Taking us for a ride

My maid wanted to know if we can take a bus to the US. I said no, it is quite far. She was not convinced. I said there are no roads as huge expanse of water is in between not to mention mountains. She wanted to know if they have not thought of building bridges across the ocean.

That is when I realised her worldview is Bangalore- chennai- velankanni.

I fished out an atlas and showed the world map. She saw the pacific ocean and then a bit of comprehension creeped in.But what stuck in her mind is not the distance, but the huge ocean, where someone has not built a bridge still!

spider web

I had to fish out my pullover from the cupboard today. Yes, it is that chilly in Bangalore today; well more windy than chilly to be politically correct. It is quite a contrast to life in Chennai metro.I used to literally crawl from one ac room to another. I would get out of the ac, quickly have coffee and call up my mother to keep the ac on in their bedroom and make a 10 minute dash to their place. I will be all huffing and puffing once I reach there walking from my place. I dive into the ac room and order ice cold water and wet towels please. Only then sanity returns.

Now to get back to my story. I was opening the sliding window in the dining hall yesterday evening and was awestruck by a beautiful spider web. I had last seen one in picture in my primary school days. I also remember drawing one painstakingly with a larger than life spider right at the centre. But this one was quite tiny;its web was truly larger than life. I kept staring and wondering at the beautiful craftwork. I was watching quietly to see if I can spot the master at work. But I kept staring for quite a while and the spider appeared to weave its web by sheer magic without as much as moving its little finger.

I went to fetch my camera to record on tape what I had recorded in my mind's eye. No, it was not easy as the light was against us and I could only spot the clothes line in the neighbours balcony and not our master weaver. I tried some more and some more and then told myself I will be back here tomorrow morning when I catch the spider's web in the morning sunlight.

I was not lucky. The whole web had disappeared today morning when I opened the window. I told you it is terribly windy here in Bangalore. The beautifully cast web perhaps had no chance. I only wish the spider crawled itself into a corner and will be back again in a different window in a short while from now. I will keep my eyes peeled till then.

Copper sulphate gum boots anybody?

What does one do when one is in a semi invalid state with a copper sulphate blue gum boots like cast on your leg? Well you get cranky and do silly things like being a pest around the house. I am sure you can better this. The next best is to take 'remote control' and watch all the soaps/reality shows and nonsense that you always wanted to watch but were too decent to insist. The next option is to use the wireless internet, and hug your laptop to mimic a teenager/student to the extent to which you can be addicted to the world wide web.Yes, a combo of the above three is also another option. Of course a background of continuous sms, phonecalls from your ubiquitous extention of your fingers is too routine to be worth the mention; nevermind airtel milks you dry everytime you even glance at your handphone!

Well I have tried all the above and after a two week hiatus, am exploring new ones. I have chucked the option of devouring David baldacci and Lee child by the dozens that K manages to bring into the house at regular intervals. I find tremendous joy in just sitting down and tuning in to the sounds that pass me by. It has been very interesting pastime last few days. It is better if you can close your eyes and get into a yogic pose. There is the hum of the washing machine for one; the pitter patter of the kiddos enjoying their weekend morning;the shrill hoot of them calling out to others to join in their merriment(how do they manage it, by the way?); slow simmering of the cooker in the kitchen; and the low noise of the knife cutting through the onions/cabbage; the microwave doing its rounds to get the family dinner on the table.

What is new in all these sounds? very routine everyday stuff. Yes, but there is comfort and romance in these noises when you tune in to them and weave a magic in your mind in a leisurely fashion, uncluttered by 'what is next' action mode.

When you have got into this state, mind is rested and naturally it runs through the events of the day. It is a bit of training to get the mind to think of the good things that have happened during the day and not dwell on the unplesant. I was surprised how difficult this is. And it was tremendously educating to me, how we overlook the blessings, small and big, but make a mountain out of seemingly inocuous stuff.

Well, I am still learning on the job.It promises to be interesting.

Danglers

I have never worn anything which dangles from my ears. It has always been the good old gold studs for me. The nearest I got to wearing something that dangles were 'jimikis' , which I would have worn maximum ten times. So I have been 'dangler challenged' all these years.
I got about rectifying matters. Actually it was by an accident that I got to pick up some danglers from a roadside shop the other day. We were looking for some change and decided to raid the pavement shops. I decided I wanted some bindis, headbands, safety pins, hairpins and what not; the usual stuff really. And there were a couple of ladies buying fancy danglers and one of them was trying them out. On an impulse I picked up a couple of them. I came home and immediately checked them out. They were looking quite good on me.Actually I was seeing a more carefree and jolly me there in the mirror! So now I am dangler-infatuated! Never mind that when I tried to put on my gold earring I had quite a difficult time!
Nowadays we see earrings (read danglers!) aggressively competing with neckwear. The danglers come all the way up to the shoulder and also sit pretty on the chest. And they are so jazzy and so HUGE. They do look pretty alright, no two opinions about that. It is no longer earring. It is today's fashion statement that there should be only a single piece of jewellery on your person, and that should be so stunning, that anything else would only be a distraction.
It was my niece who introduced 'danglers' into my vocabulary. And it was a roadside shop which helped me buy one.

life in bengaluru

I have become a Bangalore vaasi for the last few months. The timing was perfect;just managed to escape the Chennai summer.For the last few weeks enjoying the cloudy ,chilly winds blowing and an occasional thunder storm. It is anybody's bet if there will be rain in the evening. For a few hours the sun comes out and then from nowhere dark clouds quickly gather in the horizon to drive away the sun and heat and pour welcome showers on us.

While the weather is welcome, some of the service providers are proving elusive and manage to pack our lives with fun and frolic.

I was expecting the istiri wallah to land up at my door and collect clothes for ironing. This is what happens when a newcomer takes up residence in Chennai. But days went by and nobody surfaced. I asked the apartment watchman to send the istiri fellow to my flat. He agreed and gave me a mobile number. I should call him when I needed him, he said. Well fine, I needed him now and I called him. By the way he lives just across the street and took four days and five reminders later to arrive and collect a sack full of clothes. He brought them back in a couple of hours but then he has disappeared from the face of the earth since then for the last few weeks. I I have located a laundry shop in the neighbourhood and have got into a weekly ritual of dropping off clothes on saturdays and picking them up on sunday mornings. By the way last weekend, he did not deliver all the clothes as promised and asked us to come on Sunday evening.We were busy on sunday evening, so when I made a beeline to the shop on Monday, it is CLOSED!I used to make such a fuss with the istiri lady who used to come at our convenience and to our house everyday, and here I am paying penalty for such an attitude.

Old newspapers need to be disposed off, period. It used to be a straightforward affair, as one vendor used to call out everyday for old newspapers and would be making rounds on his tricycle, with reams of rope and scores of gunny bags and a scale. Here in Bangalore such a thing does not happen. I see any number of shops stacked high with old newspapers and doing roaring business, but no, they will not fetch it from your doorstep. All the thrill of sitting down in front of the month old newspapers and haggling for price and watchful that you are not cheated on weight n was missing. With lot of influence of the watchman, managed to get one vendor to come home. He came with no tools and bare hands and calm demeanour. He looked at the pile of old newspapers as though he is seeing them for the first time in his life and sat down comfortably to fold them neatly and arrange them. I gasped. I asked him for his scales. He was shocked. He said they are in his shop and they weigh a ton and obviously cannot bring them to the flat. How are you going to weigh these papers I asked him. He said he will take it with him, weigh it in his shop and send the money to the watchman! We dont cheat madam, you have to have trust in us, he said. He had not brought any ropes to tie the newspapers and asked me if i have any spare 'twine thread' with me. I said no, I dont have twine thread. He continued to stack the papers neatly. I asked him how he is going to carry them. He said you must be having a big plastic bag madam, please give it to me, I will return it along with the money.

He left with my newspapers and my bag. Nothing happened for the next couple of hours. In the evening when I was on my walk, the watchman quietly thrust a fifty rupee note and took leave. No the big plastic bag did not come back.

I had seen a beauty parlour very near to our complex and enquired with a neighbour if I can trust my hair styling with them. She said yes, go ahead. So I went to get my hair trimmed. The artist was alone and jobless when I went one evening. She sat me down and started for the U cut. It took exactly 3 minutes and then she gave me a comb and asked me to comb my hair myself! She did not have a mirror to show me how my hair looked after the expert job. I asked her to spray my hair to give it a bouncy look and do back combing.This is my regular routine in chandinesree. She looked at me and said no, no spray and okay she will do backcombing if that is what I want. Not a pleasant encounter if we have to go and comb our hair ourselves!

I was truly perplexed at these encounters but in a city like Bangalore you take it in your stride and not get all worked up!