Satyanarayan Pooja

I heard of this Pooja first time from my friend Bhawna who is quite religious, she was discussing it with a few other friends who were also North Indians. Quite the norm among the northies is what I gathered from the talks, much to my surprise this very same pooja was my first event after marriage. At the time all decked up in finery and very conscious of every movement of mine, the only thing that actually sunk of the pooja was that there was a story attached to it and during the pooja you read it.

Almost a year now into marriage and much more relaxed with my in laws, I realised that this pooja was done at home without pundits as and when good things happened or in the anticipation of good news. So recently when my sister in law’s marriage got fixed Satyanarayan pooja was done at home and my mother in law steer headed it.

All this was very intriguing to me and so I hesitantly at first suggested to Shaiwal, if it would be possible for us to do it as well. The idea was welcomed with great enthusiasm although I was a bit concerned because it was for god and I didn’t want to do any mistakes. My mother in law with her infinite wisdom assured me, it was not a matter of doing it right or wrong but a matter of doing it with the right intentions and purity of thought.

So this Saturday, we got up early and prepared for the pooja, I made Panchamrith from unboiled milk, curd, sugar, honey and a drop of ghee and Panjiri from ghee, atta and sugar. These two are the main two prasad’s it seems. Then we got laddoo’s, banana’s, sindoor and rice and from the internet a print out of Satyanarayan Katha (the story). We didn’t have a photo of Satyanarayan god and so we downloaded on the laptop and made that the desktop wallpaper.

As Shaiwal and I started the pooja, I realised two things, one, god and anything related to god soothes me and makes me feel good, two the Satyanarayan god is Vishnu and since Guruvayurappan pictures are also of Vishnu the two look the same, so I was not accosted by the feeling of doing something unfamiliar but instead the same feeling of praying to the lord whom I have been from childhood.

Well we finished the pooja and then distributed the Prasad among friends as well, so that was our high point of the weekend.

Colleagues and work

Prioritization, time management, juggling multiple work items…..all the key words to what you actually learn in MBA. Other than networking of course but then let’s not go there shall we? First semester of MBA I remember were sleep deprived days filled with activity and some of which at the time I thought was completely useless. Didn’t realise until later years that the idea was to stress you out, so that you learn to work under stress and how to work optimally under stress.

Later years once I realised this prime piece of information, I continually flaunted it in the face of my MBA aspiring acquaintances, constantly reminding them that, “THIS is what you would primarily learn in an MBA.” The underlying statement being that “I” had already learnt this.

Perhaps the years untaught me or perhaps I never quite learnt it properly in the first place. Now, I find myself floundering. Hmm……. I am confident that I won’t fall flat on my face but the challenge of ensuring it, exists. :)

By the way, I am impressed by the professionalism my fellow colleagues show. Accurate in time and in the number of hours that are put in at work, they further demonstrated to me that sometimes (not saying all coz I don’t know if that is the case) their moral fabric was better stitched than mine. The topic came up about claiming expenses and how broadband was one of the items you could claim for. As soon as I heard that, I was mentally berating myself for having taken the broadband connection in Shaiwal’s name. Not sure if I would have gone to claim or not since I don’t work from home at all but still my first reaction was unhappiness at not being able to claim. My colleagues then went on to say that you need to be fair though about claiming broadband and that 50% was fair if you were a person who worked from home at high frequency and not more than that!!! Now, had I been a person who was working from home at frequent intervals then I wouldn’t be bothering about 50% or not unless expressly told by the company that this is the limit to which you can claim!

The other side of the coin -

A colleague of mine wanted to watch the world cup which was being telecasted during afternoon hours, so he came in an hour early, went in between to watch the match and then came back to do one more hour extra, so that he did indeed put in his 7 hours that he was supposed to. I kept thinking that bloody its after all only 7 hours, in India we clock in 9 hours on good days and that doesn’t even include travel of 1 hour on an average. If the system is such that it is designed well enough to make you work, however much your body and mind can actually take and not more, then the number of people adhering to the system automatically increases.

Anyways tommorow its Friday my fellow readers and then its weekend time!!! This time a well earned one I must say.

AHA!!!

So i finally am connected now, i got my email ID. Why I thought I was missing it I dont seem to remember now. Coz from the moment i got it meeting requests and work requests have been pouring in. So yesterday I most definitely did not spend the time looking at the clock and wondering if I could hang myself on the hour's hand. People seem to be crawling out of the intranet woodwork to hunt me down and then give me work. :(

Well I guess one day of work honeymoon period is all I get. Anyways, my colleagues very sweetly also taught me how to book my work space. Whats that? Well there is a rotating desk policy here which means you dont get permanent work spaces but you need to keep booking and you can only book for 3 weeks ahead not more. I dont know why the company bothers because as far as I can see people pretty much still keep sitting at the same place. So anyways, I dutifully did my workspace booking and felt happy about it. Only to receive a mail from some guy saying I had booked his space and that he absolutely needed to sit with his team and if I had any queries then to check with HIS BOSS. One, what a looser, I can imagine girls sending mails out like that but a guy, hell just walk upto me and request me for the seat! Two, I seriously wonder what possible query he thought I would have to take up to his BOSS!

Long and short of it, I did redo my booking at the internal website. Not here to make enemies now are we?

Why ME?!!

Initial days in an organisation are both the best and the worst days. The best because everyone is so understanding and expectations are at an all time low. The worst because you have no login id's, no access cards and no clue what the hell you are supposed to be doing. So every one hour i go to my manager and request him for some reading materials and try my best not to fall asleep over them. The battle of keeping my eyes open, especially after 1pm is an uphill one and every other minute i steal glances at the clock to confirm how many more minutes do i have to complete before going home. And that my dears is the most excruciating task.

Well the list of my goof ups seem to be piling on and here is my latest, i had to call up a person for some information at work. I dutifully did so and came across a thick Scottish brogue, it was as if i was hitting my head against the wall. I had squashed the headphones into my ear so much that i am sure it must have touched my cerebrum but i could have been sitting right next to the guy and it still wouldnt have made any difference. I would have been at sea anyways. So all i had to ask was whom to contact on a particular assignment, the person answered and I couldnt make out. SO i made him spell it out, smart eh? Well i thought so too but you know what his accent existed in multiple and single words/alphabets. SO then he asked me for my mail ID, so that he could mail the information across. Sweet chap i say, a place in heaven is surely reserved for you kind sir. Unfortunately i DONT have a mail ID!!! :(

 

That was just Monday, four more days to go!

Screwed!

I am supposed to be taking over from another person who left RBS as on friday, which is yesterday. He has 23 years of work experience and seems like a pro. He was handling 4 different projects and was finding it difficult to manage!!! :)

For the past two days i have been sitting with him and trying to understand whats going on and what work i need to do and let me tell you i am still at sea out here.

He left on Friday not for home but for FLORIDA, USA for 3 weeks. Well that makes it convenient now i know for sure that if i have any doubts then this guy is not going to be available on phone or on mail! Amazing i tell you!

Yesterday it was all back to back meetings with every free minute spent in my handover, which meant that no lunch for me and i have been reassured that it was just another normal day!!! I had infact come in early at around 8:30, so that i could do some catch up before the day started. Early did i say? Well my boss comes in at 7 AM!!! Is he HUMAN? People normally come in at 8 AM and they try to leave when their work is finished which could be 9 in the night or 3 in the afternoon as long as the work is completed. Sounds good in theory wonder how it works in practice.

I am the only Asian origin person on the team and by the looks of it on the floor. Its kind of hard to pick up scottish accent, while i am struggling with the accent, i also have to learn the slangs that they use and what they mean by it, so most of the times i am blank. Now if that wasnt fun enough, i learnt that i need to attend my meetings on audio and not in the meeting rooms, since going to rooms and coming out is considered a waste of time and people here seem to leave their desk only in case of a heart attack. While i was reasonably managing communication with a blend of lip reading, expression reading and pure guess work i am in future to be crippled to the extent of only VOICE. Dear god!!

At different points in the day my mind goes - "Jeena yahan marna yahan iske siva jaana kahan"

I also have had immense respect for my father who with a south indian interior village education and upbringing managed to fight his way and be well settled-in, first Mumbai and then Dubai and then from there on different parts of Europe and even Hong kong. Dad hats off, i just hope i manage at least a decimal percentage of your success in blending with different cultures, different people and your work life success.

First day at work

My first day at work! Well I didn’t make a fool of myself but oh god I got so drained out, the person I am supposed to replace is leaving today so he had exactly two days to download his knowledge to me! Which meant that right from the word GO he was training me on what’s what and how it needs to be done, not that I managed to get everything in but well at a very quick pace at least I understood what is happening. :)

My manager seemed to be a middle aged man and I was actually shocked to know that he was going to be my manager, since I was interviewed by a lady who said I would be working with her, she has been replaced it seem

My interview had happened with a lady who said she was recruiting me for her team, turns out she has now been replaced by another guy whom I am currently reporting to. It was a weird situation actually because he had no clue about me as he had not seen my resume or anything. However we had a good chat to being with and he asked a bit about my background, where I grandly told him about my 5 yrs in satyam and overall 6 yrs of work experience and blah blah. Later on in the day I found out that he had 26 years of experience. God these people just don’t look their age!!! Mortified is a small word compared to what I was feeling right then!

The people seem friendly enough, actually I have met only 3 people so far, one my manager, another the guy who is leaving today and a third a female who works on another project but under the same manager as me. Got to know quite a bit about them on the first day and I hope we all will be friends soon enough.

Had trouble with the vending machines AGAIN! I thought I was over that after my stint last time but I guess not, well I soon figured it out though and I love the fact that Hot chocolate is an option on it. :)

Well I got to run now, everyone, have a great weekend ahead. Take care.

Shaiwal Birthday Sequel

Okay so there we were in Glasgow, equipped with directions from google maps on how to reach where. Our first stop was breakfast and soon after we headed out for the Hindu Temple.

Glasgow at first instance was a bit of a shock for me. As much as Edinburgh is steeped in history and natural beauty, Glasgow is a modern city with sky scrapers, steep roads and the concrete jungle look. I had been under the misconception that Edinburgh was representative of how all cities in Scotland would look; well i had that straightened out then. I guess it shouldn’t have been such a surprise given that Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland and with the best airport and flight connectivity to rest of the world.

Anyways we reached ahead of time at the temple, it was to open at 9:30am and we were at its doors at 9:00am. So we ventured into a nearby park and loitered around, it was a nice sunny day so just kicked back for sometime. The temple when we entered was better than the one we visited in Edinburgh, given that that was a bit of a shabby affair. This one was well maintained and it had a pujari, but it sorely lacked the chanting of mantra's and the hustle bustle of our temples. It almost felt like being in a church with so much silence around.

We finished our darshan and were heading out when I noticed the temple shop where the small deities were being sold, it was closed but we still tried with the pujari and as lady luck was smiling on us we managed to secure a small one of Shirdi Sai Baba.

Next stop Kelvingrove, a museum, I wasn’t too excited to begin with cause although I like art I am not the sort of person who would enjoy a roomful of astounding paintings and patiently take time to examine each. I get restless. The museum however was a pleasant surprise, it was a lovely red palace and a very huge one at that which had sections devoted to different things, like stuffed animals, paintings, the culture and society of Scotland, the Asian equation here, Egyptian culture, history of different earth periods and of course a nice café to sit down and take a breath. :)

I especially loved the hanging iron masks depicting different human emotions and the display of stuffed animals. Although a bit cruel when you think about it, its been done well and the history and statistics of each animal well documented beside each and best of all an appeal to be environmental friendly so that these animals remain on earth and not be made extinct.

There was a transport museum which we wanted to visit later but it’s been closed for renovation and will open only next year so we then made our way to Indian food and had a sumptuous lunch. Well it resembles Indian it wasn’t the exact taste but then can’t quibble over that.

Next stop the science centre, this was let me tell you one of the most touted destination of Glasgow on the internet. Like all consumers we fell for the sales pitch and we went in. It was miserably disappointing, the science centre would have been great had we been 10 year olds but as adults it was a bit embarrassing to be there in the first place, so we made haste and went to the nearest underground station and caught the tube (train) to city centre. I had last been on the underground tube in 2006, so I felt quite nostalgic about the journey.

At city centre we finally decided to take a bit of a rest and have our aching feet put up, so we went into the food court of a shopping mall and plopped ourselves down for a good amount of time. Once refreshed we tackled the shopping streets of Glasgow, it was awesome, there were so many streets lined up with shops and more shops. No wonder people at Edinburgh said Glasgow was a shopping haven. The hustle bustle was nice, we hit a few stores, found some great deals and then soon enough it was time for the train. We managed to catch the 9pm train and headed back home. The two of us were limp from fatigue but happy with our day out.

Since Sunday was Shaiwal’s actual birthday and I had already gifted him with a collage poster and a shirt which he wore on Saturday; on his actual day I did a small treasure hunt of cards wherein each card I mentioned facts about me that he didn’t know. Made him a feast as Nitin and Gopi had suggested and after lunch he had the look of a well fed or should I say over fed cat.

And that my dears is how his birthday went. :)

Shaiwal Birthday Prequel

Well I did his birthday celebration kick off from Friday evening although his birthday was on Sunday. The reason being this year my nakshatra birthday came 2 days ahead of my birth date and he sort of grumbled over the fact that how malayalees make things complicated by having 2 birthdays and how he shouldn’t have to give me a card for both (which I made him do). So I thought it would be nice to reciprocate.

Anyways on Friday evening his gift had come and was waiting at the post office to be collected, the mail man had tried delivering it at home but since the packet was too big for our mailbox and since I was not at home at the time, it went back to the post office. So we went straight to the post office after his day of work and collected the packet. Totally bewildered he couldn’t make out what it was and he had no clue that it was for him.

I had ordered for a collage poster of photos of our parents, god, our relatives, friends and ourselves. Shaiwal had mentioned he would like something done on these lines when we finally move to a permanent home. I also had a selfish intent in that coz I myself wanted these photos in print and on display so that whenever I pass them by I could have a look and feel good.

We then went to the railway station to check our train timings, for we had booked tickets to Glasgow on Saturday. The icing on the cake, these tickets were cheaper than the single fare bus ticket from one bus stop to the next. However, at the railway station we found out that the reason the tickets were cheap were because they were for cross country trains and hence the train was to leave at 7:25 am and the return train would be at 9:05 pm. We weren’t sure then if we would have that much to do at Glasgow so we decided to meet our morning train on time and the evening train we would see to when the time came.

Waking up early in the morning to go to office is an ordeal but doing so for a trip is always something you look forward to. So as per schedule we boarded our train and started our day to Glasgow. The internet showed that Glasgow had loads to offer in terms of shopping but in terms of sights the list had more museums than anything else. We had planned our day with Hindu temple, Kelvingrove museum (which was a must see as per the net) and the Science centre. Also on the plan on special demand from the birthday boy was Indian food at a South Indian restaurant for dosa’s and idli’s.

That’s Part 1 of my story and the sequel shall be published tomorrow kind readers cause today I need to go shopping for formals as tomorrow is my FIRST DAY AT WORK!! :) Yes guys its finally dawned and i am as excited as a kid on the first day of school after summer vacations, a little anxious too with butterflies in my tummy. Wish me luck people.

Goof Up

I have loads to write about this weekend past and also how Shaiwal’s birthday celebrations went…and I was just going to do that yesterday when suddenly another one of my goof ups happened. I see myself as a mature adult unfortunately episodes keep happening in my life which tests this view of myself. One such episode was what happened yesterday.

Shaiwal had left for office, I had finished cleaning the house and got ready for my exercises. I closed the kitchen door for privacy since there is a window there and since the previous day I had gotten some ankle/wrist weights, I was decidedly more enthusiastic during my exercise session. I even used the kitchen door for support and did some lunges and stuff.

After a good workout and a clean bath, whistling I came along to the kitchen to start my breakfast to find out that the kitchen door was JAMMED!!! What the hell!!! How come?!! Well I did the banging bit on the door for close to fifteen minutes before I called SOS.

Mr. Shaiwal Mathur was amazed beyond belief and then in his best pity condescending voice said don’t worry I shall fix it when I get home. I didn’t exactly bang the phone down but I was close to it, ya right Mr.He-man how you gonna manage that? By then I had in the typical filmy style, cleared some space and ran to the door, launched myself onto it and then bounced back on the floor all dazed. SO I was guessing that opening this door wasn’t going to be an easy task at all!

GRUMPY with a capital G was what I then grew. Good food sitting inside my kitchen and I on the other side of the door hungry, miserable, shoulders hurting and pride wounded! Well after a lot of murmuring and frustration I finally trudged to the neared subway got two subs and returned. There was nothing I could do I knew that logically but I just couldn’t get out of my grumpy mood. So I did what was the best thing to do, I went to sleep hoping that when I woke up all this would be just a bad dream.

Nope didn’t work that way, evening turned up and so did Shaiwal. I just tried to break the door down he tried the wall too, not that it was to work. So after a lot of huffing puffing and shoulder banging he settled down and gave me an incredulous look saying, “how do you manage to do all this?” Yes as if its my hobby and this what I excel in. Come on come on I don’t need such statements I need a solution.

Well we were lucky to find a handyman who said he would come in then itself. He turned up, sliced the door handle, he managed to do a pretty neat job too. I was totally impressed by his tools and the fact that he didn’t enquire how this happened in the first place. In under 30 minutes he was on his way and we less cash rich by 40 pounds!

Well I must say Shaiwal was pretty decent about that, had the roles been reversed I would perhaps have not been so. Guess he is a better person….whatever!!

God, please I am already two episodes down since the time I came to UK, don’t need another one happening anytime soon. Help me out here will ya?

Nitin brother of mine, comment on this blog and I shall block you forever. Be warned!

Retail Therapy

I have been indulging in retail therapy these past few days. Before you guys do the “I Know it all nod,” let me tell you I haven’t been shopping for myself. I have been shopping for home and family, since my sister in law’s wedding will be before the year ends, there are a lot of stuff which I think is needed at home and for her. Stuff that would be useful to decorate our home in Pune, like table cloth, bathroom accessories, pillow covers, etc. I know we get all these things in India but then I feel so cut off staying out here that I guess this is my way of participating in our happiness.

I started off looking for bargains at this store called TK Maxx where you get branded items for reasonable rates, not cheap but reasonable. I soon found out that at TK Maxx you needed to have the knack to pull out the good things from a pile of rubbish. Since, I am no good at this I soon lost my patience, so I went back to the good stores. There is something so wonderful to be in big swank stores that makes you aspire to another lifestyle where diamonds worth is pennies to you. :)

Lovely part though is that there are deals going on in almost all the big stores one day or another so you just need to keep going and keep an eye out. I got some wonderful stuff, great quality, good prices for home. Boosted my shopping confidence and wounded Shaiwal’s wallet. :)

Now, to let you in on the confusion and frustration I am going through…its Shaiwal’s birthday this Sunday and I have absolutely no clue what to do. Aside from the fact that I have yet to start earning which means I am penniless there is no brainwave hitting me this time on, as to what I can do to make this day special for him. So every shop I go to I wander the men’s section and let me tell you its BORING!!! The colours are boring, the stuff is boring, even the way its displayed is boring. Guys, no offence meant its just that i am at my wits end and there isnt a solution in sight.

So after checking all the stores I found out that men’s section everywhere carries shirts, pants, socks, undergarments, sunglasses, ties, cufflinks, suits, scarves, hats, belts, jackets and wallets. And unfortunately Shaiwal isnt in need of any of these and even if he were i dont think any of these items would get a wide grin on his happiness as he unwraps it as his bday present.

I especially feel guilty because Shaiwal made my birthday this year very special by gifting me things which “I like.” Do any of you have any ideas??? I can do without the wise cracks please.

Rokka

It never fails to wonder strike me, the weather of Scotland. There we were on Saturday in 28 degrees of weather something which we are more used to as Indians and then suddenly on Sunday it drops to half, we are back to square one with 14 degrees!!!

Anyways weather is not what is important…NEWS is. My sister in law had her Rokka on Saturday. A Rokka I am told is a precursor to an engagement but not equal to an engagement , a function which states a formal understanding between two families that their children shall be wedded to each other in the near future. Well that very same function was done for Shaiwal’s sister. To say we were miserable here on that day would be an understatement, every minute of the day was spent wondering what was happening, how was it going and feeling bad that we weren’t there. Its hard enough being away from India on a normal day, during functions and festivals it gets really bad. :(

Well everything went well, families happy with each and a new relationship established. It felt good, especially for me since I was the only “in-law” among the four (Shaiwal, his parents and sister), now I have someone to give me company. :)

I spoke to the guy over phone. Suddenly I had become a Bhabhi, someone elder and I had to speak to someone in that capacity. It was a bit overwhelming for me. On my first call I was totally nervous till I realised so was the guy!!! :) 

Some people are very easy to speak to and well he, luckily for me is one of those people. I managed to have a decent conversation without committing any blunders and in fact managing a few laughs as well. Humour is always good in such situations it just makes you feel good.

Touchwood, I hope everything goes well and god gives his/her blessings to the couple.  When th D day arrives which should be before the year ends, i hope my little sister looks like the princess she is and enters into matrimony with all the best wishes and blessings possible. :)

Monopoly

I don’t remember exactly when I first started playing this game but I do remember that during my childhood maybe when I was in 2nd or 3rd my brother and I used to play this with my dad’s friend’s sons who were our age. I was more of a number counter than an actual player then. My brother and our friend who was closer to his age used to run the game and me and my friend who was my age used to be the dummy’s who would obediently roll the dice when asked to.

However, the following years we sort of caught on ourselves and started contributing more towards the game as a player. The concept of money and real estate never hit us then, it was just a bunch of cards, green colour and red colour houses and hotels and of course paper money.

I have always loved board games and I still continue to do so. I get ragged quite a lot for buying them even at this age and stuff but I know for a fact that the “raggers” themselves are secretly vying for an invitation to play these board games.

Well since Edinburgh, though a lovely city, does afford us huge amounts of free time during the weekends, I decided to get back my lovely board game. So last week we picked up one.

Yesterday night when our movie plans fell through we (Shaiwal, his friend and wife and I) all trooped back to my place and set up the game. We had already played it once before but then no clear winner had emerged, yesterday was massacre night however. Shaiwal played the game in its true spirit and bankrupt-ed each one of us. While the rest of us quite vociferously rued his luck he claimed it was pure “Strategy!” :)

What I love though in the game is what it teaches you. This time around I was observing the players and their decisions than the game itself. I am myself a quite cautious player I do not put my neck out on the line, however I do take calculated moves and try to silently figure out my strategy while others are busy. Shaiwal’s friend is a very shrewd player, he tries to act laidback carefree while furiously trying to make money behind the scenes and worst of all he hates to loose. His wife is “Bindaas” she just doesn’t care, she is happy with what comes in and goes about without any plans. Shaiwal strateg-izes yes, however he is willing to take risks without any safety nets.

As business persons, I guess I might do well with small time businesses with long term growth plans, Shaiwal’s friend perhaps would make a good business person with high BP and cholesterol issues, his wife might be better suited as the operational person than strategy and Shaiwal himself would make a good business person but perhaps if he were to be as ruthless in real life as in the board game he might make a good business person but he might turn out not to be the person whom I love. :)

Like I said Monopoly is an interesting game.

Family

The week has been good in terms of weather and I thought it would extend to the weekend as well, however that’s not to be. So all my planning of going to Stirling which is a 1 hour journey from here seems to be going down the drain.

Reminds me of when the rains used to begin in Kerala exactly on the day when the school reopens from summer vacation. As if the rain god had an inkling of school timings and was giggling over peppering us students with his rain. Always it would rain the two hours before school starts drenching us as we go in and then 2 hours after school so that you sort of get the feeling of being a blanket left on the clothes line but never getting a chance to dry out completely. :)

Today I am in a nostalgic mood, I miss India, I miss my childhood, I miss my school vacations, although god knows why on the last one coz I have been on a sort of extended vacation since last year June.

You know how before every foreign tour you make out a list of things you need to carry like your plugs, your toiletries, clothes, warm clothes, first aid, etc. Well I just discovered that although the PC’s and internet allows you the convenience of otherwise, one of the things that I should have packed was pictures of my family. I see them on Skype every other day but sometimes its just not enough. :(

So let me write a bit on them, shall I?

Half the time while I was growing up I used to be plotting an early demise for my elder brother Nitin. He used to be the bane of my life, the reason because of whom I would get beatings from my father, the guy who used to put a live frog in skirt pockets to see me jumping to the sky, the nasty fellow who used to irritate me, play pranks and generally make life miserable. I never expected him to turn out as good as he finally did. I guess that’s the case with every sibling.

Today however, my friends and other relatives who know Nitin refuse to believe when I tell them of the villain Nitin of my childhood. They simply shrug their shoulders and say, “Nitin, noooo, that cant be true!” Sometimes I look at them in amazement and think, “Helllooooo, it’s true, I was there you weren’t.” Needless to say these thoughts are never spoken aloud for the futility of it.

So somewhere along the irritating brother turned out to be a caring gentleman and I totally missed out on the transformation. Just that one fine day I realised that whenever I was in trouble or low, the first voice I needed to hear was his.

After my marriage he came and told me, “Now you have your own family, this is whom you need to turn to and they will be there for you.” I think he meant to shoo me away for the nuisance that I am however I still cling with the tenacity of an albatross. :)

New relations are never replacements for older ones are they?

At loss

I am truly at loss. I have been asked many a times to play Raju the tourist guide especially in madras for my friends and sometimes their parents. I generally take pride in being able to make sight seeing trips pleasurable and not too over exerting bearing in mind various illnesses or plain old age. However, my current set of clientele is totally different! They are just not interested in sights!!!

Nonsense you say. Well let me tell you neither the castle nor the museums and not even the parliament has any sort of pull for them. Now what do I do?!!! :(

They like shopping and spent the entire day hitting retail parks yesterday, since I was invited to take part in this mega shopping exercise I tagged along too. Totally at loss as to what to say or how to respond I felt gauche. For me shopping is primarily utility oriented, clothes gone old refill them, bed-sheets gotten stained replace them, groceries and household items. Yes I do indulge in paintings and sometimes showcase items but these are not done at the scale which I witnessed yesterday.

Consequently I am not a discerning shopper, I buy what catches my eye and not necessarily what is in fashion or is of the best quality. So when uncle and aunty popped some item in front of my eyes now and then and asked me, “So, what do you think?” I was at loss for words and was often enough responding with a neither here nor there answer – “Interesting!” followed with a nod of my head.

Every shop in the retail park was entered into and every article examined, I counted to 100 forwards first and then backwards and still had 4 hours time left on my hands!

I am mortified to say that when the shopping party decided to move on to the next retail park I slinked my way out of the trip and ran back home. Of course the excuse I used was that Shaiwal would be coming home soon and he starts beating me if I don’t have any snacks ready to eat at the time. At last benefits of matrimony. :)

Foot Falling

Shaiwal’s friend from engineering and his wife are here and also happen to be our company during weekends and stuff. This week the friend’s parents made an entry and it’s always nice to have parents around, whosever’s they are. I enjoy talking to elders, trying to tap into their pearls of wisdom and never ending list of useful tips on different areas of life. Somehow when the voice experience says something you tend to sit up and listen, right?

Well of course I was called upon to volunteer my tourist guide skills and I was happy to do so. A nice walk around the place, quietly pointing out different places and providing a few anecdotes and a bit of history and I was content with my good deed for the day. Parents however are parents and they have the ultimate urge to repay good deeds with treats and mostly treats include food. So Shaiwal and I were invited to dinner.

Well being a south Indian I am not so into the foot falling culture as the north Indians seem to be. I normally touch my elders feet when I am to go on a trip or before exams or generally when there is something auspicious happening. Now elders for me are my parents, brother and my grandmother. The north Indians however fall at feet as part of their greeting custom and farewell custom. So whenever I visit Shaiwal’s uncle, elder cousin, aunts, etc I touch their feet as soon as I see them and then again when I say bye.

I had that down pat so I am now quite comfortable with the relatives section of the foot falling custom, now what about others?!! So I checked with my reference point – Mr. Shaiwal Mathur. I asked him should I be touching your friend’s parent’s feet, how does it work? The exact response I got was – “Paagal ho kya, sab ki payr thodi choona hai” Fair enough! So I refrained from doing so when I met them for the first time even though common sense said something is not sitting right. Come evening Shaiwal and I go to meet them and this is Shaiwal’s first meeting with them and as soon as we enter the apartment he does a nose dive and goes for the feet! The parents are pleased and look at me with slight rebuke.

DUUUUDDDDDEEEE!!! What was that all about? So here I am the ill-mannered but to be forgiven ignorant poor south Indian gal and there was my husband the cultured oh so well mannered fellow! I could have clobbered him on the head!! :(

Gladstone's Land

We stumbled on to a real find this weekend, I guess Shaiwal and I have been complacent in our tourist activities since the false pride of having seen everything was slowly creeping into us. In Royal Mile which is the most popular tourist destination, we found a place called the Gladstone’s land. Tucked in between many a tourist gift shop it was easy to overlook.

Gladstone’s land is a five storeyed building of which the first two have been retained as a 17th century and 18th century furnished apartment model open to tourists. The other storey’s have been retained as apartments which are even today let out to tourists by the trust. The basement used to be a pub which is now a volunteer resting room.

It was originally owned by a person called Thomas Gladstone, hence the name. It is a typical example of how people used to live 400 years ago, how their homes were, what used to be their past time and how they would have lived on a daily basis. What is most enjoyable however, are the volunteers of the National Trust of Scotland under which the property is. The volunteers have immense pride in their work and it just shows. They tirelessly and enthusiastically repeat anecdotes on the rooms, previous owners and history.

There was a 1500’s map of Edinburgh city as it was then, while Shaiwal and I studied it, the volunteer, an elderly lady, mentioned how in those days Royal mile was considered a posh area but then over times the neighbourhood changed and later on it was considered a slum tenement but now again times have changed and Royal Mile is once again a posh locality. “Life goes through a full circle,” she said at the end with a wealth of experience backed in that voice so from her mouth it sounded absolutely right.

The furniture shown there was something i really appreciated, there was beauty, use and imagination in every piece. Remember our old sewing machines which was part of a table and you had to peddle to get it going. Remember how after using the sewing machine you could tilt it into the table so that you could then use the flat surface. A simple thing really but what a thorough use it gave, well i saw many such articles here including a dining table which would fold and could be used as a stand instead.

There are 6 rooms open for public display and in each room; room cards are available in different languages explaining the history and use of each article within the room and the room itself. A step back into time, that’s how it felt and mind you I gave a silent prayer of thanks that I was now in a time with so many comforts, yes but more than that in a time with not as much discrimination or slavery or brutal society accepted torture as in those days.

There was a room depicting how a typical tailor’s room then used to be and there was on the room card there given an explanation of how if a tailor were caught trying to steal cloth or make more money by taking measurements which were inaccurate then the tailor’s ear was taken off in public as a punishment!! By the way in those days the measurement was taken using a wooden rod which is shown on the table in the picture.

The servant quarters was just a portion of the kitchen wall from which you could pull down a bed to sleep on. Plague was ever imminent and so the kitchen and food seemed to be infested with mice in those days. Chamber pots were used for a person to unload their body waste and the chamber pot was kept till the evening and then cleaned out. Many a time the people just opened their windows and threw the contents of the chamber pot right on to the streets. As a result in those days, fashion was that, ladies used to have a protective layer sewed on at the end of their gowns so that the cloth wouldn’t be dirtied while they walked the streets. Yuck!

Well all in all it was a lovely place to visit and nice slice of history to see.