Taking Over

Whoever thinks that I pamper Anu is wrong; it's the other way round. She scatters superlatives all around me and literally sings my praise so much that I too get annoyed, not to mention P and Rishi, who strongly suspects that she's being a sycophant.

I met Anu's current best friend today. She commutes by van and wanted Anu to spend some time with her before going home. I told her we couldn't spare much time as I was working. The girl wasn't convinced; she said her mother never worked. All she did was to munch some snacks reclining on the sofa, looking at her phone and sometimes sleeping off there, she said imitating some of these actions for my benefit. I said she couldn't possibly know how much her mother worked and she needed some rest too. The girl persisted and I didn't win the argument and Anu and I left for home. Now I wonder about my image elsewhere.

Losing it

Yashwant Sir passed away today after meeting with an accident and the only person who could share the thoughts swirling in my head was Renu and she's gone already. Each phase of your life is made of so many people but only few define it for you. I'll always remember 1994 - 96 for Renu and Sir and it suddenly makes me feel very old now that both of them are gone. Renu owned me like nobody had ever done before and Sir gave me my mojo back. Renu and I almost worshipped him together and unlike to others, we could never tell him so for the fear of offending him, he was so formidable and adorable at the same time. I think I was his favorite student in 12th(Renu may have contested this) and it was great pleasure when Auntie said at home with mock annoyance that Sir always finished correcting my paper within 5 minutes of receiving it. I sometimes wish he was as old as Kamath Sir. You know, it helps to express yourself better...

True Lies!

Call them honest or call them cautious! I was thinking how it would be if we released a patch saying "May help correct GL mismatches, May help reverse the accruals..." Glorious!

Not Ready to Mingle

The school has messed up transport for some reason and the scene at pick-up time has just got worse. There is a sea of humanity at the gate and of vehicles on the road and bylanes nearby. As I stand waiting for Anu to come, I sometimes look around. Because it's been a routine for more than a year now, I see familiar faces of women who arrive well within time, mostly in clusters talking animatedly on I wonder what. Many of them stay back even after the kids arrive to continue their chatting and when I see them like that daily, I feel there is some piece missing in me. You know, that part which should make me want to strike a conversation with any of those innumerable and obviously friendly women, which surely is not the case now. All I do is look at the beautiful sky or look up at the windows of the classrooms to spot some children who are waiting for their turn or think about work, a book or a character. I'm amused at their chatter and laughter but I don't feel like being a part of it.

Random

The list of people going out of the team is done and I'm not on it. I am partly relieved and disappointed. I know the work will not be much and in fact I'll have to wait everyday for something worthwhile to come by. The other day I scandalized the team saying I wanted something big and bad to come. I really mean it.

I hate it when these young guys like Zverev say after all they lost to Rafa on clay. I wonder for how long he doesn't mind losing like that.

What we thought was a gourd in our flower pot turned out to be a muskmelon! Sweet!!

Strange Things

Across the street from our bedroom balcony is a penthouse. I don't know if I should call it a house actually because it's more like a room - about 15 x 6 . But the number of people it seems to host can put even palaces to shame! There are so many men going in and out of that door - most of them stand half-naked in the open space next to it so I cannot observe things peacefully - and also many women, mostly young and some kids too, none above the age of 5, it seems. My guess is that they are immigrants from North India(going purely by the women's attire) and this may be some kind of temporary shelter for people who land in the city newly. Hopefully temporary because I seriously can't imagine all of them staying together inside that room. They seem happy enough to me, though.

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in front of my laptop next to the window when I suddenly heard what sounded like pebbles hitting the glass in rapid succession. It has been raining almost every afternoon these days and my first thought was hailstorm, though the sky was not so gloomy. So I looked up in mild wonder and saw something totally unexpected; it was a small bird, the size of a sparrow but something I'd never seen before. Orange beak, brown and orange body with black and white specks on the tail. It was hitting the glass with such vengeance that I was glad the window was closed, otherwise my face might have been the target! But I guess the exertion got to it and soon it sat quietly on the window sill, so quietly that I thought it had hurt itself. I called the kids to see it and Rishi opened the balcony to check on it. When he got very near the bird just took off and sat on the balcony railing. And then true to form, it ignored the whole blue sky in front of it and turned back to launch another round of assault on my window and within the next second perched itself on the wooden stool in the balcony. It almost looked in some blind rage literally and I was just staring agape at this quickfire series of events but then a call from office interrupted me. I got busy and when I looked up after about 15 minutes, the bird was gone. I wasn't sure though and I looked all along the balcony somehow expecting it to be lurking somewhere but it was gone for good.

Later I looked it up on the net and I think it was Zebra Finch, though I don't know what it is doing in this part of the world. I guess somebody's pet which lost its way and I wonder if it reached back home.

Draining day today, weather and otherwise.