to be children in kochi

My cousin sent me a beautiful mail, about our childhoods. Talking it over with some friends, ive just realised what a wonderful childhood I had. We were honestly very privileged.

To be able to run around in a large garden, and eat endlessly, swim in the afternoons, watch TV, eat raw mangoes, play hide-and-seek, make a mess, not clean it up, dig in the mud, eat ice cream, watch movies....

it was amazing!

Summer

This post has been waiting in the wings for a long time....Inspired by memories of our childhood, I will now describe a game we played for the longest time, when we were kids. We even played it when we were old enough to know better.
The game was called 'Job'. You may recognize it from 'Doctor-Doctor' or 'House-House' or even 'Teacher-Teacher'. The difference was that we all had to pick different Jobs. Money was a pack of cards. We spent hourse at this game. For all of you who think it isnt possible to play this game for hours and days on an end, let me first explain that we had planty of props. My grandmoms house is huge, the entire upper storey was devoted to this game. Thats 3 huge rooms. We also had tons and tons of toys.

Our creativeness knew no bounds. From staid and boring jobs like doctor and shopkeeper, we soon graduated to : Witch, Hoopla Boy(we called it 'Hoopla'), "Cooker",Pujari etc etc. Most of the above mentioned careers were thought up by Yam. However, my personal favourite was "Helper", also thought up by Yam. It was the job with minimun exertion. The 'helper' was hired by the 'priest' or 'doctor' or whoever else was playing, to mind their business when they went to call on each other.
The hoopla started off as a series of stals set up by the person while the other payed for the privilege of playing there. As was to be expected, hoopla soon became a game in its own right.
The witch typically sat in a small darkened corner, under a dupatta preferably. We would go to him/her and ask for our future to be told. She would then light an agarbatti(which was banned later), paint our faces with a mixture of powder and water, tie up our hands, and tell our future, for which we would pay the princely sum of the King of Hearts.

So and so our chilhoods passed, without us even realising. I miss it. I wish i could sit under a dupatta and tell someones future with paint on my face.

Evenings in Mumbai and other Randomness

Im living in a hostel of sorts, it isnt really a hostel, its like a bunch of rooms and one tiny room where they serve food. Its called "the mess".
Hostels on Girgaum Chowpatty, which as ppl from bombay would know, is a lovely place to live in. Pretty soon though, im going to have to find some tiny poky hole in the wall and pay an astronomical amount to live in it. Not waiting for that day.
In the meantime, i intend to enjoy myself. Hostels right next to thre beach and most evenings, we go for a wlk. I use the term walk loosely, because the breeze is so amazing, we 'walk' very very slowly. any slower and we'd be going backwards.

Yesterday, i had a gelato. An apparently italian version of icecream. On every 1st of the month, Gelato serves a scoop of the 'flavour of the month'. Yesterday, it was...drumroll......frutollo!

It tasted of strawberries, cherries and banana.It sounds awful i know, but it wasnt. The minute it touched my tongue, i was taken back to swimming days. whole summers where all of us would turn up for swimming lessons at Casino Hotel. The reason i thought of this is because it tasted like one of the many many sundaes we had at Abad Coffeeshop afterwards....
Those were the days. And one of my dreams is that all our kids grow up the way we did. Playing cricket, job, swimming, eating....creating memories.

change

WoW!
A lot has happened since i last posted - Got a job, Got a life, Went home...and of course - shifted to mumbai!
Since ive already discoursed at length about how much I love Mumbai...i wont bore anyone further.
Work, is well not so much work right now as non-work, im blogging from office!
still...i might have some work tomorrow, dont know whether to look forward to it , or enjoy the good life.
Me thinks, Enjoythegoodlife.
Myspacebarhastsoppedworking.

IDEA STAR SINGER

I cmae to kochi last month only to find the whole state in the exciting throes of IDEA STAR SINGER. God!people seemed a little insane at times.

Well, i ended up watching a few episodes because the show was damn well slotted. 8 30, in a reality show crazy state, and even more so, a state full of music freaks. classical music freaks.

honesty compels me to admit that the final few contestants are waaay better than most of the indian singers ive heard in my short lifetime.

But, tonight, as i write this, the finals are happening. Out of the corner of my eye i can see some wierd people singing and dancing to some ancient malayalam song on the stage. But the reason for this blog is precisely that.

I just heard Arun Gopan sing. Oh Arun Gopan, if you're listening, you should know, i cried when i heard you sing in the second round. All those who've seen the movie 'His Highness Abdullah' and heard that absolutely fantastic song, not 'Pramadhavanam', the one with the two of them competing - hindustani and classical together, will remember the song. And Arun Gopan sang it to perfection. and i mean perfection.
When he finished, i realised I had tears in my eyes.

I dont think he'll win. He hasnt got enough votes anyhow. But he should know he deserves to win tonight. And so should many others.

Ok..so a friend deserves a special mention.
It goes like this -

PB's pissed off at work and life in general...shes coming down a one way street and asks us to come to her car(to pick us up - us being pootu, mickey and NSD), instead of coming further down the street.
So i know shes pissed and all...and i say ok..

NSD (Being NSD) says - "Is she like, really Dumb or something?" !!
And Pootu (Being Pootu) tells her!

So we get into the car, and NSD says "But i really did think it was dumb", by which time of course PB's losing her cool.

The life of my friends affords me a lot of amusement. Seriously speaking though? I love them all to death :D

LOVE

I've fallen in love..again..with Calcutta this time.
Reached there. Loved it. Period.

The city is incredible..in no other city have i seen such old world charm..
Of course, i was privilaged to have been staying with an amazing friend. And she is privilaged to be a member of Tolly club. Still.

Ok. Ill start at the beginning.
To my mind, calcutta is a city of sights - the tram, howrah bridge, writers building, fog in the evening, early sunsets...
And smells - Kachori, amazing fish curry, rolls, spicy soup...lemony chicken..
And people -PB took me to tolly club for lunch..ive never seen such a relaxed, joyful crowd..or such amazing food. The people on the road..no pushing..no shoving..everyones so polite..and nice to u..everyones warm..and friendly

PB's parents made up a barbeque at home...ive never been to a barbeque before..its was awesome..
Poots Nani made some amazing food...and fed me :D

And friends - we went everywhere..actually we didnt..we went to someplace else..again, and again..


Mickey came down..so we went again..music and beer. Dance. Food.

The best bit was - we went to xaviers. And their football/cricket field? Well...we did cartwheels on the field. Just like that. For the heck of it. Like kids.
The bestest bit was - we hired a small boat..and the boatman took us out under the new bridge. Te bridge to the heavens..

It was fantastic..absolutely fantastic.