Brrrnnggg!!!

Earlier today i was part of this conversation (actually i was more of a silent spectator to some ridiculously wierd talk the women around me seem to thrive on) which caught my attention and made me think about it long after my brain had died and buried itself under all the saree and saas talks. 

Alarm clocks. And no, the conversation wasn't anything remotely intelligent (that would be too much to ask really), and nor did it go beyond asking everyone in the room if anyone had an alarm clock that could be lent for a prank being planned. After everyone had shaken their heads in the negative, i continued thinking about it in my corner (yes, i was that bored, and yes, i was trying to hide to avoid the 'oh you sing a song next' routine). 

Where are all the alarm clocks? I know my grandfather always carried one with him whenever he travelled (but the tiny clock is now gathering dust somewhere in a dark cupboard) and we have a clock that the Fellow has had with him since his NDA days (which he keeps as a reminder of those days when the clock was more sadistic than a memory and helped him get out of bed at inhumane times of the morning), and my aunt still keeps the annoying rooster alarm clock that starts cuckroo-cooing whenever she wants to jolt us awake. But apart from these three, i dont remember seeing any alarm clocks in the last, what, ten years at least? 

Actually the alarm clocks started dissapearing around the same time cellphones got popular. I know my Snoopy alarm clock (equally annoying as the rooster one) was relegated to the back of the shelf when i got my new shiny cell phone and i could set a really cool song as my alarm tone.

With more and more cell phones around, people have forgotten those ever handy and very usefuel (albeit annoying) alarm clocks that could be found in every house. I miss those alarm clocks and the quaintness of the fancier ones - the Snoopy, the rooster, the hippo and even odd joker or two. I miss setting the clock every night and rotating the tiny (really tiny) circular knobs on the back to move the small red hand. I miss hitting the clock with my hand every morning (and not worrying that it will fall and break like i do with my phone now). 

I miss the simplicity of alarm clocks and i'm afraid they're on the fast track to extinction.

Tradeoffs

The Fellow is a dog lover and at least once a day, you will hear him cribbing about how much he misses his dead dog Chip. And then there are those days when the crib continues into a 'lets get a dog' sales pitch which often takes on manical proportions. Now, i love dogs too. It's just that with the Fellow at work all day long, and me still getting the hang of managing my own house, a dog is just way too out of my league. It'll be like having a baby three months into the marriage! 

Anyways, one of these sales pitches took place as we were out to dinner.

Fellow: Chipuuuuu. I miss my dog ya. 

Me: So i have heard.

Fellow: Let's get a dog.

Me: We will. Eventually.

Fellow: No. Now. You said we could.

Me: Yes i know i did. And we will get a dog sometime.

Fellow: Thats not what you said before we got married. Fraud.

Me: Whaat?

Fellow: We're getting a dog. I'll tell my brother to look out for a pup...

Me: But...

Fellow: I'm getting you diamonds na? So i get a dog. 

Me: This is no tradeoff.

Fellow: Yes it is. You get a girl's best friend and I get a man's. 

Hmmmm. The secret to a happy marriage. Best friends.

Technicolour

My nails were an interesting blue, ears green, nose various shades of pink. The hair was matted with an assortment of coloured powders which would fly everywhere if i ever gave my head a nice doggy-shake. Every few mintes a random squirt of water would find it's way to me, ruining the effects of a nice toasting in the sun. My feet were all squichy and prune-like (while looking slightly diseased with blotches of brown and green) and my skin was beginning to protest against the attack by throwing up some sort of rash.

But through it all i was in my happy place (except maybe when i had to swallow some terrible tasting colour, the only other option being spitting it into the flower pots lining the host's terrace). I love Holi. I love everything that goes with it - the anticipation, the preperation, the familiar ritual of oiling up and trying to give the body a layer of some protection. I love the childlike excitement palpable in the air, the squeals and laughter coming from adults for a change, the children looking shocked at the grown ups running around and hiding from each other. I love the feeling of drying up in the sun after a good drenching, the examination of how scary everyone else is looking (till you come across a mirror), the feeling of foreboding that creeps in when thinking of how long it will take to scrub it all off (but even that can't take away from the fun really). 

And most of all i love Holi for the amazing feeling of being clean after it's all done. It's like the yearly shedding of skin (or scrubbing, whichever serves you best). Oh, and a long post-bath/lunch snooze doesnt hurt either. 

Thats what Holi is all about - colour, water, soap and a nap.

Things I'm Thankful For This Holi...

Ok so this post has not to do with holi except that the festival is in the air and everyone is looking forward to this day full of colour and water (and various other products designed to gross out and make the women squeal) with differing degrees of enthusiasm (ranging from the negative to off the charts). 

That said, back to things i'm thankful for, this day - The Fellow and Calvin and Hobbes (oh, and the Fellow's friends who've read the adventures of my favourite 6 yr old). Seriously, if it wasnt for the combination of these three (or any two even), i would have been bored silly at the umpteen number of parties i find myself going to and meeting the same crowd of men and women (and children). 

Up until now i'd underestimated the value of an intelligent discussion on topics as varied as Kylie Kwong's awesome cooking show, Feluda, Jeffrey Archer's imprisonment,  the recession, and even the sad state of politics in our country. I had never appreciated those around me who always had some point of view to discuss and the ability to convert even a passing remark into a heated debate, gauranteed to make any party fun. Until today i'd not realised how important it is to be able to share a joke with someone and be greeted with instant understanding and unbridled laughter!! 

Up until today i hadn't realised how good it feels to catch the Fellow's eye in the middle of a party and communicate all the angst and frustration and boredom and the feeling of getting up and running away from (or throttling, whichever was quicker) the saas-bahu tv show discussing woman next to me, and have the Fellow return a look equal to, if not more, in intensity and understanding. 

And so, what with the recession and no more new C&H to use as therapy, I'm really thankful for the Fellow. 

Ps: i'm also thankful for the awesome alphonso mangoes dad brought on his visit. Yummmm! :D

Of Friends and Distances

I always knew growing up was highly overrated. There is probably a stack of papers touching the sky, containing the fine print, which no one bothers to read or warn you about when you’re in a rush to grow up and join the adult’s only club. And then when you’re initiated and the doors are locked, they finally tell you how bad it is and wish you luck in ominous voices. You would imagine having gone through it the adults would at least prepare their young or give them a skill set matching the horrors of growing up!

Why this sudden rant about growing up? Because right now, I hate being grown up and being responsible and having to move away from home because of the grown up task of getting married and because I’m missing my friends.

I’m missing randomly being able to meet the girls for a sandwich at our favourite roadside sandwich guy, hanging around malls making fun of the window displays and all the weird people, driving around playing terrible songs at loud volumes and sharing dirty jokes and laughing ourselves crazy over them. I’m missing the complicated borrowing and lending procedures we girls do when it comes to clothes, jewellery and books, the long telephone conversations we absolutely needed to have, the way we looked forward to having a girls evening out regardless of husbands, fiancés, boyfriends and crushes.

I’m missing the craziness my friends bring to my life. The support and presence I know is always there for me.

And even though I know I’m just a phone call away, I’m missing being there for my friends.

 

 

A Quarter Down

3 months today and there are still those days when I can’t believe I’m married.

I guess it’s probably because there weren’t any of those earth shattering adjustments and compromises everyone I know kept telling me about (in fact sometimes I wonder if I’m doing the right things since nothing seems to match what I’ve been told…). Not that I’m saying there haven’t been any changes for both us, but none of them involve making such a big deal that I’m looking for the next soon-to-be-married couple to start doling out free warnings and advice!

In fact even with all the annoying neuroses (on my part) and infuriating habits (on his) both of us have reached the conclusion that being married (to each other) is quite a lot of fun. J

It’s been one fourth of a year. Can’t wait for the rest.

 

 

Sugar Sugar

The Fellow is very fond of nimbu-paani, and in all my wifely excitement I made a lot of it yesterday, which, happily for me, he really enjoyed (and I haven’t been married long enough that such a simple thing does not thrill me).  

Today when getting dinner together the Fellow mentioned he wouldn’t mind some more of the nimbu-paani. And so with a grin I started getting everything together. I squeezed the lemons and measured the water. Then I went in search of the sugar (since I knew that I’d emptied the sugar tin the day before). But after looking everywhere I could have kept (and I remembered keeping) the sugar packet, I finally asked the Fellow if he had seen it. “Ah yes, it got over when you were in Jaipur.”

Hmmm. And what about telling me? “I forgot na!”

Oh well. Nothing to it. Will make nimbu-paani tomorrow.  

If only it were that simple.

Not an hour later, the door bell rang - the Fellow’s colleagues looking for a nightcap. And what do they want? Cold coffee. So I gather the milk, ice, coffee and blender. What’s missing I think. Of course. Sugar.

So there I was standing in the kitchen wondering whether to go to the neighbours for the clichéd cup of sugar, when I suddenly remembered some powdered sugar I had somewhere. Digging it out I saw that it was just about enough for the 3 glasses of coffee I had to make.

7 minutes later, I took 3 frothing glasses of cold coffee out to the living room (wondering what I would have done if more than 3 glasses had to be made).

 Lesson No 1 in housekeeping: Always check the pantry when you come back to your home and the Fellow after a vacation.

 Lesson No 2: Keep a hidden stash of sugar which the Fellow doesn’t know of.