Looking back on the decade that was!

#DecadeBlogHop 

 

Looking back is not my thing! I mostly follow a policy of “Mudmud ke NA dekh…” unless of course I’m reversing my car. 🙂

And why is that you may ask.

Simply because I’m useless at matching events and people however important they may have been with the correct dates in the past.

This is probably why History and I were never the best of pals in school days. The million dollar question in History question papers ” In which year did Akbar, Aurangzeb or the rest of the gang do whatever they did?” is always a mystery to me.

I am forever in awe of people who come up and tell me – ‘remember we met so&so on the beach in the summer of 85?’ or ‘remember you tripped and fell on your face in July ’96?’ Yeah! Like I want to remember the latter!

I would no doubt be a prime suspect in a police interrogation where they ask questions like “Where were you on 27th Dec 2014 when so&so thing happened?” I’ll scratch my head, look thoughtful, shuffle my feet and in the process look guilty as hell!

So, with this shady background I have bravely signed up for the Decade BlogHop challenge 2020, where participants reflect on the decade that went by and how it impacted them.

During the last decade I do vaguely remember some major events worth mentioning. Let’s see …… it was the decade of Modi in India, Trump in the US, Virat/Anoushka in Tuscany and Deepika/Ranveer in Lake Como….

However, as major as these events might have been for the world at large, they hardly impacted me on a personal level.

I am going to look back on the one major event that took place in my household.

In the beginning of the last decade my twin sons flew the nest. Together!

Need I say more? But I will. 🙂

The boys moved from Abu Dhabi where we live, back to India for their Higher secondary studies.

And when they left they took with them their playstation, their beloved football and all their other stuff, leaving behind the spick and span house I’d always dreamed of – their bedroom with the neatly folded blankets, the living room with nothing on the floor waiting to trip me up, a kitchen sink without the messy half-finished lunch boxes to wash out!

The last decade saw both of them through their Professional College education, get themselves jobs and move out of hostels to rented apartments in 2 different cities in India.

Through the last 10 years, with each vacation when they came home, we could sense the gradual change in them. They left home as gangly, awkward 14 year old boys to emerge as independent, confident, articulate young men.

Before, it was a case of me talking to them, telling them what, when, how and why to do things. Now it is a pleasure to talk with them, to have real conversations – sometimes just discussions and arguments, other times laced with wit and sarcasm.

Before it was me who comforted, counselled and cared for them. Today they are my go-to guys if I want any advice, suggestions, opinions or simply someone to talk to.

They have their methods.

While one is tactful and couches his words gracefully, the other is candid and tells it as it is!

While one patiently guides me and takes me step-by-step through any technical issues I may have, the other will message a brief “I’ll take a look” followed 5 minutes later with another terse one, “I’ts done.”

It’s amazing how the dynamics of our relationship has evolved in these 10 years.

We’re friends when we want to simply chill out and catch a movie together.

We’re a mutually respectful support system when we want candid reviews or criticism of one another.

And when they creep up and lay their heads on my lap, we’re back to the basics – simply 2 sons and a mother with an overflowing heart!

As I ‘look back on the decade that was’ with all its highs and lows, it is justifiably with a sense of pride, fulfillment and the thought that ‘I got it right!’ 

🙂

“This post is a part of ‘DECADE Blog Hop’ #DecadeHop organised by #RRxMM Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul. The Event is sponsored by Glo and co-sponsored by Beyond The Box, Wedding Clap, The Colaba Store and Sanity Daily in association with authors Piyusha Vir and Richa S Mukherjee”

 

Forgive our Bollywood Stars, for they know not what they do!

I’m sure you’ve heard of Bollywood,
that desi version of Hollywood.

It’s full of superstars and divas
whose lives, from afar, seem such a farce!

No resolution is a good resolution

Oh goodness gracious!

I don’t know where the days are going,
Soon ‘Happy New Year’ will become old and boring!

People no longer send New Year wishes,
the cute little GIFs, the hugs and the kisses.

The New Year banners have come down, so have the balloons,
It’s back to school and work, no more holidays anytime soon.

Friends have finally stopped asking me the million dollar question,
“Do tell us, dear, what is your new year resolution?”

I confess I am a little weary
of their tiresome though well-meaning query,
You see,
I have never really understood this great ‘resolutions’ theory!

All those travel plans and health plans, diet plans and investment plans,
they give me the heebie jeebies and send me into a trance!

This time though whether I like it or not,
I have given the matter some thought.

Should I resolve to
learn cooking, play tennis, go for a morning jog?
or be more sportive and love my neighbor and his nasty little dog?

Should I vow to
lose weight, gain some height, drink  more water?
or count 1 to 10 before I break into my hyena-like laughter!

Maybe I should
take up meditation, control my temper, become a Buddha,
or finally start watching GOT, Hunger Games, Star wars …..
I just want to know which of them has Yoda!

So many resolutions and only 365 days!
I’ll have to hurry up if I want to keep pace.
Oh what a rat race!

But on second thoughts, why should I?
Wouldn’t it be wiser to let sleeping dogs lie?
I shall just relax and watch the minutes rush by
for days and months are like birds, all they do is fly!

And hey presto
very soon once again, it’ll be time for that million dollar question,
“What! Haven’t you made any New Year resolution?”

🙂

 

Namma Kamalamma and the price of onions!

 

Myself Kamalamma from Karnataka, Udupi.

You know nowadays I am thinking to grow vegetables in my house only.

I am telling this to my Mister and he is saying ohoho Kamalamma is becoming farmer or what? Better book one stall in market now only to sit and sell your vegetables!

Really sometimes I am not knowing if he is joking or serious!

But you have seen price of vegetables in market these days? Abbabba! How it is going up and up, like Mangalyaan! Yesterday I am asking price of onion in the market and that vegetable fellow is saying Rs 180/- per kilo!! I am so shocked I am also about to take off like rocket! I am asking him what Anna, you are telling onion price or number of runs Virat Kohli has made in IPL?

What I am telling is, if price of even ordinary vegetables like kanda and batata is going up like this then what ordinary people like us have to do!!

The Mister is telling what rubbish is this, I am crying when buying onions, you are crying when cutting onions, why to buy? Let us wait till price comes down.

But price of vegetables, like Chandrayaan is only going up with no soft landing anywhere!

And really I am not knowing how to live without onion!

To tell the truth Kamalamma is big fan of onions!

Whenever I enter the kitchen I have to see nice pink onions sitting in the basket in the corner. Every morning it seems all women are getting up from bed and thinking what breakfast to make today. But Kamalamma what she is doing? She is first taking 2 – 3 onions from the basket and keeping ready on kitchen platform, then she is thinking what to make.

In our tradition onion is not much used in daily items but I am putting little bit onion in my upma and my uthappa, in my chutney and in my kosambri also. One afternoon my Mister is saying what, no onion in rasam!! Now he is giving me idea, maybe I will put little onion in my tomato saar also. How I did not think of it before?

Sometimes I am getting religious like thoughts and then I am thinking I will not use onion on special days. But what to tell you, I am remembering all good intentions only after the day is over and all onions are nicely sitting in stomach.

And in the evening I am meeting some neighbor friends and we are all talking about this and that, like what our children are doing and what our maids are not doing and like that topic will come to what we cooked for breakfast and lunch and what not. And other ladies are telling oh today ekadashi no, so onionless cooking. And then they are all looking at Kamalamma.

Yebbe! Then I am feeling so guilty, my face you should see, it is pink like one onion only and already eaten onions are doing onion dance inside stomach. Then what to do? Before they ask about my menu of the day I am quickly putting my hand inside my bag and saying loudly, oh phone is ringing, maybe it is my Mister calling, ok bye see you!

And I am moving backwards quickly in full reverse gear.

But now the Mister is saying there is maybe no need to grow onions in the house because Government is importing 2400 tons from Egypt. He will buy 5 – 10 kgs for me it seems when they come into market.

Maybe he is hoping after eating Egypt onions then Kamalamma is becoming beautiful like Cleopatra!

x————————-x

Originally appeared in the Times of India on 5/12/2019.  

Namma Kamalamma gets high on heels!

Myself Kamalamma from Karnataka, Udupi.

These days I am having two or three thoughts in my mind. One of them is – when God is giving something to people He is not simply giving no? He is thinking and giving to each person no? Even when He is giving the inches and cms to the people there is reason behind it no?