A 'tense' situation!!!

I find myself tensed...Prats and rayshma had tagged me LOOOOOOOOOng back on the past present and the future...and as usual, i errr...ummm...have been a ....bit busy.

its been so long since they've tagged me, that the past has been shifted further back, the present has shifted into the past and the future has become the present....confused?!!! *mission accomplished :)

~ The tag copy ~Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday - Your oldest memory - What were you doing 10 years ago?

Today -Your first thought today morning - If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?

Tomorrow - This year ….What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

~ End Tag details ~

just wondering why 10 yrs back and 14 yrs ahead?!!! not that it makes any difference but....

Yesterday

Your oldest memory: My oldest memory would be a faint one of me singing some song about a cockroach in nursery school!!!

and whaddya know, i found it on youtube...!!!!! and we sang it in English...

And another one where the teacher tied her hanky over my mouth, because I was such a chatter box…(the fact that both my boys have completely taken after me in this respect, was revealed at the recent parent-teachers meeting)

What were you doing 10 years ago?: 10 years ago, I was in Kolkata, with a very busy husband and a dedicated 14 mth old who had trained me well…Life was less complicated then, a new job, a new city, a new role as parents…


Today

Your first thought today morning: Thinking about my 11 yr-old who has gone for his first overnight 5 day camp.

If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?: Is there some way I can pick up all the weeds in the society and zap them back…so that there really will be a future worth waiting for?

Tomorrow

This year ….: It’s been a year in slow motion…sort of makes up for last year which was full of change and just zipped by.

What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?: blogging…and ...er more blogging
Wait a minute! 14 yrs from now, did you say….? does some quick calculations…adjusts her retina to peer into the future……..THUD!!!! *faints on not recognizing the images of two strapping 25 yr-old and 20 yr-old hunks towering above her.

and now to exercise the perks of tagging...

gazal, joy, preethi (incessant musings) and pink dogwood...your memories please

My book marks....

Ever since i read that Joy believes in a smack to get things working, i've been in a rush to finish this tag...lest she sends those virtual smacks my way :P

This, Joy, is one affair i would love to remember...:)

1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

My dad! He would take us to libraries and gift us books…and enid blyton for the simple and fun world she took us to…

2. What are some books you read as a child?

as a young girl, this funny fellow used to be a great favorite.

Aesop’s fables, most books by Enid blyton, most classics – mark twain, charles dickens, jane austen, Emily bronte, daphne du maurier…most comics – mandrake, tintin, asterix, mad, amarchitra katha

3. What is your favorite genre?

Sometimes humor, sometimes satire, sometimes mystery, recently inspirational…haven’t been able to veer towards the science-oriented ones

4. Do you have a favorite novel?

No. Favorites have ranged from Oliver twist to Scarlett Pimpernel to Emma to anne frank to Kite runner…

5. Where do you usually read?

Anytime, anyplace…just give me some peace and quiet…

6. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Oh Yes! One for every mood!

7. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
No

8. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

Have done all…it doesn’t matter as long as I get the book… i would prefer to own the books i really liked

9. Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?

Yes.

10. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?

I read somewhere that good children's literature is one which appeals not only to the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child. In my son's case, he’s graduated from Enid blyton to Sherlock holmes, Feluda, oliver twist, roald Dahl…Some were new finds – harry potter, eragon, the septimus heap trilogy, the Narnia chronicles – which we enjoyed together… I’m now waiting for the younger one to join us…

12. What are you reading now?
Does trying to read my boys minds count?!!!

No? Fine then!!! Chowringee, the Blind assassin by margaret Atwood and daughter by asha bandele

13. Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?

A mental list, thanks to all the reviews, and book tags that I read.

14. What books would you like to reread?
Calvin and Hobbes… an instant mood uplifter :)

15. Who are your favorite authors?

Keeps changing. There was a time when Agatha Christie and RK Narayan ruled supreme. It’s been an interesting journey since then.

a little bit of tradition!

It is that time of the year again! The time of the year when I yearn most for home. It starts with Ganesh Chaturthi and lingers on till after Diwali. This is the time that the memories flood me, and i see a flashback of events generally forgotten in the hustle bustle of what we call life.

- of getting up on festival days and listening to the reassuring clatter of vessels in the kitchen. Of oil baths and visits to temples. Of visits to the grandparents where we would seek the blessings of the elders present. Of the vibrant colors of the rangoli and the heady fragrance of the jasmine flowers...and of course the food. Of smells taking my olfactory senses for an aromatic drive. of stomachs being put to their ultimate test of capacity...of eating my grandma's lunch..(My grandmother would always equate love and food and it showed in every morsel that entered our mouths.)

These are memories of laughter and love, of beliefs and prayers, of events and impressions, of bonding and a sense of belonging.

Of course things have changed a lot now. We do as we please, we wake up when we want, we are masters of our day, we believe in ourselves. The 11 yr old is very astute and does not believe in God as much as he used to when he was 3. I would like to think it's because we've taken care of his emotional needs that he does not feel the need to turn to someone...

Coming back to the festival, yesterday was Dussehra...and i thought i should get in touch with the traditional side of me. So in a bid to indulge the nostalgic homesick child in me, i cooked a traditional meal...which "included" kadubus (we grew up on idlies steamed in those special jack fruit leaf moulds)with yogurt based curry, rasa vada and a payasam...for a family of 4.

The offering to the deity done, the table is set, a pleased dad and a satisfied mom look at the spread proudly...

only to hear two disappointed voices...'you made glass idlies? are we going to eat this? no pasta?!!!" the pitch increasing with every discovery...

and then a resigned 'sigh...can i at least eat it with ketchup!!!"

And every time i try to recreate that bit of magic, I wonder, is it time for me to set aside my memories and continue making theirs?

but no way are you, my dear kiddos, getting pasta on a festival day!!!

and yes, hope you all out there had a great dussehra.

retrospect:: this is just a rough attempt to pen down a state of mind...i agree that the onus is on me to put as much or as little, of tradition in my day...

A day of my choice - tag

One day, Weather girl called me...

Now i like weather girl because she's so fickle minded..she just cannot make up her mind on what weather she wants...One day she decides it’s going to be sunny and bright and just when all those clothes have been aired out to dry, across she sends those angry clouds and watches gleefully as the orchestrated movement starts below...people running helter-skelter, umbrellas being popped open and children being herded indoors... At least that's what happens in Singapore...at the first grumble from the sky, we see maids popping in and out every balcony peering above, and gathering laundry in and out.

Don't you think, the weather is an icebreaker, mood turner and perfect punching bag in addition to being the most overused topic?

And so weather girl said, “today I’m feeling lazy! Can you manage the weather for me today?

"Sure" i said "how do i do that?"

"Take this pencil and draw your weather on this white screen, next point to the globe...it’s that easy...

I looked at the screen and saw a white canvas...begging to be filled...I drew inverted V's for mountains, a semicircle for a cheery sun half hidden behind a cloud, birds in the sky and cottony clouds...I drew light drops of rain…and then I turned the globe and pointed to Singapore…

Okay wake up guys...this was imagination working overtime...let's leave weather girl to her whims and my imagination and get on with the tag, passed on by ~nm...

If i were to be a day, i would go for the one where there is a hint of rain in the clouds, a rainy day where the raindrops fall softly on your cheek and tease you…a day where the kids can splash about without their mothers worrying about them catching cold...

And since I’m greedy, i would also like to be that day in October in Delhi when there is that delicious nip in the air which tells you winter's coming. I really enjoyed my pre-winters in Delhi…(not the bitingly cold one where you wish the toilet seats came pre-warmed and where your words are frozen in your throat).

I miss those women knitting sweaters everywhere you go, people basking in the warm winter sun…the jackets and the shoes, the tip of your nose feeling cold faster than the rest of you, the wonder in your child’s voice when his warm breath creates that little illusion of smoke…the attraction towards heat and warmth in every form…erm...here... i am referring to hot cups of tea ;)

So I’m a sunny day - wanting to be rainy-also wanting it to be nippy - kinda person...(sounds a bit like my moods). now tell me, what season are you?

And since it’s a tag, specifically Sumana, abha, gauri, neera...let's see the seasons in you...

Psst...but guess what, the sky is grumbling, the clouds have gathered...woohoo..so its going to be my kind of day after all...itz chai time here... :D