Naani passed away due to a cardiac arrest on the night of 7th and 8th June, 2014. I received a phone call from my sister at the early hours of the morning, informing me about it. The first thought that crossed my mind was how my mother would cope up with this loss. By then, I didn’t know what happened to Naani. I could only imagine my shattered mother feeling homeless, guideless and still to sail through 30-40 years of her life, now without her mother. I talked to my mother for less than a minute and before I could think anything about the situation or what to do about it, I found myself in metro, traveling towards Kashmere Gate ISBT. Continue reading
Posts tagged "Mother"
Fruits & Seeds
A dozen bananas, five chickoos, three guavas, two boxes of strawberries, two pomegranates, one huge canary melon and lots of grapes. This is my menu for today.
Over the last few months, I have spent more money on fruits than on anything else. I have delayed holiday trips, I have avoided eat outs, I have avoided movies, I have avoided summer shopping, I have avoided spending on books but I have not been able to avoid spending on fruits. Moreover, I have begun to dislike the regular spicy food and I have fallen in love with the natural sweetness and nourishment of the fruits.
Has it helped me? Yes! Continue reading
Motherhood
The problem was not that she was about to deliver a baby, the problem was that she was unmarried. Though being unmarried and delivering a baby is not a crime in the eyes of law, but it is one of the most heinous crimes in the eyes of society in India. The crime becomes a little more intolerable when the woman who is unmarried and about to deliver a baby comes from a lower caste of the society. In such a case, everyone gets to say something about the vulgarity and unacceptability of the act. I wonder at times, if it is encoded in our genes to reproduce in order to make sure the survival of our species, why does the act of reproduction, be it having sex without marriage or delivering a baby without being married, happen to be such a big taboo if it is not performed by the consent of the family members or the society?
Bindiya’s case was a little different. Even before Bindiya could figure out what was wrong with her, she was three months pregnant. Sulakshana, her mother, took her to a local dispensary when Bindiya complained of missing her periods for the third time in three consecutive months. Continue reading
The Promise In The Bag
I was all alone with myself while coming back from work last night. The new music I downloaded during the day was keeping me company. Kaaya had already ignored my call and I was doing what I do whenever I am alone, iThink.
I was thinking about the man who was sitting next to me and talking with his friend so loudly that his voice was piercing through my headphones, disturbing my moment with myself. I raised the volume to the maximum, closed my eyes and tried to divert my attention from his high pitched tone to the contents in my bag. It happens with me at times that I end up doing the most unexpected things. Most of the time I am spared because I do not share my thoughts. Who thinks about what is there in his bag and what is not? iDo. Continue reading
An Equation
“How many twos are there in an eight?” Sandhya literally shouted at Divya this time. Poor Divya was trying her best to figure out the answer without using the calculator, as her mother, Sandhya, had ordered. After spending several minutes playing with her hair and eating the back of the pencil, thinking how on Earth will knowing the number of twos in an eight help her in her life, she gave up. She looked at her mother innocently and shrugged in disappointment. Sandhya’s anger levels shot up and she raised her hand to hit Divya. Before it could reach Divya’s cheeks, tears dwelled up in Divya’s eyes and she started to sob.
“Not again Divya! Divide eight by two and tell me the correct answer quickly”, Sandhya said. Although she was losing her composure seeing her daughter cry, she also wanted her daughter to solve the basic mathematical questions without the help of a calculator. Continue reading