A Song for the Occasion

When I am doing some mundane thing on my own like walking from one place to another or chopping vegetables in the kitchen and I hear myself humming, it baffles me that how often the song is just so right for the mood I am in. It doesn’t require any conscious thought and yet it is bang on. Mostly the RJ cells of the brain use the limited and oft repeated selection but can sometimes pull up a few surprises too. Like a very long time ago, mid-way my summer internship in Bangalore I moved out of an oppressive environment to a PG, the next day in the factory, in a very filmy way I just burst into ‘aaj phir jeene kee tamanna hai’ with all the cigarette cutting machinery and assembly lines making the back ground score. It was not quite a cinematic or operatic performance but the spontaneity was a manifestation of the huge relief I felt within. I was surprised myself. The song was never my favourite and I don’t remember ever singing it before or after but being a regular ‘chitrahaar’ watcher perhaps I didn’t miss the euphoria Waheeda Rehman felt liberating her aanchal from all the kantas of her life.

Apparently the significance of my humming is not lost on RR senior either, as he has indicated in so many words that he is pretty terrified of my involuntary renditions of “yahi voh jagah hai, yahi voh fizaen, yaheen par kabhee aap hum se mile the”. According to him the tune spells nothing but trouble as he seems to find strong correlation between the specific tune and an impending fight. While I find it difficult to accept that people can read my mind that easily, I do have regard for strong experimental data. RR senior himself is one of those people who consider letting people know his emotions rather beneath himself, humming tunes most certainly ranks even lower. But sitting quietly with long calculations, papers strewn all around and a laptop for company even dignified people have momentary lapses when the results of the calculations seem to match the simulation of the laptop. At such moments RJ cells of his brain play the repeat of literally one and only, that too an original composition. Given the genetic history and we both being educationists, we are trying our best not to read too much into the frequent singing of “we don’t need no education” by the kid.

On a final note, until my “favourite” student does the honour of graduating, my anthem climbing down the steps from office after any meeting will remain“I have a dream, a song to sing, to help me cope, with everything” with emphasis on “cope with everything”.

A Tryst with Sister Shivani

My aunt's late evenings are practically booked for her meeting with sister Shivani and I for one week at her place got a chance to be a part of these meetings. It was very timely for me because all evidences had been stacking up to prove quite consistently that I am a person of finite resources (energy and time) which evidently everybody is, but then I have these infinite expectations to be met and infinitesimal patience to handle anything that I consider not quite up to my liking to make life a tad too exciting. Listening to her was really nice in the sense I could completely identify with the difficult situations that she was talking about. Her interpretation and some pointers to how to deal with them and even better how to avoid such situation sounded so refreshing and also quite doable. While there were several pearls of wisdom, the one that got stuck in my mind and I am hoping to work on is "to not want to write the script for others". The next step "to not want to judge and analyse every action of others". Oooh that will be a hard one!

Vacation Notes

Just when life was appearing a never-ending list of chores to be done, every other interaction was driving me up against the wall and to top it all Chennai was experiencing the disorienting heat of agni paksham, we left for a long vacation. RR senior to Brazil and RR junior and myself to Bangalore, then all together to Shimla and Manali. Great vacation it was. This post is a collection of little nuggets on some of the thoughts that crossed my mind during the vacation:

Give the people you care for, a chance to see your better side. Strangers and acquaintances seem to be enjoying that most of the time.

Getting shouted at is something others dislike as much as you do yourself.

With the intent of constructive criticism, it is easy to get sidetracked and end up hurting the subject of criticism. The pitfalls to avoid: patronizing attitude, clever sentence construction, the desire to sound profound and the worst is repeating oneself. People do understand, it is just that when they are upset they don’t nod in agreement.

Bangalore beats Brazil any day. In Bangalore it was grandparents, indulgent mama and only one of the parents, Brazil on the other hand would have been both the parents and no daycare to escape to. If you were a kid which one would you choose?

Reading blogs of cousins you hardly meet or know well can be quite delightful. People seem to tell a lot more when not in person!

You can see the point of view of a child, you just have to try a little harder. Sleeping adequately, eating balanced food, being polite and courteous are not the ultimate aims of a four year old.

Blogging can be quite fun and addictive even if writing is not your forte. Is it because one is able to tell all that one wants to and more without having to witness rolling eyes, a glazed look, a stifled yawn or much worse an attempt to shift the topic?

Each parent should get at least two weeks off from parenting and spousing. Makes them appreciate the noise and notice the affection.

There is nothing as lovely and heart warming as visiting ones favourite aunt and uncle. Catching up, seeing each other’s present life, going for walks in the woods around Shimla, cooking together, the package is absolutely precious. It can’t get better if the kid falls in love with them.

A bus ride from Shimla to Manali lasts longer than people would have you believe. Bus drivers are reasonable people until they get overtaken, while they do realize that death defying stunts are perhaps avoidable but only when they get a flat tyre. The whole journey is very scenic but the last 4 hours of the journey are absolutely breathtaking with river Beas posing for the cameras.

Manali is a delightful place to be in. Within a mile or two around the mall, you can walk into apple orchards and beautiful nature parks, have lunches in cute outdoor cafes looking over the river and in the evenings enjoy the shopping or just the buzz of the mall. You don't have to be a people-watcher to notice that most couples are newly married, the women of himachal are very beautiful and they wear the most well cut patiala salwars. About men … ahem.. I can’t seem to wish away the sight, pointed out by RRS, of a young group of guys in undies with pot bellies hanging out try to take a dip in the river Beas. Unfortunately, the water was too cold and shallow to cover the ghastly sight.

If you like tandoori food do try the roadside offerings, they are way much better than any posh hotel or café has to offer but don’t give in to the craving for chaat as there can be rather serious consequences. It seems that it is the surest way of getting what the medical annals refer to as mountain diarrhea. Every walk thereafter will require a pre-walk and post-walk visit.

A toothache doesn’t know that you are on vacation and don’t have access to a pain killer in the middle of the night. Neither does it know any intensity less than what can numb half your face. To live through the excruciating pain try to convince your mind to focus on counting five breathing in and five breathing out (never knew pre-natal classes will be useful second time round).

A child growing up in Chennai finds it difficult to understand that in some places you don’t need fans, however, you do need some warm clothing all day and thick blankets in the night. Poor mother has to wake up every other hour to bring him back into the covers. Father of course can be trusted up on to contribute significantly by keeping the decibel levels of the snore reasonably high, lest mother may go into deep sleep.

The one person even when out of sight is never out of our kid’s mind is his best friend, NKR.

Let travel agent not talk you into flying MDLR airlines from Kullu to Delhi. They cost the same but are quite unprofessional and unreliable. Their pilots take took long to make it to the airport for a timely start and can pretty much unannounced land a non-stop flight in Chandigarh for god knows what. For people who have connecting flights from Delhi in different airlines it leaves no alternative but to open up their laptops. With those long hours to kill you get to know what is happening all around, it seems quite a lot in Shiney Ahuja's bedroom!

Back in Chennai, even though agni paksham is over it seems the information has not reach up and above. Chennai maybe a hot and humid place but quite certainly it is not the thermal expansion that is causing the change in shape around the abdomen and bums.

Jhunka Modified

Learnt from a friendly neighbour in Bangalore. The preparation is simple and tasty but since the dish is gujerati (okay, that is what she said) and the recipe comes from a tamilian who grew up in Bangalore, purists may question its authenticity. The tadka definitely indicates the tamil influence and brinjals are my own contribution to the evolution of the recipe. What one needs is:

• 3 onions (diced)
• 2 tomatoes (diced)
• 1 brinjal (1.5 times the size of onion)( diced)
• 1 cup fresh methi leaves or 3 teaspoon dry methi leaves soaked in water.
• 0.5 teaspoon urad daal
• 0.5 teaspoon chana daal
• 1 green chilli (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 5-6 curry leaves
• 0.5 teaspon turmeric
• 2-3 teaspoon besan mixed in water to make a paste
• 3 tablespoon dhaniya leaves (chopped)

Take some oil (2-3 tablespoons) in a frying pan. When the oil gets hot, add the mustard. As the mustard starts to bounce around add the daals. Let the daals start browning before adding the green chilli followed by curry leaves and the onions. Wait for onion to get a little soft. Add methi leaves tomato, brinjal, turmeric, salt and 1 cup of water. Cover and cook till brinjal is cooked add the besan paste and let it simmer for 5 more minutes. Add the coriander leaves and it is ready to eat with chapatis.