my cozy corner and link party

Thunder may roll, lightning may streak the sky and it might pour for four days and nights in a row, but when I settle down at this corner, I can confidently state, 'this too shall pass!'

Linking up with Patricia's September Cozy Corners... thank you Patty!

deja vu

All was back to routine. She sighed and sipped her morning cup of tea. It had been a flurry of activity and nerves the last three days. Her uncle and aunt were visiting along with their son and daughter-in-law and their two kids.
Se had fond memories of long stays in their home as a kid. And it was the first time they were coming over after her marriage. This felt special and she had wanted to make the occasion special.
After the phone call, she was excited to make it all happen. After all, there were just three days to lunch. And she was surprised to get cold feet because “what to cook?” kept flashing in her mind.
Sticking to what she knew best had been a really good idea, but she had not wanted to make her standard menu of biriyani. The guests were coming from Hyderabad and who could top a hyderabadi biriyani?
She smiled now as she remembered how she had wished and prayed fervently for some creative outburst or a flash of divine intervention to make that ho-hum flavour change to wow and yum!
The next day had been spent cleaning, clearing and sprucing up the house. When looking in the drawer for a table runner, she had come across two rose scented candles that she had completely forgotten about and now were placed on the coffee table.
She had smelt them more than once in the kitchen these last two days. They had brought back memories of holidays in her grandmother’s house in Kerala and the garden with bougainvilleas and ferns and roses and how every meal had a distinct flavour that still made her mouth water.
She had decided then that she would keep the menu simple, homely and easy so that it was also a pleasure to make. Her grandmother had looked happy as she had gone about her daily chores and that happiness reflected everywhere in the house.
She had bought the fish and the meat and everything else that would be needed. On the way to buy ice cream for the kids, in case they did not like fruits, she stopped at the florists and bargained for some pink carnations to match the runner.
That was how flower vase on top of the refrigerator had been put to some use for once. And in keeping with the homely theme, the simple fare was served with all lending a hand and bantering and bits of gossip and lots of laughter.
The hours had flown away and it had been time for them to leave. “I’m so glad you didn’t make biriyani,” her aunt had said, starting another fit of giggles.
All was back to routine now. As she stretched and finished her cup of tea, she was glad she had stuck to her instincts and made the lunch part of good memories for all.


The above excerpt was written more than three years ago, when I was probably obsessed about writing in the third person. But, I found the general feelings and thoughts echoed, as I got ready for friends who came to dinner Saturday night. But, to my credit, I was a lot faster this time!



As usual, it was simple, traditional and homely fare with lots of yellow roses and strong scents of green tea and lemon wafting from a corner in every room... was a little conscious of the 'doggie smell' that we don't even realise is there. I am thankful for the time spent together, the laughter and teasing and God! do I need to meet old friends more.



Have a lovely Sunday :)

the blackster

Its been four nights that the husband is away and the blackster takes his place as leader of the pack very seriously indeed. But, now, I am able to sleep through the barking bouts hardened as I am to sleep well in between bouts of crying, feeds, nappy changes and colic!

But, tonight he is friskier. Pawing me (the rascal) and pulling off my light quilt, whenever I don’t shush him. I tip toe around the bedroom, the living room and back. There is enough water in his bowl, the bathroom doors are left ajar for when he needs to go, and surprisingly, the other residents are fast asleep.

Back in the bedroom again, I find the floor cold. That is it. I had forgotten to put back his rug, after the evening mop-up. The poor doggie! Not that he needs its warmth… I spread the rug, but with one jump he has it all scrunched up.

A warm growl and two grunts later, he is all settled and blissfully chewing an end of his rug, both eyes on me as I try to find me some space between the kids who are now all arms and poky knees on the bed.


****
Morning's are a mad rush to catch the school bus. SInce the arrival of the blackster, it is a riot after 7.00 am, when the son is also woken up. FIrst, the pet shows his love to his human siblings, usually resulting in glasses of milk knocked from tiny hands by an exuberantly wagging and strong tail.

If only that were the end of it, the puppy hates that no one pays much attention to him and so tries to be cute by running away with the hair brush or a school shoe or socks or something vitally necessary at that point of time... and he knows exactly what to pick so that he can have me screaming or one of the kid's in tears.

So, dearest Blackie is now locked up and remains so until the kids are almost halfway to school and I saunter back home after a short chat with other mommas. Signing off with pictures of the petulant blackster, who this morning sat on my lap on our couch for at least five minutes licking, sniffing, chewing on me. Then, probably satisfied, that he was now the centre of attention till afternoon he walked away to his spot under the dining table.




PS
pictures courtesy Harish, my husband and sounding board, who is doing a really good job of documenting our life on the camera :)

revel in the sun

It gives me immense pleasure to have some quiet time by myself before I dive into my day with all its chatter and barking and noise...


... a really short time it was, but it has anchored me for today, and well, tomorrow is another day :)


Hope the middle of the week is treating you well!

brooding

there came this little bit of sun into my Saturday morning filling me with joy and enthusiasm to smile at the world...


...even my row of newly repotted aloe plants seemed to rejoice!


till less than an hour, when it was raining and sogging my spirits down..


except I don't know why I never got the serenity to accept and enjoy the moment like my wise little three year old!!

perusing

The last book I read was heavy. It was “the Last Mughal” by William Darlymple and the first book of its kind (a little text bookish and historic and purebred non-fiction) I read. I loved the description of character, opulence, routine life of India in the times of the Revolt of 1857.



And, I absolutely fell in love with this author, who so deliciously and ingeniously brought forward the nuances of each character, so much so, they actually talked and twitched and narrowed their eyes in my mind’s eye. There also is this chapter, where he brings forth the differences in the daily routines of the British Raj and life in the Mughal palace. The fluid way the chapter connected the two is sheer poetry in prose!



But, the book was one long chapter in my life and took me three seasons to see it through the end. No giggles or snickers when I show you the size of the teeny-weeny books I picked up last week. That two of them are collections of short stories is not coincidental at all.



With me now fighting for the much touted and overrated ‘me-time,’ I make it a point to read at least 10-15 pages daily. And, with short stories, you don’t need to book mark, or flip back to remember who’s who and, the best part, a sigh of contentment for at least one thing well done that day.

The title (I do exclaim these days!!) was what made me grab Roald Dahl’s book, while the picture on the cover of ‘the Last Mughal’ captivated me. And, in the case of the soft-spoken Ruskin Bond (I heard him on the TV), I knew I would love his descriptions of the people and sights of rural India. After all, he described and engaged me with his description of foliage and bees and mountains in ‘the Book of Nature.’
Then, these also arrived from Amazon. This is the Bible for now :)

too much too soon

Here I am, rejuvenated enough to see the little ones settling back in school, almost, effortlessly and hopeful of reading all the books I wanted to read, click though beautiful blogs at leisure, settling on my window seat and penning down my thoughts while I listen to the rain…
… when I am rudely awakened by a shrill squawk! There stand my husband and daughter with an African Grey parrot.



This is Kukku, the daughter shrieks and my open mouth and look of utter dismay (to say the least) prompts a sheepish grin from the husband. Kukku has the emotional intelligence of a two year old, he says… and, I am thanking the good Lord that Abi has finally turned three, I humph… the intelligence of a five year old… as if the smartass retorts of our daughter were not enough, I sigh… and a vocabulary of 2000 in another year… as if I don’t talk enough, I whined!



The birdie adapts to us before we do to her. We are more curious and wary that we might hurt her, but she is quite resilient, enjoys and demands attention and quite fun… till the day, the husband decided that kukku needs a friend and stood at the door with a three month old German Shepherd and 12kg of puppy food!



It was nothing but another rude surprise (because I don’t like the word shock) until the pup dodged the kids and friends of the kids, took one sniff of my chipped nail paint and flopped down at my feet there and then. Something between love and joy (or was it both?) surged in my heart, but it was too much too soon and I gave my husband “the look.”



The first two weeks, blackie, named ingenuously by the daughter, followed me everywhere – from chair to bed to sofa and back. But, now it is at home with the four of us, together or separate. Things are so much better since it has been toilet-trained. And, now that it is teething, I actually have the floor clear of clutter, which consisted of things quite needed in our daily life.



This is us now. Suhana actually has blackie in the family picture she drew of us spending the day at the seaside. I asked her why she forgot kukku, miss smarty replied, it was because kukku would fly away in the open sky. No contradicting that!


PS
Somewhere in between blackie came and I post this, I was overwhelmed, tired and cranky. That was when I decided, reluctantly, to end this blog, because I was hardly coming on-line, feeling uncreative and did not see any time for me in the next two years to do all that I had wanted to.
It was precisely, on Little E’s three-month birthday Shalini, and soon as I had posted on flickr, I was going to say my good byes to you (for you believed in me enough) and Shilpa (how I love her name and the little notes we share from time to time) and Sindhu (who must still be finding me as confused as I was when I sat next to her in journalism school and who, out of all of you, has actually seen me in person and all that I know of computers and laughter, she taught me ☺) and Asha (who is solace and inspiration and always gets my jokes) and Arundhati and Arya and Indrani and Susan, your comments do me proud.
Short story shorter, the Net connection was lost and I was unable to blog that day. The transmission problems still continue as does my blog.



But, thank you so much, each one of you!!