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Memories..
few precious memories are all that are left now.. to hold and cherish..
Its 12 years to the day you left us. We have grown through the pain and the tears, missing you, needing you… Through the daily joys and struggles , the pain seems to have gone… to have been numbed… but still it comes back in full force when we think of you Mummy. Its still there so alive… so real… I don’t think the pain will ever leave us…
One thought that keeps coming back now is that the kids have not even seen you and… have no memories to call their own. They don’t relate to you in a way that relate to their thata. And somehow… it feels so wrong. That you are not here for them.. for us…
P.S: Found this … its so much close to what we’ve felt about you mummy…
Rain!
Incessant pitter patter, memories…
Of raincoat-gumboots clad school kids
Sweet nostalgia…
It has rained throughout the night and has continued for most part of the morning. This happens rarely, at least from the time I’ve been here, so for me its definitely not a characteristic of Bangalore. The continuous rains brought back fond memories of our school days. Our rain coats and gum boots were indispensable during the rainy season in Belgaum. Here, people make do even without an umbrella most of the times. What a contrast!!
We’ve had our share of fun jumping in the poodles, walking noisily with water filled in our gum boots…. Reaching home, we would pour out the water from the boots and rush in to wash our already wet n cold feet. The sensation of the tap water felt wonderful on the soles !!
So many memories these rains bring back 
Hai na?
Row.. row.. row your boat :)
For this week’s theme ‘Liquid’ at Thursday Challenge.
The pic was clicked by a friend on our trip to Kodaikanal. Brings back many memories
The title also brings back many memories … of when Ammu first started telling her rhymes 
Cute buddies!!
For this weeks theme ‘Pets’ at Thursday Challenge.
The theme brought back so many lovely memories… of Guddu n Rocky
Guddu was our first pet ever. As kids were pertified of dogs! He came to us, in 1999 or was it 2000, under quite unusual circumstances. Made us feel that he was certainly destined to be our companion. The day sis2′s friend brought him to us… begging us to keep him, we could not refuse …he was so cute n cuddly. And though we had no clue how to care for a pet, we had insisted that we keep this one and dad had finally given in. He was the one who who kept my sis company when the other two of us were away from home for studies… kept me company when I was at home pregnant with Ammu. But most of all, it was dad who pampered him a lot and took utmost care of him as he would a child! And dad it was who he stayed with …giving the most joy and companionship, in fact the only one when all the 3 of us came away from home.
Sadly though, we had to part with him and entrust him to be taken care of by a family known to us, when dad came over to stay with us to take care of Ammu. We sometimes got to see him on our visits to Mysore.. but that also stopped gradually. Dad, though, was in constant touch and knew that our Guddu was unwell for quite sometime. He knew we wouldnt bear to see him in that condition and so discouraged us from going to see him. Now, its almost a year since Guddu passed away … on the 28th this month last year 
But some of the special episodes with Guddu always remain close to us and their memory never fails to bring on a smile
*****
One day in 2007, the doggy crazy BIL1 surprised us all by bringing Rocky to us unannounced! Though we were quite unprepared or even reluctant to have a pet due to various constraints on time n space n energy, we were happy to see him… happy in a way that only lil pups can make us But then he stayed with us only for a few months and then we had to give him up, when we realized that we could not take care of him in the best possible manner given our circumstances. Sis2 was pregnant with Adi and we figured it would have been difficult for us to manage both the baby and the growing pup
Ammu was very attached to Rocky and when I was trying to prepare her mind for this, she confidently said ‘ No problem mamma…You take care of Rocky n i’ll take care of paapa’ !! Adi was the paapa still in the tummy! I can recall it as if it happened just yesterday..
But we did send him off … in Ammu’s absence of course! … with someone who had a big house and huge lawns… where we believed Rocky would grow up happily She understood and never threw a tantrum… my angel
*****
And now… both Ammu n Adi are very fond of dogs. Ammu feels hurt by the fact that we say poda Maniya to a stray near Sis2′s home, whom we feed biscuits most of the days. Says he may feel bad! She told this to me one day at bed time .. just recently I had to explain to her that it is meant in a fun way and that Mani means a Pearl or a Bead. Only then did her agitation subside!!
And… Adi walks by strays n says he wants to take one home!! Wondering when the father-son duo might surprise her shock her, Sis1 tells me ‘keep one bedroom in your home free for me. I might walk in anytime’ She likes dogs.. but doesnt want to be made responsible for one at this stage
P.S:I’m glad about this theme… if not for it I probably would not have written this down !!
Yay!!
..to blogging
Just a few days ago, I was wondering about this obsession with blogging and whether it serves any purpose. And when I wrote the last post, I just clicked on the tags Adi/Ammu and found some posts that made me smile and gave me a warm feeling I felt so glad that I wrote them at the time I did. Or else with time..these tidbits would have surely vanished from the mind! And then I realized yet gain that this was the real purpose why I started my blog. To document precious lil moments and relive them again and again I am sure these notes will bring a smile to the lil ones and make them excited when they do read these!! I know it… coz I always see that twinkle in their eyes when I narrate some lil tidbits of when they were just infants or while they were still in their mamma’s tummies
Its 2 years since I started blogging and this is the 135th post. Most of the posts are about the kids And I hope I will continue to write .. and that there will surely be lots of moments that will be blogworthy!!
Leaving you with some links…in no particular order
And some pics from our picnic to Lalbagh some 2 months back
Hope you have had a lovely start to the new year
Thoughts on a roller coaster..
Today, on my way to the office, I saw a small boy with his grandfather. At the corner of the road, generally looking this side and that… maybe they had come for a walk and the boy just wanted to stand a while and look at the passing vehicles, I thought. It brought back one particular memory . Once, when Ammu was around 3 yrs old, my sis 2 had taken her to a nearby school for the polio drops . Though the place was quite close to our home, the two of them returned after quite a long time. Turned out that, Ammu, after taking the drops, had insisted on sitting in the nearby bus stop. After looking at passing vehicles for nearly 30-40 minutes, she had given green signal to go home .
I love it when I see kids with some elder(s) on the street… the kid(s), all freshly powdered and with a spring in their steps and a huge smile. I imagine they must be out to get some toffee, or a toy, or the book/pencil which is Ammu’s favorite . Or they may just be going for a stroll. In any case, their excitement is hard to miss and it always brings on a smile I particularly love the grandparent – grandchild pair 
.There’s some endearing charm about them… And so it is that I feel that my dad is a very lucky person… who is fortunate to spend time with his grandchildren and enjoy them!! The times when he does the small favours for them or when they have their little fights… when the lil ones come up n say ‘dont say anything to tatha…he’s my tatha’ … there’s such joy in all this… I say silent prayers of gratitude.
And then my thought goes to mom… she’s missing all this I feel. Then again I think, she’s here too… looking at all that they do and enjoying it.. if thats possible. Just that they cannot see her and know her… this saddens me like no words can ever describe…
The other story…
For sometime now, I’ve been getting friend requests on FB from my schoolmates. It is nice to catch up and see where they are … But my true quest was for 2 of my dearest friends; they didnt seem to be there on FB or on Orkut
One had settled in Belgaum itself and the other in Mumbai. We were in touch for quite some years, though with gaps of a year or more sometimes! And our excitement and the ability to catch up from where we left had always amazed me
Luckily, I got in touch with both of them. One story I had written just a while ago… Here is the other one
I was constantly in touch with my Belgaum friend. Her number was in my memory and I would not lose her I thought. But one fine day, when I called her, there was no answer!!! And subsequent calls didnt help either. The phone would be either switched off or there would be no answer. And I was dismayed In the meantime, I lost my cellphone and there was no way she could contact me!
The number that I had, was her official one… she worked for Airtel. All my thoughts were… ‘she must have quit her job and joined elsewhere’, ‘she must have lost her phone and got another number’ None of that helped though And whenever I felt like I would just call her number. But finally I gave up after lots of failed attempts.
Two years later…
One day, I was casually talking to my teammate who had joined recently. He told me that he had worked for Airtel earlier. And I told him that one of my friends used to also work for Airtel. He recollected her instantly when I told her name!! Though based out of Belgaum, she used to come to B’lore for the meetings. He assured me that he could find out her number if she still worked for Airtel and I was ecstatic!!! A few phone calls later we discovered that her number was the same and she still worked for Airtel!! Unbelievable 
When I finally contacted her she told me that she had gone on a maternity leave and so didn’t take calls on the official number!! And that her son was almost 2 years now. I was super excited on hearing this, coz she had finally been blessed with a baby after almost 10 years of marriage, after a lot of effort, despair and hopelessness. And now recently, she sent me a friend request on FB too!!
I’m really really excited and happy that we 3 are in touch now And somehow, I hope this will last… though we may not call or text each other very frequently. I’m sure we’ll stay in touch This time got their hubby’s number, landline number and personal email ids
P.S: This friend’s sis owns a boutique in Belgaum. My friend from Karwar, whom I spoke about in the earlier post, happened to visit this boutique. And from the sis, she got the friend’s number and from her, got my number!! This is esp for you Swaru
Woohoo!!
On Sunday morning, I got a call, from a number that I didnt recognize. On picking it, ‘Who is speaking?’ came the female voice from the other end. I was guessing that it could be my sister calling from a landline in Kolkata. And thought that she was just making fun. After 2-3 times, the voice said… ‘what you didnt recognize me?’ And thats when it hit me! I was like ‘OMG! you wont believe me … I had been searching the Mumbai directory for your number!!’… and we went on and on for quite sometime
‘When you want something really desperately, the whole universe conspires to make your wish come true’ This is something I believe in… because of my personal experiences. And once again I have been granted my wish
It was more than 3 years since I lost touch with this friend of mine who had settled in Mumbai. I did have her landline number. But that didnt seem to work for me. I thought that Mumbai being a metro, the number would have changed, with some prefix being added to the existing number. And I had lost my cell phone and got a new number. So that was it. We had lost touch But I badly wanted to get in touch with her. Especially since last year, when I bought a flat. Reading my palm during school days, she had predicted that I would own a house one day! All that was just for time pass and fun, but I was reminded of what she had said and just wanted to let her know. Whenever I found time and my thoughts went to her, I would try to hunt for her number using the Mumbai directory online. But nothing came out of it. I tried searching for her on Orkut and FB, with no results. And I was getting disheartened
And then, on Friday, I was going through Uma’s archives and came across this post. It made me hopeful again. I got this feeling that I will find her and get back in touch. But not even in my dreams did I think that she herself will give me this huge surprise by calling me on that very Sunday!!! There are no words that can describe my feelings at that moment! And, the icing on the cake was ‘ I’m coming to B’lore to celebrate your b’day!‘ One more ‘OMG’ from my end! I was pleasantly surprised that she still remembered my birth date, after all these years. We had moved from Belgaum in 1991! So… I believe, the universe did listen to me and helped make this happen!! And I’m grateful, thankful and extremely happy
Isnt it a great feeling to know that you’ve been in their thoughts for as long as they were in yours ?
BTW, she moved from Mumbai and is now settled in Karwar since 3 years, just about the time that we lost touch. No way I could have traced her by myself!! She’s in B’lore today! And hopefully, we’ll meet
Ditties… n some memories…
Childhood rhymes and ditties are making the rounds as part of the Tulika blogathon 4! And I am reminded of these…
Bidi daari bidi bidi daari
Ghum antha barthaide corporation laari!
My sis 2 used to sing this.. no idea where she learnt this from!!
kappegalira kereyolage….
kruk kruk kruk kruk bharrram!!
Our PT madam taught us this one. We used to sit in rows in the big assembly hall and it used to go like this.. One row would start first and when they finish the first line, the next row had to start singing and so on… there used to be about 6 rows. And the finish would be awesome… with a cascading effect of kruk kruk kruk kruk bharrram!!
Another one sung in the same way… except that the next row would start singing after the first row completed 2 lines. The cascading effect was just amazing… to say the least. And of course… Ammu n Adi just love these
I met a negro passing by walking on a shady way
And as i came up by his side, this is what he said
Chakaraka gumba chukaka gumba chuk chuk said the negro
Chuk chuk cholam chukaka cholam chuk chuk cholam ho!
And that takes me down memory lane… to my lovely school… and my friends… and the small little tales that stay on in your mind, no matter how old you grow!
In our free time or whenever asked to sing… there were these set of girls who would sing enthusiastically. But sing, they would… their only most loved patented song… if you can say that 
M was an all rounder and whenever asked to sing… would go ‘sar jo tera chakraye ya dil dooba jaaye…’
‘Jeena yahaan marna yahaan iske siva jaana kahaan..’ was P’s favorite. She was also into mimicry and she introduced us to Paro-Devdas!
Y was an artist and a singer! She had mastered the ‘Hawa Hawai’ song from Mr India… complete with all the nuances we loved to make her sing this one whenever we got a chance! And she would happily oblige us
Then there was D, her patented gaana was the lovely romantic ‘Nile nile ambar par chaand jab chaaye…’
And S had this lovely voice and she would sing ‘lakadi ki kaati…’ in all innocence. I loved this song and learnt it while she sang. And it was an instant hit with Ammu n Adi when we sang it to them! Sis had even changed her caller tune for them and they used to keep calling just to listen to this song!!
She sang ‘Chalte chalte mere ye geet yaad rakhna…Kabhi alvida na kehna…’ on our Passing out parade day and left us all in tears
Sigh.. those were days of abandon and we used to have a blast! It used to be all girls masti with no worries about boys and their reactions or whatever
Good old days :)
Just when we think that we’ve settled … change happens and we need to move on! This is the only constant thing in life… isnt it? Yet.. we resist change and try hard to retain some of the charm from the ‘good old days’ and get all nostalgic at the slightest opportunity
Well, personally i’m not resisting change… its just that I’ve been seeing everyone around me in that mode, for sometime now. The project that i was in, is officially finished now and all the team mates have been moved to different teams. Everyone was skeptical about what awaited them and the kind of team they would be in. Few of them were luckier to get into one project and they are together now. However, most of them have not yet got comfortable with their new work environments. And each one misses the camaraderie that was!!
Sharing a few pics form our trip to Kodaikanal in May 2009
En route to Kodai
Suns rays!
Capturing the beauty!
Overcast sky...@ Kodai lake
The monsoon is here!
the boat ride
Cycling in the rain!
Indoor fun!!
Fresh and bright... the next morning
Walking the ramp!
Guys.. silhouetted against the blue sky
Pine forest
Pine Forest - another view!
The hills...
The valley...
The clouds... closing in
The scene... just moments later
Sepia effect... naturally!
On our way back to B’lore, we celebrated a dear team mate’s birthday at midnight, 1st of June. Today, wishing him a great birthday and lots of fun in the year ahead
