I was taking a look at some videos I’d downloaded on the laptop and found this gem…it’s not to be missed. And it’s a perfect example of what kids are all about…
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I started blogging on WordPress as a lark. I was test driving it to see how comfortable it might be for the org I was working for back in 2013. We wanted to start off a blog with information relevant for our clients and needed a platform easy enough for multiple people to post content without needing a crash course in blogging.
Somehow Blogger was making people go “Meh”. WordPress was recommended by Red and since he pushed me into the blogosphere in the first place, I decided to check out what was special this new (for me) platform. If I’d done it my way, I’d have signed up on 3 different sites, published something for fun, tweaked it a millions way to Sunday and then seen which I liked more and then settled on a final one. Am told that’s a slightly (cough cough) neurotic way of doing things. And I’ve been here ever since. It’s been 7 years of posting my thoughts, my feelings, glimpses into our family, trips down memory lane and pretty much everything that’s pinged on my radar.
Over time I’d branched out into a more no-holds barred avatar that lasted a while but then maintaining two separate entities began to wear me down. I was just iffy about writing things in a far more blunt manner but essentially it was the same same person being more candid. So it went down the trash chute.
A separate photoblog came up in due time and also met its doom because eventually I saw no reason to not integrate different facets of my nature into the one mouthpiece/pulpit/journal that I kept coming back to again and again.
I again branched out recently- for a product recommendation and review blog and that will stay separate because its tone and subject matter is completely different from this one.
But it feels good to look back and see some stats. Even if I haven’t been very prolific over the years, it’s still a timeline of me from 2013 onwards when many changes happened in my life and basically in all our lives, as a family.
It’s actually quite gratifying to be able to go back in time, even if it’s just 7 years and take a look at life the way it was then. Especially in a pandemic-ridden world, having to worry about pipes bursting and my kid’s struggles with handwriting, seem like a piece of cake from a easier and happier time.
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I come from proper Bengali stock. I have very Bengali parents. All through my childhood things that Bengalis placed a premium on were laid out as a way of life. Touching feet, calling people as aunts and uncles (without the benefit of any actual relation existing), eating specific types of food, dressing in a particular way, appreciating certain rites and customs- all were a part of who we were.
Similarly, knowing the stalwarts in the fields of literature, arts was also a given. Whether I had read any of their work on my own steam (I didn’t; not having an adequate vocabulary) or watched most their notable works…their plays, movies or appreciating their music.
I did however, grow up with the names of Uttam Kumar, Madhabi Mukherjee, Chhaya Debi and of course Soumitra Chatterjee amongst many other floating around the house.
Soumitra Chatterjee passed away recently and while I can’t claim to have watched a lot of his movies, I have watched some and found a dignity in his acting whether it was Ganashatru, Hirak Rajar Deshe or the Feluda series. And a part of me wishes that I had spent more time watching him emote and seeing what the acclaim was all about.
His way of speaking was measured, had gravitas although I also thought him a bit stodgy as compared to a Uttam Kumar who seemed to be livelier to a Rabi Ghosh who was infinitely more expressive. But there was a definite screen presence which seemed to come effortlessly to him as compared to many others who seemed to work at acting.
Regional cinema often gets overshadowed by the more mainstream Bollywood. It’s rare that a regional movie rakes in the moolah and pings off the radar on a pan-Indian scale but even so, Soumitra Chatterjee came in for his share of attention and that too globally. Whether it was for his collaboration with Satyajit Ray, the Bengali-Indian diaspora keeping their love of their homeland alive or simply because of the connect he had with his audience; he was an actor that was mentioned in the same breath as the Bollywood greats and stalwarts, even if their names usually preceded his.
This post isn’t about about the vast difference in visibility of between Bangla and Hindi movie makers or even the consumers. It is merely an observation that there was a Bengali actor who was lauded, revered and highly respected across generations of movie-going public who happened to watch movies made in a particular language. And in this forum, this man stood apart from many others who came before him, along with him and after him as well. He was a master of his craft and and many, like myself, look at (re)discovering facets of their regional and linguistic heritage through his work.
That is a kind of legacy few can hope to leave behind.
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Red and I decided that reducing the amount of time TO spends on digital media is the best thing for him and us…now and long-term. And in order to do that, we need to switch off (literally and figuratively) from the stuff we’re doing and spend time with him; no matter what.
And so we (viz ME) embarked on this new and courageous undertaking (again ME) and decided that post-dinner walks would be a good way to engage him and stop him from turning into Al Bundy. The added benefit of digesting his food properly and getting tired prior to bedtime are also things we considered (still ME!!)
The first walk ended up being a crash course in the Godzilla-verse for me. It was Godzilla this, Godzilla that. King Ghidorah blah blah blah…Rodan blahx10, Mothra blahx100. All of them together blahxinfinity!!!
And it turns out, my kid’s the Rainman when it comes to Godzilla movies..anime and otherwise. He remembers all the dates or rather is creative enough to manufacture dates going back to the 50s when the Godzilla movies were released.
And this is what made me go, “Oh really?”A kid who has to be reminded to “properly” wash his hands post playing outside during a pandemic, remembers dates of the original Godzilla movies.
Never a dull moment with this one. EVER!
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A year back on this day, I was standing in line to board a flight to Dubai. I would then catch another flight to Barcelona and in a day meet my closest pal in the whole world and do whatever the heck we felt like!
I wasn’t feeling like a child on the first day of school but there were some butterflies because I was travelling alone internationally for the first time and that too for a longish distance.
And for the first time in a while I wasn’t shooing along a child, managing more bags than I wanted to or promising junk food and artery-hardening gratification to a small human while I shooed him along.
The journey was blissful. Red had made sure I was traveling in more comfort than I usually do and I’m glad he did because I love my creature comforts and inside my head I revel in putting on a snooty voice saying, “Don’t mind if I do” when offered a glass of champagne from a stewardess.
My closest passenger was an elderly Arab gentleman who seemed disturbed that I was tucked up to the chin in a blanket, drinking alcohol and enjoying the gratuitous violence of the John Wick series. He kept clicking his tongue, shaking his head and probably praying for my lost soul.
My trip was eventful in many ways but the only thing that keeps coming back to me after a year is that I was supremely happy!
Walking along the streets of Barcelona and Madrid with one of the people I love the most; taking in the new sights, enjoying the crisp 6-7 degrees Celcius (44 F ) temperature and enjoying a semblance of winter for a change.
The food, the language of the people and the sightseeing just helped round off the most memorable trip ever! And I’m raring to go back!
Salut!
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I can’t ever pass an empty hallway without thinking of these 2 things: 1) the two creepy sisters from The Shining and 2) about the telescoping effect it has once the picture comes out. -
S.A.D often makes people sad and in that regard the acronym is bang on! But Seasonal Affective Disorder isn’t something that Indians worry about much; or at all. We being the land of sunshine, sweat and generally good weather for the most part.
But bring a cyclonic front into the mix and you have gloom all over. From my balcony all I could see was a big, grey misty curtain that was obscuring most of my view. It had been raining since the start of this week, right from the weekend onwards and now we have a semi-chill all over the house. With the floors feeling damp, the clothes not drying and the fans overhead sending chills through our bodies!
I for one, want to get back into bed, read and have endless cups of hot beverages and not have anything to do online classes, answering calls and just take a day off everything that’s a To-Do…
Oh to *not* be an adult…life never stops for us.
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. Been a while that I wrote anything. I was greedily reading the last installment in The Trials of Apollo. No offense to Rick Riordan but the intensity of the Heroes of Olympus, The Kane Chronicles and the Percy Jackson series is missing…for me. But I read through each and every one of them and will be revisiting the Magnus Chase trilogy also. That one kind of had me a bit confused
But I did read a funny-ish book called Squeeze Me recently and while it wasn’t a Hoot it was still a book from a well-loved and well-read author and sometimes that’s half the experience of the read. And as I always say, ” You can’t go wrong with Hiaasen!” You don’t need to be a bleeding hearts, tree-hugging liberal and neither do you need to be aware of American history, geography or even know anything about Florida (where all the novels are based) barring that it’s home to Disney World; but the man can write! Nuff said.
Speaking of nuff saids my other favourite authors came out with books recently- Jana DeLeon and her latest instalment of the Miss Fortune series (which I hope goes on for a while longer). Yes, even 18 books go by in the blink of an eye when you’re a reading fiend.
And let’s not forget John Sandford with his latest addition to the Prey series. Neither set my world on fire but they were enjoyable and made more so with the kind of topsy-turvy that surrounds us.
But I have also made a near-year end resolution. To tie up pending stuff. Which is the easiest thing to do when it comes to books. I’m setting aside the Kindle till December 31st and will be picking up the books at home which are unread and/or have either been given as gifts by other reader f(r)iends or have been recommended by Red.
It’s very easy to want to escape ennui by falling back on a book that’s known to be a good read but the best way to have a good/interesting/thought-provoking experience these days is trying out something new. The safest and easiest way to do that is to park myself in my chair and pick up a book that’s already lining the shelves at home. So these are what lie ahead-
Am limiting it to 6 books for now because barring a few, the rest have to be chewed and then digested. Now if you’ll excuse me, I really have to enjoy this cup of perfection that TO made for me…hope it’s not a flash in the pan because there are few things I enjoy as much as a cup of hot (tepid-warm) beverage during a cool, cloudy day.
Salut!
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There’s a new thing Red likes to do and no it isn’t kinky at all. It’s so surprisingly clean that I’m amazed it even caught his eye since as a family we all share the slob-gene though in different degrees.
He’s into technology. I mean *into* technology and while he does switch off as and when needed; he likes gadgets and automation. There are things he’s pushed us to buy during the lockdown which have changed the way we look at our lives; certainly the way we live it.
We got a dishwasher a while back and it’s become Red’s go-to-place, go-to-thing to do. In the initial months after our marriage, any help with the dishes would mean he’d tackle the Corelle ware and leave the greasy metals for me to plod through. With the lockdown, he understood that not only are dishes fun to do, they are a great way to catch up on stuff you can do while being stationary and still getting work done.
But since the arrival of the dishwasher life has become a bit creepy. If I go to check if I can put some dirty dishes in there, the dishwasher’s either full or already running. If I got to check where a particular kitchen item may be, 9/10 times it’s in the dishwasher- hot and ready to be used. It’s freaking me out! This level of adherence to cleanliness and not dropping the ball at all isn’t the man I married!
The man I married can look at a bowl full of corn in the fridge for 10 minutes without being able to locate it, need help finding his glasses, wallet, phone, belt and underwear on a very regular basis. So this level of efficiency is very hard to swallow.
He loads it himself. He unloads it himself. He knows how much detergent to put in, which wash cycle is optimum for the number of dishes/utensils in it- it’s like living in the TWILIGHT ZONE!
And whenever I’m rinsing out the dishes after a meal I almost always find him looking over my shoulder saying the dishwasher can clean anything and I don’t need to rinse things out before putting it in for wash…and his eyes sparkle with an eerie glow when he says it.
If I stack the dishes on the kitchen counter or in the sink, he’ll creep up undetected and do his version of this-
It’s got the extent that after finishing off any kind of a meal or even a cup of coffee, I sneak into the kitchen and just to show my defiance, I rinse out the cup and put it on the counter and run off before anyone (Red, always Red) can find me and tell me to put it in the dishwasher!
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TO and I were delving into a new chapter that’s just started in Science and it was a slightly bumpy roller coaster ride- for me. 🤢
See, I know the kids’ tendency to yawn, stretch and curl up into a ball at the mere thought of homework or academics. 😴😴😴Been there, done that and I now channelize those skills when confronted with housework. But that’s a different story for a different day.
When TO and I were talking about measurements, we were trying (I was) to discuss why there were differences in the units of measurements for a particular substance. And I mentioned the Mariana Trench (I shouldn’t have)🌊🌊🌊 and from there the talk wildly veered to whales, 🐳🐳🐳their mass, 🐋🐋🐋 which whales went where and why and away we went! 🤦♀️🤦♀️
And asking a child to put a 📌 in something is like trying to curb a force of nature. It is very difficult to do, sustain and even repeat if the occasion calls for it. 🙇♀️🙇♀️
By the time one of his little friends called to check if he was free to play, I practically pushed him out the🚪! I was all tuckered out from meter-long fingers and foot-long glasses and kilograms of ocean water being tossed around.
