ರಕ್ತ ಕಥೆ !

ರಕ್ತ ತುಂಬಿದ ಕೈಯ ಕಂಡು
ಹೆದರಿ ಬೆವರಿ ನಿಂತುಕೊಂಡು
ಮಾಡಲೇನ೦ದು ತೋಚದೆ
ಕುಸಿದು ಜಾರಿ ಬಿದ್ದೆ

ಪಣವ ಗೆಲ್ಲಲು ಹೊರಟು
ಮಾರ್ಗದ ಮಧ್ಯದಲಿ ಬೆರಗಾಗಿ ನಿಂತು
ಒಲ್ಲೆ ಇದ ನಾ ಮಾಡಲೊಲ್ಲೆ
ಎಂದು ಕಿರುಚಿದೆ

ಕೇಳಲು ಕಿವಿ ಇದ್ದರೂ
ಕೇಳಿಸದ೦ತೆ ಮರೆಯಾಗಿವೆ
ಪರಿಚಿತ ಆದರೂ
ಅಪರಿಚತನಾಗಿ ನಿ೦ತಿಹೆ

ವರ್ಷಗಳುರುಡಿ
ಹೊಸ ಎಲೆ ಚಿಗುರಿ
ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ದಿ ನನ್ನರಸಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ
ವೈದ್ಯ ವೃತ್ತಿ ಜೀವನ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದೆ

( ಒಬ್ಬ ವೈದ್ಯನಾಗುವ ಹಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿಯ ವರ್ಣಿಸಲು ಯತಿನಿಸಿರುವೆ )

- ಅಶ್ವಿನಿ

Current Avatar & Tribute to the rest!

[ A home where everyone loves and cares pets is something I have been blessed with. Some incidents I have been hearing for years now of the pets who belonged to our family way before I was born inspired me put down an whole tributed article about them. Every time when the story is told I picturize each of their pranks and deeds.

There was a cat that was brought from the legend of Kannada saahitya " Gopalakrisha Adiga's" house . Do you know what the cat was named as ? - Venkataramana , not a name given in our household, it was the legend himself who had this passion for cats and named it so.

There was a Boxer by name "Ali" . He was one of the best dog at home to this day as per what has been heard of his deeds. Can you imagine a dog bringing an egg from the shop holding in its mouth without causing a single crack. Wow I would want to watch him do that again. He would play with my cousin who was a kid then - the games he played - hide and seek , big ball throw catch and what not. She did not feel the void of being a single child at all . How could one when Ali was around? He would get the milk from the shop when he was sent with a bag and cash. Such a brainy dog - he never returned until the change rendered back was right. He liked the sound of tearing a cloth and by now you can guess what the fate of the saree put up for drying on a wire would have been. Come the season of Mangoes he was happy than the rest. Loved the taste I guess or maybe the way he could gulp it. His name is taken at home even to this day - this shows how much he was loved by all and of course who can forget such an angel.

There were a few more pets that gets a mention once a while : Scissors/Shani - A Dog, a cat that came home even after it was left about a 30 miles away - route perfect it was! More of their stories have been revolving around.

I share my experiences with the ones that have been dear to me and the rest at home. ]

From the farthest memory backup I tried recalling the first pet I have played with. If only I am correct, it should be the cat named Saraswati. I can vaguely from my blurred vision retrieve the coloured patches on its body - Black and White. After her we raised another by name Gouri. It laid kittens and one of them was our favorite Ganesha (of the Golden brown genre). He grew into a super active cat besides being with our lasa epso doggie - Rani. Rani and Ganesha gelled very well and were best of buddies. They slept together at times and that keeps me amused even today, cat with a dog :/ how ?


Gouri and Ganesha






Once when Rani was still a pup of about 9-10 months, it somehow messed with a Monster Dog (Sony), a pet owned by a doctor living next door. Glad she survived the fight with a half torn ear. So ends the story of how Rani had fallen deaf of an ear.She needed a pat on her back when her food was ready or if we needed her attention elsewhere.

Meanwhile Ganesha was happily merrying out with all possible friends, climbing trees, chasing squirrels, playing with the tiny rats. Ganesha was last spotted during the house warming ceremony of our new house. Probably he got scared of the numerous guests pouring in for the celebrations or rather he just did not want to shift his base from his current residence and kindly disappeared.

Rani moved with another uncle since they are pet lovers too and she liked their pampering.

Then came a day when we had to move into our new home in a different locality. No pets kept us gloomy for sometime until we found Kajju(Kajal) . She was a darling angel. Name is a metaphor to describe her black soft coat. Her gurr purr still runs in the house. Kajal is a heroine you know - she acted in a short kannada horror telefilm. Yes cat and its feminity, its cunning look and scary eyes are why probably one show them on a horror scene. She gave birth to many kittys. We did not want any more female cats in the family :0 , so we allowed Beechanna the only son of Kajal to stay back. Besides we took extra precaution of getting Kajju operated at a veternary hospital in order to avoid more kittens from her side.

Beechanna was a majestic cat and his looks were very much masculine. In all cultures, the basic characteristics of manliness include physical prowess, (strength, fitness, and a lack of laziness) courage, and honourable behaviour. He carried them all with him. He also has a witty side , one morning on the pretext of banging the door he locked us all inside the house, only to later get the door unlocked by our milkman. As acting comes in blood they say, Beechanna also got into acting[trait carried forward from his mom Kajju]. ha ha:) He acted in one of the short stories that was brodcasted in Doordarshan about a decade ago. They say that a male cat generally don't stay at the owners place for long. They usually tend to leave at their adolescence. Same was the theory with him. But surprisingly he came back after a month and continued with all the duties he usually performed with no miss. He was a well behaved quiet, timid cat padding to and fro, rubbing its head on objects, licking its tongue, and curling up to sleep after allowing the soot to fall upon it. This routine lasted a few weeks and gone was he forever leaving the memories behind. After a while Kajju came home one day with a large cut on her stomach area . Her aim of catching a mangoose one day left her with some real big cuts - some from the bites of mangoose and some probably when she tried reaching back home safe. Inspite of medication she failed to recover from the cuts. And we were left with no pets again - minds filled with melancholy and despondency .

Diana - one day visitor! After the black beauty we thought of bringing up the white queen and named her rightly "The Princess Diana". One night and that is it, she was unbearble, her screams were so bad that she was united with her mom the very next day.

Next entry was Abby - A black and white dog. Breed am not quite aware of, definitely not a stray neither a groomed one. We had him around for some days and could not handle his shouting,non-friendliness attitude. After trying every possible method known, he laid still crooked and stubborn. That was when we decided of sending him to the home of pets - veternary hospital. Same era a cat named "Munna" trickled into our house. He was simple quiet guest for a month. Did not turn up after his afternoon meal one day. There was yet another dog brown in color and he was there for a day or two. I dont recall if we had ever named him, but he was strong yet not sufficiently happy with us. So had to let him go.

During this period we had our rowdy Gunda who happily nodded to all the orders from its Master - Sis. This cat was a treat to watch do all the fun acts. The cunning wait to catch the mangoose from the neighboring empty plot, its rolls on the sand when the sun is pretty hot, the way he disturbed sis while she was writing to complete her homework. He was so jealous when she would spend more time with her books than with him - as a result he started sitting comfortably on the book that lay in front of her blocking the view. What do you call him - a genious? If I start iterating incidents of the like this blog probably can run pages.

At around same time Dad made some efforts in setting up an aquarium. We had a dozen of fishes swimming to glory - golden fish, blue fish, striped ones , tiger fish and more. Since we were not aware of certain fish facts , we started loosing them one by one ending up with only 2 tiger fishes which lived longer than the rest.However there was this water Turtle "AameRaaya" who joined them in the course of time. He was a handicapped turtle yet swam hard in the little aquarium. After he lost his buddies - the 2 tiger fishes, we tried to releive him from the boredom of loneliness and set him free in a lake at my uncle's place in Koorg.

One day as we returned home from school, we saw a parrot struggling with pain and soon we administered first aid and tried patching it up with some medication. It could not fly as a part of its wing was ripped off. We could not set him off into the free cruel world unless he could safeguard himself. So we bought a cage to keep him away from our cunning Gunda. Luckily Gunda did not mind the parrot being a part of our home.Sis started fly training activities everyday which helped the parrot gain confidence over his wings. After a weeks practice he once went flying, till the tree at the end of the road, came back to only bid a sweet thank you to Sis. He flew away after that, happily chirping a thank you note. We just hope he reached his family secured.


While Gunda was still around, a pup (3 months old) who was a cross breed between a long coat and a pom, joined the family. Naming him was not a deal as he did not respond to any other creepy names like Jhony, Tomy, Scooby. He was named Whisky at his birth place ,thus was used to being called by that name only. Gunda was obviously jealous as his love was getting shared with another pet. He did not like Whisky at all.


There is a saying which goes like this "God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled". No one's an exception in these rules of life and death. Gunda had to face the death which he did not deserve so soon. We miss you Gunda.




After Gunda we did not have cats for a while. Fruity the stray cat somehow made its appearance in the vicinity of our house and a little pampering got him settled down.The memories of him are only of his laziness. No cat can be so lazy,but Fruity could sleep the entire 24 hours available in a day. Not exagerrating here, it was a fact. Even though you forcefully wake him up, the very next second he was back into sleep. Nasheeli in totality.He disappeard all of a sudden leaving no trace behind.Maybe he is still happily


sleeping somewhere.




Whisky was a small pup when he became a part of our family and wanted a companion , so he tried to make friends with Gunda only to be disappointed to see all his efforts going in vain. Whisky had his own ways of expressing love - lick, bark, wag his tail, jump, get onto one's face and bite his/her ear. He did not like the idea of getting tied to one place. Gosh! I remember his reactions on the first day when he was tied with a purple/blue leash. He kept barking, all through the day. When irritated aunt showed him a stick - trying to tame him but he did not give in , only his aggression grew more. Eventually he got used to this painful routine of being tied to one place. We did not want this to happen but since his actions were completely vulnerable, it was a risk for us to have him run around the house and only option was to have him chained. He got all the pampering required - he got his 2 piece chocolate[Munch] every single day. He needed vegetables from the sambar or palya as sides for his curd and milk rice. He enjoyed ice creams - vanilla flavor especially. He rejoiced the maize[the one thats roasted] till the last seed.He performed small acts of sit , sleep , roll and double roll , ending with a namaste and a shake hand.


I cant forget his agressive face, especially when I provoked him to anger. He has ended all of us in the clinic for an anti-tetanus shot. He was active, rather I can say hyper active and his barking was something unusual. One funny thing about Whisky is that he was scared climbing up the stairs, if he did them it would be in the upside down way. He remembered Gunda even after death of Gunda - When we say "Gunda is here" - he would immediately look at the window where Gunda used to come and go. He was fond of his Bath towel so much that inspite of its wear and tear he would suck that, as if he is drinking milk from his mom. He looked so innocent when on this act.


Unfortunately we lost Whisky all of a sudden - in no time to reciprocate to his agony. He died of sudden heart arrest last year.Though he isn't around anymore,there is no day in the past year when we have not taken his name.


With the pain still around, a week after Whisky's demise, while Sis was walking back home, there was this fat female cat sitting in the corner of the road, looking worried. She did come to Sis as soon as she was signalled for. Sis brought her home and gave her some biscuits and milk. That became a routine for "Kenchi" and soon she was home for all her meals. She was pregnant and soon laid 4 cute kittens whom we named - Alpha, beta, Gamma and Delta(Avatar).




We had the four of them run over the house , play to the tunes of new movie songs, fight continuously for hours and of course sleep cutely on the bean bag. Then when their play got to the level of intolerence , we decided to have them reach good owners. So did Alpha , Beta and Gamma move out leaving behind the curiuos of all - Delta the Current Avatar back home. He is the most adventurous among the 4 kittens. After about 3 months Kenchi was again ready for the next batch of kittens and she started keeping herself away from Avatar. He is named Avatar because of his looks, yes he resembles the character in the movie Avatar.


He is one more Cat who is quite active and sharp. His pranks and actions are incredible. He takes the risk of waking my Sis in the morning and ensures that she is awake on time. :0 His body clock is so right that he is ready at 8:45 am sharp, for his share of corn flakes from my breakfast bowl. He loves climbing trees, sitting on the car showing his majestic poise. He has quite a number of friends around but the enemy count probably outshines the former.He knows how to open the main door - points us to the latch when we ask him about it, he knows where his sea food is kept, he waits for our return in the evenings after the days work. His adventures has led him to pain many a time, he had his back severely broken once, when he came back home after a week's trip. He also suffered a month of stomach ailment because of which he lost his appetite.One day he came home with a red, completely swollen eye - a result of fight with one of his enemy. Gods given a gift to these animals that their ailment heal on their own, with time.


Avatar is currently the only pet we have at home and every one adore him so much.
(Note : More Photos will soon follow)



-Ashwini

Retro Bollywood!


It was the theme for a bright Saturday this year,Feb 19th 2011. Where and what was it all about? Coming to describe the whole thing in a word would be synonymous to "DISCO". This opportunity of entirely time zoning back ourselves into the world where bell bottoms, flowered shirts, flowy skirts and headbands of all colors was on a full time high, made the complete crew - Sis , me and 2 cousins go crazy head to toe. Let me explain a bit here for those not getting the fact right. It was Family day celebrations at my Sis's company and we were invited. So what? The tale began when Sis made the announcement a few days ahead of time - "this year everyone is dressing to match the style from a couple of prior decades - Retro". First thought that struck me when she said Retro - the flashy lights and the clothing of the colorful era - 70's n 80's. I was already imagining how funny one would look when dressed in outfits that are a way too different from what normalcy defines in this day. However the news was on for quite some time and we were talking about who will be able make it for the event from home.

The day was right there and Sis was deciding on her outfit. She ended up in 2 final options of which the best that suited her was chosen. As she adorned everything that was set she resembled the legendry Saira Banu.

The hair stylist of our home (Cousin) - ventured to bring in the complete retro effect and what we ended up in was a look from those old movies where the heroines had stunning hairdo, not missing those curls rolling down the cheek. Absolutely crazy! Sis had her outfit ready and the matching shoes to go with it. Further to embellish the White and sea blue dress , we got a white ribbon and a blue lace, topped was a blue flower that accompanied her fluffy hair to give a finishing touch to the fine look. I was not spared either, had a curl dropping on one side , there was a small puffed roll twisted into a slight pompadour. I am proud to have received compliments on that look. Thanks to all !(Usually I dont dress myself up). Dressed in brown and red enhanced the 80's essence in totality. I indeed enjoyed every bit of the era I was born in.

Hair stylist Cousin resoluted to her style of headband with a hawaiian flower onto one side . Her bell sleeved white dress took me directly to the black & white movie scene where a lady walks with style in the garden and stands next to the bush fanning her clutch to get some fresh air. This is an awesome example of how filmy we can get at times.

The last cousin though not keen of all this pomp show (dressing up, applying makeup) usually, was not letting down the spirit of enthusiasm even by a degree. After some initial tantrums eventually she agreed to wear a short kurta and kameez in the defining red. Besides she allowed me to draw the black liner around her eyes. (Thanks to her sweat glands which brought them down soon we alighted at the venue.)

Thus the entire bunch was ready to bang the Bangalore roads and drive right across the city where Sis works.

Curious lots were so thrilled when they got a glance of some funky ladies looking unique from the rest on the roads. We tried to count the number of such wide opened mouths on our way. There comes the parking lot and its time for us to walk down the path leading to campus. The counter cried to run faster than it could as there were so many normal people gazing at these ladies pssing by.

Sis colleagues with true spirits fit into those cosmo kinds of costumes (:0) replicating the cinema icons of the era - Mithun, Amitabh, Govinda and the like. Flashy Blues, pinks, golds and what not - you name the colour and you find it. Truely a scene to be watched and treasured. The cultural celebrations included a few dances, fancy dress for kids, songs by the home band, prize distribution and of course a speech. No corporate function can end without one!

Encouraging dinner comprehended by a scoop of vanilla ice cream , hot jamoon and jelabis filled the craving tummys at the end of the ceremony. A dance floor flooded with enthu employees and a DJ from Bombay rocked the event to closure.

It was a fantastic, fancyful and a pleasurable experience!

- Ashwini

Whats in the name ?

The effect of any Name should never be underestimated. What is in a name, you may wonder? Well, what isn't? The first thing we learn about a person after greeting him/her is his/her name. Names not only reflect our personality but also give us the first inkling of the religion, race or community we belong to. We are named after our ancestors, family members, after popular icons, clan, occupation, religion or even the locality we are from. There is a confusing array of names, surnames, middle names, nicknames, given names that we come across every day. You name it, it is there. We get accustomed to certain names that we have them branded to the particular gender as soon as we hear/read them.

So this incident I pen down here has got me and my colleagues into a mode of surprise. A new team member was to join the team and get onboarded early this month. We had heard the name of the new comer through mails and it was told that this new comer would be soon joining in the lead meetings.

"Harsha Priya" - This was our new team member. At first instance it was easy to get this name associated to a male, while still the "Priya" in the name boosted the percentage of doubt in my mind. Then finally comes the day Harsha Priya was welcomed to the team , the benefit of doubt I had was cleared as this thin lady stood in front of me to greet a smiling hi! Though my mind was going through all these I smiled back to acknowledge the greeting.

A formal introduction to the complete team including the onshore manager was done with an email communication. The mail read like this:

Hi XXX,
I am happy to introduce Harsha Priya who will taking up zzz application from offshore. Harsha has got 3 years working experience in abc platform and has a good onsite exposure.

Regards,
Lead

I loved the response from XXX, this is what it said

Hi Lead,
Is Harsha a he or a she ?????
Thanks

XXX

Oh My! There were days when the Indian names were difficult to be even remembered by the people sitting miles away. But this response from XXX made me dig a little more to only realize that it was not the case anymore. The ones at onshore are able to associate names to gender now. :0 Since Harsha is a common name found for boys and girls XXX indeed wanted to be sure which group Harsha fell into.

We had a meeting today and something more weird struck us all when the lead recited the response he had received from XXX. Harsha talks about her unforgettable experience - her Marriage! The welcome board at the entrance of her marriage hall read like this

"Harsha Priya "
Weds
"Lavanya Kumar"

Wow!! perfect. Now the confusion is even more. Who is the bride and who is the groom? Name has it everything. A passerby is definite to connect Harsha --> Groom and Lavanya --> Bride when its exactly the opposite. Bewildered? So was I and the rest of the team. Half the crew who attended this marriage would have gone through the same degree of amusement.

Certainly Name does have its own Importance and we need to value it. Have you come across such Name-Fun incidents? Please do share.

-Ashwini

One Guy's conversation skills

Taken by a ride with this Guy's wonderful statements. There is a not so tall , not so heavy Guy
in one of the neighboring teams at office. I write this article not to demotivate his learning
abilities , neither to insult his english conversation skills. Fluency is a great deal when it
comes to any new language. What makes one perfect is not the way he/she uses atleast 4 to 5 high vocab words in a sentence. What matters is that the meaning should reach across the table, the listener should be able to grasp what is being communicated. Do we really need "utilize" when a three-letter word, "use", will nicely suffice. "Risible" is a lovely word, but is it worth sending your readers to the dictionary when "laughable" is at hand? Isn't this a good question.

New to corporate world and also new to handling english at the pace today's MNC's are going at,
this Guy was hesitating to even utter a yes or a no.

Literal translations from the mother tongue is a common sight when it comes to those whose study background marks to rural schooling. This was a similar case. Once the team was out in a cafe shop to munch away their evening snacks and a little conversation out there goes this way -

Team mate 1: "Guy ,you need to put on some weight".
Guy : "Yes yes"
Team mate 1: "Eat some good food, it will help you gain weight."
Guy: " Yes I am eating chicken to enlarge my body"

Everyone bursts out laughing and the Guy learns the right usage of the word enlarge.

Next instance:
Team mate 2: "Why is that you go to tirupathi so often ?" To visit the temple ?"
Guy: "sometimes temple I go and sometimes to visit brother"
Team mate 2: "Oh so you and your brother spent the weekend together?"
Guy: "yes only two of us, no lady kid na.."

My goodness if this was not enough to bring you onto the floor, check the one thats below.

Team mate 3 to Team mate 2: "What are you doing?"
Guy comes in between the conversation and teases Team mate 2: "She is rotating around with her boyfriend"

Lol:)

Be what ever it , I should really say his determination has paid off and I appreciate the efforts
he is putting in every day to improvise. From simple yes and no with which he stepped into this
industry he has improved a time 100 . Great going Guy! Please keep entertaining us and I am sure to help you with all the right words. Not boasting about my vocabulary skills here. Trying to help and share with what I know. I am always welcome to critics for correcting me when I am wrong. That helps me learn and share again :)

-Ashwini

Sister Sleep Tale!

What?

When we were growing up, a vacation for us really meant spending the summers at our grand mom's place. Cousins of our age housed up this calmly standing home which is about a 100 years old now. Mornings were spent wisely on all the activities which helped granny in completing her household work at the same time giving all we kids the pleasure of playing the games in a competitive spirit. Calling the end of day only meant in aspiring another tomorrow so that we could prove ourselves better and outshine others in one of those routine games played. By night every muscle would be tired to its 200th % and would crave for some unknown rest at that age. There lies the king size bedding on the floor with a huge blanket to hold us all together in one room. One such night our maternal uncle was home catching up all the missed gossips. Sharing laughter and giggles with him was his entire sibling lady crew. Sis and myself woke up in between on hearing the constant hushes and the short catches of the voice and breath, but only to succumb to the imaginary colorful world of dreams within seconds of our eyelids retraction. Time to wake up, and we did it with no resentment. Sun was right there with a smile on his face, so did the rest at home. Inquisite me could not resist more. I pesterd uncle to tell us what was on?

He described the episode of the night! Do you all know we have a new clock at home? Young kids get so thrilled on hearing the word "New". We were no exception. The yelling came by "Where is the new clock? We want to see......." . Smiling away he pointed at Sis. Some of us understood the intended pun and joined the laughter community while rest needed this explanation before they could sink in the joke.

"You know at 12 in the night Sis was sleeping straight . When it was 3 she was tilted to 90 degree right... and so you go "

Well if this was what she at age 6 what about her at 16?
My college exams were on and Sis was in class 10. Study fever in the air - Only for me. Sis never studied late into night promising to wee hours of gyan and then only to miss even them snoozing away the pink alarm clock. (Yes I admit of having one alarm clock all through my study days and that too a pink one!). Inspite she always brought laurels making us all proud. One such nightly affair - I was all busy preparing some graphs (cannot remember which one, probably for one of those lab records). Suddenly Sis shouts with a raised arm "Present Sir". Shocked was I only to realize it was her dream classes that was going on and there was her name called by the tutor to mark her presence in the class. I simply smiled at the call and got back to my graph business. But I have experienced myself with some of those dream classes - How can I forget the sanskrit slokas I recited years ago! This might be running in the family genes! I have heard Dad educe the way Mom cries in her dreams and Mom in return call forths the way Dad sings his new raagas in his dreamy concert.

On note 3# : A year ago a group of 4 cousins including Sis and me had paid a visit to this
'$!@!' restaurant in one of the busy parts of Bangalore in order to rejoice dishes from Italian cuisine. There goes the order - a few pastas, a lasagne and some momos. Bread accompanied almost everything that was served on the table. I dont recollect if we ever placed an order for soups. That doesn't really matter now. Refreshing our tummies we thought gulping some soda would help our tight stomachs to loosen a bit and digest every damn bit that was going in. Later in the night at home were everyone is fast asleep but I being nocturnal in nature was reading a novel by a local author. There she goes my dear Sis ordering something and shouts "One more". I dont know what "one more" she was expecting, probably the soda I guess. :)

Last night as I walked into the bedroom after watching the daily soap that I have been addicted to, I could feel chillness in air hitting me and thats when I noticed the fan running in the highest speed possible. So I gently lower the speed on the regulator only to hear my Sis utter "Hey dont lower the speed ya. there are mosquitoes around and they are biting me". My immediate response was to put it onto the prior speed and helping myself to the soft pillow on my bed. I was tired not because I had some hard deliverables but because of the travel I accomplish everyday (I will some day explain the hurdles I go through every morning to reach office). On switching of the lights, next thing I remember was that the music on the ipod was on singing ever loved old melodies in a faint tone seconding the lullabies. Just what was required to soothen my stressed body and mind. If you are wondering what the tale here is ? then listen to the next part.

Tonight the episode almost repeated itself except that Sis was not asleep yet. I switched on the fan and the speed was high, Sis asks me to lower the speed. I raise my brow and she asks what ? And in answer I reiterate her lines from previous night. She was taken by surprise and questioned me if she really had said those lines because she did not remember a word of it being uttered by her. So there goes her sleep fantasy number 4.

As earlier said this is probably carried down through genes in the family. I may also be a victim of such tales but need more exploring to jot it down.

- Ashwini

"My Daddy is the Strongest!"

There was this advertisement of cooking oil a few years ago stating " My daddy's strongest". In real my daddy is indeed the strongest. Will let you know how. Read on.

Our house has wooden doors as in almost all Indian homes for the bathrooms and so whats great about it?, one would acclaim. There is nothing great really except for the fact that it goes under this phenomenon of expansion and contraction with the change of seasons.To add the fact that water gets sprinkled on it at times, doors end up making cranky noise each time you open or close them. This was one such ocassion and the door was highly stubborn to get closed inspite of several kicks from either sides. That was when Daddy decided to do some carpentry work. He got the hack saw blade and tried to soften the edge of the door to make the door fit. It was quite a huge deal which the blade couldn't accomplish. So he decides to get a saw with of about half an inch teeth. After some sawing action the door started smoothing and trying to get fixed right. About 15 minutes into this action things worked out fine and now the door locked perfectly fine. Well I did help a bit into this task by rubbing the smoothening paper on the edge to keep the surface tidier and preventing others ofthe sharp cuts in future. - Strong dad indeed!

Into the previous tasks completion there was something new on hand. Dad had broken the tap in the bathroom. I am clueless to date how actually that happened but it did. Probably he landed on it when he slipped during the sawing action. Oh no water was all over . I had a complete bath before the water flow was cut down. Hmmm! So what next? The tap had to be replaced and now dad was onto the plumber job.He got the tools from an old iron trunk kept from ages at home. The kit contains all the things required.Yes you name it and you get it. He found a tap that could replace the broken one. But the tough part was that the screw thread had gone for a toss. We had to get that removed first. As usual I ventured in for some help. We had brilliant ideas on hand -
i) The lit candle to heat the screw to make it easy for removal of the broken screw still clinging on to the wall.
ii) The knife to cut out the screw as if peeling the skin out of the papaya.
iii) (This one's the best - not sure how this idea ever popped up in dad's crazy brain.) An acid glue to burn out the plastic screw ring by dissolving it.

After all ideas tried out I just pulled out the residual screw ring with my hand all of ease. Proud dad said all his ideas worked perfectly right and so I could remove it easily. True Dad, think it worked absolutely right!- Just the way we needed it to.

You know something Dad can be a wonderful electrical technician too. This was one of those festive days last year. Ganesh Chathurthi delicacies preparation was full time high. The idol was placed and we go with the hitech celbrations. This time we had the vedio CD as an aid to help us perform the rituals correctly. So sis goes to plug her laptop adaptor and there is a loud shriek " Aaaaaaa........" Pat she throws the adaptor and swithces off the power. God! the wiring was wrong! Yes that was Dad at work on the switchborad the previous week. Of course he had warned us to check it out before we plug in something and it was her fault of not following his advise. To fact it out dad does the power work actually great. This was just an exception. A powerful Dad he is!

You want to know something more crazy. Dad can become monkey.:- ) ha ha ha!! He climbs the tree to cut the branches down to avoid them reaching the power wires. He does this act so easily, Mom and I go murmering all the while asking him to be careful because we feel it is one of the risky acts he performs.

Oh goodness! no matter what he does, My Daddy is the strongest!

- Ashwini

Conked up!



In the best of my outfits I was ready early one morning and walked out of my room with some files in my hand. Curious mom could not hold her questions anymore , so she blurps them out " Whats going on? Where are you heading to?". I gave her the details of the meeting I was going to attend in a couple of hours and as I headed to pull out my bike the bowl of cereals on the table invited me for breakfast. Yes was on my way for an important meeting and I was getting late. So hurriedly I gulped the healthy cornfakes that I claim to be doing good for my health and set off for the day on my Activa Honda.



When I was riding my bike I sensed the vibration and realised that my phone was ringing. I stop at a curb (wondering how the hell I could find a curb on bangalore roads - remember I set off early that morning , traffic still not heaped up! and the pavement hawkers still not ready for the day!). I See an unknown number flashing on my cell phone. Not recognising the caller, I gently answer "hello Its [me]! who is it on the other end?" A sweet voiced lady starts with her well trained lines "Mam, this is Preeti calling from [XYZ] bank and we are offering you a free lifetime ..." Oh bull shit! It was one of those credit card or personal bank loans call representative who was calling to promote the new offer they had launched with. I have asked them to delete my number from their database every time they call me but I end up getting their calls every alternate day. I doubt their database imaging and refreshing happens in the meantime and my number reappears the following day after its deletion. Else why would I get these repetitive calls ? Am I the only one eligible for such an offer? I simply deny and end the converation by saying " Thank you Preeti or whosoever. I dont require any card". Unsatisfied she was trying to extract more information but I end the call and got back into the zooming mode.



Upon reaching the destination for the meet I turn the phone into silent mode to get rid of the likely inappropriate calls. I am in the middle of talk with the company's VP and I sense the vibrator on my phone turn on. I was almost done with the meet as it went grrr! grrr!. I took my leave from there and as I walked out I remove the phone from my handbag to check on who's calling?? For be those advertising company then probably I would not even think of answering. But I saw a caller name flash this time. It was from my uncles' landline number. I received to find out whats the matter - this time it was my cousin bro on the calling end!



After a simple "hi - hi " I ask him whats the matter ? Poor chap got so scared and said sorry if he had disturbed me. He actually needed some technical help in analysing why his computer behaved so unruly at the first place, and secondly he wanted to let me know that his computer is really acting weird on boot up and it does not allow to execute any simple thread on it. With that little talk of over 2 minutes what I understood from his shreaky voice was that this Big system at his place was virus attacked and it needed a cleaning - Format. So as a piece of advice I asked him to be away from handling it for the day and assured him that the system would be doing fine , nothing to worry about it. I said I would come home and check if I could be of any help, else will give you details of whats gone wrong and whom to approach. Think he was still confused as his replies were short err.. emmm ..yess .. okay.. thanks. I got into this thinking mode of whether I am spurting out any spanish or latin.



As I end the call I hear a dark fat old lady call my name for the next presentation. It was 20 min past noon when I checked hands on the clock after the presentation completed with a Thank you slide. Time to leave thought I. Left the room and as I go back home I see the Caller ID flash again with my uncle's landline number. This time not surprised I answer "Yes tell me Bro...". He replies " Hey dont tell mom and dad that I called you home okay. If they come to know , they would think I am the one who got the computer to its current state ". I go bursting into short giggles " Dont worry ! I would pretend to have come for something else okay. No one would get to know that you've called me home". He sighed his fear off.



So we go (Sis and me) to check what we could best do to get this conked up system to right and working condition as before. When we reached their place in the other part of the city we acted so well [could possibly get nominated for Oscars: - )]. Casually asked bro about why he is not commenting on any of the recent photos I uploaded. He says with a sheepish smile on his face "Hey dont know my system is acting a little abnormal. Can you please check what the heck is going on with it ?" . That was the cue for our act to start. We turned towards the computer room and there we go booting it up. It was hilarious to see what popped up on booting. The words read something like - "Your system has been hacked ! you will not be able to run any of the system related services" (something close to this was up as a screen saver.) There was some virus routine which called itself to be run every 2 minutes - I vaguely remember its name say system block or something similar to it. We did not carry any Software CD's , also we did not have any OS boot up CD in order to format the C drive which was screwed. There is a guy who had helped bro once when the system had to be formatted before, so I asked bro to get the system formatted again seeking help from the same guy and assured everything will be fine on doing so. Upon format asked bro to use internet only after installing an antivirus software thats up to date - as a preventive measure.


A little snack at their place and off we are set on the journey back home.


Its been a week now but everytime I get a call on my cell phone I remember the conking machine at my Bro's place and the funny lines it threw across. :)


- Ashwini


Mom is Mom <----------> Sis is Sis

While I lay on the sofa that evening at 4, was getting bored and not knowing what to do, slowly got into surly mode. Its the time I usually spend cheering up myself with some chatpata foodie (some new innovative recepie that I try) and a glass of milk(a little freshly brewed coffee drops added to bring in that tinkling flavour). But I felt a little grumpy and didn't feel fresh even after the usual caffeine dosage. I blamed it on the weather for making me get into this sulking mood.

Thunk thunk and thunk! Best I could do - unwind some of the best moments of Sis and Mom. Go ahead and explore..

Mom's usual reaction (rather the intial reaction) for anything and everthying will be a "NO" or a Negation. Sis has this inbuilt habit of irritiating mom in almost all the interactions she has with her. For instance when sis removes a glass tumbler from her crockery stand instead of the steel tumbler from the good old indian rack of untensils in the kitchen for a mocktail fruitpunch drink. Pat comes a squeak without a second pause " Hey why are you taking that glass out? cant you use the steel one instead?......" Sis pretends as if she isn't hearing anything and then the rewind button goes pressed. The record plays itself again and by this time Sis is all ready to sip her drink away. Mom mutters something to herself ,am sure its nothing but a helpless gesture. I enjoy these sequences quite a bit, though I feel sad for mom being targetted. Thats the actual punch. I know she enjoys it as well! Don't you mom?

The daily morning's wake ups,as I have already mentioned earlier, is a pain in the ass for both sis and myself. But once she started working in a firm that needs her presence at 8 am (Yeah! at desk by 8 am - which means she need to leave by early 7am ) she has to be up by 6:15 am max. And you might already be guessing how hard it is for her to do this 5 days a week. Upon this she is up late till about 12 or 1 in the night - working hard to meet unrealistic deadlines set by the supervisors else trying to keep her social accounts alive. Wondering how does Mom fit into this routine? Well she is the gutsy one who dare to wake her little daughter every morning :-) Very true I dont want to try this task any day as I know what I would end up with. hahaha!

Imagine a spendthrift Sis going on a really wild shopping spree. OOOOh! Myyyyyy! GooooooooooD! she comes home with half a dozen tops. Mom's reaction - a wild grin but it truely is of sarcasm. "What do you do with ones in the cupboard? No place for anymore clothes......" her comments end there. Sis says with her cool "All the old ones don't fit me anymore. Please give them away to the ones in need and I will make place for these new ones". The conversation ends at this. I am a mute spectator having fun.

When Sis is not in her mood she does not move a thing even an inch. I dont know why mom picks such wonderful timing to get something done from sis even after her rejection. Mom insists and sis rejects.


Sis : Why do I need to do?
Mom : Why not ?
Sis : No mood amma
Mom : Its okay do it for today only.
Sis( reluctantly accepts) : Okay only today. - - -> some cases end this way.

Sis : No amma I cant do it today , will do tomorrow.
Mom(with anger) : Okay I will only do it. - - -> some cases end this way.

Me( both ways smile) : he he he

Fact to note : When sis is in a good mood she accepts and does all that is asked for. But finding her in the good mood is a challenge in itself.: - )


Comment or compliment!
Wow the best compliment ever given by amma on Sis dress is when she wore a salwar kameez and walked down the aisle - " This dress seems to look good." Fine that is to be considered something great for the standard of commenting she has gotten in her. All tops either is short or tight or the cut does not suit, the sleeves are very high, the neckline not good, Gosh! this list never ends. Or if she finds something okay there is just a nod of head no compliments follow. But that one compliment made me and sis both laugh the hell out of us.

If I gonna continue with more samples of such events there is more chances of me getting shoe-ed away. So I better stop with this for now and revisit when either of them remind me of this post in future!

Schoolhouse in the nature~ Fiction

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