Bragging Rights Reserved

I was trying to find an image of a wisteria archway on the internet. You know, as a reference for painting something. And I found myself falling down the rabbithole of internet... the happy and glorious kind - people on reddit showing off flowers and their gardens. It is so cute and pure when a person talks excitedly about their hobbies to kind but random strangers. In my opinion, having shared interests bonds people faster than common enemies.

T has been dabbling in growing plants for some time now. His tomatoes have a teeny tiny bud and he is so happy about them.

Slipping memories

When V was younger, I used to drop him at stairs of the pre-school every morning. And every morning, without fail, he used to give me 30 hugs, rights on the stairs. He wasn't even 3 yet, but he would gladly count 30 hugs before going to school. :) For me, it was one of the highlights of the day.

When he was 3, T used to call Amazon as daana-avutta, which was a mispronunciation of "download the voot app". He must have heard that from a television advt.

The way these words have entered our family's vocab and made their homes here: gaana-song, waain, yay, n***gu pants, mittar, doodhu...

The phase when V refused to get any pics clicked and deliberately made a frown face in ALL of them.

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I am really thankful to the person/team at Google Photos who thought of flashing old curated pics to their users. Thank you :)

Also, to the team working on blogspot. Please dont kill this.. ever. I already hate you a bit for google podcasts. 

Bamboo

Our balcony overlooks a small thicket of bamboo. Bamboo leaves tend to make a very distinct rustling sound. You can hear the thin dry-wiry-papery texture of the leaves as they move abound in the slightest of breezes. Each one of them twists around and swings in a distinct rhythm as if performing its own dance. There is no choreography and yet, they paint a pretty picture. I kind of understand why so many painters have been mesmerized by them.

One of  my very early memories is lying down in a cool thick bamboo grove on a very hot summer day back when summer vacations literally meant detox from all things urban. There used to be a very large and thick bamboo grove behind my grandmother's house. At a little distance of course. The bamboo trees were very high, at least 3-4 stories and so thick that even at the very heights of  infamous north-Indian summer, the grove remained cool. I remember the ladies of the house retiring to the grove for the afternoon, chatting and gossiping. Simple pleasures of a simple life!

Of drums and stings

T had his first stage performance yesterday! Opening song :D I was so proud.

The experience of watching good live performances in person, is one of the few joys which I cant fathom getting marred by any advent in technology. In yesterday's lineup, there was a kathak recital, a group of senior dancers. They were all very talented of course and were dancing very elegantly, energetically and in perfect symphony with the rhythm. But one of them was particularly mesmerizing. it was evident that she was enjoying herself tremendously. It was as if her movements were surprising and delighting her too. The audience were captivated! 

I believe our ancestors understood what they now call Stendthal syndrome better than we do now. There is a reason we associate arts with Gods and Goddesses. 

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Last week I was bitten on my arm by a wasp or a hornet, or some other equally horrendous insect. I dont know for sure because by the time I felt the sting, the culprit was gone! We were in a particularly overgrown and thick part of the hill at the time, so looking around wasn't an option. I know its not a bee because I have been bitten by bees before and bee sting is not this painful.

So anyway, the sting was particularly nasty and has tormented me for over a week now. I looked up on the internet to try an find ways to soothe the pain and something very interesting came up. The vast majority of the pics of the hornet/wasp sting were similar.. on their upper arms! Same as my case. Why though? Do these insects confuse human arms with some natural predator and attack? What? I demand research.

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Apparently, this is also the snake season in this part of the world. Last week, two baby cobras were spotted in our community!!