You might have stayed in some village (in India) and woken up to a faint smoke in the air. It comes from the water boilers that use ash and some wood to boil water. The water gets piping hot and there's a smoke of the burnt wood n ash, mingled with steam ... a delicious aroma. At the same time you might see a lady making tea on a chulha (shegdi) - an Indian stove that uses dung cakes as fuel.... again a superb mixture of aroma of tea and the smoke from the stove.
I remembered Sachin and Seema today and my mind went back to about 15 years ago, when I had visited with Seema, to her native place in Akola.
Seema is my closest friend and Sachin her younger brother. Right from my childhood, me and my sisters religiously tie rakhi to Sachin each year. Sachin hardly forgets the occasion to visit us.
Oh, I remember the near 14 hour cramped ST bus journey to Akola with Seema very much comfortable amidst the crowds, Seema’s mom trying to give me a banana during the journey and me refusing it for fear of its obvious retreat from my stomach.
In Akola, Seema's ancestral house was 3 floured building with the wooden structure matching old lavish homes. It even had an old styled fan made of cloth on a wooden bar attached to the roof. You had to pull the roop at the wall to fan the room. We visited lots of other houses nearby, saw some great temples, walked through farms and went to the river for play. It was a new experience, especially since I hadn't seen anything but metros and other cities. None of my relatives live in villages and all have settled long back in cities for livelihood.
Reminiscing those days...
Friday, August 13, 2010
Monday, August 02, 2010
Do you smile when you open your eyes in the morning?
My sister and her year-old baby girl stayed over at my place on the weekend. It was amazing!
The moment she caught up with the new place, Bebo began scampering all over looking for things to hurl on the floor, or things to break, also reaching for slippers (slip-on chappals) in the house to chew on. Yogesh kept carrying her out for short walks and showing her cars and kids playing. She loves to see cars go to and fro, her head moving right to left with every new car she caught sight of, and immediately tracking the next car and moving left to right and so on.
She made sure our biological clocks went for a toss by keeping awake till 2 am in the morning! She kept ordering to us to wake up - in her limited vocabulary (aye! uppp!) - in case we were trying to doze off. She kept doing tricks like throwing toys about and dancing in baby gestures, and looking at us for appreciation. Obviously although we were desperate to sleep we couldn't help getting exhilarated with every trick that she had in the box.
If the music stopped... Bebo used to pat her hand on my lap and point to Yogesh and immediately raise both her hands in the air in bhangra (Punjabi dance gesture). This signal was for me to tell Yogesh to play songs on the laptop - so that she can resume dancing.
From time to time, she made sure that we all were really looking at her while she danced... (waving hands and shoulders and moving the mouth for some foreign words). She scolded people who weren't attentive.
Finally she slept off and we kept trying to sleep for most part of the night. We awoke at our usual hours but she kept sleeping most of the morning, requiring us to hush our voices. I so waited for her to wake up begin the dance again!
The best part of being a baby is how you get to wake up with such a broad smile on your face. Bebo smiled at each of us in the morning, making us smile back. Such sweetness... and innocence. I began wondering when is it that you stop waking up with a smile on your face, not wanting to get out of your bed, not wanting to face the routine all over again!
Bebo gets out and starts waving hands for toys she wants and lo-behold, they fall in her lap automatically! We are so eager to please babies and see them smile.
When my sister and Bebo were leaving, we couldn't help feeling sooo sad, wanting the baby to stay for few more days, wishing she wouldn't come for such a short time. But then...no amount of time would be enough, right?
The moment she caught up with the new place, Bebo began scampering all over looking for things to hurl on the floor, or things to break, also reaching for slippers (slip-on chappals) in the house to chew on. Yogesh kept carrying her out for short walks and showing her cars and kids playing. She loves to see cars go to and fro, her head moving right to left with every new car she caught sight of, and immediately tracking the next car and moving left to right and so on.
She made sure our biological clocks went for a toss by keeping awake till 2 am in the morning! She kept ordering to us to wake up - in her limited vocabulary (aye! uppp!) - in case we were trying to doze off. She kept doing tricks like throwing toys about and dancing in baby gestures, and looking at us for appreciation. Obviously although we were desperate to sleep we couldn't help getting exhilarated with every trick that she had in the box.
If the music stopped... Bebo used to pat her hand on my lap and point to Yogesh and immediately raise both her hands in the air in bhangra (Punjabi dance gesture). This signal was for me to tell Yogesh to play songs on the laptop - so that she can resume dancing.
From time to time, she made sure that we all were really looking at her while she danced... (waving hands and shoulders and moving the mouth for some foreign words). She scolded people who weren't attentive.
Finally she slept off and we kept trying to sleep for most part of the night. We awoke at our usual hours but she kept sleeping most of the morning, requiring us to hush our voices. I so waited for her to wake up begin the dance again!
The best part of being a baby is how you get to wake up with such a broad smile on your face. Bebo smiled at each of us in the morning, making us smile back. Such sweetness... and innocence. I began wondering when is it that you stop waking up with a smile on your face, not wanting to get out of your bed, not wanting to face the routine all over again!
Bebo gets out and starts waving hands for toys she wants and lo-behold, they fall in her lap automatically! We are so eager to please babies and see them smile.
When my sister and Bebo were leaving, we couldn't help feeling sooo sad, wanting the baby to stay for few more days, wishing she wouldn't come for such a short time. But then...no amount of time would be enough, right?
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