nostalgia

Vande Mataram 1

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Heard it after ages on AIR. Not the AR Rehman pop version but the old world, slow and gentle version that we used to sing in the school assembly. In fact Rehman’s version is not really the Vande mataram that I am talking about. It’s interesting to note how the same lyrics, set in a different backdrop of melody evoke different feelings. The Rehman version is pop patriotism, more josh than the older one, asserts our patriotism with gusto. The old one is sober, and puts me at ease, calms me down. It’s more about cherishing what you have instead of asserting it. May be because I associate it with that security that childhood provides. It also reminds me of waking up to the strains of the sarod in the early hours of morning, coming from the radio, which my mom would be listening to as she went around rushing to get us ready for school.
There’s a third version too, which belongs to some black and white movie. This one also has josh but of a different kind. More to do with anger, revolution and “get out of our country” feelings. This one’s not often heard.

I remember thinking when I was a kid, that the wordings (if not the exact ones then some derivatives) of Vande Mataram provide a good means of traditional, unique sounding names to eager parents waiting to name their babies. Shubhra, Jyotsana, Pulkit, Yamini, Phull Kusumit, Drumudul, Shobhini, Suhasini, Sumadhur bhashini..Shasya Shyamalam..

So many names!



It’s been long since I:

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1. Wrote on paper with a pen, instead of typing on a keyboard, cellphone et al. Especially in hindi. I was quite stumped (for words or rather characters literally) when i recently tried writing in hindi! (quite a disturbing reality)

2. Rode a bicycle. An actual one. Not an exercycle. I really want to ride one again.. but Delhi doesnt allow me the same for various reasons. I havent done this since first year of college.

3. Went for a picnic. A proper lunch basket picnic. I think it was last in my teenage (I was in class X) that i had one like that!

4. Roughed up a guy. It’s been a year. The first time and the last time (so far). I still cant get over the fact that I actually did it! He was one of those road side eve teasers who got a shock that someone actually retaliated. And he was alone, I guess that’s what gave me the guts.

5. Touched my guitar or my flute :-(. Am slowly but surely taking out time for these activities.

6. Did some calligraphy. Last time was in college.

7. Sang while taking a shower. Or even took the transistor in for listening to some music while bathing. :-P. It’s a great combi. One should try it. ‘Bathroom bliss’ makes for a nice post.

8. Got my hair chopped short. Last time I did that was in class 12th. Before that I did it in class 7th. Both times, the saloon female asked me at least 5-6 times if I was sure. The time I was in 7th, my mom kept the tresses with her, thinking they could used for an artificial plait or bun. The hair colour didnt match 😛 :-).

9. Wore a Sari. The last time I wore it was on some family wedding. Am not very comfy with saris yet. For some reason, ppl expect a female who gets married to suddenly transform herself and start wearing saris instead of western or even indian suits. Mera number tab aayega.

10. Visited my college in Pune. I want to and I dont want to. I want to because I miss it and I know it’s a nostalgic trip down memory lane. I dont want to because I know it would have changed altogether. It would actually disillusion me and all the nice memories that I have abt the place would go in the trash bin.

11. Got into a swimming pool. It’s been *really* long. River, Ocean yes. But swimming pool, no. I was in class 6th, when I last made my attempt at swimming. Could never learn it. Inspite of the fact that I went river rafting last year to overcome my fear of water.

12. Got a leech latch on to me. (that was a tongue twister). It’s been almost 14 yrs now. I was in Siliguri (west bengal). That place is infested with leeches, snakes, frogs and all kind of creepy things you would rather stay away from. Add stepped on elephant shit to this.

13. Played Tambola! Used to get to play it often in my childhood and surprisingly I used to be lucky too.

14. Went to a ball. Last was in Pune – The NDA ball. It was a blind date. We made quite a funny combination (looks wise) and we were ribbed about it for long.

15. Close-danced on a slow number. For that matter I cant seem to remember when I did that last.. did I even do it.. mebbe with my soft pillow :P.

16. Did Origami. Gosh! I have forgotten all the small little things I used to make. Even a boat that every school kid knows how to make when the rains come. I used to make real good paper frogs that actually used to hop when you press their rear 😉

17. Witnessed a thief getting caught red handed. A pretty shaking-you-through-and-through situation when one starts imagining the consequences. Happened in Secunderabad when we were staying in a small room in the officers’ mess. It was the middle of the night and we were obv sleeping. That guy was an amateur, and somehow my dad realised that there was someone in the room. Suddenly when he was about to pick up some stuff, my dad caught him red handed. Phew.. one scary experience and I dont want it repeating again. or rather theft repeating again.

18. Made two plaits. I stopped making them after I chopped my hair in class 12th. But I guess I’ll do that someday for the school girlish fun.

19. Visited a church/synagogue. Went to a church with a friend when I was in college. Visited a synagogue during a south india vacation. I think it was in Cochin.

20. Have been jotting down this stuff. Better get back to other things :-P.




Pitter Patter

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I look out the glass window,
The sky so azure and blue,
A fluff of peppered clouds wafts by,
Oh! How I wish I could float too…

On the wings of nostalgia I fly,
and remember times gone by,
The scent of fresh air, the crystal clear panorama,
all remind me of an evening with you.

The way we were caught in a spell of rain,
huddled like sparrows were us twain,
In dearth of umbrellas, a tree was our shelter,
To prevent ourselves from soaking, we only huddled closer.

Times have gone,
The rains did too.
The rains have come again,
and I still miss you.


Graveyard Shift

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…and those things that go bump in the night. One of the things that go bump in the night is my sis. No, well she’s not as blind as a bat or anything, lemme explain. (I’ll be damned if she catches all these things sprawled on the web 🙂 )

My sis has had the habit of talking in her sleep right since childhood. Seldom has she ever uttered anything intelligible. It all sounds like some weird martian language to me. In addition to this, as a child, she also used to be adept at playing football in the bed (read kicking), of course not knowing that I am not the football or my mouth, not the goal post. What more, she would find herself in exactly 180 degrees of the position that she went to sleep in. Imagine trying to sleep and suddenly being thrust with something on your face.. and lo! behold it used to be the not so pretty foot of my younger sister! (It could have given a chiropodist some great business). At times she also used to be found dangling somehow in the reams of the mosquito net that wasn’t being supported by the bed! Well, over the years these habits started declining in frequency and also weirdness. The only thing pending was the jumble mumble game at times.

One fine night she had just retired to bed (and slept off), whilst I was handling some nightcare regime. Suddenly she asked me in a very polished tone,” What *ARE* you doing?”. Note the stress on the verb. This sentence struck me as REALLY odd. For one, we dont talk in plain proper english at home. We use what everyone is familiar with – hinglish. So a complete sentence with not a single word in hindi, threw me completely off balance. Add to it the fact that she was using this sophisticated tone as if she’d just stepped out of an english convent where Hindi speaking was fined (Believe me, I have studied in one). Last but not the least, I wasn’t doing anything so outta ordinary that she actually had to wake up and ask me that! Somehow I smattered that I was doing.. whatever.. and also appended a question about what the problem was. Suddenly, she was dumbfounded and she uttered yet another sentence which threw me more off balance than the first. She said, “Oh! I thought you were my English teacher!”. (This was in hinglish BTW). Well, whatever in the name of .. err.. blistering barnacles or the like was that?? And of course in the morning, she didn’t remember anything of whatever happened and we just kept giggling at the atrociously weird nature of it all.

This isn’t all. A few days down the line (now this is the incident where she went bump in the night) so lights, camera, action.. oh.. no lights..pitch dark and some howling by dogs, yes! Again, this time we were sleeping peacefully. Or rather everybody was sleeping peacefully while sleep chose to evade me. Suddenly (and this is horrifying), my sister woke up with a start and got up in a rush. I found it weird but gave her the benefit of doubt coz she does that a lot in a rush to relieve herself. But this time it wasn’t to be so. Instead of heading for the toilet, she went in some absurd direction, to another door, which opened in another room! And all this while, she was in that haphazard hurry. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she bumped real BAD against the door, as if she didn’t see that it was partially closed! This was enough to wake up my parents who appeared faster than a genie would have on the scene. (Yeh parents log aise hee hote hain). They asked her what was wrong and led her back to the bed. But my sister, she crosses all heights of being eery and with a stiff silence, came back and slept as if nothing had happened. Of course, not to forget, she didn’t remember any of this the next morning. All these night adventures of hers had the tendency to put us in splits when in a family gathering. But this was getting serious. What if some night she just decided that she was going to turn into a somnambulist? Anyhow, things became ok after a while and there was no trace of any such activity for a long time. With time, she shifted to Pune. I sure hope her room mate isn’t having a horrifying time now! 🙂

Economy Class Bathroom

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This episode dates back to the last century. Well at least it feels that old, even though technically it *is* based in the 90’s. A few young girls unknown to each other have been thrown together by fate to stay together for the next 4 years to come. They all are apprehensive, judgemental and quick to form opinions based on the first impression. They know they have to face a lot of hardships, accustom themselves to this new environment. After being uprooted from their relatively more stable existence, they feel like weeds, ready to sway in the direction the wind takes them, entwined to each other nevertheless.

These were the girls of an engineering college which was just starting and they belonged to the first batch of it. To start with, there was no girls hostel, so the handful of girls were shifted to some meagre staff quarters, 2 girls sharing each room. No attached bathrooms, unlike what some might have been used to. Adjusting with 5 more individuals who are all new and trying to come to terms with their eating, drinking, sleeping, snoring, loud talking, clothes washing, loo occupying, music listening and what not habits is not easy for one if one has never stayed outside at all.

As is obvious I was one of these girls and was in this very situation along with the rest. One of the things I remember most about those staff quarters is the ‘economy class bathroom’. As I pointed out, there was just one lavatory and one bathroom (in fact one bucket and one mug too :-P). The only arbitration algorithm we used was to speak out as soon as possible in the morning that we would be ‘next’ (dunno if there was ever any ‘first’). Soon enough, as is obvious, everyone had to get ready by the same time, and the occupancy rate of these divine locations was quite high. However, there was this unused area in all flats, called the kitchen which seldom got our attention and we had just stuffed it with our trunks. One fine day, yours truly was getting horribly late and the arbitration mechanism had not left any chance to me. So I decided to be a little innovative and went to the kitchen. There was a proper sink and a water outlet on the ground. (That meant I wouldn’t have to stuff myself into the sink). That was all I needed. In dearth of a mug, I used an old empty jam bottle (of course clean) to pour water over myself. Here I must add, that the kitchen had a huge window compared to a small airlet in the bathroom and that window used to overlook a vast field (the empty grounds of the airport in Pune). One could also see the big, bright orange, rising sun from that window which was quite an overwhelming sight. Also, since the area was totally barren and devoid of any trees, the wind used to swoosh right into the kitchen. The first time I tried this experience, I kind of got addicted to the freedom from arbitration and queues as well as the bright sunrise one got to witness, not to mention the natural dryer that I had, which dried me completely without any expensive gadgets. The ‘economy class bathroom’ was thus born and that was what I referred to it as. But to me it will always be no less than a super deluxe one!