Monday, March 18, 2024

I would have answered Aalupur !

The kids love spending time with their grandparents. Understandably so.. :D

So the other day, N and V were playing some sort of atlas game when the following conversation took place:

N: OK, beta tell me the name of a place in India that shares its name with that of a vegetable.

V: (thinks hard for a while then answers with a grin) Tomatopradesh !

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

What

After a long long period, I have gone back to painting. Not very well, I must add. I've managed to claim a corner of the house all to myself and littered it with oils and colors and brushes.. (I've decided that the family needs to embrace my chaotic side you see.)

So anyhow, I am not very regular with the actual painting part :D..  The one that I am working on right now is a kind of take on Van Gogh's almond blossoms. I absolutely love his eye for color.. (I think Van Gogh is to visual art is gulzar to poetry. Effortlessly flowing and pulling you in with it in a way that you are happy.. almost thankful to drown.)

Yeah so, as I was saying I am not very regular with painting.. So what's happening is I paint a part of the canopy each time I pick up the brush.. And as a result, different parts of the tree (poor tree) are being painted in different styles !!

:D

Thursday, December 07, 2023

This and that near the end of the year

Now that I am not constantly in a state of frenzy anymore, I can notice the ants around me in more detail. It is certainly an improvement, but I haven't been able to (and maybe never shall again) attain the levels I could until about 15-20 years ago. But still, it's like I am able to touch stuff (and thus see them) with a thin glove on. 
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If you follow a particular series of puzzles (such as crossword from a particular newspaper) for long enough, you sort of start to know the person behind those puzzles. Like you get to know them, the way their brain works, what they like and dislike... So as time goes on, their clues become easier for you to solve, you get the hints straight away. Somedays, you get the hidden teeny-weeny jokes in the puzzle that would elude the lesser acquainted puzzle solvers, and it feels like an inside joke being shared. 
I wonder if the puzzle designers are aware of this. 

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We've finally shifted to the new place :). The interior work took forever, but its totally worth it. 

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Of word roots and "Oh! Shoot"s

 A while ago, the word 'plumber' somehow sprang to my mind. Like, I guess 'plumbers' are called plumbers because water pipes must have been made of lead in olden times. Had it been made of iron, chances are the profession might have been called 'Ferring' and the fellows in charge of taps and pipes - 'Ferrors'.  

And so it happens that 'plumbers' are giving us a lot of grief these days. Works in the new place are about to be finished.. almost done but for the plumbing!! One disaster after another.. gah!! 

By the way, I also dig the starry roots of the word 'disaster'. Quite poetic. 



Thursday, October 19, 2023

Holidays

The kids have their puja holidays going on. 

We went garba the other day(night!) with friends. After 14-15 years probably. It was so much fun. The DJ here seemed to have a faint idea of what garba songs are like, or maybe they were very metropolitan. So in addition to 2 Gujarati and 1 marathi song, we were forced to dance on hindi, punjabi and even telugu songs. It was fun. Maybe we have gotten old !

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T has been obsessed with growing stuff lately. He keeps nicking mustard and pea seeds from the pantry. Germinates them, plants them, waters them for some days, nearly smothering the saplings with care !! 
His blue pea vines have started flowering now. Not a lot, a couple flowers every now and then. But the joy that he gets out of them, he shares with everyone. He has learned to make blue pea tea and insists on making tea with all his flowers. Its so lovely. :)

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Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Accelerator

 The high degree of constant connectedness that we need to live with today, on a macro level, it behaves as an accelerator for everything - world events, social trends, uprisings, changing public sentiment... 

In its absence, maybe the world would have come to a similar state, but later. Because everything comes and goes so fast, it fails to make a lasting impression. Or maybe its my fading powers to imbibe the surroundings. But think truthfully, which image is stronger and clearer- (a) 80's fashion? (b) 2000's fashion?

To me, its 80's. Even though I didn't get to experience it firsthand. (To be fair I was not fashionable in the 2000's either 😅)

Friday, September 29, 2023

Sepia toned noodles

 This evening was the perfect sepia-toned evening. The kind of lighting that is only possible when the sun is at a certain angle, there are the right kind of clouds in front of the sun and the right kind above the sun level, with just enough humidity in the air. What makes it even more beautiful is that this perfect evening is fleeting. The magic lasts just for about 10 minutes, after which it kind of loses it. 

So anyway, today I decided to make the most of such a beautiful evening. Hence, I cooked my favorite spicy noodles and had a party just by myself. 

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I have decided to use the laptop more often with the hopes of becoming more productive. Maybe it will work.

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I have been reading 'The Help" these days. It is the kind of book that can turn out to be thought-provoking if you want it to be. Otherwise, one can easily finish it like any other piece of fiction.

The recent reads that I absolutely loved were - Before the coffee gets cold, and The Forest of Enchantments. I accidently read -before the coffee.. series while also watching the Makanai on Netflix. I swear my thoughts calmed down during those 10 days. I was more aware of my surroundings and in control of my thoughts. But then, just like my perfect sepia toned evening, the magic ended and I turned into this silent noise filled person that I normally am.

The Forest of Enchantments is good. It made me hate the characters less. I almost felt sorry for them. Not gonna write anymore about it for obvious reasons. I have mostly loved Chirta Bannerjee Divakaruni's works. Her Palace of Illusions is my absolute all-time comfort read. Each page is a masterpiece. Each chapter speaks to you. I cannot recommend it enough. 

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