Ma's THE word! :)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and ideas flock together while penning down my thoughts on one of my most favorite people. The pen ceases to stop..so here I go. I don't think I have ever penned down a write up on Mom after the mandatory essay on My Mother back in grade 1 :). I honestly don't believe in the concept of a single day dedicated to your loved ones. They are always cherishable no matter what. But well, if it leads me to write something on my Mom, then why not. And I bet Ma will probably faint if she reads this. Some things are better left unsaid; they can be felt magically and so is my appreciation and love for Ma.

Ma's been a teacher to me and many others during my formative years. Initially she was very strict but over the years, our roles reversed. I don't blame her as I honestly was a brat to deal with. Currently, there's not a time when she doesn't take my advice.The aspect which I like the most about her is her straightforwardness. Me and Ma share a very open relationship. She never did impose any rules on me and gave me the licence to explore. During testing times, her apprehensions were genuine and her faith undeterred. I still remember her advice, " Babu (as she lovingly calls me), things take a turn for good. Take life as it comes and surprises are sure to spring up later. We trust you wholeheartedly,so just go ahead and don't give a damn about what others think." And so I did and life's assembled from an unsolved puzzle (a few years back) to a complete design. Although how I wish my thesis project becomes a complete design in a jiffy!

My love for reading and books is all due to her. And Dad takes the credit for my writing interests. A fabulous cook and the palak paneer made by her is out of the world. :) The extent to which you miss something manifests only when you are away from it;and Ma's dishes are certainly no exception to the rule. I recently passed my quals and called home only to find Ma waiting besides the phone. And the first thing she said was, " I wish I could come there Babu. Had it been closer, I would have come right away!" One rarely finds such affection elsewhere.

Ma and Aunty! :)

Mom's are the one of the most selfless creations. I fought with her, argued endlessly and might have offended her at times but her patience and unconditional love are unfaltering. Moms are indeed made up of a different mould and occupy a very special niche in this world.

Another person who holds the same esteem as my mom is Aunty. Our neighbour since the past 26 years, we couldn't have asked for a better person and family. Aunty never fails to call me on my birthday and send me her awesome chutneys and rice ladoos in the parcel. Aunty's just like my second Mom. The one who could coax me into taking the most horrible syrups, the one who actually took the vaccine for visiting me at the hospital; Aunty's done it all. Some relations are undefined and ours is one such one.

So here's wishing all Mommies a very happy Mother's day! As I said, every day is truly a mothers day.

I would like to fondly conclude with a quote:

'My life without you is never humdrum
There are no conditions of love from you, my Mom'

Randomness..

So..the last two weeks ended in a jiffy thanks to busy schedules and lovely visitors..the shopping deserves a mention too! Anyway am back on the blogging circuit! In this 'happening' world, one tends to lose track of what to focus on and what to ignore. I had initially planned on writing about the 'unethical part of the so called ethical research'. And the concept sneaked in from one of my currents reads : The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks' by Rebecca Skloot. A page turner to the core, Skloot wove the facts as a master storyteller. The conscience debates started almost instantaneously. But this will have to wait as am on the final pages. So stay tuned in for that.

Last few weeks have involved a lot of planning...some productive and some not. Thankfully the one which eventually worked out is the one for Mom and Dad. And thanks to that, they are currently en route a vacation in the pristine villages at the foothills of the Himalayas at Uttaranchal. The only tricky thing was to keep Mom completely unaware of it and as luck would have it, she still doesn't know about it! I just received an email from Dad saying that they are en route and Mom still thinks that they are heading to Assam. She repeatedly mentioned that she is looking forward to get a Mekhla sari ( a traditional Assamese silk) for me :). I expected her to get a hint of it atleast while checking the tickets but looks like for once; my idea of a surprise worked! The outing couldn't have been at a better time considering Sunday is Mother's Day. Am waiting for the updates in terms of the detailed reactions soon.

Well, there's loads of unfinished write ups..some nearing the conclusive mark and some not quite there yet...thanks to my classic procrastination skills.

Hopefully, should wrap those up and upload a copy here soon!

Till then..adios

The 'Mumbai'an essence

The royal necklace 

Any video on Fb is bound to go viral and I recently came across the one titled 'Shit Mumbaikars say'. Filled with epic lingos as well some fake ones, it was quite an interesting watch.  Bomabayites are extreme loyalists and obviously am no exception to the rule. Most of my friends call me the pseudo Bong as I apparently don't fall into their perception of a 'conventional Bengali' as they put it. And my favourite comeback is, 'Thank God I grew up in Bombay as I dare not think of any other place as home!' It's the city which moulds you and shapes the distinct mindset.Majority of the junta generally associate Bombay with glamour and the finance boom but there's so much to the city beyond that. Three years away from it made me realize that the most trivial things makes one yearn for the warmth and coziness of home. On numerous occassions, I have thought about penning my thoughts about maximum city which I love to the max, but just didn't get to doing it.

Anyway, here are the things which I definitely miss out on in a completely random order..

1) Colaba causeway shopping sprees and classic bargaining
2) K rustom ice creams
3) Marine drive soul searching and ofcoure the people watching sessions
4) Queen's during the rains
5) the kiddies at Akanksha volunteering sessions
6) Walnut brownies at Theos
7) coffee sessions at Barista's
8) re-inventing random games with Crystal green gang- right from bakery bakery, corner corner and king kong..the list's endless ofcourse.
9) the 7 30 pm deadline when I called Ma in anticipation of a playtime extension and all the Aunties peered out of their balconies
10)Auntie's awesome Southie delicacies at the most unexpected as well as expected times :)
11) the cycling trips to the apparently haunted house during vacations and mapping the treasure hunt route
12) getting drenched in the first rains and the awesome khichuri-ilish mach bhaja accompanying it.
13) the Sunday multicourse fare
14) Monday sessions with Anks and Mashi- both of whom I miss loads..apparently first of the few Bong friend with whom I get along
15) Dabelis at every street corner
16) Mumbai locals and the awesome travel group which came as an accompaniment.
17) phone tag a.k.a missed call and gossip sessions
18) the fact that every shopkeeper addresses you as 'baby' as if it's an established fact!
19) Prithvi outings
20) Discarding my daily dose of Bournvita off the 6th floor balcony ( trust me this could be another write up in itself)
21) Potato shells and closed pizza of Open windows fame
22) the building toh right mei girega kinda GPS directions :P
23) dance rehearsals
24) Classes at Shahana's where I excelled in singing a song in another's tune
25) nallis!!
26) Candies
27) the priceless look on the men's faces when the ladies local arrives
28) Brush of the wind at door of the speeding train

Phew that's quite a brainstorming session..will add more as they come up! Till then adios :)

Miniscule spurts of creativity

Back back back after a windy detour!! "Life after quals is rosy"- as my friend put it. On a rather candid note, the stretchy prep time deprived me of this instant high :). But yes, am making no qualms about basking in the warmth of fleeting moments of glory.

I have an achievable checklist of stuff which I had vowed to delve into in the post-exam phase. And foremost of that is splashing colours on a crisp sheet of drawing paper. Sure enough, a trip to the craft store took care of that and I am reliving my painting days as I write this! 2B-4B pencils, charcoal strips, multitude of shades of primaries mingling into secondaries on the palette with sparkles serving as the icing - fun times indeed! 2 hours of frolicking with colors lead to a new artistic creation. I hope I can recreate my touch with the current landscape am attempting. Next on the list are blade painting and some funky glass paints for the candles!

Next in line is the Ladakh travelogue. Procrastination really got the better of me with this one. The memoirs of the blissfully rugged environs definitely deserve to be penned down. Stay tuned in for that :)

And last but not the least, is my sincere attempt is to bank upon my bong origins and learn some awesome desserts. With the reputation of not being too graceful in my culinary endeavours, this specific aim might need a couple of attempts to reach the desired level of significance! Sorry, but the grad student in me had to chip in ;)

Glad that my current priorities extend slightly beyond getting an experiment to work (limited margins though)!! :) 

Random thoughts

It's been a while since my trip to Canada and post-vacation blues have finally decided to cease.

As a part of post-vacation resolution, I decided to devote sometime to nurture my hobbies everyday be it writing or narrations. While working on a narration for an informal gathering, I came across a website with Tagore's lyrics in English which were a God sent.

Immediately, I found myself sifting through a plethora of lovely lyrics. It reminded me of how Dad used to convert the bengali lyrics to english and Mom would simultaneously explain me the meaning of every word. Tagore was sheer genius.I think that he has penned down a song for every event in our life..however random it might be. Now that I understand it in it's true sense,I just appreciate the culture even more! It's such a pleasure to narrate his poems. The song 'Purano shei diner Kotha' is immortal in itself.

It's due to those early associations with Shahana (the cultural center) that really instilled a lot about the rich culture. Be it the dance rehearsals or the singing classes..those days are cherishable. When I hear about my friends meeting up for upcoming dance rehearsals, I can't help but feel jealous. I intend to read some Tagore plays and Ray's novels soon not to mention self-teach myself some new songs!Hopefully this resolution will stand the test of time ;)

Next on the hit list of my hobbies is writing, something which I love but haven't been able to delve into recently. I happened to listen to this amazing talk on listening and visual skills where in the speaker mentions that we listen and absorb barely a quarter of what's going on in our surroundings. The same goes with the visual senses too. And obviously I am no exception. There are so many wonderful thoughts which we miss out on. So my next seemingly accomplishable aim is to write about something novel daily..however trivial it might be..for sure an archive would be fabulous to resort to later..

I would like to conclude this arbit post with the first song on which I danced as a kid and learnt it in due course.It's by one of my favorite singers Srikanta and depicts the beautiful conversation between kids and fireflies :)

Anticipations galore

The word 'anticipation' has numerous interpretations.But in the current context, there are just optimistic thoughts and nothing else. Happened to talk to my parents today morning before their trip to Canada and the excitement was palpable. This would be my mom's first international trip and she was as inquisitive as when I was a kid. She in fact snubbed my dad and said, " ask her (a.k.a me) everything..she knows it right!".And the questions refused to cease.

It's been a while since I took a long vacation and I am definitely looking forward to it more than anything else. If not a trip to India, at least people who really matter will be here :) Planning every minute of the trip be it the flight combos or bullying them into extending their stay was completely worth it.

My mom jokingly asked me..so u got us gifts eh? And I casually retorted..We'll see. Am waiting to surprise them with the goodies soon :)

And thus there's anticipation in every thought..Am counting the days and can't wait to pack my bags n hop on the flight.. More on the travel memoirs later!

The Tinkle legacy

The morning brought about mixed emotions today. As I stared at NDTV while sipping hot chocolate, the news of Anant Pai's (popularly known as Uncle Pai) demise took time to sink in. Amidst Gaddafi hogging the limelight, I was glad that the news featuring Uncle Pai gained precedence over the disgraced leader.It's a couple of hours of incubation and I thought it would be best to pen down my experiences about a person whom I value so much.

The brainchild of Uncle Pai...ACK's and Tinkle defined my childhood days.The visuals from Akbar Birbal and the twin monsters brought back fond memories. They were the best reads and the fav choice for bedtime stories. Summer vacations way back in school involved long train journeys to Calcutta and I could be easily bribed with tonnes of Tinkles and ACK's much to the delight of my parents. Guess I have every single volume stacked on my shelf till date :)

I vividly remember the plays we enacted ...and the animated reading sessions ranging from the hilarious Gopal the jester to the jataka tales...

These books were an integral part of my formative years and words fail me when I try to explain their importance!I attribute my minuscule knowledge of Indian mythology to ACK .

The *twinkle* of Tinkle is no more but I hope that there is an 'Amar' to carry on the legacy!

RIP Uncle Pai..you will be missed loads!