For whom the bell rang

The bell rang in mid-morning. Everyone was so busy in the usual hurrying and scurrying to take a bath / meditate /cook /get out of the maid's way and a hundred other things that one does out here, so I went to answer the door bell ouside the main gates. It turned out to be a stranger and so I gave my normal 'Nahi chahiye' (I dont want whatever that you are selling). Only this guy didnt look like a hawker. He was wearing white dhoti and kurta and had a red tilak on his forehead marking him out to be a member of some religious sect or the other.

'I am not selling anything. I just want to inform you that there will be a 'prabachan' on Shirdi Sai baba (Guru of Sai baba of the afro hairdo fame) at saket tomorrow. Please come with your family members'. I should have ended the conversation then and there since we wont be going to any prabachan, not today and definitely not tomorrow and even if we did, Saket was on the other end of the world. But somehow I didn't. And he continued, outside the iron gates and me inside the main doors with only my head sticking out.

- Have you heard of Shirdi Sai baba?
- Yes. ( I drove down to Shirdi with some friends from aurangabad in 1997, I think...not so much because I wanted to, but because my friends, incidentally my hosts, wanted to. It was the usual thing. Buying some sweets, flowers, incense sticks to be given as prasad, queuing up for a darshan...but not being able to manage more than couple of seconds in front of Shirdi Sai baba, because of the rush. The only interesting thing that happened was when a hushed sort of buzz went around: It seems Dawood Ibrahim's henchman was there for a darshan as well. A stout, middle aged gentleman with green eyes, wifey and daughter. Dont quite know why or how it went around, but all of us were trying our best to look at them without seeming to! Who knows if he was or wasnt...but it was sort of interesting to think he was).
- OK. There is some good news coming your way by the 16th of August. So if you are planning a trip to Shirdi, dont go before the 16th.
(Interesting....)
- And Behena (sister in hindi), I see saturn's shadow over you. (So a hundred odd pandits and astro have told my ma), so dont wear any black clothing (I dont....or atleast rarely). And behena, your parents havent raised you like a daughter (they havent? Sob, sob). They have raised you like a son. (I wonder why?). And are you married? Yes? So your wedding must have taken place suddenly. You must have....

And just as he was (I am sure) about to tell me about me finding my personal pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, our fascinating conversation, sorry monologue was cut short since my bro-in-law came up behind me and said rather loudly 'what is all this bakwas (nonsense)?'. I gave a hasty nod cum namaskar to the chap and shut the door.

I wonder would he have said the same thing to my m-i-l / f-i-l/ b-i-l /maid had they opened the doors? or am I being cynical and should have more faith in miracles?! Hehe...time will tell.
August 16th isn't so far away is it?...I might even blog about it.....

A curious hobby

I have a new hobby, interest, pastime; call it what you may...it is a bit unusual and infact I feel a trifle silly writing about it. But it is really most addictive and I find myself indulging in it often, despite the horrible weather when, most who have the option, stay indoors. Yes its an outdoor hobby. My in-laws have a small garden in the front with a assorted bunch of shrubs, ivies and plants and three trees all growing in a kind of wild tangled profusion. Orange blossoms, pink and white flowers of the madhabi lata, white 'bel', white nayantara, red hibiscus and a few more. And ofcourse the varied green of the leaves of each of these. These interest me. In between the green foliage, there are a few leaves that have turned yellow. Touch them and they come away from their branch. You don't even have to pluck them out. I have spent many a hot and clammy hour collecting the yellow leaves and then throwing them away. I have to be careful ofcourse not to over do it otherwise I will have to wait for quite some time till more leaves yellow!

Most evenings, I go for a walk to a park across the road. I usually take a brisk 8 rounds (2 kms) in about 15 minutes or so. But now it takes me longer because on each round, I stop in mid-stride to pluck out a leaf from a shrub. At first, I would choose the shrubs at the corners and when there was no one passing by, but now I stop whenever I choose and ignore the curious on-lookers! Its kind of like bursting the bubles in a bubble wrap!

If hobbies reflect the persona...then I shudder to think what mine must be telling you all about me...the heat, the domesticity, my joblessness must be taking its toll, what?!

Our Menagerie

When we say India is the 2nd most populous country in the world after China, we are not referring to people alone...but to domestic lizards and cockroaches too! Infact we would come out on top beating all other nations hollow! Looks like our tropical weather is high fertility inducing in more than one species!!

Normally, cockroaches would make a tasty snack for lizards, but in our house, they seem to have struck a deal and stick to their well defined territories and ignore each other,
the cockroaches concentrating their energy and efforts to the kitchen and around food stuff and even inside the refridgerator while the lizards are content to creep around the light fixtures.

One more point on this fascinating topic - the lizards are quite plump and largish as compared to those in kolkata(perhaps the pollution out there, stunts their growth) but I would say smaller than their brethren in Mumbai. Now how do I know this? Well I do. My Uncle (dad's bro) on each of his visits to Kolkata would spend some quality time in comparing Kolkata with Mumbai and ofcourse Kolkata would come out very badly in all respects...civic amenities, work culture, pollution etc etc. But not content with that, our dear uncle would even come up with special points:- You (meaning us poor kolkatans) have petty thieves; We (the lucky mumbaikars) have Mafia. You call these lizars?! Ha! Ha! Should see ours...They are dinosaurs!!

Hmmph!