Reliance Web World

I am in Reliance web world. I wonder if it should evoke few memories. Memories like talking to people from home who would be chatting in the air conditioned comfort of RBB. Well, it evokes one long lost marketer's feeling, who ever said a product without an experience with it can work in today's market! Well, you might not know I just am back from Central Bank. The sight of the bank and the officials make me wonder that such an institution is also running. We have come to the age of net banking (though most of us are still jogging our memories to remember THE PASSWORD).

Passbooks to passwords!

Well, sitting at the other end, or rather with the tables turned, as I experience the web surfing experience of RBB, I have nothing much to complain except this 'hard to push down' keyboard. ANd yes though I may still blush at the thought of writing a love mail or chatting with a special one from such a public domain, I see such an immense market for teen hangouts in the virtual world. Of course it has been tapped. To make things better there is webcam at help, to give e-dates a touch of life, with shared cakes and coffees (images only!) along with glowing smiles.

Well, this much for now. I am irked at the keyboard, but I am open to writing!!! Hmm well this makes me write you a closing note too. Writing does need an environment. I miss the desk back home in Kathmandu, I miss that chair, and that mirror hanging opposite to my working area. Now I realize I have my mirror opposite to my desk exactly the same way here in Kolkata too. So do I SEE ideas flowing!!!

Irrelevant details from life

'Bonjour', said the man behind the huge flat pan as he saw me meditating over his crepes. I was almost enchanted at the way he circled out a thin crepe over the huge pan. The crepe of the same diameter as that of the pan, which was three times the normal dosas I have seen back home. I had been looking intently at how he poured the batter, flattened the batter into a nice circle with the help of a flat wooden rod with a stick in its centre. Moving that equipment, clockwise first and anticlockwise next. Then flipping the crepe up, sprinkling sugar and caramel and folding it neatly like a thin handkerchief or a napkin.

I looked up completely startled by his 'Bonjour' and was more puzzled to see his enquiring eyes. Ah! I just smiled dumbly and walked away. Linus had a good laugh. He said I was staring so hard, it had probably unnerved the fella. All I could explain to him - it was such a lovely sight. He said, you must be hungry. And we headed to Mc. D.

There is little choice for food for vegetarians. Even the cheese is not really vegetarian. It has something from the calf's stomach. When I had enquired for a vegetarian cheese, I recieved a puzzled and amazed look. Fromage (cheese in French), it is Fromage! Period. Can cheese be non vegetarian!!

Well, a vegetarian by birth, I often wonder why people are non vegetarian. And people, my friends tell me, 'what possibly can you eat! just grass and flowers!' 'Is it because of religion', J had enquired during a dinner hosted by us. No, it just runs into our family. And what if your children want to eat, Mc Chicken! Hmm, I smile and imagine a dozen brats, eating Mc. Chicken. I can only tell them to brush their teeth, I tell J. He smiles, oh just brush the teeth. That sounds reasonable.

Children, ah! I must be quite old by now, to even comprehend the thought that 'kid' can be someone else other than me. Hmm, children, what strange creatures they are. Half your size and they make you run around like crazy. The other day, a little girl about 5 had come to my apartment with her mother. I had to divide my attention while talking to the mother and rushing in between to save my laptop on which she was pounding her hands madly and rescue the remote which she hurled in air while in an excited stupor of having discovered 'tom and jerry channel'.

Sometimes I think children have this perfect world of freedom. Unadulterated by thougths of shame, or concept of nudity. I have read that one of the most common dreams that people have is, where they find themselves in company without an appropriate attire. While that little girl feels absolutely nothing as she runs around with her bare bottom.

While I look for freedom of expressions among women wearing what they want, mini skirts and halter necks, or random muses posted in internet, I see those naughty pair of eyes looking back at me with a quizzical look. Mocking at me, saying FREEDOM COMES From a wild spirit!! Perhaps I am imagining those eyes quizzing me. She just must be wondering when will I give her the chocolate that she has earned after having recited all the rhymes and telling me her name, father's name and all telephone numbers at her momma's prodding. 'Smart girl naa', the momma shining with pride exclaims.

I wonder if having a child would make it a different world for a woman. 'Having kids is a full time job', the exasperated mom had exclaimed while I was glowering at the little one for behaving like THIS. At her statement I just wondered, it must mean: No more afternoons filled with silence or just the noises from the street. No more the loneliness punctuated by the incessant chirps of sparrows or staring at the arch of a gate of a villa just by the lake. And looking at the water through that arch.

Proabably I could just have a Siamese Cat, and name it Kathmandu. It would be a less than full time job, I smile at myself.

A cat or a baby... oh both are such a chore. But a baby will grow up. And if I believe what A had said, will cease to be a family. A is an English lady. The cat (she had a Siamese cat called Kathmandu), will be hard to handle. If you are traveling or working, you can't leave them alone for long. They get anxiety or bouts of loneliness and feel sick.

I should be feeling like Kathmandu sometime. I must investigate if I have those bouts of loneliness. Or perhaps, it must be different, some other poetic melancholy, that is essential to churn out a good post!

Blogging again

I managed to get an access to internet, somehow. Neighbours, especially Indian neighbours in a foreign land are a great boon. My next door friend leaves me her apartment's keys so that I can sneak in anytime and check mails or post blogs!

Last night we had a wonderful time with an English couple. It was a rainy evening, and a little colder than usual. But that did not deter our spirits. We went to the restaurant by the lake. We sat inside since it was raining, but from the glass panes I could feel the lake right there. Facing the lake and the setting sun, it seemed beautiful. How location can be such an important factor. It is one of the Ps in the marketing product mix, when it comes to service industry. Where you are determines what you are!

Hmm, it was an indulgence at the end. The tiramisu. 'Sinful' I exclaimed. Imagine all that calories..or rather Kilo cals!! But it tasted heavenly.

For a change no one was talking work. It was nice evening. And we walked back home. It was then A had remarked, 'how far we have come, it seems rather quick since we have been talking.' We had actually almost reached their hotel and in what seemed no time. P quipped, ' ah, so your life must have sped by.' What a terrific sense of wit! I smiled, amused.

It is rare to have such a nice time socializing. I wonder if it is because I have lost my socializing skills or is it that I need to have that rapport to be comfortable. Oh yes, I still can turn stoic and quiet in companies that I am some how uncomfortable for no known reasons. I think this is quite common or rather human or may be universal. One must feel at home... Be it a Siamese cat called Kathmandu or a dog called Mutt in Kiran Desai's Inheritance of loss.

See, how I shift gears from evening to food to pets. I have never had a pet. I do not think I would ever have one. But the most amusing pet I have seen, was a mouse. My friend had actually 2 mice. Ying and Yang. I wonder how she knew one from the other. But a bad cat ate Ying or was it Yang. And later the survivor died an unceromonious death. Less heroic than being chased by the cat.

Ugh! I did not want to fill in the details of the rat race err...rat chase. But of the instance when both the rat and I had jumped out of our wits, in an encounter deliberately planned to introduce two loved ones to one another. I am sorry if calling Ying/Yang a rat is derogatory.

Someone once asked me if I miss home. I wonder which home. The one I left when I got married, or the one I left when I came to Swiss. The home before marriage, for me has been frozen in time, exactly the day I left it in February, a year ago. I had carefully packed away my precious belongings. Given away sea shells to a cousin to keep them as lovingly as I had. The shells I had collected from Hongkong's beaches. Tucked away my diaries. Threw pieces of papers with stupid poetries I had written, one was I remember 'Mr. Tea'. I can smile at the thought of it! I donated clothes I would not need again. Returned books that I had borrowed. GOt back my books that friends still had. Emptied my wardrobe, so that someone else would have space when I wasn't there.

WHen I go back to that home, will I start from that point of time! THe time, the moment froze just for me, every one else will have moved. Friends to jobs, to marriages, to new love stories. I will not know how to fit myself again in that room. To stare out of the window and look at those neatly growing flowers in a row. Or turn on the PC and listen to Pink Floyd. And may be quarrel with mom over why I am late again!

There will be nothing of that sort. That life has disappeared. A part of me has gone. How I resist change. Or do I? To go back and stare at myself in the mirror...The same mirror and a different reflection. It is so weird that some changes are so sudden or are they really. Perhaps the realization of the change is sudden.

I am confused about my identity suddenly. Or rather I do not fit in that frozen image of me. That image is confused that there is no more of those , bland samosas of Ram dai in college canteen, or bickering about Rituz boutique or coffees and scrabbles in bakery cafe, or proffs I would have liked to hate. Everything is replaced, by a code or a decorum. Is it just my resistance to grow up?

Some one said so aptly, when u are in school you want to get in college, when you are in college you want to get into a job..and when you get into one... you miss your school....you miss your college.

Well, I think this is enough for today. And perhaps I should make this blog a personal blog seeing how much I ramble... with just few selected friends to share their thoughts on my weird thoughts.... argh...wotever....

Away

Folks!

I know some of you there are reading me. So I am talking to you. Well, the most essential of all, the internet connection, the life line... is at hold. Meaning I have no access to internet from home. That is...the 24 hour obsessed with net VID is now getting to her neighbor to check her occasional mail..

THis is because I am shifting back to my India home. So, until I get there, you know I am just trying to get unhooked. Trying relaxation techniques to do away with the net addict in me. And well no more of my boring blog posts for a while.

So I Will see you guys in midweek of June...

Till then,
keep reading and keep fit!
Jump may be!!

Vid

Face lifting!!

Hmm, Jo Bhi tells me my blog needs face lifting. Well a writer isn't a writer if she cannot take a critique without a pinch of salt...err is it sugar JB?

Now that JB has been featured in my blog, I am sure he has already thanked lady luck et al, I should respond to the face lift!

Once-upon-a-time (it was how I was tempted to start today's rambling, however..) I had had good thoughts on weight lifting. Those cushioned dumb bells for the females in form. Argh.. had it not been for the feministic flame in me, I would have probably goaded MOM into buying me those dainty things. But as I was, I did attempt some lifting of what was left of my uncle's not so once-upon-a-time gymming equipments. Now since I did not fracture even the tiniest bone of the little finger, it isn't worthy enough to be mentioned here (JB take cue, you have been featured and bestowed an honour you barely deserve or rather rarely deserve!!!)

Ok, so that was about the weights in the lifting. Next to that was my obsession for lifts themselves... I mean elevators. Brought up in a country where people still believe we ride bullock carts, elevators are hard to imagine. No wonder during my trips to Indian metros, we would devise games to get out of the tiny apartments and take lifts in the lift! The liftman would let the kids in vacation a few trips up and down!!

This is not really touching any nerve at all, this meaning my ramble. It ain't so far humorous nor the emotional bit that perhaps VID has the penchant for (ahem ahem). Very well to raise the sagging spirits, there must be a lift... So I lift a passage or rather an excerpt from what one reader had to say some time back..

**************************************************
i occassionally visit your blog to read it! it is interesting! the loss of form (and all else) is visible, but its very interesting... i'd rather suggest you should write... i wish you come back to form... ofcourse if you wish to, and if you are still passionate about it... you are just lovely in your writings...:D ok ok... otherwise too, i'm sure...

****************************************************

Now I hope that works super. Makes this post nice...with a 'hat ke' flavor. And perhaps answers few idiots who dared to tattle 'if Reena's ramble (wish I were taller and prettier, see The empty pram) were a candid confession.

So, yes a little up lifting would not do harm to this lovely writer. Now for a change why don't you readers do your bit. And throw in your bouquets!! in words.

Comments won't hurt, neither you...nor me (ouch!!)

The empty pram

She hugged him at the airport. He had walked up to her smiling. For a second both of them waited in a clumsy silence and then she threw her arms around him and hugged him.

Reena woke up from her dream with a smile. She checked her mobile to get the time. It was already past eleven and there was still no sign of Yatharth. She got up and dialled his number thinking perhaps he had got down the plane by now. Yatharth picked up and said, 'I am getting into the cab, I will be home.'

Home! Reena looked around the empty house. Was this home, she wondered as she observed her own shadow in dim light. She dismissed such depressing thoughts. She had work to do, heat dinner in microwave, lay down the table and yes re do her hair.

While doing her hair she looked into the mirror. She was not very tall, but standing at 158cm, she looked quite short to the six footer frame of Yatharth. She wished she were taller and prettier. When keeping back the comb in the drawer her fingers rubbed against a shiny cylindrical metal. It was a lipstick case. Someone had made it for her. It was one remebrance that she had allowed herself to carry over from her college days. She opened the case and took the lipstick out. She looked back at her pout in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction.

Just then the bell rang. She hurried to the door. Yatharth stood there a little tired. He bent down to kiss her freshly painted lips. 'Oh, but I have smudged you, Reena squealed like a child. Suddenly the dimly lit house had transformed into warm and bright home.

They sat down for dinner. Reena kept twittering about who all had called while he was away, about her friends who had volunteered to stay with her if she felt frightened to be home alone at night, and that she had been good and had not skipped lunch too many times!

Yatharth smiled, he took his wife in his arms and took her to bed. You must sleep, you look tired he said. Had he noticed something, Reena's heart beat quickened. She had not yet told him about her secret, about their secret. But he was already tucking her in bed. Office time tomorrow honey, he said and switched off the light.

Next morning, Reena woke up with a start. She fixed Yatharth's breakfast and tiffin as usual. She was just a bit preoccupied. Yatharth was in a morning rush to notice it perhaps. Was it just ordinary or did it signify something Reena wondered later in the bathtub. She had seen an empty pram in her dream.

Travel time!

My cousin has come over for 2 weeks to stay with us travel Suisse. My aunt had warned me I would have to stay full time in Kitchen as the kid comes famished from the US of A. Apart from the daily doses of his engineering and economics lessons he has survived on coke and chips. However the kid seems to have developed an appetite of traveling than eating! Hmm, so you can imagine we have been up and running! And of course the burner in the kitchen has so far obliged to churn out some goodies for our survival.

Well, after a long day today- traveling through Glaciers, literally amid snow fall, I sit down to reflect. What comes immediately to my mind are the few expressions we used during our travel, while marvelling at the lovely landscape"

* The trees look like soldiers clad in white fur
* The top of the churches on the ways reminded me of the 'sorting hat' of Harry Potter's fame
* The rhine gorge and rafting had us defining a river, a lake and a gorge. Linus remarked he had learnt and forgotton all. The scene however will never be forgotton I mused.
*We all wait for the sun together, the attendent in the Glacier Express remarked when few travellers commented on the cloudy day!
*I can't open my eyes: it is just too white.... we all said in chorus when the train emerged from a tunnel and snaked through land clad in shimmering white snow everywhere, on trees, on mounts and house tops!

Well let me sum up by just another few words:

dream like
the red toy train
a lesson in Geography
a returnable trip from heaven (this one from my cousin at his wittiest best!)

Few beautiful words

Sparkle
Twinkle
Smile
Home
Mommy
Sweetie
Wonderful
Lovely
Babies
Mirror
Nostalgia
Dreamy eyes
Coy

Oscar Wilde's Quote

Oscar Wilde said: "Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood."

Hmm, I stumbled on this quote today and then I had to have it on my blog. Oscar Wilde's quotes have a WOW factor! Well, had I still been in those mushy teen years, I would have by now turned on Bryan Adams and taken a flight in dreams to meet the Mr. Dream. But heck, I have grown up!

Sometimes I miss the teenage relapse that occurs until the bulb lights up!! 'Teenage relapse' thats some phrase with some WOW factor perhaps. I am not sure but I think this is an original phrase. I do not know if I copied it from someone. But I know I have used it so many times now... Like when I just crossed 19 (or should I say had turned 20 ;) ) and then the years since then, a sudden craving for bungee jumping, or refusing to obey parental curfews, or refusing to acknowledge the parental lectures, or lets face it a huge crush, I collectively termed them 'teenage relapse'.

I roll in my tongue to check if my wisdom tooth has actually surfaced and smile. Was it all really teenage relapse or was it a woman growing up? I am still wondering. Hmm, some men are intelligent. I found one intelligent guy, he exactly does as Wilde suggests. No effort to understand. None at all. You know what he does!

However, not all men are intelligent. I mean they might be seemingly but they still need to read what Wilde says!

:)

Well, you might choose to disagree. But I know even that will not make you drop a comment in here. Hmm, so my dear readers, just for the heck of it or rather for Wilde do jot in your thoughts 'aise hee'.

Idle thoughts in an idle hour

I have been too busy poring into the screen of my laptop. I get up tidy the house a bit. It is strange to think now, that I am saying tidy the 'house'. Strange because tidy had always followed my room. Hmm, now I have a house! Well, lest I digress let me continute to what my sight met. Clean clothes hanging on a line in the basement. I collect them and bring them up. I fold them into neat stacks and arrange them in the wardrobe. Then I switch the tv on, there is a tennis match going on. I pay little attention to it. Suddenly I look out and I freeze the scene in my memory. A moment later I get my cam and click. The clouds by now have engulfed the top of the mounts in their thick white blanket.

There is so much that nature has given. And so much that man has accomplished. The background sound of birds chirping interspersed with the sound coming from speeding automobiles, is one such combi of nature with man! I look out at the green mounts, the lake in a distance and wonder , poets must have come from this place.

In such an idle hour I try to pen something:

The white blanket of clouds
The white ducks paddling in the lake
The white lillies tucked on the pathway
I wonder how this color holds the rainbow in itself!

Mr. and Mrs Iyer

Of what we come across -Few things, few people, few books, few movies, few songs, few scenes become imprinted in mind.

Mr and Mrs Iyer is one such movie. Konkona Sensharma has acted marvelously. Superbly!

While watching the movie, I was most moved when the old couple were forced out of the bus. The old Muslim couple. Later through Raja's eyes as I saw the dentures fallen out of their broken case, the old man's glasses...And when Raja is typing on his computer about the dentures in its hedious grin, I feel a repulsion that I cannot explain.

For a second why the hell do we follow any religion at all. I suddenly go back to my teenage days when I used to start my diary entries with 'Dear God'. The word GOD strikes me oddly. Then I wonder what was the need for that old man in the movie to read his Kuran on the bus or, what is my need that I hang a picture of Lord Ganesha in my kitchen, why do we believe at all? If there is an Almighty after all... wouldn't s/he be affected by the killings in the name of religion...

They tell me, God is a concept which has been passed on to us by wise men so that our lives are hinged to a solid core. They tell me religion was developed so that civilized societies will have a face, an identity, a belief system that they could hold on to, belong to.

I had wondered as a child when I used to read about Hindu Muslim riots. I had even written a poem titled religion when I was 13. Now it does not affect me at all. I do not care. I turn a deaf ear to all those headlines screaming from newspapers or internet sites. Whether it was the killing in Virginia Tech or it was like a movie I watched, it remains a news. It is no more personal, like it was when I was a child.

Yet, if I could have my way, I would not belong to any religion. So, I say....so I say.... but this rebel in me disappears when someone in family falls sick. Or on small ocassions, like when I am cooking for guests, I take Ganesha's name so that the food will be good. Not only I have gone to God in times of trouble and asked for his help. I have considered it my right to accuse him when I am in trouble and to demand of him to make everything fine. He has so far complied. And when I am fine I say he is just a concept.

We need God, even if he might be a concept. Our life in this planet perhaps is not mere chance in the universe or possibly it is.

When I understand this... I who am an average human being. I fail to believe that so many of us will not understand that we are all human beings. I wonder why there is so much of man killing man at all. Why cannot we all be good, when our parents have taught us to be good.

It might seem that from the safety of my house I can rave and rant on a full stomach, but the designs of terror has not come out of poverty has it? It stems for greed of power. Power to destroy?

I remain speechless. I remain... And I hardly get affected, I hope!

Yatharth comes home

It is amazing how a single day can sometime stretch into innumerable days, Reena sighed. Yatharth was coming home today. Two flight changes and then a train back home, it would be late, he had told her. She had smiled and told him she would wait.

After weeks, there would be a proper dinner , she thought and busied herself deciding the menu. Besan kee roti like Amma made was Yatharth's favorite. She would crumble the roti with her hand and add ghee then mix it with curry and yogurt and then give it to Yatharth. This was exactly how she had seen Amma serve roti to all of them. Papa would top it with lot of onions and Amma would make a face, now you will have onion on your breath whole day. Reena shook herself out of the reverie. It was easy to take a journey back into the past when one had so much of time in hand. Time that she needed to kill!

She dragged herself from early morning till the afternoon. Switching the tv on and then switching it off. Listening to Pink Floyd and then turning to Bryan Adams. She had never missed home like she did today. From a fiery, hyperactive Reena she had mellowed down to a soft spoken and gentle Reena. Perhaps that was the outcome of keeping quiet for days.

Reena was still living her life in the hulla baloo of Kolkata. She had yet to immigrate in totality to this foreign land of lakeside and hills. Switzerland the dream destination was still dream like and not reality. Her mind still wandered to the puchka wallahs and moori wallahs back home. The building where she had lived with her parents had several people living in them. In their 7 storyed building here, Reena thought it was only she who had an apartment. She never saw a soul wandering in the corridor. THe doors were all shut, and she had to resist the urge to ring the door bell of the apartment opposite to her. Dropping in for a chat, to get to know your neighbors , was probably not acceptable here, this Reena had realized early on.

Then she had taken to herself. Her life centered about Yatharth when he was home. ANd when he wasn't her life was thrown off the orbit. It was true she tried hard to discipline herself. She kept her house clean and cooked good dinner. But if Yatharth was not coming home, she did not care to make the bed, cooked once a day, ate leftovers withour reheating them, had cereals for breakfast, lunch and even dinner.

But life had changed had it not. She had found a new path to orbit. Swapnil had tiptoed with too much of hope. Hope for days filled with storytimes, talk times, feeding the baby. She was so thrilled these days that she cooked meals in time. Ate a hearty breakfast and gave up coffee for milk.

She looked at the watch, it was just lunch time. Solitary luncheon, she murmured. But they will all be together in dinner time she told Swapnil, when she retired after lunch for a little nap.

In her dreams, she saw Yatharth smiling on the door. She saw Amma holding Swapnil...

Sipping Coffee

Coffee has always elevated my mood. Don't know why, really. But today seems a rather nice day. It is sunny outside and cool indoors. With love songs in the back ground, a hot cup of coffee and some lemon rice, I wonder what else did I want from life. Yes, I feel a tinge of jealousy when I see friends talking of office work and bosses and even Linus rushing off to office. But then I see what I have got to myself. A whole day to pamper myself. I wonder why I really don't do that. I skip lunch frequently just because I will have to cook for me. Hmm, the good thing is I can laze around in a pair of shorts without MOM getting on my neck with 2 things, make yourself useful- your room is a mess, if it isn't then some other room is...do a favor go help me it will be Diwali time soon and weekends at home are rare...go on a bit of cleaning spree. If I comply without complaining, she will tell me next.. first get dressed while looking skeptically at my bermudas which fall just an inch short to my knees.

Hmm..how much I miss mom, when I go back to sleep after Linus is off to office. Yes, I do not fall asleep but just wait for mom's ... lazybone get up.... I miss it soo much.. :) All moms have to be great. Mine is. And all kids must love their moms like crazy... Despite all things that kids need to put up with mom type of people... you know eat right...and come home in time... and on and on and on...

Well, well, well...how much I miss being a kid. My birthday is coming again. Yeah, my friends would remember after I remind them... with it is in april isnt it...and this conversation will be in late may or june or hell july...

Just for the heck... 22nd of April is the date...

And and and, just because I am soo happy with the Gung Ho song playing in the background and the Nescafe... let me tell you .. i am gonna be in Locarno-Lugano for birthday.. So glad to have bday on a weekend... :P

Hmm, this post almost is coming close to an email of sorts... argh, may be I dont mail people so much these days that I have decided broadcasting! well, blogging in a friendly world can't be that bad. And when this mood to keep your slender fingers busy on the keyboard comes one must give in. Ah, again I miss mom , the way she looks with awe at only one thing i can do better than her...type at an astronomical speed... (the speed is astronomical in relation with hers :D)

So so so.. I should stop, and go out ... its a fine day... And I am smiling to myself. Good music, good coffee and a bright day, few things in life just so simple yet so much of pleasure..

Hmmm, by the way before I stop writing, let me tell you about this brain wave that came last night.. I had started this blog just as an outlet of expression. And well somewhere I thought I could see myself...the brand called me. So, now what I think is people who visit my website and do not really know me, they must have some kind of image about this brand..VID... you might feel free to put down what you think this brand is like...I might actually give a next post on brand identity.. something from our brand management class if it sounds interesting..

And if someone wants me to sketch a brand profile for them.. You could leave your page URL and I could go hang around and give a feed back!

What say you.. enough for today!

cheers

:)

While blog hunting

My time pass these days is extensive blog hopping. I hunt and I hop! Yesterday I found this wonderful advertisement blog, http://creativeads.blogspot.com

They talk about brands and I simply love talking about brands. They have this interesting thing they call ' ad trivia' where they ask you to identify the brand they are talking about. Yesterday I identified the brand and did it correctly and among the many correct answers I was picked the lucky winner.

It made my day today, when my friend visited that page, saw my name and then mailed me about it! Hmm, just like that I thought I would tell you all about it. YOu can see it here

:)

Meanwhile... (not the continuation of story)

It is gentle breeze, that takes adrift my heart. Outside under the starlit sky, I pull a chair and stare at far away lights. Like someone once told me, this is that time, when I fly beyond the mounts flickering with lights, beyond the lake which ruffles with few strong waves, I fly beyond myself.

It is strange that I should take this flight. Where do I reach. To you, who do not exist. Why did I ever conjure you, ever thought you could by chance be alive, be true? I wonder if you were, what would you be, how would you look like.

The stillness of night, punctuated by the sounds of cars racing in periodic interval has cast its silence on me. The prattle dies, the eyes do not blink and I continue to stare at the lamp post in the foyeur.

I learn, not to complain, not to worry that I am here without you. I learn I am destined to wait. Not because you will not come. But because this is how it is to be. This is how we can be together, this is how we can belong, this is how we connect.

Now, for the sake of you, do I tell the world who you are. Or like you want, I return to my world without any crease on my forehead..

I will try to find whats 'within' some other time. Will try to understand 'self' some other time. Will reflect on 'spirit' some other time. For now I am glad I am aware, that I am.

Bang! the coconut

Reena hated to call up Yatharth while he was in office. Somewhere, she had drawn a boundary between work and home. For Reena it was like, she were at office. But today she decided it was best to call him up. Yatharth would return the next week from his UK trip. And Amma's growing concern for have you been eating right, and 'coconut nahi khaya beta' had consequently filled the fridge with skimmed milk, flavored yogurts, strawberries, kiwis, oranges and a coconut.

She wondered how to break this one open. She took the wine opener and dug the needle into one of the three eyes of the nut. Hard nut to crack! But after some minutes of patience and perspiration she was successful. Coconut water sprouted, and she drained it in a glass. It was nothing like the dhaab water, that she had been raised upon back home in Calcutta (now Kolkata). But it would do and she gulped down the semi transparent liquid in one breath.

Later when she went to an Indian shop which sold, 'garam masala' and 'papad' she asked the lady behind the counter if she could break the coconut. Reena offered to come another day to collect the nut! The lady behind the counter must have considered a real nut. She came outside and hit the coconut on a pole. Bang! and it broke into two. Reena was happy like a child. Even bought some masalas she did not need. With her bag filled with basmati rice, toor daal, sambhar masala and dhaniya powder, she perched the coconut on top.

Like when you start a new venture, be it marriage or an inauguration of a new shop, or birth, she had always seen her father break the coconut before the deity. Today it felt auspicious somehow, when the coconut broke into two on the pole outside the shop.

She wanted to narrate the whole nutty affair to Yatharth. Sometimes it is so hard to contain few things to yourself. You just need to talk in one breath, and then laugh or giggle. These were few things that Reena had come to value. It was rare for her to talk to someone in her own tongue. She dialled Yatharth.

'Sweets!"

'Yes, everything is fine?' Her phone calls in office were out of ordinary.

'yeps, I just bought a coconut, and used the wine opener and drained its water, and took it to the Indian shop and the lady....

'Honey, I am in a meeting right now. We will talk later ok? I will call you once I reach the hotel."

Reena hung up. And felt silly. What was there to tell him really, a coconut... how she had managed to break it. And that she was still wondering how to scrape the white flesh out of it. Was just all this that defined her life, frozen peas and coconuts! Her eyes began to sting as tears welled up.

She curled up in sofa like a little kid. And then few minutes later she was crying and home sick.

Writer Speaks:

Dear Readers,

Thanks a tonne for your interest in the story of Yatharth and Reena. I really had no intention of writing a story in this line, of a young couple. But then thanks to all of you, who kept coming and asking for more, this story is taking a shape. I hope to take it further.

Well, I think this post should qualm all fears and worries about my well being! Please bear in my mind, all characters are fictitious ;)

Yes, it is true that I tend to hide behind characters and write my story. This time it had been Yatharth when I was poring my emotions. Suddenly aimless, shaky and unbalanced... I wrote about Yatharth wondering what he needed from life. However, now the story is taking shape and I am out of that mood swing, I will try to develop Yatharth's character too.

I was just wondering, where in the world should this couple be living? It has been obvious by now that they are not in India. Swiss would be the most convenient location, since I know this place now. I can talk about Reena going to Migros for groceries. Describe a few places, like the beaches by the lake... like it is daylight till 8pm... like the sight of Rocher De Naye from the balcony... or may be the nuances of daily life other than groceries ;) Buying tickets at the train station. Downloading hindi movies, looking frantically for recipes in the internet. And Amma calling!

So, I settle for Swiss, and by the lake... So it will be in the Lake Geneva region. It could be Vevey-Montreux where I am currently living or Geneva or Laussane. And where does Amma live? Hmm.. India or Nepal? Nepal where my mom actually is. Hmm and where is Reena's sasurbadi or sasural?? Kolkata...hmmm I will make it Mumbai, direct flight to Geneva. And so mother in law can visit Reena during 'these times'.

Hmm, and who should these two be? Bengalis, Gujjus....

I wonder if I will be needing specifics to these levels...

Currently the next thread in mind, is about Reena calling up Yatharth, worried how to break open the coconut she just bought!

Friends keep coming, put in your thoughts sometime. It is lovely!

Vid

Amma Calls

Amma has this strange habit of speaking so loud when it is a long distance call, Reena recalled. When she was a kid, she wondered why Amma would repeat, hello hello hello whenever she was talking to their relatives living in America. Amma would often pepper her Hindi with few words of English thrown in here and there. She would say, "aur weather kaisa hey?" "bachho kee education kaisee chal rahi hey?", stressing on 'weather' and 'education' while inquiring about both.

Amma still has this habit, Reena smiled as she heard Amma say Hello Hello Hello, in one breath when she picked up the phone. "Yes Amma", she chimed. And Amma asked her about the weather, and she asked after Yatharth. " He should not go out for that long", she complained to Reena. " It is okay Amma, I don't feel lonely, really." " Sacchi (Honestly) ? But you never would eat your meals alone, without someone by your side.... "I switch the TV on Amma, and it is like a room filled with people" And Amma laughed.

"Aur bolo (tell me what's new)". Reena wondered had Amma already guessed, there was something new after all. New beyond the high rises, beyond the places she had visited, the malls, the currency exchange and how costly even dhaniya patti (corriander) leaves were.

"Amma", we are going to be a family soon. And then she burst into tears. "Reena, beta (child) arrey yeh toh wonderful news hey (this is a wonderful news), she said stressing on wonderful.

Reena laughed, her mom had picked another new word of English. Then Amma was all over giving her advices, telling her that she will come over after a few months. Till then Reena was to eat well. Healthy food. No more pizza, or the baby will stick in your tummy with all that cheese and refuse to buzz when it is time, she jested. And beta, have lots of white food, and you will have a gora gora chora ( fair son). Hmmm, why not gori gori chori (fair daughter??), Reena grumbled.

But Amma was not listening, she was listing out food items Reena should eat " teen baar doodh, skip nahi karna beta" ( milk thrice a day, and don't skip it child), and eat chhena (cottage cheese made out of fresh milk at home by adding lemon juice to hot milk and straining the curdled mass), and lot of yogurt and chitki (coconut). If you have the white part of the coconut, you will have a fair child, that's what they say, Amma sighed. Reena was not very fair, and Amma always blamed herself for not eating white things when she was carrying Reena.

Yes Amma will do, Reena said. And then in a while she hung up. There was a list to make while going for grocery today. She took out her pad from the drawer beneath the telephone table and jotted down..

coconut
milk
yogurt (nature)
milk chococate
...
...

And Swapnil tip toes

As she reached the end of the story, she put away the book. Jhumpa Lahiri, why does she not write merry tales, she sighed. She loved Lahiri's prose. In fact she would often go back to the short stories- Interpreter of maladies. What made her read them again, was the details that gave life to each character. Like in the story, Temporary Matter, when she describes Shoba.....

'She'd come from the gym. Her cranberry lipstick was visible only on the outer reaches of her mouth, and her eyeliner had left charcoal patches beneath her lower lashes.'

That is some description she thought. The color of the lipstick. Visible at the outer reaches of the mouth... like so often after a day's work. It gave life to Shoba, this woman back from work and then to gym and then back home.

There was more she had liked, the description of food and cooking itself.

Shukumar gathered onion skins in his hands and let them drop into the garbage pail, on top of the ribbons of fat he'd trimmed from the lamb. He ran the water in the sink, soaking the knife and the cutting board, and rubbed a lemon half along his fingertips to get rid of the garlic smell, a trick he'd elarned from Shoba.

It was all so nice to read, how Shoba would unclip her hair, pry in the kitchen without untying her sneakers. How wonderfully Lahiri brings out reality in fiction, Reena smiled.

But she had not liked reading this story today. She had put the book away with her brows knit in a strange expression. This story was about a failing marriage. About the birth of a dead baby, and how the parents then slipped away from one another.

Reena gently touched her tummy. It was still flat. She had not suspicious when she skipped her menses last month. But her gynacologist had whom she visited yesterday, confirmed that she had concieved. That was a tremendous news, she realized why babies where called a 'bundle of joy'. She felt a lump in her throat, she could just not speak. But she was beaming with joy.

She did not want to tell Yatharth this news over the telephone. Yatharth had gone on his office tour for a month. She would patiently wait, she decided. And then she wondered if they would have a baby boy or a baby girl. She remembered how Yatharth and she had once talked about babies and both shrieked... no way, we are too young to be parents!! And still they had started to talk about names. I will call her Samragyi, the empress, Reena had said. Yatharth laughed and said, she would become Sami to her friends and our parents would never get her name straight, so be ready for " Somu or Somi".. And if we have a boy, but no we will have a girl first, Reena chirped. Ah! do you want an army, Yatharth had laughed heartily. And then he said, we will have a boy, only child. Our dream. He will be ' Swapnil'.

Reena already was talking to Swapnil and telling him that she knew he had tip toed!

Reena Speaks!

Mornings are meant to be lazy. The early sun rays playfully disrupted Reena's sleep. She woke up. Hmm.. it's Friday today!!

She was now sharing a life with Yathartha. The days he went to work, were like days she went to work... and his Friday was like her Friday, what a thought , she exclaimed.

Yathartha was so true to his name. He was real, he was reality. He was no dream she was chasing in idle hours. He was no knight in white horse, he was who he was and she knew he loved her.

She rushed through the morning chores, went in kitchen and fixed his breakfast!! Ah, she forgot to peel almonds today, she realized after he had gone to work. It hadn't been a great start, she realized, she had broken one plate today. The smashed pieces were still lying on the kitchen floor. The clothes out from the dryer were still unfolded, the bed undone, the dishes of morning breakfast still dirty in the sink. She wasn't the Reena she thought she was. She would become soon though, after an hour or two. A few hours of her own, when she could be just her, with no responsibilities, when she could sit down and watch a movie that Yathartha wouldn't anycase, paint a picture, think about little children, and think about what she really wanted from life...

It was time for breakfast, she got up from her contemplative mood. Slowly she went about cleaning her house. Before evening, both she and the house would look welcoming. They had to! Because then he would come home.

She had pinned the poem she had written yesterday with a magnet on the fridge, this morning. I have read this before, Yathartha said. Yeah, it is similar, or well similarly written... in the same pattern... But that was not for you.. this one is...

Yathartha read the poem again..

The door bell rings..
I run and comb my hair
He's home now
After a day's work
I wonder how to please him


The kettle waits to sing tea time
I forget he doesnt like 'chai'
He holds me strongly in his arms
Lemme go, I will get something to eat

In kitchen
I lovingly cook
He eats with joy
No words are exchanged

Hmmm?? did you say anything!
nah.. it is good

what is?
everything

and he closes his eyes

ah...dont do that
why?
cause then it will spill out
what?
love!
love that you have gathered all in your eyes

Yathartha smiles and takes her in his arms . Ouch! you are squeezing me... And then they both remember, it isn't weekend yet. And they both rush, the plate gets broken, both are slightly angry... but then that's why goodbye kisses are meant to be! And the magic of the kiss lasts the day long!!!