Yahi waqt hai !

Yahi waqt hai karle poori arzoo one of the old Hindi melodies kept me company as I was driving back from work….made me think yes…the lyrics are so relevant even to this day  !

Aagey bhi jaane na tu …peeche bhi jaane na tu…job hi hai bas yahi ek pal hai!

What we have is just the present so why not live it fully eh ?

I remember this conversation with my MIL ….. I had got a call from Cochin about the death of one of her close friends and as I broke the news to her ….athai (as I call her ) looked at me and with sadness descending on her face ...said “yes she had been ailing for some time….paavam !”  ….she paused and suddenly asked me “did you see the knock Sachin played last night ?” !!!

Wow ! that was a Sixer !!! What an attitude ! At 80 + she had  taught me the true meaning of “live this moment”...what was gone was gone but one can remember the happy moments right ?

Never ever will I ridicule her watching innumerable serials , her tryst with the Tata sky remote … as she  makes the maximum of the present  juggling along with the  slokams / cricket / indulging in those countless books on fiction and occasional participation in family conversations J

Jeena shaayadh isi ko kehte hain !

Power of a Blink

If only she could express with words, if only she could tell us how painful it is to listen to all the stories that we keep telling her but unable to participate ….

As she lies there , in her own little world , which one can only try to imagine ….but you know what she has found a new way of connecting with us !!!

Though the dictionary says ….” BLINK is to open and close (the eye or eyes), usually rapidly and repeatedly”  Amma uses the blink much beyond …

She blinks slowly to acknowledge …sometimes even to shut herself away from what’s happening around her ….

It makes me wonder how we take everything for granted in life …and today a simple blink has the power of communicating with all of us…

Aschey Bochor Abhar hobe

Something that I wrote in Oct last year after an amazing trip to Kolaktta with phull family !

Our trip to Kolkatta was definitely a  trip down memory lane and I know after reading this piece Asha / Chandra akka / Ramani athimbar will want to be in Cal sooon!!

Eight of us landed in the City of Joy to experience the four day affair with Maa Durgaa!! What greeted us of course …something that has and will not  change and it was yes u guessed it right the perennial JAMMM of Kolkotta! Thanks to my  anna, we had this amazing guest house in New Alipore and after settling down we were all ready to start Pandal Hopping !! (settling down to be read as giving the cooks there a long list of all that we wanted to taste in the next 4 days !!)

Amidst crowds and never ending queues, we braved our way into every gali, mohalla, nukkad which true to the Bong culture has to have a PANDAL! As they say ….one Bengali is a poet, two Bengalis form a political party and 3 Bengalis mean 2 PUJO Committees!!

4 days – The world became a heady rush of sound, perfume, bright lights, friends and festivity all wrapped in a warm feeling of togetherness even among complete strangers!

At this point I must praise the hyper enthusiasm of my MIL Seetha athai  (approaching the 80 mark ) who with her never say die attitude made sure we went to every crowded place including Dakshineswar and BelurMutt !!!

As we moved from one Pandal to another one could not help but just admire the decoration, the elaborate arrangements – the objective was to ensure the maximum no of visitors , maximum coverage on the media. And it’s all about the labour of love as the visitors are not charged a penny!! The rituals were comforting , nostalgic….the Prasad bhog, the stalls that led us to the Pandal, nothing has changed …..Like Sabesh & Anna commented Calcutta has just stood still……

Maa Durga’s face some of them depicting anger , some victorious, some very very calm….Gosh! can her beauty ever be put into words ?? It has to be experienced!!

Something I read….. these idols are sent to all parts of the world almost 6 weeks before the Pujo…like Seattle , Singapore & Saigon…There has been a regular Puja in Switzerland since 2004 J

Varieties of sandesh, Mishti Doi, Bhaiguni Bhaja, Egg rolls in Park Street, Puchkas in Haldiram…baap re baap…have hid the weighing scale LOL !!!

As I sign off….leave you with  a quote …

“Deep down we Bengalis know that our Pujo is only incidentally about prayer…It is in the deepest sense, a celebration of our Identity”

Aschey Bochor Abhar hobe – Once again next year!

4pm coffee call

She taught me to say “amma. She taught me to eat, to drink...the alphabets , the good from the bad....

Today as she lies on the bed, in her own world , a mute spectator to all that’s happening around her, we are trying to make her remember who she is. Her name. Our names. It makes me wonder.... How eager  she must have been just to hear me utter “amma” for the very first time ?

Between the 17th and 21st of March,  amma had 2 strokes. While the first one rendered her right side weak, the second one affected her left. Additionally, this has affected her motor skills and her memory. Her long term memory is quite intact- she picks up and recites any slokam irrespective of which line you recite to her. However, she is confined to the bed.

Most of us say “maa will call you back…on an important  call right now…..” and then thanks to the lifestyle we maintain, we just forget about that call….

Life really does not give us too many chances guys…...just lift that phone and make that call to your amma even if it means telling that colleague or client of yours that you will call them back !!!All she needs is 10 mins .....

Amma used to call me every day at 4 pm when she was sipping her coffee at home and me would then share some notes about that day sipping my hot coffee in office or wherever I was…..

For the past 3 and a half weeks, I have been waiting for amma to just call out my name by herself , but then I know the wait is going to be a long one  ….!

Life is strange and  stranger are the lessons it teaches us !