Life is easy kya karein

In school we learnt some funny two liners which rhymed and were used to tease other children. One of them was " Nadi Kinare saanp hai, Wohi tumhara Baap hai." We said it in a singsong way to tease other girls. All would be very offended by it. It meant, there is a snake by the river side and he is your father.We thought that a snake is a bad animal and the ultimate bad thing to do is to say something bad about some one's father. Actually we did not think all this or understood the meaning of it. We said it because we knew it was bad and it rhymed. On a warm evening, I was wearing my white cotton petticoat with pink n blue birds embroidered on it. Once I came from school, Mom changed me into these white cotton slips which were embroidered and could be used as inner wear too. She was oiling and combing my hair, looking for butchies. I did not like the fine tooth comb she was using. My thick hair really pulled from the scalp with that combing. I just rattled my newly learnt...

In school, our bus used to fetch us from outside Fatehpur Lane and dropp us at Matru Sadan More. The place was earlier called Ghoda stand as the Tongas would leave from there for Dighwadih, Sindri, Bhaga, Jealgora. Mom says once a Tonga overturned and a pregnant woman who was sitting on it, lost her unborn child. Then the Tonga rides were stopped in Jharia. Now the place had a Trekker stand. Trekkers were like big Jeeps but more seating and broader vehicles. I saw the transition from taxis to trekkers in Dhanbad.  The trekkers took around 25 people and traveled fast. Picking up passengers on the way even when they were full way beyond their capacity. The Trekkers charged Rs.2.50 for most journeys and that was a lot of money in those days. The Trekkers stopped at fixed cross sections and you could not request them to stop midway to disembark. Atleast  that was one rule they followed. It connected the whole district very well. The local trains from Jharia and Katras to Dhanba...

Zen cafe is a good place to visit when it is pouring in Mumbai. When they said casual seating, they meant it. One did get the feel of being in someone's drawing room. Not a battery of liveried waiters laying the food, but just one well mannered young boy in a light pink shirt and very pleasant personality serving food.He was not the Five star waiter who looks down upon you and children.Neither was he like those hip cool places kind of a waiter, who treat you as if they know you from your college days. The man had just the right kind of mix to be respectful , polite yet warm. The people who were there in the heavy rains were all enjoying the relaxed ambiance. No loud music cutting into your conversation. The restaurant flows into an art gallery. Paintings by Sangeeta Malkani were intriguing. The way she captures the woman's form was so subtly sexy and divine. The palette of colours were warm and welcoming. The magazines lying around were easy to glance through. Not the heavy co...

In Fatehpur Galli, where I grew up, there was a tailor called Jagdish Bhai. He was the best saree blouse tailor in Jharia and Dhanbad. He was an old Gujarati gentleman, fair with white hair and thick black specs. Jagdish Bhai was  soft spoken and surrounded by women as they came to him with their blouse pieces. Earlier my Grandmother used to employ him for a fortnight or so. He would come and use our sewing machine and make all kinds of clothes. The sewing machine was repaired and oiled for his arrival. He would make my Bai's saree blouses, petticoats and slips in pure white mul fabric. He would stitch girls small slips/ petticoats and our nighties. Large quantities of orange and blue fabrics with small flowers was purchased by Mom from one cloth store at Bata More. My Uncle, Aunt and mom would go to this showroom which was near our stores and purchase the fabric. There was lot of planning  done to go to this shop which was not even a ten minute walk from the house. After buy...

Drove through Wassipur on my trip to Dhanbad. Cousin asked me not be be trigger happy with my phone camera. We took a leisurely drive on a Sunday through the main road.As we drove I remembered crossing it in my childhood a few times. We never dreaded it as we did not know much about it. Later after passing my school, I came to know it was not a very safe area. No riots happened there, no murders that were reported. Lot of iron work, grill making karkhanas/workshops, car repair garages, Madrasas and Doctors lined both sides of the street. It was a really sleepy street on a sunny afternoon. My tour guide said when a car is stolen, it is dismantled here overnight. The tiny by lanes ran downhill and I assume they ran into the lower economic strata houses. There were spare truck tyres in all lanes. Used old torn tyres lined the tree less lanes and still balanced themselves in those slopes. Had a glimpse of the railway line passing from there through an empty patch. The movie Gangs of Wasse...

There is so much churning happening within. The mind has taken the mood of the nature. I have been feeling weepy and sorry for myself the whole day. Today, I was like those sms forwards, crying in the rain, tears n rain fall together. Good combination as I did not have to justify to anyone. The Whatsapp messenger on the mobile phone was a good help. I stayed glued to it. It helped me get off my lousy mood in bits and pieces. Though, it did not help overall, I thought I can share with you. I read all about stress relieving foods. No, I did not search the net for it, it showed up on my Facebook page posted by someone. I told my sister in law that she has a Happening life. She promptly turned around and said 'Happening' is a state of mind. Then Osho on the FB wall said I create my own experiences and then get lost in them. I create the hell and the heaven.I now have all the right answers to my innate  sadness. I know I am the cause of it and I am at the source of my depressing ...

I come back from my vacation to stripped trees in the building compound. A branch fell on an old lady's car and she ensured that all tree branches in the building were chopped off. I come back to a friend's husband hitting her in front of their ten year old child. She managed to run out of the one room chawl just when he was about to hit her with a cricket bat. She lamented on the phone. She talked about how they never went on a honeymoon, how she had to sleep in the kitchen every night, she had to wear sarees only all the time and more.The girl is younger to me. Her in laws n husband have been living in Mumbai and are well to do. The temple is painted and glass walls have been put in front of all idols. No more offerings of grains, sweets n jaggery to idols along with flowers. Its cleaner for sure. Kills the spirit of the rituals though. Some more trees chopped off to make way for people to sit outside the Shivaji Park temple. If people don't visit, how will the temp...