Light and Darkness...

Friday, July 25, 2008

I'm in Kerala for my annual holidays and I'm experiencing power cuts again.

Power cuts are like siblings to me. After all I grew up with them!

They are really not so bad. In fact, they are much better than the other power failures. Those are like unwanted guests that come at the least convenient moment and you never know how long they'll stay.

Imagine having come to the crucial part in your cooking, where you need to just grind and add that stuff and pop! goes the power! Or you are about to send an urgent mail and off goes the internet connection. You are watching the most interesting part in a movie and there it goes...only to be back the moment the movie is over! So I really cannot think of anything kind to say about those...but these planned 30 minute power cuts are different...

I have very pleasant memories of power cuts during my school days. It used to be a bonding time for the family. Thirty minutes every evening of keeping all your duties aside and just relaxing. We used to sit in the balcony and listen to all those sounds you never heard when there was power. Sounds of crickets and other insects, sound of the rain water falling on the roof, or dripping from the sunshade. My father and I used to play antakshari and word games or I used to describe the pranks the boys played in class that day or we both used to find some reason to pull my mother's legs.

Now, I'm staying with my mother in her apartment. I find that power cut has become a time for socializing here. The ladies from the apartments come out and sit on the stairs talking and laughing. The children have fun playing. Today, we had the kids give music and dance performances. Its fun time and the kids have started looking forward to those 30 minutes.

I must be getting soft in the head... I almost love power cuts now...It must be age!

Quite at Home!!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A friend of mine made a profound statement yesterday. He said, “You seem to have all the comforts of Kerala out there in the Gulf and none of the crap”! Guess he was able to appreciate it living in Taiwan!

Anyway, it got me thinking and I guess he’s quite right. I have probably been blinded by the atrocious rents and the traffic blocks here…

Where else do you have the Lulu hyper market with every single one of the Kerala vegetables displayed beautifully? And get frozen version of the off-season vegetables. I got frozen ‘koorkka’ the last time I visited. Just open and fry…no washing, peeling or cooking…yummm….

Where else do you get plantain leaves for Onam and konna poo for Vishu?

And betel leaves and areca nut for joining a new music or dance class…

Where else can you shop in Malayalam and sometimes even conduct business meetings in Malayalam….

And listen to Mallu FM channels….

And get mota set (Mallu red rice and fish curry) in every nook and corner…

And watch the latest Mallu movie in the theatre…

And order food and grocery in Malayalam…

And get free Mallu movie on cable TV every week…

And have Malayalam taught in schools…

And have handsome Mallu doctors and comfortable Mallu sisters take care of you when you fall ill…

Most of these things I couldn’t get even in neighbouring Chennai for the 8 years I stayed there…

And all this without being bothered by hartals and bandhs every other day…without the dirty comments and looks (and worse) every time you step out…without worrying about getting home before it is dark…without getting frustrated with the absolute lack of progress around you…without mosquitoes buzzing around you carrying deadly virus…without power cuts and load shedding…without water shortage…without roads full of pot holes…without racing private buses…without breaking your head worrying how to save tax by investing the money you don’t have…

In spite of all this, if you still end up missing the monsoons, the greenery and the relatives, just book a ticket on a budget airline and be home in 4 hours…or get a month’s paid holiday every year with the airfare paid by the company…

No wonder so many people get permanent residence visas to Canada and Australia, and stay on here. I used to have this elitist contempt for the ‘Gulf Malayalee’ till I became one myself…

So have I inspired anyone to search for a job in the UAE and come over? I COULD do with some good friends here!!! :(

Bedtime Tales...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

My daughter has suddenly got fascinated by stories of the Hindu Gods. So every night it is my job to tell her one or two stories. Since I grew up on Amar Chitra Katha...and that too by reading each of them several times...it is not too difficult a job to find a story to tell her every night. I used to correct my grandma when she made mistakes in the stories..hah! Right now we are on the Dashaavataar (Vishnu's not Kamal Haasan's!) so that I don't need to think until all the 10 avataars are over.

When I read these stories as a child, I had no problem believing any of them and don't remember feeling even an element of surprise at all the impossible things that happen in the stories. But now, telling the story as an adult, is so totally different. I find myself searching for rational explanations to most of the stuff.

Now, how does one find a rational explanation for some people using a mountain and a snake to churn the ocean...and then churn out amazing stuff like a beautiful maiden and a pot of nectar that gives immortality!!! And how does one explain a sea turtle so huge that it could lift the mountain...or a wild boar that went to hell and rescued the planet earth using it's tusk! I started the Ramayana yesterday, so now she thinks babies can be born by the mother having some kheer. I think I'd better give the Mahabharata a skip...rather than explain 100 sons of Drutharashtra born out of 100 pots...and the Pandavas born by just chanting a mantra!!!!

But I must say I enjoyed telling her the stories of the devotees...stories of Dhruva, Prahlada, Sudaama and that little boy who crossed the forest in Krishna's company every day...it clearly conveys the message that having faith makes everything right in the end.

What is amazing is that she does not seem to be surprised at any of these irrational things. She is equally interested in space, the planets, the satellites and the weather...and can sit with a picture encyclopaedia for hours...and she also enjoys all these stories I tell her. The day she starts relating the two and asking me difficult questions I shall stop telling her stories!!!

Until then let me flaunt my knowledge and my memory!!! :D I'm enjoying the admiration in her eyes and the interest and anticipation on her face every night!!!

Skipped beats...

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Now I know what exactly people mean when they say their heart skipped a beat! Mine is doing that a lot these days.Before you all jump into any hasty conclusions, let me explain that this is not the pleasureable variety caused by handsome hunks. This is absolutely scary and freaked me out totally. You remember the feeling you get before an exam or an interview? Imagine having that feeling the whole day long. Imagine going through the whole day feeling like you are sitting outside the dentist's room waiting for that unsmiling nurse to call out your name!

Anyway, coming from a family of heart patients, I freaked out and rushed to a physician first and then to cardiologist. Well...after a series of tests of all kinds, it turns out that there is no problem with the heart so far. The doctor says these palpitations are harmless and the earlier I learn to ignore them the better. How does one ignore one's heart going beat-beat-gap-THUMP-beat-gap-THUMP-beat-beat-beat-gap-THUMP ???? Well, for now it looks like I've got to live with them.

So that's what I've been doing the last two weeks...getting myself poked on every available nerve for blood tests and getting tubes stuck all over me for ECGs and Echos. But I must say it is a relief knowing things are going on okay inside you... thank God for ultra sound!!! :D

Hopefully, all this will give me that extra motivation required to lose some weight and control my diet. I had just resumed dancing when all this started happening... so hopefully I can lose some weight while doing something I LOVE doing...

Will do another post about the dance classes...