N for Nest

Isn't it fascinating to see birds build their nest. They gather sticks and twigs from places, and form such an intricate and delicate home for themselves.

During school, I remember we had a lesson on different kind of nests. Not all birds build the same kind of nests. Not all of them build them with the same material as well.. Some use twigs, some use thread kind of materials.

My favourite among them was the nest of the tailor bird. It's so intricate and also looks so beautiful. One day I would want my nest to be as beautiful as I find the tailor bird's nest... 

M for Mango

It's summer... There is one fruit which everybody waits for in this season and it's MANGO.

My love for Mango has been there forever. As kids, during summer vacations we go visit our paternal grandparents. There were few mango trees in our house and the summer vacation meant eating mangoes to our heart's content. A mango after breakfast, a mango after lunch, a mango after dinner...oh yeah and if you are bored and want to just munch on something then have a mango.

I am so fond of mangoes that, I scare every fibre out the seed and make it white. People even tease me that one day I will gulp the seed as well.

After everyone moved away from that place, we used to eat the mangoes which were bought outside. The mangoes which were artificially ripened or which looked artificially yellow...it was sad state eating those mangoes.

My parents now have 2 mango trees. And the precious time we had super fun eating all those mangoes. This year we have already got the unripe new ones and the pickles and chutneys are ready... Once the mangoes are ripe enough we will start gorging on them too...

Bring them on this season. The pic below is from my parent's garden.

L for Love

Love is a very generic and commonly used simple word. In spite of being so common and simple, it's such a powerful word.

Is this a feeling from the brain?
Is it an emotion from the heart?

It is something which can be defined in many ways and yet it remains undefined. This is not restricted to any particular gender, age, living/non living, tangible/intangible. You can love anything in this world. You can love life.  You can love nature. You can love materialistic stuff. You can love something or somebody near you. You can also love something or someone who is miles away from you.

It need not be a mutual feeling, if you love something or someone there is no binding that it has to be reciprocated. Love is always unconditional. If it's not, then it's not LOVE 

K for Kites

It's not a bird, it can look like one
It's not an aeroplane, it can look like one
It's not superman, it can fly like one. Well not really, but it would if there is good wind. What am I talking about? The kite.

My maternal uncle was very good in making and flying kites. We would take the newspapers, the Broom sticks a bowl of rice and bundles of thread, go to the terrace and make lot of kites. Then he would show me to how to fly the kite..

Once the kite would go to a certain height, he would tie to the metal string used to hang clothes for drying. We would fly 4-5 kites together.

I never learnt the art of flying kites, but it was always fun with my uncle. The precision with which he would bend the Broom sticks and how we would stick them to the paper, then let it dry and go on to make the next one.

I mat or may not fly a kite in the future. But the moments I had with my uncle learning and enjoying flying the kites are priceless. I will always cherish them

J for Juice

It's summer and the best way to hydrate yourself is to drink lot of water. But since water is supposed to be tasteless, it would really help to add some taste to it. Isn't it?

There are loads of fruits available, but in summer we might not want to eat them, even though they are juicy and succulent. What's the best way then to have these nutrients - make juice out of it.

Although juice is not the best way to eat fruits, it helps if you are no way going to eat them.

But the master of all juices is lemon juice... Isn't there a saying: when life gives you lemons make a lemonade. For the calorie concious, instead of sugar make salty lemonade, it's very tasty...

Take 2 lemons and salt and a litre of water. Keep sipping the lemon juice for an entire day or for a few hours. Dehydration this summer will be far far away.

Lemon juice a day keeps the summer heat away.

I for Ice

Its colourless, its odourless but definetly not shapeless.

As children, there were lot of restrictions consuming ice. It was a luxury to have a fridge, unlike today where it’s a necessity. And it’s mainly used for juices, sherbets especially in summer. Ofcourse there were times, when we would just pop an ice cube in our mouth and it used to be so cold, that you couldn’t spit it out, neither could you gulp it, and you would hope it melts soon, and the numbness is gone.

 Years ago, when I went to US for the first time, I saw people carrying ice from the machine to their desk, and eat it just like that. I used to feel it was weird. I tried that once, and what can I say, I was hooked. It served dual purpose. One, if I wanted to pop something in my mouth, so that I could get the feeling of eating, I could just put a small piece of ice in my mouth. Second, I wasn’t eating any junk food, and it was plain water, which I was err eating. This way my water intake could increase. Ofcourse there was no weight reduction due to this. And I won’t blame it either, there were other times, when I have had junk food.

The thing that I observed was, earlier when I would try to eat ice, my teeth would go numb, my gums would go numb, and at times, I would get headache. But, when I did this in US, I never had that problem. Was it because, the ice was cylindrical and had a hole. May be the quantity of ice per pop was lesser, and so my mouth wouldn’t get number. Whatever the reason was, I enjoyed the phase of eating ice.

Even now, when the mocktails come with ice cubes, I keep playing with the cubes in my mouth. But I don’t enoy it as much as I used to in US. Maybe if I see it in the same shape.. my mind might say – Ice Ice Baby.

H for Hiking

My first ever hiking experience, was when during my 9^th std holidays. We were to do hiking in the pristine Himachal. As kids, going on a 2 week trip was a very big deal. That was the first time I was travelling away from my family for such a long time. We trekked in the jungles and montains of himachal. We reached the tip of the snow point. It was the first time, I saw snow, the first time I touched it, the first time I felt how snow could numb you. The 1 week hiking taught me many things. Ofcourse as a school kid, I did not realize much. But as I think about it even now, I know, it’s been a great learning experience.

Well, after that for a few more years, I don’t think I did much of hiking. I started working and then, with G and his hiking friends, went hiking to KumaraParvata. This is one of the most difficult hikes I have ever done. Although we climbed from the Somwarpet side and got down from the Kukke side, climbing was a very big challenge for me. The peak is one of the most difficult ones in Karnataka. There was even a rock which was around 45 degrees, which we climbed, without any support to hold down. If not for G’s encouragement, I would have never completed the hike. Once we reached the peak I was ok. I don’t have much problems, getting down the hill, somehow I manage to get down, without much exhaustion. It’s mainly the going up part which is difficult for me. We had stayed overnight at a mantap there. The next morning, was one the most beautiful mornings of my life. All the exhaustion and pain which we endured the previous day was gone. Till date, I haven’t gone again to hike here, since I don’t know if I can do it once again.

We have been to quite a lot of smaller ones. Everytime, my worry is until we reach the peak, the moment I look up, my brain goes into denial mode. The moment I realize, its time to go down, my brain eases up, and I feel like a free bird.

2 years back, we went to Tadiandamol, the second highest peak in Karnataka. It was an amazing experience. We hiked in rain all the time. This hike had everything, plain land for a while (a nice breezy walk), a slight incline in the beginning, a thick forest in the middle, where the roots of the trees formed the steps, and then the final steep incline, where if you slip you go down few feet, with no support. The best part was the peak. It was so cold and windy that day, I realized what pins and needles actually meant. I could feel every little hair in my body being pulled from me. Infact it was so cold, I was already thinking of options on how G and my brothers were going to carry me all the way down, coz I felt like dying out of cold. The steep incline was the most difficult to get down, since it was all slush due to rain. Once we crossed that, I felt much better. All this was happening with rain as a background. It no longer felt wet anymore, we were drenched upto our bones, or so I would like to believe. Ofcourse the next day I had fever, and unbearable body pain. Was it worth it? Totally yes.

What do you bring back as souvenirs? Well, there might be scratches. There might be leech bites. There can also be scars. But what’s most important you bring back great memories. Every time I go on a hike, I have inhibitions, I have a feeling, I will not be able to complete it. There are times, when I curse myself for doing this to myself. But it also teaches you, patience, endurance, pushing your limits. Once you are back, you are in pain, you can probably feel every body part of yours screaming at you for waking them up. But that’s the beauty isn’t it? You are made aware of what your body can take. Hiking in all possible ways is a Life Coach.

G for God

God – a very common topic, I am sure. But the feelings for God. Is that common too?

I think my relationship with God, is a very private one. We might pray in front of others, might pretend not to believe in God, might pretend to have faith in God, depending on how our surroundings are. But what we really feel about God, is something we cannot express in front of others.

Are we scared of God? Or do we think of God as our friend? Do we believe, God will punish the evil? Is there an evil? Do the evil have their own God?

As children, we are always taught, be good, else God will punish you. May be God does punish you. But when is something we are not aware? I have seen people, who have not been very nice at one point of time, and felt, God are you going to punish them or not? Years later, I see them in a not so happy state. Is it their punishment? I don’t know. I probably don’t care anymore.

I know of people, who are scared of certain Gods, but are on friends with some Gods. And we also have our favorite Gods.

Well, I am not disclosing what kind of relation I have with God. Not totally. I sometimes feel its faith. There are days when I feel, God doesn’t exist, and maybe I am an atheist. There are other days when I have 100% faith in God. There have been days when I have had a conversation with God as if talking to a friend.

So what is God to me? I don’t know yet. I don’t plan on finding out either. May be God is my best friend. Maybe when I am really in need, God will do some God deed. We are also taught isn’t it. God helps them who help themselves.

F for Father

I was thinking what could I write for F. First I thought friends, then I thought flowers. Then there was a bulb on the head moment. Today is my dad's birthday so what better day than to write about it.

Father... As kids before we join school, we are taught or rather the names of our parents are drilled into us.. 
what is your name?
What is your mother's name?
What is your father's name?

It is said a daughter is her father's pet. I dont know about others but in my case, it's completely true. I am my father's princess. Ofcourse I am my mom's princess too..

Like all children I too have learnt a lot from my dad. But what I cherish is that in spite of me being stubborn and rebel I have never got punished by him.

I remember one incident when I had done some mischief and mom jus mentioned to dad he us never strict with me and dad, for fun just patted my head saying why did you do this. I remember crying for that small pat. From that day, dad did not even hit me or tried to hit me even for fun.

Another one which mom mentioned was that my dad was a chain smoker and he quit smoking only for my sake. One fine day he just stopped and never touched a cigarette again in life.

We have celebrated so many of our birthdays together. Dad, how much ever I wish you, it just doesn't seem enough. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

E for Emotion

Emotion.. This is something which everybody has. It is irrespective of your gender or age. There might be people who might not put it on display, but inside they definetly have some emotion playing. Nobody can deny this.

I have heard people say, X is such a emotion less person. How can that be true? He/she might not express it, but being devoid of it is not human nature...be it happy or sad, angry or content, frustrated or content... all these are different kind of emotions. Just because a person doesn't show you what you expect from them doesn't mean they don't have it.

The next time you judge a person of being emotionless...Think again...Is it really so?

D for Doll

Doll is what is one of my many names. But its not everybody who knows me calls me. Its not even few of them, its not my family, its not my set of friends. It is just one friend. She is not just a friend. She is my best friend. And I have written about her earlier too - here and here .

Infact, as I think about all my friends, I think now, she is the only one with whom I am closest to. We don’t stay in the same place, not even in the same country.. But I can share my feelings with her anytime. She is my 3.00 AM friend.. Well, the fact that we stay in different timezones help. Ofcourse there are times, when we wish we are together in the same place, so that we can meet often. But this distance, is not a barrier for us.

Going back to Doll. This started when we joined our first company together. We became close friends, and I don’t actually remember why she started call me Doll. I call her Flwr. Again, I don’t know the reason. Its been more than 12 years of our friendship. We have been thru ups and downs. We have been thru our cold wars. We have been thru the phase were we have told each other, that we think the other person doesn’t care for us. After all this, now we are at a stage, where we are totally comfortable with each other.

When I tell her something which is upsetting me, I don’t have to think twice. I know she will not judge me. She knows I will not judge her. There are times, when I have had some feelings, or there have been situations where I am angry at someone, and I would have reacted in not a good way. I can share that with her, without worrying about what she will think of me. I know that she knows what kind of a person I am. And, when I say this, I think I am saying it for the both of us. We are there for each other. We don’t judge each other. That doesn’t mean we don’t tell the other person, what they did might not be right. We listen to each other. We comfort each other. We don’t really have to thank each other for being present in our lives. I am so glad we got to meet each other, while she was here.. and spent an entire day.

Oh, and inspite of all these years, and all the memories and we being grown up and mature and all that.. She still calls me Doll and I love it. She is my Flwr. And in all possibility, you are the only one reading this too J

C for Creative

I was talking to a friend’s kid recently, and asked her if she likes stories. Then I asked her,  if she can tell a story. I was hoping for a crazy, out of the world, impossible things in the story. My brother used to tell me such stories. He used to start off with – Raja and Rani were travelling in a bus. The conductor got a dog in the bus etc etc. They were totally irrelevant and made no sense, but they were so imaginative and entertaining. But what I heard was this – “Once upon a time, there was a thirsty crow.” I thought its fine, now the crow will do something. After that I saw her turning towards her mother and saying “Mamma, what is it after this. I forgot the line”.

Another incident, rather an advertisement I saw on TV. A kid writes an amazing essay on his drive with his dad, and the principal complains to the dad that his son is writing all impossible things. Is this what the schools these days want from children. Shouldn’t they be happy true or not true, the children are trying to be creative, are trying to imagine things?

As a kid, I have always loved stories. It takes you to the land of imagination and your brain runs wild. I don’t remember how it was when were kids, when we had to tell stories in school. But we had one teacher who would tell us stories, and they would be so interesting, and unique. I am sure our teacher just let her creative juices flow and let the imagination set in and just go on with those stories. Probably all these things dint help us in our academics directly. But yes, in life it surely helped. It made us believe, there are somethings which can be beyond our imagination. It made us appreciate fantasy land.

As you grow up, like memories and stories, you accumulate a lot of materialistic stuff. Sometimes you don’t want to throw it. Bang!!! There is an idea in your head. You don’t want to go by the book. You want to try something different. Just like the person in your story, who had something extraordinary. You want to be that unique person. But how will you be unique, if you do something in the same way its always be done… That’s when you let the CREATIVE juices flow!!!

 

B for Boating

Boating – I had this obsession as a kid to do pedal boating. I always wanted to do it. As part of holidays, we went to Ooty and in the lake, we decided to do boating. It was the first time I realized, how difficult it was to pedal the boat. To add to it, I was scared of water, so on one side I was thinking what if I fall in water, on the other it was so tiring to pedal, how was I supposed to enjoy the cool weather and look at the mist forming in the nearby mountain and all that. All that was running in my mind was, when will this get over?

I blame it on the hindi movies. They show boating as such a romantic thing to do, and we young teenage kids just fell for it.

Years later, when me and G had not yet started dating, had gone to a theme park, along with other friends, and we were in a pedal boat again. We were too near the edge of the lake and the boat got stuck with the roots, and we used all our energy in getting the boat to the centre and then back to the starting point. If at all G had any plans of proposing to me on the boat, it surely dint happen.

After that, everytime we went to a place which had this small pond, and was called a lake, and had boating, I would avoid it all together. I never understood, why people would stand in the long queues just to go thru that ordeal.

Last Christmas, we were in Kodaikanal, with friends and our friend’s kid wanted to do boating. Usually when we go with friends with kids, and they want to do boating, they go for that activity and we go do something else in the meanwhile. But this time, for some reason, we ended up going with them. And howmuch ever I tried to avoid, there was no option but to go. I put in one condition. I will not pedal. Everyone agreed, since they knew I hated pedaling. With that life jacket the 4 of us sat in the boat. After that all I remember was hoping that we don’t fall in water, and that we get out safe. After about 20 mins, G and friend were tired of pedaling, and the only person who seemed to be enjoying was the kid. But all the elders had it enough, me with the boat itself and G and friend with the pedaling. So we got off from the boat, and I was one happy person.

I enjoy going boating though, row boat, speed boat, motar boat, cruise ship, ferry. Its just that pedaling part which I don’t like, and I feel its very cramped, and I feel stuffed, even if I am not the person pedaling. I don’t hate pedaling even, since I love cycling. So I don’t know what is it that is the problem. I think it’s the combination which I hate.. Boat +Pedal - Boadel 

A for Age

One lazy afternoon, G and I were at a restaurant. While we were busy eating and drinking, and trying to order the next thing I looked at an old couple who were getting down the stairs. They were not very old, but definitely in their late 50s. I was waiting for their family also, to walk down the stairs. But nobody came. It was just the 2 of them holding hands, walking down. It was such a good feeling to see them.

In our country, we always see old couples either with their children and their grand-children. It is the mindset we have. Our life is not ours anymore. It belongs to our children when they are young. As they grow older, every little moment of the life is spent on either doing chores for them or thinking about them. And as they grow old enough to have kids, start thinking about grand-children and so on. So when do they live their life? When do they think about their passion, their hobbies, their soul mates?

Ofcourse I am generalizing here. Inspite of doing everything for their kids and grand-kids, they might still take out time for themselves, for what they want to do, whatever their passions are. They might be content with their life. They might be more than happy with whatever they have. As long as they have passion for something in life. I feel they are alive.

I have seen our grandmothers still active with household chores, if not what they used to do in their younger days, they do try to keep themselves busy. My 80 year old granny still gets excited, when I tell her I cooked something new and asks for a recipe. When she sees something new art work on TV, she tells me how interesting that was. She might not cook or make those interesting things anymore, but her interest in that topic and the spark in the eyes is amazing.

When I went for sky-diving, in my head I was still contemplating what I was doing, and then I saw this 80 year old lady, she wanted to sky dive and that was her birthday gift from her kids. I felt this is what is life.

When we grow older, this what I would expect our life to be. If not this adventurous, atleast to be happy with each other. We should be able to go around places together, just the 2 of us. And yeah!!! If we both get an opportunity to sky dive and we are in a healthy position to do that… Then why not!!!

This is my belief, As far as you have some passion in life, you are alive, no matter what your age is. Once your passion to live life is dead, you are dead, no matter if you are 8 year old or 80 years old.

A-Z Blogging challenge

I just happened to come across the A-Z Blogging Challenge. I have no clue about the rules, themes or anything. But I am just planning to take the plunge. This would just help in getting out of the shell, and do some writing.

So let the challenge begin tomorrow....

A for .....
 

Appa Office Amma Home

“Amma… What’s the cow doing there”, 3 year old Anagha asked her mom.

“That’s not a cow baby. It’s a bull”was the mother’s reply. Seeing a confused expression, she simplified it for Anagha. “It’s the father cow” was the next reply.

“What is it doing here” She asked.

Mom said “It has come to the farm to do some work. Just like how Appa goes to office”

“Where is mummy Cow Amma?” was her next question.

“Mummy cow is with paapa cow. Just like how I and you are” was the reply.

I was shocked to listen to this explanation from a family member. I am not a hard core male hating feminist. I am not a person fighting for gender quality too, as I know there are certain things which only one of the genders can do. Ofcourse, in situations where both are equally responsible, I am all in for equality.

However what surprised me here was, the mother in this situation is a working woman, may not be in the grilling IT scenario, but yes working nevertheless

So is this what shocks me. Is this what the kid will be taught. Its father’s job to provide and mother’s job to look after home and kids. Also, in the same family, the father doesn’t take care of the kid single handedly. He cannot it seems. It just baffles me. So why on earth did you even want the kid. So it’s completely the mother’s responsibility to take care of all the needs of the kids, and the father is just the financial support.

Seriously, such behavior I can find them less shocking if seen in a set up where, people don’t have much awareness. I wouldn’t even bring education here. As the people involved here are very much educated. You can’t even talk about seeing the same in their families, hence continuing, as I know both the sides the fathers help the mothers in household chores and the kid upbringing, and yes both the sides the mothers were working too.

I definetly don’t pity the girl in this scenario, as I don’t think she is being treated in a bad way. If it’s happening, then it’s because she has let it happen. But yes, I feel pity for the kid, for the kind of example the parents are setting up for her. And regarding the guy, even though I am quite courteous, when they visit home and all that. I know, the respect I had for him ealier is not there anymore.

All said and done, I don’t know how they are at home. Whether he does any work at home to help his wife or not. And even if I happen to know, I wouldn’t be in a position to tell them anything, since we would like to follow the policy of no interference. We will not interfere in other people’s life and vice versa. Nobody is allowed to interfere in our life.

Parents are the guiding points for kids. Not just what you preach. What matters is what you practice. So teach them the values in a way, they can follow. They will decide later in life whether they are right or wrong.

Kai-tuthu

Summer holidays meant spending 2 weeks with Paati, mamas, younger cousins. And in those times lunch and dinner times would be awesome, coz all of us(cousins) would sit in a semicircle, with our Paati in the center. She would have a huge bowl of sambar rice, and would make almost perfect balls and place it in our hands. We would, cup our palms and ensure that as soon as Paati places the mixture, we pop it into our mouth. After the sambar rice, we would continue with curd rice and end up eating more than how much we would have eaten, if we were just given food in our plate. That was our favorite Kai-tuthu. She would ensure that all of us have had our full and only then go to eat her lunch.

Couple of days before my wedding, we had mehendi ceremony at home, and most of my cousins were to stay in our house that night. We again had the Kai-tuthu. Ofcourse, my hands were not free, and I was directly fed by my Paati. But all my cousins who were no longer kids, enjoyed this process. Even after my wedding, we have had this kai-tuthu a few times.

It’s been a long time, since we have had this. Next time I meet Paati, I might again request for Kai-tuthu from her. She would more than happy to do this. I am sure about that!!!

They say parents love their kids unconditionally. I think grandparents also love their grand kids unconditionally. Probably a little more than their own kids.. Like they say interest is more interesting than the principle J

Bike ride

“I want to take you on a bike ride” G would always say.

I was nervous. I was scared. It’s not that I had not gone on bike rides. It’s not that I had not gone on bike rides with my friends. It was not even that I had not gone on a bike ride with G. But when I had earlier gone with him, he was just a friend.

But now, things had changed. We were together. And he wasn’t talking about just a ride inside the city. It was supposed to be a ride from Mysore – Bangalore. I could never say yes to that. One day with some courage, I agreed to go to Srirangapatnam. (which is hardly 15 mins from Mysore). But I did go.

After our Wedding, I have been to many bike rides with him. A couple of them in US. A few in India, our longest being Blr-Madurai-Kanyakumari and back.

Now we have a new bike, Ninja 650 R. It’s a little difficult for me to sit at the back for long rides, so we had to get a a luggage box, and get it fixed, so that it could act as my backrest. G really wanted all this so that he could take me for a long ride. All this wasn’t coming cheap. It did cost us quite a few thousands, to get that fixed. We also bought a new helmet for me. We came to office together for a week. We go around in the city.

But somehow, we have not been able to go out of Bangalore. He has gone on few solo trips. But we have not gone together… I am waiting for atleast a one day trip… Come on… Buying all that jazz, and No Paisa Vasool… Just not happening!!!.. Take me for that ride dude!!!

Innocent Laughter

It is said that laughter is the best medicine in the world. But would the same be said if its mindless uncontrollable laughter.

This incident happened when I was in college. My friend and me would go to college in her scooty. Just like you see regulars in joggers park these days, there were few regulars whom we had noticed during the daily travel. One of them was a girl who went to another college nearby. There was this girl whom we saw, every day. Let’s say, she wasn’t the usual kind of girl, and you could notice her in a small crowd very easily. Usually, we saw her in the traffic signal, and the day we din't see her, we would wonder if she was ok, or has she bunked college, and nothing much.

One day, we were waiting for the signal to turn green, as usual, and next to us was another 2 wheeler. And we saw this girl. We were not people who would judge others by their appearance. We were normal looking as well. So I am sure, it was not about how she looked. To describe – She was this plump girl (a little overweight), with a bald head and she wore a hat (like how umpires wear), and fat spectacle (it used to be called Soda glass at that time). We both were looking right. And as her vehicle neared ours and came to a standstill, a few seconds later, we turned our faces to left. The signal turned green, and this girl zoomed past us. We both burst out laughing. We had no idea, what triggered it. It was definitely not her appearance, since, this was her routine and we were used to seeing her this way. Infact, we used to find her cute, cuddly like a teddy bear. So, there we were, laughing like maniacs, on a 2 wheeler. Some elder people on the road were already looking at us nodding their head in disagreement (these shameless young kids).

We laughed till we reached home, and it did not stop there. Every few minutes we would remember the signal and laugh, or look at each other and laugh. We got stomach ache and still couldn’t stop laughing. We were actually rolling on the floor too. When mom asked what it was about, we couldn’t explain it to her, on why we were laughing. The reason – We din’t know.  We seriously did not.

I don’t remember how and why we stopped that ridiculous laughter marathon. But I vividly remember the scene at the signal. I remember she wore a beige colour salwar kurta. Heck!!! I don’t remember what either of us wore or what colour was the scooty. But this scene is etched in my mind.

To the cute teddy girl, we are really sorry for laughing, but it was definitely not at you. We know you din’t know we laughed that day like mad, as we controlled until you drove away. But just in case you saw in the rear view mirror and thought we were laughing at you.. Then its definitely not you. And, yes, every time after this incident, we saw you, you have only brought smile on our lips. Even now when I think about you, I can only smile.

Pop The Corn

What is the main reason which can drag you to a movie theatre. Ofcourse the movie.. but apart from that… Come on.. think about it.. Well let me just bring it out.

A large tub of salted popcorn, with butter as a topping. You spend the entire movie munching on one popcorn at a time. Well, this used to be my condition to go to movie while we were in US. Even if it happened to be the most boring movie, and if G wanted to watch it, I wouldn’t mind, as long as I get my individual tube of butter loaded popcorn.

Once we came back to India, the extra butter wasn’t there, but if the popcorn was fresh, it was still worth it. We used to get 2 large popcorns for both of us and enjoy at our pace. Now, we get 1 tub of popcorn for both of us together. Now, I am totally okay with this arrangement. Only problem is the way both of us eat our popcorns. I take 1 in my hand, and bite into half and relish each and every piece, while takes a fistful in his hand and shoves all of it in his mouth. So while I have just finished a fistful of popcorn, G has already emptied half of the tub, which leaves me furious. How can he just eat all of my popcorn. Alright our popcorn. I give him the ultimatum everytime that this is the last time I would be sharing the tub with him and he has to get his own popcorn from next time. He plainly refuses, saying whats the fun in that. And when I insist, he says, alright I will not eat from your tub.

The next time we went, I reminded him that I will not share my popcorn with him. He agreed, got me a popcorn tub and as soon as we sat on our seats, and I dug into the popcorn tub, I see a fistful of popcorn in G’s hand going out from my tub.

“My popcorn”, I said and pulled the tub away from him.

“Just once”, and he grinned.
“Whatever”, I rolled my eyes.
                                                                                               
After a while he dint touch my popcorn, but I couldn’t concentrate on the movie or the popcorn, and ended up sharing my tub of popcorn with G, coming back to square1. Even though I had lesser popcorn, even though I had to share, I was more content and happy with the movie experience.

This doesn’t mean, I don’t create this scene in the theatre when we go for movies now. I still claim for my individual popcorn everytime, and end up sharing my popcorn with him. Sigh!!! Now that I have got used to it, I probably cannot eat a tubful of popcorn alone, and need G to empty the tub. Oh!! Such complicated issues of life!!!