The Birds have flown

The birds have flown.

Sparrows no longer nest in my balcony and evenings do not see flocks of parrots in the gardens. Babblers, Sunbirds, Woodpeckers, Eagles and kites are missing from my daily life. Their absence is so evident, that it took a lot of convincing on my part to make nemo believe that the national bird of India is a peacock and not a crow. ( I think, he still secretly believes that it is the Crow)

Yesterday afternoon, while I was rushing from the car parking to my home ,the temperature outside was around 45 degrees. In a little shadowed corner of the park, the sprinklers were on and I was stopped in my tracks by three woodpeckers hopping around, surrounded by atleast twenty sunbirds of different colours.

The sight was so mesmerizing that I stood and stared for a good 15-20 minutes unmindful of the merciless sun beating down on me. Suddenly a car horn blasted nearby and the birds took off.

I don't mind walking out into the sun everyday just to see my feathered friends again....

The ice cream boy

There is a little boy who sells ice-cream just around the corner of the road near my school. Everyday as we drive by in the afternoon, he gives us a bright cheery smile in anticipation that I would stop and buy lollies for my kids ( which I frequently do).
He smiles even on those days when I do not stop. We take it for granted that he would be there smiling at us.
Today he wasn't there. No smile was waiting for us. Somehow we came back home a little sad. Hope he is back tomorrow...

Icecream 1

Summers for me and my kids means ice lollies on our way back from school. Nothing gives 


more pleasure than slurping an orange bar when the sun is mercilessly beating down.





As my lil one sucks on his lolly, a bit of it melts and runs down his chin straight onto his 


uniform. I want to shriek and stop him from messing his clothes. Then he grins, his teeth 


unnaturally white against orange lips and tongue....

I smile back and let a bit of orange juice dribble down my chin too. After all as they say , 

"Daag Achhe Hote Hain " :)

Innovative Abuses

As I went to pick my lil one up after school, I chanced upon a fight between two KG kids(none of the spectators could recall why they were fighting). They were through with sticking out their tongues while making antlers on their heads. Now was the stage of maturity and verbal abuses.

One of them, trying to manage a fearsome expression while holding back his tears, called the other one " a baingan ka bharta "

The extent of vegetable hate was apparent when without batting an eyelid, the other one replied with, " if I am baingan, then you are lauki ka kofta!"

The icing on the cake was, two tiny, ponytailed beauties winking up their nose and saying "yuk!"

Moonwalk

My elder son has been given a science project which requires him to record the phases of the moon for a whole month. He needs to observe and draw the moon every night and note the changes. I was fairly happy with the project, it seemed simple, fun to do and informative.

What I did not realise, was that the project was going to turn into one of discovery and wonder. As we walk hand in hand each night staring up at the sky, trying to spot the moon ( which has been playing peek a boo for the last one week). We have discovered not just stars, planets and constellations, but also the fact that we love talking to each other and sharing thoughts. I have discovered that he is but a replia of me in his thoughts and emotions. I am filled with wonder at the miracle of genetics which has produced such a perfect young chap who is so much like me yet so different.

Thanks to this project, today I know that he no longer idolises Malinga, his new hero being Brett lee. I know now that he is regularly tormented by a headless monster in his dreams. I know that his favourite dog is a dachshund. I wonder if it was not for this project would I have ever spent so much time gazing up at the skies with my son everyday and discussing his life's trivia. Maybe not.

I am eternally grateful to the teacher who thought of this moongazing. It has helped me understand my little boy who is slowly inching towards adolescence and who may never again in my life time spend so much time walking hand in hand with me.

Let it go.

I was teaching photosynthesis to tenth graders a few days back and wanted to prove that chlorophyll is necessary for photosynthesis. True to my habit of using theatrical opening lines, I began with " In science, whenever you need to prove that some component is essential, you have to simply remove it from the system to realise its sigificance"
Forty pairs of amused eyes looked back at me. Someone whispered ," Isn't that true for life as well ?"
I was taken aback for a moment and then carried on bravely by agreeing to the speaker, and mentioning the age old ," if you love something, let it go. If it loves you it will surely come back."
It led me to wonder, what if I did not know whether I loved someone or not?

In India, as arranged marriages go, I too met my husband (then a stranger) ten years back. Since I could put tick marks on all my checklists, I agreed to getting married. A few months of courtship led to getting bonded for life.
All was mishy mushy, and ritualistically we whispered "I love you" to each other, ever so often. But there was always that burning question in my mind, "How do I verify that I love him?" Blame the scientist in me, but I needed conclusive evidence and not abstract nouns to define love.

My experimental proof came in one day while visiting a shopping mall in Delhi. As we sat down for lunch with our kids, suddenly police arrived and announced that the mall needed to be vacated due to a bomb scare. We immediately rushed out, as sniffer dogs and bomb squads started combing the area.
Our car was parked in the basement of the building and we were stuck without it. We waited for a while for a green signal from the police, but none came. Slowly a few people started trickling down to the car park to retrieve their cars and leave the premises. My husband decided to do the same and ran into the basement.

Those five minutes while I waited outside holding the hands of my two young sons, were the longest in my life. The air of uncertainty, not knowing what was about to happen, the possibility of a freak bomb blast, the realisation that my kids were staring at my stony face, is difficult to put into words.

Somehow the time passed and I was relieved to see him emerging with the car unharmed. As I sat in the car, suddenly my mind filled with inexplicable happiness. I had got what I wanted. Now I knew conclusively that I was Iin love. Nothing else could explain the agony of the past five minutes. I was sad that we had to go though this traumatic experience, but then again, how else would the diamond sparkle if it is not cut ?

Gulmohar

Being a teacher and a mother of two young kids, my mornings are crazy. Packing tiffins, planning lunch, uniforms, school bags, forgotten homework all eat into my morning hours. My usual lament is, that I rarely get any time for myself in the mornings.

I wait desperately for the dull thud of the newspaper falling near the front door. Its a miracle that I manage to snatch a few minutes to read the headlines just before rushing out to work.

Those five minutes, in which I skim through the newsprint and juggle a sandwich and a cup of tea, are truly, "my own" time.

For the past few days my routine has been disturbed by the arrival of some new guests. The Gulmohar tree which is just outside my balcony has flowered. The bright red flowers have captivated my mind and heart completely. I sit at the corner of the table from where the tree is visible and stare endlessly at the bright red blooms fluttering in the morning breeze. They have completely taken over the tree, and very few leaves are visible. It is a vermilion colored delight. The delicate yellow spots dance when the tree sways in the wind.

When we were growing up, Gulmohar was a very common roadside tree. We used to play sword fights with the stamen, used to make elephants out of unopened buds and present the blooms to our moms and teachers.

But over the years the number of Gulmohar trees have decreased considerably as have bougainvillea  and Silk cotton trees. Spring time used to see the roads splattered with red and yellow blossoms. It was so common that I did not realise how much I loved them till they started disappearing from my life.

I treasure the happiness this lone Gulmohar has brought into my life. I do not know for how long the blossoms will last, but for the time being I welcome them with open arms and hold on tightly to the picture of them fluttering in the wind.

Mr. Chewing Gum

There is this chap who stays near my place. Shabby tees, floaters worn such that the heel stubs the back of the shoe, shorts which defy laws of physics and don't slip off, lurid coloured underpants which peek out every time he bends. He has mastered the art of chewing gum and yapping on his phone simultaneously.
We pass a look of contempt everytime our eyes meet. He sniggering at my dupatta and I shuddering at his apple green shorts. 

I fail to identify with him though I am not exactly dinosaur generation. But somehow the insolence in his eyes and the silly smirk on his lips are a put off.

Today I found him leaning on his bike, fingers flying as he text-ed the whole world. I passed him thrice on my evening stroll.

Suddenly a car stopped nearby . A frail old lady was trying to get down. It seemed that she had difficulty walking. Her even older and almost bent double husband tried to help her get down and hold her stick.
Quite a few people were walking by and none came forward to help. I rushed to their side only to find Mr. chewing gum already there, gently helping the woman out of the car and helping her walk.

This time when our eyes met, mine were full of respect and his sheepish.
I guess I have made a friend :)

 ·  · 

Beautiful Words

I came rushing back from the market to find the AC service fellow waiting for me at my doorstep.
Scruffy shoes, dirty shirt and dusty faced, he followed me inside to clean up the ACs. He went about cleaning and dusting away and became more and more dirty in the process.



Job done, he sat down to write out the bill and job card.



I could not believe my eyes as I saw his writing. Each letter was a sculpture carved in ink, each word a masterpiece worth framing. The letter formation was worthy of Victorian era scribes.



On appreciation, he shrugged and said he had copied the style of writing from a maths teacher that he had.

He packed his stuff and left. An unknown artist of an unappreciated art.....

Aunty ji, Aunty ji....

The little boy who sells roses at the mall parking is majorly confused about my age. Last time when I strolled by wearing jeans, he promised me that God would bless me with a handsome husband very soon if I bought his flowers. And he called me ' Didi '. A few days later, with my kiddo's in tow, he promised long life for my kids and proceeded to call me 'Aunty' ! Figure that out...

The wife of a distant cousin (who is 5years elder to me) has suddenly decided to call me didi because I have kids and she doesn't. Probably making others feel older makes one feel younger ? Its a mystery...

I plan not to colour my hair when I turn grey. I imagine I would soon graduate to "DADI JI" !  Sigh Sigh...Such is life.......

PeekaBoo !!!

After a day of feeding, bathing, tantrum handling, argument resolving, I was ready to take a break with well deserved afternoon nap.

I tucked both my sons in and threatened them with various kinds of monsters who would attack them in case they didn't sleep. I checked for shut eye and gently closed the door.

Settling in with a book I felt peace descent over me and my lids became heavy soon. Just before nodding off, I thought of checking in on the boys.

I tiptoed around to their room and almost shrieked as two pairs of eyes stared at mine just around the door.

My kiddos had chosen the exact same moment to sneak out of the room when I decided to sneak upon them.

The cherry on the cake was the little one saying "See, I told you Mumma is the Monster, there is no one else!"

A Sweet Tooth

Cats and many other carnivore species have lost their ability to taste sugar.Evolution has independently led to the loss of this taste in many different species like the sea lion, fur seal, Asian otter, spotted hyena etc. In these animals the 'taste receptor gene' is damaged.
The research proves that what animals like to eat is dependent to a significant degree on their basic taste receptor biology.
As I bite into my 'Dark fantasy choco filled cookie' and lick the molten chocolate center with relish, I thank God that MY taste receptor genes are intact.....

 

Chai

Everyday as i drive into the chilly mornings, I meet a group of men and women huddled around a few smoldering logs, at the corner of my street. They sip steaming tea from glasses which have never seen detergent.
Everyday i wish to get down and join them.
I tried to substitute with instant coffee in a plastic cup. No Match. 
I think I will stop by for my glass of tea tomorrow............ 

Deamy Giggles

‎5:15 Am in the morning I was grumbling away in the kitchen about how i was the only one working at this unholy hour while everyone was snuggling in their blankets.
Suddenly the silence of the house was broken by tinkling laughter. My, four year old was dreaming and laughing in his sleep.
His giggles brought an instant smile to my face and all my troubles dissolved.
I think God was awake and listening to my grumble , hence the cheer :) 

A lofty ambition

I was trying to impart 'value education ' to my kids. I told them "it is not necessary that u be famous or rich but u must do good for the society and become helpful and useful individuals"

I asked my lil one " Now tell me, what would u be when u grow up?" and looked at him with eyes full of expectations....

Prompt came the reply, " I will be a HEN when i grow up, so that i can lay eggs and everyone can eat omelettes ! "

I guess i was a success as far as the values are concerned. What say ? 

My little DeBono

You know how we keep talking about lateral thinking and the power of logical reasoning over rote learning ?
All theories were proven true today in the evening.

My younger one started reciting,
"Macchli jal ki rani hai.
Jeevan uska pani hai

My heart swelled with pride! (its a rare phenomenon you see)

he continued with : " haath lagoege toh jal jayegi, Baahar nikaloge toh....

He hesitated and thought for a while tapping his cheek as he did so.

Then with a flourish he finished, " Baahar nikaloge toh SOOKH jayegi "

The great power of lateral thinking :))) 

Honestly!

Today i saw a man leave a pizza hut outlet with more boxes than he could manage. As he was trying to juggle his packages, one of the smaller garlic bread boxes fell down.
I assumed the fellow would pick it up, but he carried on unaware of his loss.
A small rag-picker with a dirty face and grimy hands picked up the box. His eyes shone and i thought ' good luck for him today'!
But proving my thoughts wrong the lil boy ran after the man to return the box. I was impressed with his honesty.
The man turned, and on realising what had happened, patted the boy on the head and gave away the garlic bread to him. 

One small incident, and so many positive human values....the Gods were in a good mood :) 

Gender Bender :)

My breakfast table grammar class left me foxed today.
We were sailing with opposites, " i am tall you r short, i am fat you are thin etc. etc. "
I became ambitious and moved on to genders. I started with i am a girl and you are a ?
My four year old supplied " I am a SUPERHERO ! " 

The Sunset of life

I love watching sunsets. As I open my doors each evening to savour a few minutes of the setting sun, i enjoy watching the world pass by.

It is the time when many are out for their evening strolls. Young moms gang up and chatter away wheeling the prams, a little older moms jog by energetically, A few men run or walk alone and a few walk with their mobiles glued to their ears.
Young kids criss cross on bikes shouting at each other.

But what makes my heart turn, is the older couples who walk slowly, side by side and always in sync with each other. No cell phones or i pods to distract them, they revel in each others company. They may speak a few words or may just share silences but what i find incredibly romantic is the wrinkled hand on the wrinkled elbow gently guiding when a car or bike comes by.
Walking into the sunset.......... 

Fishing in the Manhole

What is expected out of a tired me at 2:30 pm (after a full day's hardwork, trudging along with four bags and three bottles) , when my four year old peers down a manhole and wants a stick and some string to do FISHING ?

No, I do not lose patience ( a miracle). I wipe swear of his grimy face and tell him the fish have gone out for lunch and we should try our luck in the evening. 

So anyone looking for me today in the evening may please note that, I am going fishing in the manhole with my son :) 

A New kind of Love

Continuing my quest to know my kids better, I tried to play Freud and decipher their dreams. By way of gently introducing the topic , I began querying about my elder one's dreams. What follows is a nightmare of a conversation.

Me : Rio, What do you usually dream of ?
Rio : I always dream of you, mumma.
(My heart jumped with joy and as usual my eyes watered with tears of happiness. )
Me: What do I do in your dreams Rio ?
Rio : Oh! You are either an alien or a monster and I am the superhero who kills you!

So much for the great mother- son love....... 

Forbidden Pleasure

Soft pitter patter of feet woke me up from my afternoon nap. Hushed whispers informed me of a plan to raid the fridge and search for chocolates. The elder one softly scolded the younger one as he created a racket. Excited whoops of joy confirmed that mission was successful. 
I contemplated getting up and giving a scolding, then thought better of it and turned my back towards them as they enjoyed their feast.
What I enjoyed was the amazing bonding taking place between the brothers.
I have brought two more bars of chocolates and stocked the fridge hoping to eavesdrop on them tomorrow again ...... 

Unadulterated Joy

As I walk down the stairs with my four year old on a cold winter morning, he coughs and smoke billows out of his mouth. he is delighted with this little miracle!
He goes on coughing on purpose just to see the air misting up in front of his eyes.
All this, as I adjust his tie, check his bag for a handkerchief, fret and fume about how late we are going to be and how finding parking is such a headache.
Suddenly, I stop, and realize how I am missing the pure unadulterated joy on my lil one's face.
 And then i join him in coughing out smoke from my mouth.
Life is generous with gifts, at times we fail to recognize them.