Castles in the air

Ok, I don't really want a castle. A medium sized cottage would be fine.

And around that medium sized, cosy, comfy cottage, I would have-

a mango tree
low branches, green leaves turning brown in the autumn, flowers strewn on the ground, kanni maanga for Vishu and for homemade pickles, and lots of ripe mangoes to pluck as well as pick.

a neem tree
a wonderfully healthy breeze all round the year, a swing for me and Sonny boy, that lovely noise of swaying, swishing leaves, and helpful armful to all those chicken poxers (!)

a jackfruit tree
ok, this one is just cos it used to be there in my Mom's ancestral house, and also because it was great fun to make spoons of their leaves and spoon kanji and chammandi. Ate with it once with gusto from a friend's place while at college and have loved that experience. So maybe one day when the husband and I are old, and I'm too lazy to wash spoons, I can go out a pluck a coupla leaves and have a meal to relish.

a banana tree
for all those fresh glistening leaves to eat your meal from, for the bunches of plantains, for the delight of cutting a straight line thru the leaf, for cutlets from the stalk, the kaambu and the koombu...

2 palm trees
I can hardly be a mallu without these around my cottage, can I? Brooms, dish scrubs, tender coconut water, coconut curries, coconut toffee...what all things to make form it.. truly a kalpavriksha! Of course I can do without the fuel for those old fireplaces.

And these flowering plants
a jasmine creeper,
a few hibiscus plants...
that orange creeper that's a feast for the eyes in B'lore during the season- dunno what its called

And these for the veggie garden
tomato, curry leaf, mint, chilli...

And a dog to run amuck around all these and make me scream in mock despair....

Sigh! Time to wake up (to realities), shut down, pack up and go home to Sonny boy.
Ciao, good people!

*popping back for a second* what's your tree wishlist??

yayyyy! Am vindicated!

Sonny boy had been learning about families in school.
A mother who loves everyone
A father who has lots of fun (certainly have it down pat, don't they)
A sister who plays and works
A baby who's growing each day
A dog who chews a bone.

After singing me the song and after due rounds of applause and encore

Me: "Sonny boy, we don't have a sister. So maybe we aren't a family? (Yeah, I sometimes mess with him)
Sonny boy: *looks at me like I'm a total Suppandi*(remember that character in Tinkle who was such a blunderer?)"Silly!! This is about ANOTHER family. Not OUR family."
Me: "Oooh, ok."


Me: *Looking at gaining me a partner well in advance for dog requests to the husband* But Sonny boy, there's a dog also. Maybe we should get a dog..???
Sonny boy: But we already have Tinty!
(Tinty(Trinity) is Ammamma's Labrador that is at Kerala.)
Me: "Yeah, but Tinty is not here, and she's Ammamma's dog...."
Sonny boy: "That's ok, she's our dog also!"


Me: *Very very cautiously, for we don't want to be jumping into hidden potholes* "Sonny boy, there's a baby also. You think we should also have a baby?"
Sonny boy: "We already have one- K!" (my SIL's son, and his most loved enemy when it comes to sharing affections- material and otherwise)
Me: "But K is Chitta's baby, not ours."
Sonny boy. "No, K is my baby also."

Me: "And then, you're always shouting at and fighting with K. If he's your baby, why do you do that?"
Sonny boy*again giving me that Suppandi look* "Silly!!!! That is because I want to teach him all nice things- how to be good and good manners and all that..."
Me: *a slow smile dawning* "Aah.. like how I do to you, Sonny boy?"
Sonny boy: * a wide, happy smile on his face* "YEAH!! Just like you!"

My heart is beating....

the other day, a distant relative passed away suddenly from a heart attack.

And then the next day, MJ passed away, and last weekend, in the evening, I was generally acquainting Sonny boy with all his music that I was playing on Utube.

Sonny boy: "Amma, what is this man's name?"
Me: "Michael Jackson, Sonny boy. He sings very well, doesn't he?"

I think Sonny boy was more inclined to think he danced superbly. But let me not digress.

Me: "He sang, actually. He's now dead, Sonny boy," I said solemnly. Not really thinking about what I said, engrossed in the music and absorbing the fact that there would be no more hits from Michael Jackson.

Sonny boy: "How did he die?"
Me: "Umm..... he had a heart attack." *gradually awakening to the conversation we were having...*
Sonny Boy: Heart attack is what?
Me: *Sigh!* "Heart attack is what happens when the heart stops beating , Sonny boy. And then you can't live any more.

I got up and we got busy with other matters.

That night, after the story was over and we were cuddling to sleep, Sonny boy lifted his head and suddenly laid it on my breast. And then he looked up at me with a smile

Sonny boy: "Amma, I can hear your heart go thup thup thup thup. It is not stopped. So you're not dead, no?"
Amma: *Hugging him close* No, Sonny boy, I am not dead."

Everything that happens in between...

'If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with - Michael Jackson' ...


This statement of his made me feel so sad for the boy-man who only ever wanted to be loved.

I hope he can feel now how MUCH so MANY people love him inspite of all his faults. A great way to be loved, surely.

RIP, Michael Jackson, RIP.

of football clubs and raaahu kaalams.

My Mom has these podikai's as we call it in Malayalam. These shortcuts. Some of them are quite quaint.

Like this one.

As you know, there is this concept of raahu kaalam, which is basically an inauspicious time to embark on anything good. Exams, interviews, joining a new job, going on a long journey, getting operated upon... for all these, raahu kaalam was looked into and avoided, as much as possible.

While we were younger, we used to consult the good 'ol Manorama or Mathrubhoomi calendar for the time of 'raahu kaalam' But looking up the calendar was not always possible, especially if we were not at home. Then, we used to make a call to good 'ol Mom and she never failed us.

Her method was simple- just a little sentence- eleven boys had a good football club. We would hear her mutter this seemingly silly sentence and fiddle with her fingers, and a few seconds later, she would pronounce the raahu kaalam!

It never failed to intrigue us. And when we were younger, she maintained that it was magic. But now she's let her grown daughter into the magic.

And I'm giving it to you guys- for the fun of it, as well as for you to put to good use if you want to. For, eleven boys have a good football club never fails!

Here goes..

Eleven boys have a good football club.

7 days of the week, stating with Mon, and 7 letters in 'eleven boys have a good football club'.

Today being Wed, lets take it that you want to find the raahu kaalam on Wed.

Wed is the third day of the week.

Third word in 'eleven boys have a good football club' is HAVE. Take the first letter of the word, which is H.

Count up to H on your fingers.

You get 8, right? Halve it. You get 4, right?

Add 8+4. You get 12.

Bingo! You have the start of raahu kaalam. It lasts for one and a half hours, so you have raahu kaalam on Wed from 12 noon to 1.30pm.

Try it guys, and have fun!

And OFF it came!

For an update on my pore ol' toe nail that was....

15th dawned bright and beautiful.
Packed Sonny boy off to school with his new Ben 10 bag and Ben 10 water bottle and Ben 10 lunch box, and old Ben 10 socks.

Mom said 9 was raahu kalam and to leave only after nine. So presented ourselves at the Dermatology Dept of one of the reputed medical colleges at 9.30. And we waited and waited and waited till about 11.30 outside OT. Turned out we'd paid the fees for the surgery, but the lady omitted to tell us that we also had to pay a nominal amount of 40/- for re-registration!!! So almost 3 hours after we reached, my Doc got involved and tore a strip off the nurses at the reception and asked for my file to be sent in pronto and a bed to be vacated in the OT as well.

The waiting was eventful. Had gone with the husband and my nephew, Mom staying back at home to collect Sonny boy when he came back from school.

Said nephew being a normal 18 yr old, started feeling famished (this after a hearty breakfast of puri sabzi at 9) half an hour into the waiting. And fidgeted and fidgeted, till we sent him off to fill his stomach with whatever.

I kept getting EMERGENCY calls from my client and my boss, regarding a) negotitations on a deal that HAD to be closed that day and b) some muck-up that had occured in the creative of another client. This being two of the 3 ripe apples that I had been waiting for, I attended all the calls and went mad co-ordinating Blr and Delhi and Mumbai all from outside the OT.

Husband got mad at me raising my BP! (I think he was tenser than me at the prospect of having my toe nail off) and we had a hot quarrel over my not switching off my mobile. THAT raised my BP more than the office calls. Husbands!

Nephew came back and wondered that I had still not gone in. Turned out he was waiting for me to go into the OT so that he and the husband could go off to Forum mall in the meantime!!! After he gets married and his wife is pregnant I HAVE to tell her this!
Nephews! But since it was his first time as a bystander, I forgave him.

Finally one of the beds was empty and I walked in, giving my toenail a last look. The Doc (he was an associate professor) came, accompanied by a couple of junior students (very earnest and big eyed) and a relatively snobbish senior student (must be doing her MD in dermatology)
The doc cheerfully asked me if I was alright, I smiled at him in affirmation, and he set in to work.

Cleaned my foot, and started quizzing the girls conversationally. I was almost enjoying it if not for the fact that it was me on the operating table. Gave my toe two injections one on each side beneath my nail. These stung like mad going in. After some time when the doc pricked my little finger, I could feel it; and he did the same (he said he did) to my toe, but I couldn't feel a thing. Just a big numbness.
So he said he was going to start. I smiled. And in my mind called upon all the Gods and Godessses I knew.

The quizzing and explanations continued on procedures to be followed. And the doc told me to tell him if I felt the slightest pain. I intensified my prayers, and watched their faces. In between, I could see two of the younger faces swivelling around curiously to see my reaction. I guessed that the good doc must be pulling my nail off. But I didn't feel a thing. Good ol' local! I smiled at them and they smiled back.

Then the doc cauterized the roots on either side of my nail. He asked the MD girl to try, but she couldn't do something, I dunno what, and gave the instrument back to him. I think she held a grudge against me for that. She certainly lacked a bedside manner!

And then, it was over. The doc told the MD/nurse to take care of the rest of the stuff- to dress my nail temporarily, then re-dress it again after another 20 min when the bleeding would lessen, and walked out.

I limped out and was given a warm welcome by the husband and nephew. The white gauze on my foot grew progressively red with the passing minutes. After 45 min, I limped into another OT where the nurse pulled off the dressing gingerly. I appreciate her treating me like a person and not like an object. Ms. MD student, you have much to learn still.

And that was it. Things went off pretty much better than expected. I thanked all my Gods and Godesses from the bottom of my heart.




Today was when I was supposed to dress it again. My doc said I needn't go back there, but could get it done locally at any of the regular hospitals. So I went to one nearby. And Man!

All the stars that had been spared me during the actual avulsion (that was the medical name given the nail pulling out procedure)came out in their full glory.
Phew. Phew! and PHEW!

Suffice to say that I DREAD going in dy after to dress my nail again.
Please to send up a prayer. Or two. Or more. For the dressing to go smoothly, painlessly. Phew! Brrr!!

It was the most delightful surprise

bumping into a fellow blogger last week at Sonny boy's school.

Had to go to school to pay up the fees and stuff and also to meet up with Sonny boy's new Godess-Who-Knows-It-All/Who Can't-Go-Wrong- his teacher for the current year. She promises to be as nice as the earlier one. And while I was smiling and informing her of her Goddess status, she laughed and said she had to compete with the same thing at hoome- with her son's teacher.
We had a nice time talking, submitted all the things that had to be submitted, gathered all the things that had to be taken with us, and then it was time to leave.

Downstairs, I was waiting in line to pay the fees, when a petite, pretty Mom whom I'd noticed earlier too, while buying shoes, came up to me with a tentative smile and asked, "excuse me, are you 'my name"?"
I had noticed her, but I certainly didn't know her, how did she know me...? "Yeah", I replied confusedly, with a doubtful smile.

At that, the grin widened and she said, "I'm DDMom"
And the surroundings dissolved as we grinned at each other broadly!

I shoved the cheque book into the husband's (who was looking on perplexedly)hands, and we yakked and yakked.

It was so so nice to meet her so very unexpectedly.

I had not been reading her (and some other old favourites too- cos I mucked up bigtime with my blogroll, and lost their ids) for some time, but she was an old favourite and the name DDMom registered immediately.
You know, DDmom, Rbdans was more like how I thought of you!

Turns out she lives quite close to where I stay. Small world, isn't it?

She knew me by my grin, she said. (And to think I just did a post on that some time back!) And once she thought that it MIGHT be me, she just HAD to ask, even if she might be wrong. Am so glad you did, DDmom.

Inspite of the fact that I haven't read her in almost a year, and she said she's been pretty erratic too, we still got on so well. Unfortunately I had to get back to sign the cheque and she had already finished with all her stuff, so we had to say au revoir too soon.

So now, of all my old blogpals, I have met WIAN, Udtahaathi, ~Nm, MadMomma, Suki, Poppins, Bmom, Aargee, Swati, Kiran, Mama Mia, CoS, Compulsive Dreamer, Vidooshak, ... and DDmom.
14 of them.
I did meet Monica and Pixie at BMom's baby shower, but we didn't really yak.
Missed Art earlier this week, and Chox too.
Who next, I wonder?