant and tells me that Manish got his cell back! I was all ears to what she narrated after that.

A guy from Orissa, who was sitting next to Manish in the Volvo found his cell and he called one number from the Address book which was of Manish’s roommate. That stranger, let me call him Poorab here, called Manish’s friend and asked him where is Manish and where should he come to return the cell? When he came to return Manish’s cell, he told Manish about his feelings when he found the cell. Poorab confessed that he wanted to keep Manish’s cell, who would have known anyways that Poorab had it? But then he happened to browse through Manish’s cell and found his birthday pics in it where he was looking so happy. He recently celebrated his birthday and the whole team cut cake for him and gave him presents and he had clicked the pictures of this occasion. Poorab saw all those pictures and his conscience started biting him and an inner voice told him that he should return the mobile to the owner and then he searched for some number to contact and got in touch with Manish and returned him the cell.

Manish was so happy that he offered Poorab to give a treat. Poorab refused and said that Manish shouldn’t spend money like this unnecessary, getting his cell back was important than anything else. They both exchanged mobile numbers and promised to keep in touch with each other. A beginning of new friendship, I must say! 

 

I was listening to this just like a small child would listen to a fairy tale. Isn’t it a fairy tale, after all? Who would return a high end mobile to a stranger? But then I thought, there is still some goodness left in this big bad world out there. The inner voice is active in every living human being, some choose to listen to it and be at peace just like Poorab and some people (especially our politicians) have killed that inner voice and have earned a very bad reputation on the Indian political scene.

I couldn’t help smiling to myself thinking about many more such Poorab’s all around the world, who are making this world a better place to stay.

Kudos to them!

Mrunalini - from my perspective

I met Mrunalini rather let me say saw her nearly two years back. She used to travel in the same bus that I used to board for office. At first glance she was just another lady in the bus, but after few days she seemed to be someone known. I always ignore my intuition and they always come true. Well she wasn’t known to me before but she turned out to be someone I can say I know very well and happy to know too.

We started speaking when we had a common pick up point. I wouldn't generally talk to people, and I never used to talk to her either. We started with queries for the bus and exchanging smiles and then one day we spoke bit more and exchanged our AIM ID. That was the true beginning of our friendship. Technology really brings people closer!!! Soon we found out our common interest in writing. She is good writer, though I would say she has been and would need to work on her presentation of thoughts in her writing. When I say she is good, I mean she has good ideas and does bring the ideas across to the reader well. I would like to see her published one day and hence always feel, to reach that stage, she need to put in more effort on her presentation of ideas.

Our interest started matching in books, music and movies. Very few people in my life share such varied interests of mine. I guess that's what has helped us maintain our friendship strong and going. But while the commonness of views brings in compatibility, the differences have their roles too.

Though we share varied interests, we differ on lots of things, I love cooking, she isn't much of a kitchen person. She has energy and zeal to join language classes, aerobics and make candles while I just appreciate it and feel happy to see what all she does. I am just too lazy and laid back to take up so many things. It might not sound good to her, but I feel she is bit conservative at times while I break all barriers when it comes to attain something. There are many more but we bond strongly. People are meant to be different from each other someway or other else it would be boring meeting and knowing people. What would be new then to discover and learn when we all are same? Well in her differences with me Mrunalini has shown me few things of life.

Her zeal to be happy - though she says I have some contribution in this new found zeal; I never realized how and when I did so. But seeing her writing, attending various classes, I do get the feeling of doing something too. Laid back being my nature, I do little but at least I do now.

I respect the family values she carries with her, even though I am not much of a family person. Her attitude towards her duty and the penchant for making friends are something that I always admire. There's always something to learn from others especially when the other person has something different from you. In Mrunalini I find such differences that I would like to imbibe in myself someday.

Last but not the least, there’s a strong common ground where both of us respect and give importance to this friendship. I being a person who wouldn’t think a second time to leave out people who maintain relations that are not genuine, this friendship would stay forever, for I see my friend genuine and honest to this friendship.

Be happy be merry always Mrunalini.

John Jethi

Packing memories

Now it is time to move on slowly to the new house and new environment and new neighbors, my mind reminds me everytime the clock ticks away by a day!

I am surrounded by all kinds of boxes of all the stuff we have bought for the new house. I have boxes of Television, washing machine, which we are currently using here and then the unopened boxes of hob and chimney and all the lights and lighting which we bought recently.

Looking at them and also the ones which are going to join them in a month's time makes me nostalgic. I will soon have to start packing and throw away things which I am not taking there. I stayed in this house and locality for 4 years. It is a nice independent house, surrounded by trees and greenery all around. In the morning it is quite cool, but as the afternoon sets in, it gets bad. As there is no house above mine, it gets baked from all sides and it gets difficult to stay without a fan on your head in summers. Every summer, I thought of buying a cooler or AC, but then I gave up the thought saying, it is anyways not going to be forever that we are going to stay here. And this year it really is going to be our last summer in this house. We will shift to our new house in a month or so and that house is on the ground floor, with a small orchard of fruit bearing trees.

This house gave me a lot of things and I am going to take good memories from here. We both got our current jobs while we were here. Atul travelled to Paris, Germany from this house. We had many guests and friends visiting while we stayed here and we had a good time entertaining them here. I have lost the count, how many times my in-laws and parents might have visited this house. Now, people might ask me, what has that got to do with the house? But I feel somewhere the positive vibes of a house (though it is a non living thing) do matter and have an effect on a person's life. Again it all depends on how much one believes in it! I will miss the tree, which is just next to the house and it's mighty shade and I will also miss the birds who have housed that tree. I will miss the children who play on the streets everyday in the evening, they make a lot of noise though, but still I am happy to see them not glued to Computers or TV and watch them play together.

I will also miss my support system, my cook Parvati and maid Rekha, who do half of the household chores. In the new house, Parvati's and Rekha's jobs are going to be taken over by me and the appliances such as dishwasher, Vaccum cleaner etc. I will miss my landlady's grandson, Athreya, who is just 3 years old and is very cute and sweet. He calls me by my name "Minalini" and tries to tell me something in Kannada to which I answer in English!

I am looking forward to make a new beginning in our dreamhouse, but I will miss this 4 years spent in this house, for sure!! 

Suddenly..

Suddenly I feel so empty..

I was beaming with joy and so many thoughts and ideas to write on my blog and now suddenly I realize that there is nothing in there. I am totally blank..

What could be the reason?

Has the initial enthusiasm of writing almost daily died away? Or it is just a phase which will also pass off?

Am I being too expressive in writing down each and every thought or idea that crosses my mind or it is good that whatever was accumulated within me is finding it's way on paper and to other people's heart?

Maybe I should sit back and relax for some time and let the thought sink in that I have already written 26 posts on my blog, which is a good number. All these years, I just dreamt of writing something daily, but couldn't really put it into practise. But now that I have started writing, I feel immensely happy and content at the end of the day.

From the page views that I see at the bottom of the blog, I realize that more and more people are visiting my blog, but many of them are leaving just like that without leaving any comment on the posts which they might have loved or hated! Actually, I cannot expect each and every person to comment on the posts which they read, but my friends and well wishers who visit my blog often and like the things I write, should be more expressive, shouldn't they? I am not talking about commoners like John, Swati, Kunal here! But I am addressing this to other people whom I might know and they are following the blog regularly. Your support and comments will help me a lot in improving my style of writing. I am not here because I want to become a writer or something. It is just my personal space where I express about what I feel about things and people.

A special thanks to Saagarica Rane and Shilpashree Praveen who made my day the other day when they said that my posts touch their heart and that they feel relaxed when they read my posts on a day when it has been hectic. This means a lot to me and I thank you both from bottom of my heart for this. It gives me a new enthusiasm to continue writing.

So my dear friends, till I come back on track and get back to my writing spree, keep on reading my blog and post comments too.

I will see you soon with new posts!

Till then

Auf Wiedersehen!

Pot pourri

I got to know about Pot Pourri from one of my friends in the US.

On one evening, all the friends staying nearby get together at one place and every couple/ friend gets one dish prepared from his/her home. It saves a lot of time of the host, people can sit back, relax, talk and eat and there is lots to eat too.

On a similar note, I thought of having it for the Gudi Padwa Celebrations at my place. Gudi Padwa is a new year for us and back in Maharashtra, we celebrate it with much aplomb. People dress in the best of attires, women show off their jewellery, sweets are prepared (especially Shrikhand Puri), we visit friends and relatives and processions of different groups, schools etc are taken out which have become a huge hit in small towns like Dombivli, Kalyan, Thane etc.

I have a huge friend circle all around the world, thanks to the various internet groups. I have a sizeable number of friends in Bangalore too. Rather, I should say I know a lot of people who belong to different  states but who are now settled in Bangalore for job purposes. Amongst them, Koustubh, my best friend from my first company, HP, Kunal, whom I know from a marathi internet group and John, my friend from Accenture, who is the inspiration behind my blog and writings form my major support system here in Bangalore. Kunal and Koustubh had worked in the same company before and John and Koustubh had met at my place before. So, this was the first time John and Kunal met. They all stay away from their family and friends, just like me and so I thought of celebrating this Gudi Padwa with them.

I announced this to the trio and they were very happy and ready for it from the word go.
I also announced further that I would be making Shrikhand puri (the staple diet for Padwa) and asked others to prepare a dish of their own choice.

 They, being bachelors, had a disadvantage that they couldn't get home cooked food and they did not know cooking, but for me meeting and having lunch together was more important than having something really special to eat. John, amongst the trio, is however an excellent cook and he settled on making Soya bean curry and it was yum!! Kunal decided to order some rice item from a nearby hotel, which was quite justifiable and Koustubh got something for dessert.

We all met at 1 pm and had lunch, which was excellent, I must say. Everybody enjoyed the variety of food and everybody was happy that we were not alone in celebrating such an important festival and didn't feel lonely and alone on this new year day. Atul joined us in our talks after lunch, but just for some time. I am sure he might be wondering, how much these people talk and how on earth can they really talk. John, Kunal and Koustubh are not extroverts like me. They can't talk to anybody and everybody, but seeing them bond at my place felt really good. Atul retired to his room and left us on our own. After that we talked for 2 good hours about everything, movies, music, jobs, gardens, etc. It was so much fun and we didn't realize when it was time for tea!

I felt very nice meeting my buddies after a long time and we shared a lot of things that day besides the food. Everyone of us was missing our family members, but then we had a second family in each other and were enjoying talking to each other.  Many a times, we go out to find happiness and then we realize that true happiness is being there for each other in good times and testing times!

I am glad that I have friends in Kunal, Koustubh and John and will cherish this bond forever.

Gudi Padwa was one such occassion to strengthen the bond and I am sure there would be many more such times!

What say friends?

Jai Ho

Saturday, the second day of April, year 2011 would be written in golden words in the history of Cricket.

It was the day when India played against Sri Lanka in a nail biting final match and chased the score of 275 runs with such poise. They struggled, but finally managed to reach the target. It was the same day, 28 years ago, 2nd April 1983 when India had first seen the World cup under the captain ship of Kapil Dev. We had got many chances to win the World Cup again, but had to wait till 2nd April 2011, when MS Dhoni and his boys fulfilled the expectations of billions of Indians and brought home the ICC World Cup.

As we all know, Cricket is religion in India. People of different castes and religion unite to cheer for Team India and I am also one of them. I was hoping that maybe this is the time when we can do it! Atul, my husband was a cricket fanatic till some years back. But after the scams and match fixing news and poor form of the team, he shifted his energies following something else. But this time, once India was on the winning spree, he came back to follow cricket and started following the ICC world cup matches closely. Once we conquered Australia, there was no looking back. I asked him about his feeling about the next nerve wrecking match between India and Pakistan. He replied very positively that we are going to win against Pakistan and are also going to lift the world cup. Generally his predictions come true and on Saturday it really did!! Atul baba ki jai ho!!

I haven't experienced such a frenzy ever in my life. People were watching cricket, everywhere possible, with family and friends, at home, in multiplexes on huge screens. Everybody was clapping, cheering, shouting. Atul and I were acting like small kids, shouting and cheering for Team India. We celebrated the win by eating cake and watching the celebrations on all channels. The celebrations were on till wee hours of morning all over the country.

Sitting on my cosy bean bag at my home, I can imagine what tension MS Dhoni and his team had shouldered the responsibility and expectations of the entire country, which worships cricket. The team spirit, bonding, uebercool attitude of the boys and a lot of energy, efforts was visible in their performance in all the matches of the ICC World cup, but especially in the last 3 matches. The moist eyes of Bhajji, Yuvi, Master Blaster showed the world what that win meant for them and also showed the world what respect they have for each other and how much they mean to each other. Gary Kirsten, the coach had infused a new enthusiasm and a strong mind in the team yet he always remained out of the limelight. By seeing the happiness spill on the field out there, my eyes were moist too!

I was all praises for the team and was feeling very proud. I could just think of only two words.

Jai ho!

My experiments with food

It was a Friday..

The last day of the working week and I expected some crackers and a hell good of a mood today. But then do things really happen the way we want?

My cook, who generally appears on the battleground (my kitchen) at about 6:30 am called me to say that she would be coming in the evening as she has to shift to the new house. So, I did not have any opportunity to take home cooked breakfast and lunch to the office today! It would have been too late to cook myself as I have to leave home by 7:45 am.

What a big deal I thought!

I would have breakfast and lunch in the office today, for a change.

So happily I went to the canteen and checked out the items for breakfast. There wasn't anything exciting and so I settled for a semiya upma (a mixture of semolina). Once it sat proudly in my plate, I realized that the mustard seeds were swarming in number, looking very outrageously at me. Generally it is a tendency to put little mustard seeds in the oil along with the other spices while preparing any Indian dish. But here I was wondering if it was mustard seeds upma or semiya upma. I am brave to face this, I thought. I smiled to myself and put the first spoon with the food in my mouth. The salt attack was such tremendous in the semiya upma that I got sick at the first bite. I thought the entire salt supplies have been explicity made available to the vendor who was selling the semiya upma and the cook, who had prepared it was too generous in putting only salt and nothing else in semiya upma.

I choked, drank water, tried eating it with the chutney, nothing helped. I got up and went to the vendor and broke him the news of his out-of the-world semiya upma. He asked his fellow to taste and realized that it was really out of this world. He immediately stopped serving it to others and came with a sheepish smile to me and requested me to take anything else of my choice. I refused (have no idea why!!!!). My mood and taste had already become salty and I left from the scene asking him to be careful next time!

Lunch time was quite uneventful. I shared the food with Teju, my best friend and then also had a dosa amongst us.

Something more was waiting for me in the evening at tea time!

There is a new pop corn counter which has come up in the canteen and the smell of it was there is the feuer, on the floors, everywhere. So much that I couldn't prevent myself from buying it! And yet again, my excitement died with the first pop corn which I popped in my mouth. It was sweet and had caramel in it and that made me sick.. again! I said to myself, it is ok, matter of only 10 Rupees. I let those ten rupees and the pop corn go away in the air and proceeded to the counter for buying chaat.

Bhel is my favorite chaat and I have it only when the person who is pro in preparing it is around. I saw him after many days and hence was happy at the prospect of at least eating a good chaat (bhel). And there plopped my enthusiasm and happiness when I had the first bite of it. There was less of chutneys and salt in it, was dry and had no taste at all. I cursed myself for having succummbed to temptation yet again. But what was I supposed to do? paapi pet ka sawaal tha :)

I left the popcorn and the chaat and returned to my desk with a heavy heart and an empty stomach and dampened mood. Why did this happen? Was it because of the raging summer heat that anything I ate did not taste good enough or was the food really so bad, which is served in the canteen? I see so much of food wasted daily in the canteen during lunch. Now, have the people lost their appetite and taste or is the food really not edible at all is a question of research.

I came home, a bit down and saddened and was wondering all the way if I can at least have something decent in the evening? My husband opened the door for me with his usual charming smile and broke the good news to me that the cook has come. I jumped when I heard it (in my mind of course or else the landlady would have come up asking us, if something heavy has struck the ground!). I quickly asked him what has he told the cook to prepare for dinner.

His words came slowly and deliberately. He said that the menu for dinner is onion uttapam, sambar and curd rice!!! This sounded heaven to me and I couldn't wait any longer.

As soon as the cook left, I grabbed the plate and the onion uttapam and ate it as if I was famished for years, but I tell you, that one morsel of home made mood wiped all the gloominess of the entire day and washed away all the bad luck I had with food in the canteen today!

My husband was wondering, what is wrong with her!

O dear! What to tell you about my experiments with the food?

I smiled to him, said nothing and ate well and got up with a big smile and a satisfied and happy stomach and mind! I watched my favorite programme on the Zee Marathi channel and called it a day!

The gloomy day finally ended with ghar ka khaana and a long week end awaited my presence and so I dozed off to the world of dreams.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz