Category: marathon bloggers

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It’s a date

Goa beaches are crazily crowded in December. Yet we spotted this young couple
holding hands as they quietly watched the sunset, oblivious to it all. 

Off to Goa yet again for today’s prompt. Can it get better than this? Cool sand beneath your feet, the waves swishing gently, the sun cooling down in all its glory and the sound of laughter all around… it’s beautiful. There’s no place like Goa in the winter.

Of course it’s another matter that we were there with a huge battalion. And that was an altogether a different kind of date, equally unforgettable though.

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We’re on Day 6 of the Marathon Bloggers week long Challenge .‘‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story” and today’s prompt is ‘Date’.



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Tea time poetry

It’s Day 5 at the Marathon Bloggers week long Feb fest, ‘‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story” and today’s prompt is ‘Tea.’


And so dear all.. coming up for today’s prompt is some very cheesy chai poetry :-)).

N learnt to make tea recently and has now been
promoted as my official tea-maker.  You should see
how proud she is, specially since H is the
acknowledged family chef .

Brew it, boil it.. make it any way
no matter how you like it, it’ll brighten your day.

Some like it black, some like it green,
Some like it simply with a dash of cream.

Some like it spicy with ginger and cinnamon
tulsi and mint, peppercorns and cardamom.
This one’s hot and’ll make your eyes all blurry
It does make one wonder is it tea or is it curry?

Orange and vanilla, lemon tea and peach tea
These fruit salad teas are completely beyond me!
Some like in their bouquet, Jasmine and Chamomile
But all of these teas only make me smile.

As for me, the cup that makes my day,
Can be made almost any way.
It may be too weak or it may be too strong,
there are also times when it’s isn’t even warm.
But it has that flavour, the one I like best
It’s the flavour of love that tastes the best.

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Meet Shadow!

It’s Day 4 at the Marathon Bloggers week-long fun Feb Challenge ‘‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story”. 

Today’s prompt is ‘Shadows’. 



However, I am taking the liberty of talking about just one Shadow today, bear with me please.

I might not be much of an animal lover but I come from a family that’s teeming with dog and cat crazy people. People who think their families are incomplete without their pets. You know the type, don’t you? They ..
..flood FB with doggy quotes and pictures.
..allow pets the run of the place.. even on their beds and in their quilts.
..love being licked all over (Yikes!).
..call home scores of time during vacations to ask “Did he eat?” “Is he missing us?” *Eye roll*
..suffix their surnames to the dog’s and insist on addressing him/her as “my baby”!!

You get the drift?

So how do dogs fit the bill for today’s prompt?? Well, for one because they do shadow their owners. My SIL’s pug, for instance, hates being tied up in a separate room when we go visiting (only because I do not gladly offer my feet for a thorough lick). He scratches the door till I feel he’ll break it down.

And secondly because the one dog I’m going to introduce to you guys is called just that. 

Meet Shadow!

Shadow has the fiercest bark and looks as ferocious as they come. But that’s where it ends.. the fierceness! He’s the gentlest soul ever. I am a non-believer remember, so hear out how I got convinced.

He’s gentle to a fault

When my nephew, Y, was a toddler he loved to play with Shadow’s claws, which must have been pretty painful for him (imagine someone trying to tug out your nails) but did he express his displeasure/discomfort? Nope. He would simply back off when he’d see my nephew approaching and would finally find sanctuary under the bed!

O he is possessive! 

Once my sister pretended to whack Y. In a trice Shadow was on the bed with my sister’s hand in his mouth. No biting, mind you.. but boy! was it scary. This for a boy who was trying to pull out his claws! And from a dog who’s by nature as scared as a mouse.

But he’s a scaredy cat

Sample this: He runs out onto the road barking aggressively.. a cow nearby lifts her head.. just lifts her head and he’s back in the house.. tail between his legs!

.. and he’s the baby of the house

My favourite however is how he’d fed. His food is put in his plate and he’s called out ‘Shadow, come for your dinner or Y will eat up your food.” Then my nephew, now 7, runs to his plate and pretends to ‘eat’ his food and Shadow appears magically to claim his plate. This ritual is repeated every single day. Crazy or what??? And I thought we did this only with kids!! Don’t believe me.. look at the picture above – it’s feeding time.
Yeah sometimes, just sometimes, I think dogs might be cute.
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A special link

As soon as a baby makes his or her debut before friends and family the ‘resemblance’ discussion starts. And so it was with H and N. One look at H’s large feet and he was claimed by the Husband’s ‘side’. (at seven, he and I share a shoe size!!). N, was a bit of a mystery. She was definitely not like The Husband and not much like me either, at least that was the family consensus. Finally after much debate she was pronounced to look like my sister.. and that I think was how the first link formed.

The twins adore my sister…

My sister handles masihood brilliantly. She pampers the twins silly – buys them weird and wacky gifts, regularly treats them to ice cream, takes them for walks in the rain and even has the courage to take them to a toy shop and say that magic word ‘choose’.

A special link..

However with N there’s something special. Perhaps because N is a lot like her.. not just in looks but also in her personality. 
– They’re both no food people (Dumping tiffins, passing over breakfast to siblings, not noticing that they haven’t eaten anything for hours on end)
– Hence they’re both thin as sticks (the sister was for a long long time)
– They both like to sleep in weird postures (that, I am not at liberty to elucidate here)
– Both have scant regard for authority (specially mine)
– Both are extremely impatient with my ‘conservative’ ways (yes already)
– And recently when N got braces they were in the exact same teeth my sister had hers (I never needed any)
As N grows up I’ve come to value this connection between them. While the kids are young she’s a fun aunt. When they grow up, I see in her a special confidante who’ll perhaps see their point of view better, because she has the benefit of perspective.
That’s my sister teaching N the essential skill of whistling.. something I’m yet to master.
Linking to Marathon Bloggers for our one week fun fest ‘‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story”. Today’s prompt was ‘Links’.


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F is for all that’s ‘Familiar’

About a year back we invested in a new house. We were super excited because it was twice as large as our current one, was situated right behind the kids’ school and to their complete delight it came with a personal plunge pool in the balcony. Quite a dreamhouse! It is now ready for possession but none of us want to go. Once in a while the kids remember the pool and ask ‘When are we moving?’ but then they happily go back to their friends and forget about it.

Whoever said familiarity breeds contempt pretty much misunderstood the concept. To me, as I believe to a lot of us, familiarity spells comfort and friendship and security.

Though not a true blue extrovert, I have made some good friends. Friends who call me up if they don’t see me around for a few days, who keep my letters safe if I’m not around to receive them, who help me out with every imaginable thing from sharing parenting troubles to accompanying me on coffee dates when I need a breather. (Muah to all you guys)!

I like the smiles I exchange with familiar faces in the elevator every day even though all of them are not my friends.

I like it when the usually surly building guard strikes up a conversation.

I like knowing that four rounds of my apartment building make a kilometre when I take my evening walk  (yeah I’m stuck up like that!).

I like being welcomed by the coolest freshest breeze as soon as I enter our building compound.

I like keeping count of the huge yellow Hibiscus that bloom with great regularity in the garden, even though it isn’t my personal garden.

Most of all I love the street outside my apartment building. Crammed in about half a kilometer are vegetable vendors, a fishmonger, a stationery shop, general merchants, fruit sellers, a cobbler, snack shops, medical stores, a scooter repair shop and even a library. Oh I almost forgot to add.. an auto stand and a bus stop, two tiny temples, a mosque and some small time tailors (who handle fancy dress costumes for the kids and all of my alteration work as I put on and shed weight routinely!!)

And yet it’s not too crowded since we’re almost at a dead end.

Can it get any better? (Umm… still wondering if I missed out anything!)

I like it when I’m greeted by a smile at each of these shops. I enjoy the bits of conversation I exchange. If I miss going to the guava guy, I know he’ll come looking for me to my flat with the right mix of raw and ripe ones just the way we like them (raw ones for The Husband, ripe ones for me).

Apologise for the poor picture quality.. it was clicked in a hurry.
You can see the library flanked by the snack store

Tell me why I should want to move?

And contrary to that saying, familiarity makes my day, everyday!

For more fantastic entries go to  ABC Wednesday. 

Also linking to Marathon Bloggers ‘A story for every picture, a picture for every story’ 
for the prompt ‘Street’

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