Tag: mom

The ‘Pallu’ Holder!

May 7, 2023 / / 1 Comment

*****Disclaimer: This was written way back in 2014 and I brought it out of the archives to post here*****

 

The pallu-holder that I was, my people believed I would pick up the nuances of household chores (or at the very least,cooking!) from my mom, which is far from truth.

I had always been very ignorant about anything worthwhile! (I enjoy talking more than listening, you see)

And last week when I decided to give mom a break from her cooking duties, I had a mini-test! (almost like an internal exam)

So after making rotis in shapes of all the continents and I ended up inventing a few shapes of my own. Say, wait a minute, may be I should apply for a patent for all those innovative shapes! Feeling proud…itni khushi! (The only dialogue I love of Bollywood hero Govinda is this, Itni Khushi, from Partner. I like simple dialogues the most. Just like Devvvvudaa from RaceGurram, a Telugu movie.)

But even though I make rotis in new shapes, I can’t replicate the same shape again! (Innovation is a talent you see..)

I ended the day with a happy face, you ask me why,…see the cartoon below.

Cooking is an important life skill, for survival. So both boys and girls need to learn the bare minimum. Men who cook for their spouses, now and then, will surely be appreciated.

P.S:

  1. Time and again I prove my cooking skills are as bad as a kindergarten kid’s. But who cares, as long as your family loves you for trying. I got a pat on the back, yippeee..! (Now my cooking is a little better, thanks to marriage and motherhood!)
  2. ‘Pallu’ holder is the term I coined to indicate all the kiddos in every family, who are closer to mom, a mama’s baby (As a kiddo,I always had my mom’s pallu in my hand. Hence the title). Younger kids in a family are generally closer to mom. I am a self-proclaimed ‘Pallu-holder’ and proudly so! (Now that I think about it, I am closer to dad too. We have always been a close knit nuclear family!)
  3. All younger kids are not pallu holders and all older kids are not closer to dad, exceptions always exist.
  4. Kids these days hardly get the chance of being a pallu holder, what with moms like me hardly wearing sarees except for special occasions like festivals.
  5. Pallu is the Hindi word for the loose end of the saree worn over the shoulder. (This little snippet is for the little audience that I have overseas!)

Holi Ke Din….

March 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As usual, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon,  I was eagerly waiting for the return of GBee from his school. Just as he put his foot inside the hall, I saw his face. It was covered partially with green colour on his cheeks and forehead. That was when it hit me that tomorrow is Holi!

The rectangular thing in my hand is supposed to be a cell!

Looking at GBee in colours reminded me that, gone are the days when I would look forward to Holi!

I remember the days when we used to return to school with traces of gulaal (pink colour) in our hair, faces and hands. The more pink one appeared, the more proud we would feel. Being pink meant, we had played and enjoyed the festival!

QB with pink highlights in hair and some random classmates talking about Holi

There used to be this gang of rowdy boys, who would come to our apartment every year on Holi,  They would catch hold of the guys in our apartment and brush their teeth with gulaal and blue colours! (Yuk!Who would want dirty colours in their mouth and teeth? Beats me!) They would also throw eggs at us kids. Phew, who would want smelly eggs on their heads, mixed with bunch of colours? Double yuk! If you are being chased by someone with an egg in hand, suddenly sit down on the floor and you probably would avoid being hit!

Trying to avoid an egg on the head? Just sit down suddenly!

Those were the days, we would drench each other in buckets of gulaal water and begin to shiver. To stop the shiver, we would stand under the Sun, in the middle of the road! (Who even does that now?)

Even the uncles in the apartment would play Holi. I remember one particular incident when someone brought silver colour to play and the next day, my father and I had severe rashes on our faces. (Silver is danger!)

The ladies in the apartment would play with the good old kumkum and haldi.  We even had fun scaring away the domestic helps, who would come to their respective flats to work. We would sneak attack! If we sneak attack now, we may get beatings, people are less forgiving these days.

During one Holi celebrations in my schooling days, I had taken an egg in my hair, from K, who was younger to me. (How dare he mess up with a senior!) I waited in the verandah, till my mom had hot water ready for my bath . Meanwhile, I was fed lunch, by my dad. What fun!

I pity the generation of kids who have no idea how to spend time away from a t.v. or cell.  They have no idea of how safe our world was and how carefree we were, while we played on the streets, away from deranged people who lay hands on innocent kids or the violent stray dogs or the lack of traffic and vehicles on streets. Those days can never come back!

P.S:

  1. Before going out to play Holi, it is better to apply oil on your face and hands. This way, you won’t look like a pink alien in office. This is for all those who hate looking like they drank gulaal!
  2. My favourite Holi song is Arey Jaa re Hatt from Navrang, a very old Hindi movie, directed by Shantaram. Not everyone likes it, but check it out. The dancer Sandhya acts as both boy and girl in the song. It was a sensation in those days. (Let me be your DJ for Holi and suggest grooving to these songs…)

and also this…from Sholay, hence the title of the post!

Lastly, I would like to mention Balam Pichkari from Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani….

Did I miss any popular Holi song?  Do drop a comment and let me know. Till the next post, cheerio!

The Ugly Butterfly

February 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Those were the ‘Happy Days’ of my life! (Just like the Telugu movie, Happy Days, set in CBIT, Hyderabad, this post is of me, during my Engineering College days.)

During those days, the only worries I ever had were, does my dress look too flashy? Will the seniors decide to rag me because of my dress? What seminar should I attend? What is my attendance percentage? Is it really above 75% ?

Anyway, I have always been insect friendly.  So, naturally, the ever beautiful butterflies were also among my friends, who caught my attention every now and then. But don’t go imagining the beautiful Costa Rican blue butterflies here!

Blue Butterflies = luck

The Costa Ricans actually  believe that spotting a blue butterfly means luck is on your side. (Lucky Shivudu. Spotting a group of blue butterflies must be the reason he could climb the waterfalls, defying death! This is part of Baahubali story. Hope you watched it. It is one of the most iconic scenes, with a magnificent waterfalls in the backdrop. Never was CGI used more beautifully for creating a waterfall)

The butterfly that I am actually referring to was a far cry from these beauties. Although our Engineering college campus had its share of huge farmland insects, thanks to all the farm lands and vineyards around our campus, this one was a surprise.  I had seen big grasshoppers the size of my hand, beetles the size of lemons and some insects whose names I don’t even know.

After a fun filled day at college, I was exhausted and I lept on to my bed , ready to end the day.  We (me and sister shared our bedroom) chatted away, after turning off the light in our room. I turned to my side in my bed and put my hand on the pillow beside me. My hand touched something and I felt something flee the spot, like rushing away! I jumped out of my bed, ran towards my sister’s bed and turned on the light! I saw the most surprising thing ever!

It was a huge butterfly, with each wing, a little bigger than the size of my hand, whose wings were as rough as the skin of a crocodile! It was wheatish in colour. (That must have been the reason I couldn’t spot it before sleeping. Camouflage!)  It was completely different from the notion I had of butterflies and the tender love I always had for the colourful beauties vanished!

Once we spotted the butterfly, all hell broke loose!

The Ugly Butterfly, refusing to budge, while I and sis were at wits end.

We began jumping up and down, crying out loud. Our commotion brought my parents into our room. We demanded our dad to chase it away or we wouldn’t sleep at all.  After 10 minutes of extreme effort with a mop, dad managed to chase it out. It was such a stubborn butterfly refusing to budge. It must have been scared about the commotion it was creating!

Sadly, one of its wings was hurt. (It was unintentional. Seeing such a butterfly in our midst made us adamant. We wanted it out of our room at any cost.) I am mostly a forgiving person, but once it perched on my bed, I knew it was better to get rid of it. I can still remember how I felt when I touched it by mistake!

Looking back, I now understand that, even in the midst of the concrete jungle, a wild butterfly managed to survive!

P.S:

1.  Our college chairman once said during our Annual day celebrations, that he was torn between, whether to use the land to ‘grow’ grapes in his vineyard or to use the land to build the college to ‘grow’ students!

Our college was in the middle of farms and vineyards. I also remember seeing Sunflowers each morning. Happy Days indeed!

2. One of Mr.Bee’s friend, J from our days in Charlotte had presented him with a souvenir of a Blue Butterfly, after his trip to Costa Rica. That’s how I got to know the significance of the blue butterflies.

More posts coming up. Till then, cheerio!

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