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Welcoming Winter

Winter it is.. finally. However here in this quiet Western part of India, it hardly comes to stay. Even so, I find myself disliking it more and more. I never was a winter person and have gotten worse over the years. Age is catching up, perhaps.

I go around shutting doors and windows, yet it makes sure to find that one window I forget to shut and comes rushing right in. I find myself shouting at the kids to wear chappals and jackets. I find myself secretly wishing they wouldn’t go down to play. I am reluctant to go down for my evening walk. I have to admit though, that when I do go, I quite like the little nip in the air which is all we can boast of here.

The kids don’t seem to mind the cold at all, don’t seem to even notice it. ‘Was I ever like this?’ I wonder. Like I said I never was a winter person but there are some things about it that I truly loved. Here are a few..

The bonfires

There’s nothing like a North Indian winter to teach you the fantastic camaraderie between a bonfire, roasted peanuts and hot chilie garlic chutney. That sounds just so Chinese – Let me put it this way – Lehsun aur mirch ki chutney. That’s more like it! What a cosy threesome that is! We’d sit around shelling peanuts, eating and chatting for ages by the light of the bonfire. How we loved watching the fire flare up when we threw in a bunch of peanut shells, to be half heartedly reprimanded by our mum or dad.

Makkhan malai

Then there was Lucknow’s own answer to the videshi souffle – the fluffy, frothy, light as air makkhan malai that would melt in your mouth. It was such a Sunday ritual for us. We’d wait for the bhaiyya to come around on lazy mornings. He’d weigh it out and hand it to us in earthenware plates. We’d compare for ages who’d got more, not believing for a moment that 100 gms had to be the same on each plate. One of my more enterprising cousins would shamelessly ask the bhaiyya for an additional dollop and, to the chagrin of the rest of us, he was never disappointed.

The sunshine

And of course there’s the sunshine. Winter in Lucknow came with the warmest sunshine ever. We’d lay out a rug on the grass in our garden and settle down with a book for long hours of lazy reading. The asparagus creeper would be in full bloom and it gave out a sweet sickly scent that seemed to be a huge hit with the flies. They came in hordes and hung around the creeper all through the time it bloomed. Their buzzing had an oddly soporific effect. That and the warm sun would make sure the book fell aside within the hour and we were lulled into the most delicious sleep ever.

And there were other pleasures..

Snuggling into huge heavy cotton quilts with a hot water bottle when temperatures fell.

The thrill of waking up in the morning and wondering whether it was still night. How grown up I felt!

The delicious smell of fog.. quite like that of the first rain showers.

Coming from school and mum handing over freshly ironed still warm clothes to wear. Bliss!

Blowing ‘smoke’ from imaginary cigarettes. We would try for hours to form rings like we’d seen the villain doing in the 70s flicks. The rings never came but the ‘smoke’ was fun enough.

I do miss all of that. Maybe winter wouldn’t be such a bad idea if I stopped trying to shut it out. I’ll go now fish out my woollens, dress up to the T, and go to meet winter in all it’s glory.

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Dreams

I dreamed of you
when I didn’t have you
You came along.. Not one but two..
What a wonderful way for my dream to come true!

Two tiny beings.. Too tiny you were.
I dreamed and prayed for health and strength.

Yet again my dream came true
healthy and strong and amazing you grew.

Few years later it was time for school
You cried and cried till I cried too.
I dreamed of a time when you’d love your school day
My dream got real when you smiled all the way.

Each day I watched my dreams come true
and yet each day I dreamt anew.

A dashing young man, a spirited young lady
Goodness and kindness and happiness definitely.
A doctor, a chef, an actress maybe…
A WWE wrestler? Oh Lord help me!!

I want the moon I want the stars
A bit of the sky also for you..
Most of all I want what you want
for all of your dreams are my dreams too!!

The final day is here folks.. Day 7 at the Write Tribe Festival of Words. The prompt for today is ‘Dreams’. To share the dreams of some very creative people go here..

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People on the playground

I’m obsessivemom remember? So today in search of ‘People’ I go to my favourite playing field – the children’s school… on Sports Day.. and I’ll see what ‘people’ I find. So are you with me folks? This is going to be fun. 

Even as we saunter in.. “Excuse me, please,” says someone and breezes ahead without a backward glance. 

This is a lady in a hurry for she’s the 
Eager-beaver mum
She’s the first to arrive, first to find the best seat. She’s the one who will crane her neck and strain her eye to spot her kid in the crowd. She will wave and blow kisses as soon as she does so and will continue to wave long after the child’s melted away in the sea of uniforms. But hey what’s this pushing at her chair, poking at her feet blocking her view of her darling daughter? 

Move over.. he’s the
Photo-fanatic dad
He is armed with multiple cameras and that’s his tripod. He will set it up with great care (for the tripod not for other parents who are mere obstacles in his photographic journey). Oh he will smile out a perfunctory sorry, for he is a gentleman. But it’s advisable to keep your distance as he tries some fifty camera angles until finally he finds the perfect one. Then he will proceed to video the entire show. Entire! All the while he will issue instructions to the wife to keep clicking stills. He’s not merely clicking pictures, he’s making memories for his dear darling. If she wins the race he’ll pluck out his camera from the tripod and race to the victory stand to zoom in onto that winning smile. It has to be captured in all it’s nuances, right? Aargh… what’s this in front of his camera?

Oooh don’t mess with her for she’s the 
You-gotta-win mum
You’ve got to hand it to her for her focus. She’s here only for that one single race, the one in which her Rohan is running. Once the whistle blows she is in their element. “Come on Rohan.. Come on .. Faster baby..faster… We’ve done faster at home.. No no no.. DO NOT look back.. I TOLD you not to look back EVER.. Eyes at the finish line.. Come on..”. She has the strongest lungs and the loudest claps. Oops Rohan slipped.. “Get up Rohan.. you can still do it,” says she. No matter that it was she who distracted him in the first place, no matter that little Rohan couldn’t care less. No sir.. She’s unstoppable. If Rohan doesn’t win there’s bound to have been foul play. “Didn’t you see the winner started off before the whistle?” Or “The judges didn’t look properly. I SAW Rohan cross the line first. Yes I did.“

“Relax lady will you? I am trying to hold a conversation here,” says the gentleman in the suit. He’s the 
when-will-this-be-over dad
He’s the busy executive always on his iPhone. At the same time he is trying to study some figures on his iPad. He’s probably been dragged there by the kids and his wife. (Lord save him if he has to deal with an eager-beaver mum or worse a you-gotta-win mum). He’ll shut his iPad for a moment when his son’s race comes on. Even as young Vedant runs to the finish line he’s probably thinking..’Gosh I forgot to tell Smriti to send off that fax’. The crowd, the noise don’t much register. However there’s one person who’s really studying the crowd. 

She’s our fashionista mum
She’s impeccably dressed. Her straight dark black hair fall to her shoulders in one shiny wave. As she settles the d&g glares on her head she flashes meticulously applied coral nail paint on her perfectly manicured fingers. Her shoes are Jimmy Choos and her bag is Gucci. A delicate umbrella shields her from the sun. She cannot risk the tan. She scours the crowd rating the men and women. “Blue denims everywhere.. boring, boring! Oooh burgundy trousers.. must get one of those. That fuchsia’s great. But teaming it with black? Nope doesn’t do anything for it, white’s the colour. Yeah fuchsia and white. Ugh.. sneakers.. orange sneakers..”

Don’t balk fashionista mum, meet the 
Super-sporty mum
She’s the one who’ll gladly spend her life in sports shoes and a tee that says ‘I PLAY TO WIN’. She’s the one who cannot wait for the kids’ races to end so that it’s the parents’ turn. Woe be to her if she’s saddled with a when-will-this–be-over dad or even a photo-fanatic dad who doesn’t want to partner her. But she’s a sport right? She doesn’t give up. So she’ll look around asking everyone with a smile you cannot resist .. “will you be my partner,” till she strikes gold. If you partner her make sure you have running shoes on for Boy! can she run!

A confession…
I’d put myself in the eager-beaver mum class.. well I have to be that since The Husband is the quintessential when-will-this-be-over dad. Oh the arguments we have! It’s good for the kids, though. We do manage to even each other out a bit and strike a balance. What kind are you?

It’s Day 6 at the Write Tribe Festival of Words. The prompt for today is ‘People’. For some great takes from Write Tribers go here.

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Five reason why I adore road journeys

That was clicked on the way to Goa

It was only some years back that I discovered the pleasure of road journeys and in these years I’ve done quite a few. Here are my five reasons to go on one if you’ve never done it. And if you have.. well then you know what I’m talking about.. Read on.

1. It’s such an adventure..
There’s
something so relaxed yet adventurous and spontaneous about picking up your car
and driving off without the hassle of ticket bookings and reservations and
catching the flight or train. A few times we’ve even hired a bus or a Tempo Traveller
packing in aunts and uncles and grandparents and kids .. oh it’s been a riot.
2. You don’t need to be too meticulous a packer 
There always is that last minute stuff that
is simply dumped into plastic bags and loaded on. And then there are the kids..
I mean it would be a tad odd to carry a hula hoop and a football while boarding
a flight. But in the car.. everything goes. On our last trip to Goa this is how
the kids made an entry…

That’s my son with the ‘essentials’ and my daughter’s hula hoop
3. You get
amazing glimpses of the countryside
I must have gone on the Pune Mumbai
expressway countless times and am yet to tire of the scenery. Try Pune – Goa.. the hills, the
windmills, the coconut trees… beautiful. Back home in UP.. you get to see fields
stretching on both sides. The highways there, are dotted with villages. Watching people
going to work in the fields or feeding cattle or women and children sitting
outside their huts is so enchanting. Then, there’s always the road. There is
something completely mesmerising about the unending road stretching ahead of you.
Check out this man repairing his roof..
.. or my absolute favourite .. the brick kilns in UP. 

4. There’s the food

If you
travel enough times you get to discover the most mindblowing food joints along
the roadside. There’s this place called Maigalganj (Not Michaelganj!) between Lucknow and Sitapur on the way to Nainital that offers amazing gulabjamuns. When I first
heard of it I was certain it was overrated. I mean no matter how great a gulabjamun
is, it still is just that – a gulabjamun, right? Wrong.. these are truly bliss.. melt in
your mouth soft without being overly sweet. Then there are the sabudana vadas on Mumbai-Pune Highway and the dhabas
between Delhi and Haryana (I was travelling to Kurukshetra) have wonderful paranthas with butter melting on them and lassi glasses as tall as the
cows themselves. (Okay I got carried away.. but you do get the idea, right?)
The famous gulabjamuns
5. It’s a perfect opportunity to bond with family
Do you ever remember spending four or
five or more uninterrupted hours with your family at home? With no TV and no
computer games… oh it’s fun. And if The Husband is at the wheels he doesn’t
even get to open his laptop. Hah! The only catch is that phone. Do a ZNMD and
dunk it out of the car if you can and life will be perfect. Umm …well maybe
not.. okay keep the phone but still it’s just one spoiler you have to tackle.
The journey is often as much fun as the destination itself when you’re on the road. Here’s Ernest Hemingway agreeing with me..
It is
good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the
end.. 
So there!

It’s Day 5 at the Write Tribe Festival of Words. The prompt for today is ‘Travel’. For some great takes from Write Tribers go here..

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Of love and music

There really is something special about garba nights, Ruchi mused. The colours are brighter, the lights
more sparkly and the music…oh there’s no music like garba music. Everyone was on the dance floor. Girls who could move
like a dream, boys with unlimited energy, uncles with two left feet,
oh and those overweight aunties.. gosh how could they
be so beautifully
graceful?
However, she alone stood rooted at the periphery, bound by a
strange self consciousness that refused to leave her ever since she could
remember. Her heart danced to the music, her feet tapped in perfect time but she stood still, soaking in the
atmosphere.
Like each year, soon she was balancing a bunch of bags, clutches,
mobile phones and cameras and clicking pictures for friends and strangers.
She felt a tug at her dupatta and looked down to find Seher, her three
year old daughter. This was her first time at the Navartris and boy, was she
excited! She loved everything about it. Her brand new chaniya choli, her jewellery
and her bright yellow dandiya sticks. But most of all, she loved being the
centre of attraction.
How beautiful she is, marvelled Ruchi, part of me yet so much her
own person, so very different.
“Mama I want to dance,” said Seher
“Go on baby, go and dance,” she said pointing to the dance floor.
“I want to dance with you,” she said.
“Okay darling,” said Ruchi. She found a chair, deposited the bags
and phones and held out her hands clapping to the beat, letting Seher take up
all the moves.
‘No mama,” said she, “not like this, like we dance at home.”
They’d often fooled around in their living room, clapping to the
beats, matching steps, clinking dandiyas. But that was different.
She looked around self consciously then glanced at the small eager
face of her daughter. With an uncertain smile she lifted the dandiya and took a
few tentative steps. She looked around again. No one was watching. She relaxed,
yes she could do this. They were barely visible in the half light at the edge
of the dance floor.
‘Mama let’s dance there,” said Seher, after a few minutes, pointing right to the centre.
“No way,” said Ruchi. “You go on, I’ll clap from here.”
‘But mama everyone is
there, all my friends and yours. Let’s go pleeeeeese. No one can even see us here.”
That’s the point, thought Ruchi silently.
“No baby, mama is tired, you go ahead. Go dance with Amrita Aunty.
Remember how she taught you the steps.”
“But I like the steps you taught me best and I don’t want to go
with Amrita Aunty,” said Seher stubbornly digging in her feet.
Ruchi looked at her, then at that daunting crowd. Oh how she hated
making a fool of herself. Seher tugged at her hand impatiently. “They are
playing our song. Come on ma, it’ll
finish,” she cried, almost in tears.. “Please ma.”
Ruchi sighed. She looked at her daughter. She had to do this. She would do it
and to hell with what who would say.
“Alright,” she said, settling her duaptta. A smile lit up her daughter’s tiny face so bright it blotted out
everything else. She took her ma’s hand and they joined the circle of dancers
right in the middle.
And then they danced.. mother and daughter.. matching steps, forgetting
everything .. celebrating the music and their love.

It’s Day 4 at ‘The Write Tribe Festival of Words’ (8th – 14th December 2013). Today’s prompt is Music. For some super musical entries from Write Tribers go here..

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