Monday 11 June 2012

Sunny quest

Wet as a bird's feather
 or light without having to wear your sweater,
All this depends on our friend the Weather

It has the power to bring upon us an emotion
or a stream of sweat drops that resembles an ocean

Sunny today, cloudy the day after
Such power to make our time a disaster,
Making us pray to get out of this depression
that comes along with the sun's discretion

Dance with me oh bright sunshine
Make our world yours for sometime
A rainy day, we have seen one too many
Wearing layers of clothes has made us just too weary

All we need is that right temperature,
The kind that makes us happy to see mother nature.
Some days of vacations we desire
Far away from the warmth of the household fire

Come to us oh wonderful climate
Don't be shy, I open wide my gate.


Thursday 7 June 2012

Amma, Mom, Mummy, Ma...so precious a being, celebrate yours

Well I seem to be going overboard on the very first day, but hey its a blog after all!
Here is a ode that I had written for my late mother some years back on her death anniversary. My way of connecting with her. I miss her so much.
She was an asthmatic, had not been able to finish school since her family could not afford it and had a very tough childhood herself but I rarely heard her grumble..some lessons are still to be learned.


Amma

Woman of substance, learning on the go
Although your every breath was slow,
Weaved your life through childhood and youth
Did not question the route it took

Then came the exchange of  rings,
Exchange of siblings and worldly things
Brought you to a nest atlast,
One you made into a home very fast

Travelled the world with your better half
Experienced new places, faces and tongue
This was part of your adventure
Part of the joy of being young

Made your babies in the mean time
Not one, not two, not three but four
Oh,your body couldnt bear anymore

Each one was special, each one was rare
Every pain, hurt and pleasure was to share
With a firm but gentle hand,
Taught them every thing from "stand"

You lived your life then on for them,
You wiped their tears and stitched their hem,

Stood up like a lioness when need was there
No one could touch a single hair
Of your babies who love you so
Miss you dearly and even more

We see you in our smiles and tears
A look that comes and disappears
Of a woman we once knew
We are so lucky to be a part of you

The working mothers early morning saga

This one is an old poem that I had jotted down when my kids were younger, my heart goes out to the ladies who manage both home and work...

Ah! those early morning dreams,
Promises of love and hope through the passage of time
They come true, someone once had said
How cool that would be, you think in your head
Then reality strikes as you are shaken to it,
By a wailing cry and a followed scream
Your day has begun,
You beauty queen!

Wake up, rise and shine
Oh you have got to somehow stop that whine,
Got to go, find the light switch
Juggle with the rubber nipple and the powdered milk
Back through the dark to a hungry mouth
Who you now remember and can place,
Against your chest, in your embrace.

How you love this child and will miss her so
As you remember now the rest to go,
The long list of things that you have to do,
Before the clock strikes eight that too!

Got to wake the elder one even
And prepare a rushed breakfast for all of you
Along with the sacred chai
The only fix for an Indian mai

Now once the baths are all done,
You are slowly feeling like a hundred and one
The kids are sparkling new in the day’s attire
Oh god the eggs are on fire!

Tiffin one and Tiffin two
Must not forget the Tiffin for you
Hubby has left long ago,
Works his shifts at Yelco

How you wish you lived back home
Would have hired some household help for sure
Nostalgia right now, it should not come
This is not the time to think of a cure.

You move out in the cold and dark
The rising sun has not yet crossed your path
After dropping them to daycare and school
Now you have got to keep your cool
And rush to your job, which will start
In exactly two minutes and you will hear
A screaming boss and hide that tear

Summer vacations

All the fuss that tormented us the whole year was finally at its end. Studies, achievements, tons of homework, wearing the uniform, tying up one's hair and above all carrying that heavy school bag was finally a thing of the past. Well, atleast for the next two months and some.
I am a late blogger and the funny thing is I choose to start my blog with one of the earliest memories that reach me. Earlier than my life in a foreign land away from my roots, earlier than the birth of my two daughters, earlier than my wedding that was so very unconventional and even before those tedious years of college.
I guess its true! The best days of our lives are our childhood...and I would like to tell that tale.
So back to where I had started, here we heard the last school bell ring and there lay ahead a sea of free time.
Back in those days, Mumbai used to be called Bombay and the area I lived in was still more semi forest and lush green than buildings. Needless to say, life was lived outdoors. As soon as breakfast was over, I was out searching for friends in our building who would all emerge from their homes ready to start our day of fun.Then followed our endless supply of games like catch & cook (wonder why that game has such a funny name), hide and seek, chor police (thief and police), langdi (a kind of catch where the denner chases hopping on one leg) which would quickly eat away the morning and the noon break would soon reach us. All our mothers used to yell from our balconies to return home quickly. Yes, those were the days when generally  mothers stayed at home and we were lucky enough to enjoy that. I still remember my mother's voice calling me in her unique way...she always pronounced the 'K' in my name as a 'G', making it a Leghaaa yell.
Lunch was always special at our home, as special as the developed world's dinner since my dad used to return home daily for his lunch hour. Also since lunch was freshly cooked it was also the most abundant meal in our day. Dinner would be usually finishing off the lunch since in those days we did not possess the modern world's cupboard, i.e the refridgerator.
Our afternoon sessions of play were generally more silent versions  as most of the people who had been hard at work, cooking or cleaning their homes would stop for an afternoon nap. So we children were warned to only play near our apartments,if not inside our homes itself. This usually equalled to a small group of friends playing on our floor landing. Everyone would chip in and get a toy that they chose to share or  possessed and our theatre was set. Games like carrom board, scrabble, shop shop and house house. (Funny that we loved the games that were usually a word repeated twice) and anything else that was invented spontaneously was warmly welcomed.Nothing was more delightful than mothering a worn out doll or selling a wheelless car or fighting for the existance of a word that we had dared put on the scrabble board.
At home 4pm was the time for our daily chai session. My mother (Amma) as we called her, would invite some of my closest friends to share this time with us at home.The limited ration of Glucose biscuits were equally distributed to all of us and we all sat cross legged on the kitchen floor
enjoying this daily dose of sugar.
Ofcourse I need to point out that those days we were yet to discover soft drinks, cakes freely afforded for any occasion  or supermarkets loaded with alleys of sweetmeats, chocolates and candies...so for us some biscuits was a real step towards heaven. Sometimes we were even luckier when the Nankathaiwala used to pass by and Amma would spend that extra bit to buy some of those delicous, melting in the mouth cookies and those crispy Kharis. Eagerly, we would dip the Kharis into our chai causing half of that waferlike buttery biscuit to sit at the bottom of the cup waiting for us to finish all its liquid content and then pluck out the remains of the Khari with our fingers....wow what a yummy memory!
Come evening, our energy was still not ebbed....the whole outdoor activity would start again with the same gusto as in the morning....fathers coming home from work, aunties and mummies out on the road for walks and chit chat, all this were just part of the background for the kiddos who knew and did what they wanted most- Play!
Sixty odd days of this routine for children who were not going anywhere out of town, for others who did not have television or other modern distractions and today I see that nothing in the world could compare to that feeling of freedom and living life without a care.