Life is easy kya karein

I do not remember owning rubber slippers in my childhood. Mom believed that wearing chappals or slippers, where the big toe was on one side, made the child's feet broad. I only had shoes and sandals. We never wore footwear in the house. Even our guests removed the shoes at the entrance. As children we all ran around 'nange paaon'. Our grandmom believed that children can slip with slippers. We had an aangan and tanks all around the big house. Walking from one room to another involved walking through the red cemented aangan. Bai, my Grandmom, had given up wearing footwear at the age of 21 when she became a widow. In summers, we just ran across the aangan on our toes. The floor would be scorching when we went to the terrace to bring down the clothes at four pm. Without looking at the clock, all housework happened by clockwork. The servant got clothes down at four after his post lunch nap. Mom and Aunt folded clothes while their tea was being made. When they sipped tea in the ...

I feel like a queen when I have the whole swimming pool to myself. I enjoy my afternoon swim in the scorching heat. The joy to have the entire pool to one's self in this crowded city, is unbeatable. Today for the first time, I went for a swim in the morning, as I have to go out in the afternoon. Morning hours are General swimming timings. Like Mumbai local trains, where we have General and Ladies compartments. Women all go into Ladies compartments and General is treated like an all men compartment. Swimming pool scenario is similar. A couple of small kids were swimming with their fathers and the rest were men in all the 5 pools. I think I swim pretty well. This is the observation I have made of my swimming in the afternoons. Today was an eye opener. I walked into the pool with ease. Men of all age groups were chatting, diving, swimming or lazing around. After my first lap, the elderly gentleman next to me said that my hand is not moving in the correct fashion. He said it should g...

The Aangan or the 'Chok' where we played Garba in Jharia and Dhanbad was actually someone's big  central courtyard with houses on three sides. Never noticed how generous those people were to allow all of us to dance for nine nights in their Chok till the wee hours of the morning. Am sure some families had old people, sick members or small children. For all the years we went for Garba, we never heard any resident complaining why so many people are there playing Garba who do not belong to this compound. In fact, arrangements were made for all women to sit around the Chok on the floor. Sand was brought in before Durga puja and mixed with little dry loose soil and spread all over the Chok. This was for the comfort of the feet of all Garba players. Every evening by four pm, water was sprinkled on this sand to keep it cool and moist. When we started the first round of the Garba, many of us would remember the wet Chok always. Some things go in your muscle memory, a 'Bheeno Ch...

A visit to Kasarwadi has changed quite a lot of my thoughts and perceptions. I went for Devi Darshan three days in a row. I was noticed as I was the only odd one out in that place and one who did not belong to them or their area. Some young guy had died , so there was no Garba. All were wearing white as that was the colour of the day. Not for mourning. In Maharashtra, each day of Navratri belongs to a Goddess form, thus She is known as Nav Durga. There is a colour for each Goddess which men and women who believe in traditions follow. This day the colour was white and it went in with the sombre mood there. The time was 9.40 pm. Children were playing badminton with table tennis bats. Young boys were hanging around in their crisp white shirts. But the girls were wearing different colours. The lights were all lit up in the lane and in the Pandal. The people near the Pandal were hunting for Prasad for me. I got two bananas in a plastic bag.  I started walking back, wondering about th...

The city has moved to a festive mode. The gears have been shifted. I experience all this as I am a Stay at Home Mom. Also I enjoy celebrating and I do not have major issues with noise or traffic. I understand people want to get out and shop for festivities. The traffic increase is due to the rich people and their chauffers who double park on the roads with the car engine running. Some of them are asked to keep taking rounds in the area till Madam finishes her shopping. These kind of people have no responsibility to the environment. Same goes for the temple trust owners. We have a small temple in a decrepit bylane in Matunga hidden from the market eye. It is near the Kashi Vishwanath temple. It was built in the 1800s. This temple still has those big pillars with holes to put diyas and light them up. Now the temple has the funny artificial floor tiles. There is a bust of the person who made the temple which has now moved into the temple courtyard. They have made a terrace over the bus...