Ra Ra 10...

My sunflowers Ria and Jia

Nope ive not seen Ra.One.  But i liked the expression when Ri shouted hey Ra Ra.10! Reminding me at once of Ra Ra Rasputin and Sharukh's latest international sci-fi RaOne.  Now that's not a bad exclamation at all! I must say quite creative!

Ri turned 10 on March 10. I had promised her many things to her choice once she crossed that milestone. For instance frying eggs on the stove, making tea and coffee and so forth... Of course she had the freedom to assist me in the processes involved in these great activities all along. But only in mixing the ingredients or fetching spoons and cups.

Freedom to cook on the fire blazing underneath requires quite a sense of responsibility, as my Amma says. And I guess I had to prepare Ria for that before I actually let her light the stove and actually cook. (Amma, I love you for those beautiful lessons.) I remember rolling the laddoos while she dipped them in the bubbling oil in the huge frying bowl! Mouth watering memories...

Ria is yet to make her official omellete all by herself... Right from buying the eggs and vegetables, tendering the right change at the grocers, bringing home the eggs without breaking them, placing the eggs and vegetables in their respective trays in the refrigerator, planning for the meal, cracking the eggs, slicing in the chillies and tomatoes, lighting the stove and frying it on the pan in butter or ghee (a choice she has to make), toppling it without breaking it, sprinkling corriander leaves on it, rolling it into a fine roll and placing it in the plate with the same spatula, slicing it into neat mouthable pieces and finally the salt and pepper! (Wish we had hens at home to train her how to fetch the eggs every morning like how we did in our village)

Now do we really have to do all this for an omellete? Well how else can one explain the essence of enjoying what we do? How else does one explain the beauty of the food that warms our appetite? And we women develop our multi-tasking skills basically from the kitchen. From the fire that we light each morning for the day's meal to the dishes we wash, wipe and set aside, there are ever so many opportunities to write pages on the health, safety and environmental concerns plus the organising skills that we should be aware of... Phew... im on fire!

And you know what Ri loves? One touch cooking... Microwaves! Not surprising at all given the fact that I do only half the kind of cooking my mother used to!

Ra Ra 10.... Many happy returns to my Ria and let me grab some for myself too for the exciting ten years of motherhood! I loved every day of it. Only wish time went a wee bit slower....

Striking a chord with Meera...

Life is a pack of choices. Straight choices that we make each day. No doubt. And I totally agree with Meera.

KR Meera all of five feet or a little more I guess. Warm and bubbly with a fabulous flow of thoughts in her avalanche of well chosen words. It was one nice opportunity meeting her on a day like International Women's Day. Being a member of the Women in Public Sector, a national forum, I cherish the privilege of having spending an hour and half with Meera. We had invited her to address the women of Kochi Refinery as part of the Women's Day centenary celebrations.

I was looking forward to meeting a flamboyant soul. Instead I found one, all of simplicity and poise. With credentials like the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award, Ankanam Award, Lalithambika Antharjanam Award and Chovvara Parameshwaran Award that came to her in quick succession, she seemed happy with the responsibility she had chosen, of writing. Not for the tinkle of the awards, but for the fulfilment of her desire. To write, to crystalise thoughts, to be read, to be able to serve unconditionally, to be a change leader, to evolve, to shout, bleed, laugh and cry through her pages.

Nothing much to hype about her style or delivery as a speaker. The description stands complete in two words Simple and Clear. Very straightforward views driven by a balanced notion of the sexes. While telling us the story of how she transformed into a writer, overnight, how she chose to quit her challenging profession as a journalist, she was actually opening out a list of choices we could make to define the success that we would like to be.

 

"We may be rich or poor, content or discontent. We may have a peaceful life or not so peaceful one. The point is when and how do we make way for ourselves in the peaceful rhythm of domestic bliss that we strive to achieve each day," Meera shared in her beautiful Malayalam.

 

"And at the end of time, when all is done and life has ripened around us and we wait to be a part of oblivion, what exactly would we have wanted to do? What is it that we want to own, achieve or leave behind? " Meera defines personal success as the answers to these questions.

"Life is neither a battle of the sexes nor can they be termed as compromises," she says. "Its a miracle when we make the right choices and stand up for it. Not as a lone crusader, but as a compelling part of a wholesome family." The challenge therefore is in carving out your own personal space with dignity and fortitude.

And does that call for total sacrifice for the husband and the children? Is it give all and take less?  Is it just prioritising top down, with our needs somwhere at the bottom of the list? Does it call for a blind eye at the unfathomable pressures as claimed by new-gen youngsters? Yes or No, what are the consequences? Can social networking serve as virtual stress busters just as real friendship-circles do? ....

Probing further into the bitter truths of abuse and torture unto women from the neo-natal stage to post retirement, Meera raises few very logical questions... Isn't it time we appreciated that marriage is more about finding a partner that suits our heart than our wallet ? Isn't it time we also protected our sons just as we protect our daughters with sensible lessons of self-discipline? Isn't it time enough we gave a facelift to the Malayalee psyche? Isn't it about time we really worried about Life, love and sex, and whether our children are losing out on the beautiful connect among these three?....

 

Million dollar questions from a million dollar writer. I am yet to read her collection of short stories Ave Maria. I would love to do that very soon. For some reason I know I will strike a chord with this sensible thinker....

Bookworm and kids...



Sony, Ri and Ji at DC Books, Abad Nucleus on a beautiful Sunday in January 2011.

Sony, my dearest, loves his books more than me.... Grrrr.... After Nescafe with lots of sugar and no milk, rice and sambhar; omelette and pazhampori, the next best thing he lives for is his books... I guess I should list them in the reverse order of importance.

His library is the sanctum sanctorum in our house. Not that we cannot enter without cleansing ourselves (though having clean hands is a must to qualify to touch any of his books), somehow his books just can’t lie!

Yup, they betray our every attempt to flick a book or two. Call it the seventh sense, he knows exactly what was where; and Ri and I try and wipe off every trace of doubt that we were there. It’s not that we fear treading into his domain; it’s just that we can’t figure out how he can sense we did. I wish he could sense the same with his personal accessories!

I envy the sparkle of his shelves, the neat rows of books all wrapped in the same kind of paper. None of them named, but he knows exactly what books they are. It has intrigued me how he does it. How he codes and decodes it. Probably it sinks into the psyche when one is so passionate about teaching. He says I can bequeath my gold to my girls and he will bequeath his treasure to his princesses... Hmm... wonder which weighs more!

On our recent visit to Abad Nucleus, a new mall that’s quite the talk of the town, he waited patiently while I surfed through the neatly folded kurtas at my favourite designer outlet, FabIndia. An hour to us, Ria and I were mighty pleased. I picked my favourite colours and tried them on comfortably with Ri and Ji shooting comments in the three-side mirrored trial room. Ji was interested in her reflection, not one or two, but six at once. Funny faces and loud laughter filled the tiny cubicle and Ria had to control ji and be the clothes stand at the same time... Quite a responsibility indeed!

Once we were out, we hit straight for DC books. A splendid outlet indeed after the spacious one DC has near Ernakulam YMCA. I thought I would have my train of followers as I did at FabIndia. But lady luck was with Sony. Ria and Jia were as serious as grown-ups searching for books. They followed him first to the kids counter and then his zone. It was pin drop silence and mind you no one asked for it. A bored me, I was left with just myself and my cell-phone. And yes, i did what i always love to do if im not shopping.... click click click! At-least I could get my book-worm and kids in the same frame.

Touchwood! They sure look as colourful as the bright books on the never ending rows of books. Honestly, I never knew book shops are meant for bonding. Now I do!