Ee Nanna Manavu Uyyaleyaagi Toogide...

I don't know why I'm humming this song suddenly today but that really seems to be the case, in more ways than one. There are some undercurrents of joy, don't know why. Work is as usual, quite relaxed though, and once in a while someone or the other comes and flatters me and gets his work done. Today a junior quit and for some reason, thanked me in his farewell mail quite unreasonably. Really had to dig deep to figure out if I did any help worth mentioning but couldn't find any. But such mails will surely make me all nice and helpful to some more people, I'm sure.

On the other hand, my husband seems to be having a real tough job on his hands, leading a huge team and having too many issues to battle. His working hours are about to touch 15(!!) and I wonder how he can go on like that, day in and day out. If I was in his place...I would've bunked a day at least!!

A glorious match between Federer and Djokovic today. I'm a fan of neither(Nadal is my favourite) and may be because of that I was able to enjoy the match with the right frame of mind. Djokovic seemed very irritated with the way he was playing and in the end, seemed eager to finish it all. I think Murray will win the other one and I want him to win the title too. I mean, enough Federer has had so far ,though the only good thing about his winning the title may be that he may retire after that. But you never know, if our Tendulkar has given him any tips about going on and on and on...

Sometimes I feel I watch sports only for players and not for the game per se. I mean, now that Dravid has retired, I'm forced to believe that I enjoyed cricket these 20 years all because he was playing and I've retired from the game along with him. He is a gem, isn't he?

And now, Murray has become the first British male to play in Wimbledon finals in 76 years!! Must be a great feeling and also a lot of expectations to watch out for on Sunday!

Split Ends

My mother cut my hair last week and accidentally cut it more than what we wanted to. No problem though as it gives me freedom from split ends and also to leave my hair open occasionally, at least at home. Contrary to all the popular myth that I heard, my hair is as thick as ever even after two children; my maid had warned me that I would lose my hair the moment my daughter started smiling! I think that belief must've stemmed from the fact that post-delivery diet was not great in her generation and it would start showing on the hair by the time the baby got a month old.

One of my friends is on the verge of a divorce and she's asked me to counsel her husband in her defense.The first reaction from my husband was one of dismissal of my persuasive powers which I don't claim to have either. But I'm going to try nevertheless just to give some support to my friend who I know has struggled a lot in her life. Actually, before 10 years I didn't know anybody who had had a divorce but now I've seen quite a few though in every one of those cases, I've known only the lady involved. The problems this side are mostly similar - interfering and demanding in-laws, insensitive, jealous and at times even cruel, husband. Though most of the times I feel I would've done the same thing myself, there are occasions I've felt that ladies are giving up too easily. I don't know what a guy's viewpoint is in this entire affair and I wonder why they become so unreasonable with a struggling partner whose life today is so much tougher in all the aspects - working in the office, managing child/children who as a generation are quite demanding and managing the household affairs too.

Bangalore has been very windy throughout this week and may be some of it has swept the clouds off the sky so we've hardly had our share of rain this season. But it's a pleasure to walk to the office in this weather and I enjoy all the 20 minutes of it, especially the one around the lake which has been sparkling these days. Cute little ducks chase each other while a fountain splashes water all around and though I'm sweating by the time I reach office, I'm happy.

Theatre Bound....

Went to watch a collection of plays by O Henry done by a team of our guys. Couldn't finish all of them but whatever I saw was pretty good. Actually it was my first brush with English plays and I wasn't really sure if they could keep me interested throughout but I came back quite happy. May be it's good that the director chose simple stories. But though they weren't exactly similar, I found them predictable and that took some excitement off for me. Actually I was reminded even of Raincoat by Rituparno Ghosh though it's not exactly the same. I think the underlying theme is similar though I can't define it.

On the way back from the college where the plays were shown, I was all alone in an auto and though that in itself is not a cause of concern for me, I got into some jittery moments. S called me up to check how I was going and I said there was no problem. But my mobilephone got switched off the moment I stepped out of the college and when I boarded the auto and the driver talked of taking a different route, I was regretting telling S that I was going to be fine. I don't know where the fear stemmed from, may be it was because I didn't know anything about the place I was in, whether it was the new route or the standard one. So I was eagerly looking outside for any signs of familiarity among the billboards and I think the driver caught that look too. Suddenly he stopped at the side somewhere and asked me if I knew the road we were going to take next. I was a bit more nervous by now but I told him the truth; I didn't. He didn't say anything more and my nerves calmed down only when we burst into the main road of Marathalli. I think the driver read my mind plain enough; he even chided me that now I seem to be on familiar track and later told me people were becoming very skeptical of taking shortcuts these days. Anyway, by then I was on my turf and I could wholeheartedly nod my head.

I miss the days of Neenasam, the excitement of days preceding the shows and of seeing the pamphlets stacked up for distribution and visiting the Ajjibettu stage being prepared specially for it, of seeing some of the artistes beforehand, sitting in the front rows, the light and the sound, the drama of the stage and on it and everything. I hope I can be on the stage too someday.

Sound of Music

Back to business after a hectic weekend in Dharwad. The reception went off very well and I got to meet my uncles, aunts and cousins and one of them after more than 20 years. I wasn't very sure how it would be because last time we met, we weren't on an equal footing, at least as far as I was concerned. Vedakka, Vidyakka, Sujatakka and Shashi were always viewed with due reverence by me owing to their polished ways and their mastery over English. I was always a curious listener to their conversations but it was most of the times a struggle to follow their quick dialogues and they even had some code language! So now after such a long time when I met her, I didn't know what she would say or what I could. But it went off really well, she said I was as thin as ever and how I used to prance about in my childhood(really??) and then we talked a lot about our families and she was really nice, I must say. I couldn't meet her husband and son and I guess if I ever do, it will be 10 years later, when my another cousin gets married!!

When my sister and myself were small, our father had brought home a cassette which had children's songs sung by Soumya Rao and Sunil along with their mother BK Sumitra. I used to sing some of them(suprisingly I still remember the lyrics well) for my son and seeing that he liked them, I searched for them on the net and I got the entire set online! Now, my children are hooked to them too and just like my sister and I, they too sit in front of them, eagerly listening to them everyday and even my daughter prompts me when I start off with a song!

My daughter is growing naughtier and even haughtier(!) by the day and it takes all my meagre energy leftover from work to keep her happy. She has become quarrelsome too and she and her brother have regular fights these days.

Swimming Along...

My son has finally learnt swimming! All the coaxing, cajoling, tears and sunburns has finally paid off. Now he's hooked to it and four hours of every weekend are dedicated to it. I went to watch him the other day and felt a strong urge to jump in myself. It's been exactly ten years since I swam last but I don't think I've forgotten how to. I have my swimming costume intact and only thing is if I should and can jump in when there are ten men around in that not-so-big space. I saw only one lady that day and she didn't seem to move anywhere beyond the diameter of a foot. What fun is that? I think may be I'll try sometime early in the morning. But then it'll have to be before the rainy season starts. So many parameters!

We went to Max last Sunday and my son won a prize in aiming and throwing the ball. I think I was happier than him because it was the first time he won a prize and I could see some sense of achievement on his face. I hope he wins many more because it'll give some motivation and occupation to his restless mind.

Missed Opportunities...

I hate people who give missed calls. There are quite a few among our relatives and some among the friends too. I mean, I can understand if the person has a shortage of money at that point of time and so you get missed calls once in a while. But what about people who do that on a regular basis and laugh about it?

One of my uncles(aunt's husband) is one such person. He has so many skills - can fix up wood, electrical stuff and almost everything, is a good orator, the best chess player in our circle - but it seems he lacked the skill he needed the most - working hard to make some money. He neglected his arecanut plantation in his youth and is now dependent mostly on his second son not being on good terms with his eldest.

I don't know what to say - his eldest son is a decent artist. He was very interested in taking it up as a profession and the first day of my visit to their house was always spent in their attic where he had set up his world - full of paintings, posters and stereos and other smaller electronic items that he had assembled himself. He even used to make some sort of animated movies for us for which the ticket would be some cashewnuts! I mean, it was something to be so advanced 30 years ago in that remote village. Anyhow, he was not good at studies and wanted to go and join J J Arts in Mumbai. I think he did go to Mumbai but couldn't get admission or something, so he came back. Next few years of his life are not very clear to me and all I know now is that he has set up an electrical shop and looks after that while doing some painting of people's houses and temples and neglecting his plantation just like his father.

His second son's is even worse story. He was an intelligent boy, could play chess very well, sing very well and draw decently too. His uncle who has a small industry in Bangalore had promised to take him under his wings if he scored well in twelfth but my cousin missed that, but finally joined a decent engineering college.He used to write letters regularly to my mother from there and some of the Sankranti cards that he sent had beautifully written Kannada poems in them. I still remember some lines of them! When he wrote that he had joined music classes there, he had joked that he was learning everything except his subjects. Unfortunately he seemed to have really done that and he couldn't clear some of his papers. So today he's working in a place totally unworthy of his talents and it's a sad thing to happen to one of my childhood idols who taught me the meanings of many songs that I used to sing mindlessly and all wrong.

Wedding Bells...

Wedding bells are going to ring in my aunt's home soon and she being the dearest to one and all in the family, I get the feeling that everybody is highly excited. My mother is going to desert us for full two weeks and I'm wondering how it's all going to work out. One of the options is sending out SOS signal to my old maid to fill-in the gap but the thought itself is a bit painful. So I've postponed thinking about it till I'm really pushed to do so. I would've shamelessly asked for a working-from-home a month ago but now things are different at the office. Everybody is jumping at the mention of a 'bug' and I don't even dare stand in front of my boss with the proposal of being absent from my seat.

My mother has been giving us all some anxious moment by being temperamental and irritable. My son is the one who's getting the most affected by this, having been her darling all these years. Actually she's been working very hard, not allowing me to do a single thing as if she's taken a vow and I feel she's getting tired and worked up. But unfortunately she's never been the one to listen to anyone and arguing with her is worse than banging your head against the wall; both the parties end up getting hurt.  And as regards to my son, she seems to be gripped with a sudden fear that he is growing up to be a spoilt brat and at times I feel sorry for my son when he looks bewildered at the sudden burst of my mother's anger towards a benign mistake.

My daughter has been speaking a lot nowadays and our favourite is when she says "aphisha"(office) when we ask her where her Baba has gone.My mother says she is more reluctant to say the same when asked about me but she's slowly getting used to it. She speaks many other words too and has started getting attached to books, her pet being her brother's textbook with cars, elephants and fish.