Ek aur Diwali Khatam

And I am waiting for a next one already.

No matter where I am festivals pep me up. I am at my chirpiest best and can somehow feel the gigantic vibes of good will allll around. Call me silly. But thats just me :)

This Diwali was no less special. The sun shone splendidly! In October having the sun shimmer down tireless in the land where the sun never rises is awesome. The morning was spent in quickly catching up with friends. K wanted to whet his feeling of nostalgia and asked a couple of friends to go closer to the bursting crackers so that he could savor the sound of them. He was in no mood to work and said he had spent most of the day making calls or chatting with colleagues. The British counterparts did bring up some sweets and savories which were matched by the Indian colleagues. There was a lot of munching and grubbing going on which added to the festive splendor. 

Amma was in full throttle and had started making sweets 2 days prior to the event. There was besan barfi and coconut laddus to be savored. She also make some kheer on the day of Diwali. I had plans for kachori and chole for dinner. Once K was back, he got on with helping me in getting stuffs in order and lighting up the candles as Amma made a trip to the local temple with some neighbors. 

I had called over a colleague of K's who has turned out to be a bit pally with me. Once she came over, she too helped me with bits of the cooking. While we were engrossed in dishing out the food, the heat of the candles and the cooking did make the fire alarm go off. But after some time when I suddenly turned to see the diyas, I noticed one of them burning with a big flame. And within the blink of an eye, it spluttered and another one started burning with a big flame. K was playing some computer games, and I thought it might be better to handle the situation silently. And I poured some water over the candles. It resulted in a conflagration! (I read up later in the internet that one should not try to extinguish a wax fire with water. And more over, the flames were getting bigger because there was some melted wax too which was catching fire) Now this caught the attention of K even though he was engrossed in a game. He came rushing and doused the fire by putting a thick towel over the candles. Then he gave me a look - which said - Woman you had nearly set the house on fire. Since we had a guest at hand, he spared me the sound hearing which came lashing down as soon as she stepped out. The judgement was passed that there would be no candles going forward and I either had to manage with some sort of electrical lighting or ask some one from India to get some authentic diyas for any occasion I wanted to light up things. All said and done we had a happy and safe Diwali. Wish everyone else too had an amazing time! 

The festival of lights done for this year, waiting for another gorgeous one! 

Life has gotten me to a stage

1. Where I do not fit into any of my clothes. So much so I have to rampage K's wardrobe to the extent that he runs out of stuff to wear
2. I am not bothered about the waist - at all! In spite of not fitting into clothes (Imagine!!) And I keep gorging on humongous amounts of food. The food just keeps on coming and I am not complaining. 
3. I was one who could sleep at a stretch for like 8 hours, but then its been forever since I slept at a stretch. I simply have to wake up at least twice at night :( I hate it but then there is no escaping. For some reason or other, to get into a comfortable position, to eat some more :D or simply to use the washroom - I HAVE to wake up. 
4. I keep a tab on days, weeks, months like crazy! 

Thank God for small pleasures

They say, when one has got nothing useful to speak about, one talks about the weather. And this is going to be my second post about the vagaries of nature. Call me boring :(

The weather has gone berserk, it has gone crazy and in the very very very good way. Its sunny!! (I feel like going and kissing the sun - a la Hanuman style) Yeyyyy! Literally every single day since Monday I have been jumping in joy seeing the bright sun. While last 2 weeks had made me bring out my autumn jacket, this week has me roaming even without a light sweater. Its hello floral skirts and summer frocks! And flip flops. There is no ear piercing autumn wind, there is no dampening rain, its just sunshine and lot of warmth all the way through. Touchwood! Seems like Bhagwan ne meri sun li.

Somehow the weather reminds me of home sweet home. This is exactly the sort of 27-28 degrees temperature that remains at my state during Dussera. This is the time for Puja Pandals with huge mandaps being erected with extravagant statues of Goddess Durga. The general work atmosphere would be lax around this time with people taking time out to visit family and friends. Nights would lead to illuminations and popular Bollywood music blaring out of loudspeakers. The food on the streets is to die for. I have not tasted street food which can hold the mirror to what we get during Puja anywhere else (I might be sounding way too chauvinistic, what to do, I am a bit too attached to my quaint little city). It is also this time that winter slowly sets in, with the markets getting slowly loaded with cauliflowers, cabbages, peas and carrots. This in turn ushers in the season of fried rices, gobi and matar ke parathe and gajar ke halwe. Yum yum yum, the tongue is on cloud 9.

It is as if God has snatched a bit of those joys here. With the sunshine, the crowds are back on the streets, colourful clothes have made a comeback and everybody is surely smiling. And I am ever grateful to Him for this.

Whats wrong with me

I simply hate any form of precipitation. Rain, hail, snow - nothing agrees with me. I cannot fathom how people can go poetic over rain and cloudy weather. I see them as spirit dampners and as a major inconvenience.

But yesterday something really weird happened. I was walking back home from an errand and it started raining. It wasnt the normal drizzle which is so rampant in this part of the world. It was as if someone was pelting huge liquid stones. Then the intensity increased. It was nearly like a huge thunderstorm. People who were trying to save themselves from the rain, accepted who was the tougher contender. Wet passerbys exchanged smiles which said "Some rain mate!". It was first funny to watch people frantically tries to maintain their umbrellas against the gales. But then it seemed somewhat heart warming. I nearly let out an "Aww" at the fate of the flimsy umbrellas at the hands of the mighty winds. Even mine was being blown haywire and I had to hold on to the fringes of it.

Coincidentally I had some rain related Tam song on my ipod. I did not understand it, but somehow the feel of the song pepped me up. That was bizzare behaviour on my  part by any standards. As if to reward my happy approach towards something I have always regarded as disgusting, the sun shone all of a sudden. With the shining sun along with the torrential rains, there came - Yes a SPLENDID rainbow! I could not help but smile ear to ear at the sight of it!

A good weekend

Just done with a long weekend and it feels great! Most weekends are made up of K going to work as usual, so they never give me  a feel of being any different from the other days. The only difference might be K runs down to have his lunches. But then its all the same with some time spent on books, some on the telly and others chatting and lazying around. But this weekend was fulfilling to the hilt. I spent Saturday in going back to cooking like I had not done in a long time. I dished out Puris, Jeera Rice, Chole, Aloo Capsicum, Gajar ka Halwa and Raita. I wanted to eat a huge meal and I left no stone unturned in cooking one up. we lapped up the dishes not knowing there was more food coming our way. One of K's colleagues extended an invitation for dinner. Hmm.. more more food. We were groaning literally like pythons but the food was so scrumptious that we took one helping after another of Dahi Vadas, Dosas and Idlies. Oh boy, gluttony is so so sinful. We all had a really good time and it was at 2300 that we finally hit home.

Now the bank holiday weekend had SVU top 10 episodes. And thats what we got latched on to once we reached home. Inspite of being sleepy and stuffed, we braced up and watched one nail biting episode after another.

Sunday K had to scoot back to work, while we saas-bahu took it slow. I had a good long chat with folks back home. In the evening it was Cowboys and Aliens (a movie not to be watched at all!!).  Once back it was late night TV with SVU again :)

Holiday Monday was jam packed. Mil took over the kitchen while I got busy with doing stuff around the house. After a weather-wise cold and damp Sunday, Monday looked sunnier which pepped me to no end. Then the best part of the day came up. Roomie dear called me. It was such an amazing pleasure catching up with her and realising how we still have so much in common. :) It was simply brilliant. After having a lunch which was to die for, I took a quick nap. Then along came another of K's colleagues who is a good pal of mine. And off we 3 went for some shopping. It was an exclusive 'me' shopping with both mil and B giving me a barrage of choices. Its so easy to shop with females, men simply do not understand the nuances we see. A really exhilarating shopping session later, my wardrobe was richer by 4 items while I was poorer by many many pounds. The good run continued as we all sat down for tea and lots of gossipping. We literally set the house on fire till K came back. The evening saw the consumption of mooli parathas and the top 3 SVU episodes.

The weekend was satisfying and relaxing in every way possible and I loved every bit of it! (Touchwood)

The Wisdom of Sam

Since I have absolutely run out of ideas and since there is NOTHING sansanikhez happening at allllllllllll ( Ok Gods and the powers that be, I am not asking for anything from Aaj Tak News. Keep the sansansi else where) But then my blog looks so derelict. So I am going to take the idea of Furobiker and put ahead book reviews. First up - Wisdom of Sam by Daniel Gottlieb.

The book is about the simple lessons on life a quadriplegic grandfather learns from his Autistic grandchild - Sam. Its not life changing nor divinely inspirational and of course it is not a self help book. The book is simply about the Wisdom of Sam. 

The book has a simple narrative. Each page is steeped with Sam's simple charms. Be it forgiveness, happiness, madness, empathy, death or any of the myriad aspects of life. The author has given "our" way and Sam's way - and Sam's is way better :) 

My favourite is one where Sam rakes leaves with his father and at the end of plops into the pile of leaves and muses "Now, this is my kind of place." The author asks us to in a same way "just experience our place" forgetting what we are doing at that moment. He says "Can you forget, just for the moment, the task or the outcome or even the process and just experience who you are right now?" He goes on to state, how we attach a lot of importance to our identity and Who we are. But our identities evolve and so does the sense of comfort associated with those identities. So the important question is not "Who we are?" But it is "What we can contribute while we are at a given point". Just like Sam, being fully aware and concious, awake and alive just experiencing life - knowing that a pile of leaves is his kind of place!

There is another incident where Sam does not fare so well in the school wrestling competitions. When his grandpa asks him "So, Sam why do you think you've lost all your matches?" Sam replies after a brief pause "I don't think I am tough enough. Pop (that's what Sam calls his grandpa) do you think you could toughen me up?" What Sam got was a lesson in resilience which the author describes as "faith that I could get hurt and still be okay." "What Sam needed was trust that he had the resilience, in himself, to meet the unknown, to experience it, and to survive." Don't we all need these lessons? 

I could go on writing excerpts from the book, but there is one staggering piece that I cannot miss. The author says "Before a child is born, God infuses that child with all of the wisdom he needs in life. Right before the child is born, an angel comes and slaps the baby on the face, causing it to forget everything it's learned. But every now and then, there is an uncommon child like you, Sam. You make me wonder if the angel got distracted and forgot to slap you before you were born. Right now you seem to have more wisdom than most boys of your age. You are uncommon, you are a teacher, you are a blessing, you are love."

The roller coaster that was

The house seems funny. Every corner reeks of their absence. The bathroom has been emptied of the cascade of toiletries. The dressing table looks deserted. All of a sudden coats hangers are free. The entrance which looked like one to a temple thanks to all the shoes is neat.  Luggages - where are they suddenly?

The last 21 days were a blur. It was exactly 3 Fridays ago that we made the trip to Manchester airport to pick my folks. I could not contain my anxiousness of seeing them for like 2 minutes. I was imagining all sorts of worse case scenarios- they missed the connecting flight, their luggages were lost, they are held up in immigration and a zillion more. I was going berserk to the point of asking K to contact information center. After 30 minutes of agonising wait (which is quick by normal standards) I saw my dad. Woo hoo!! Bye bye worse case scenarios. Its time to head home.

After a days rest we had a week long travel programme. That done, it was life as usual but with a lot of zing. I did not have to take the ipod for walks, cos I had dad. Its real fun taking a walk with him, the inquisitive him asking lots and lots of questions. Afternoons were spent strolling with mom and sis and visiting all the shops on the high street. I simply adore shopping with mommy and sister. There is simply nothing as cool as that. Our choices are so in sync, they help me pick stuff so so so easily. Every single day for 2 weeks we spent the afternoons shopping. Some days were just research strolls where we did market survey:) Other days were dedicated to shoes. :) I could drone on about each and every day but then all that is history.

Things were just different with them around. But then all good things should come to an end, and heres hoping for good times to come back again.