Hyperbole

 "The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." Last night while dropping Indira mausi to her home, she was reminiscing about her youngest sister who died of breast cancer in her early 20s. This was around 5 decades ago. Vijay mausa was posted in Jammu then. She said that she never dreams, but the night Tunnu mausi passed away she got up with a start when she saw a sheet covered body lying on the floor in her dream. The next morning mausi got a call from Lucknow about the death of her sister the previous night. Till the time she hadn't seen Tunnu mausi in her dream she wasn't even aware that in Hindus they keep the dead on the floor, she said. My aunt had been sent back from Bombay to Lucknow after the doctors realised that the cancer had spread. Every 15 days she used to get medicines for her cancer from Tata Memorial Hospital. The time when she passed away the postal department had gone on strike and the medicines weren't delivered. There used ...

Last night I was in the house of my birth. My maternal grandparents home in Lucknow. It has been sold and demolished now and a new house had come in its place which also has been demolished. Something new might be coming up there. In my dream the original house had been reconstructed in just as it was all those years back. My grandparents were not there but the house more or less stood as it had then. The walls now were cream instead of white. The few changes that I noticed were that there was a wall between the drawing   and dining room now with a door leading to it, the window facing the school in the last bedroom was not there and there was a passage from the gallery to my Nani's prayer room next to the front bedroom. There was a lush green grass on the front and the side of the house. Some doctor was planning to buy it for 21 or 22 crores and turn it into a nursing home in my dream and I was wondering if I could occupy it and prevent the sale. Kirti was there and sh...

I met a young girl, standing at the McDs takeaway selling bubble maker. Started chatting with her after buying a bubble maker while waiting for our order. She must have been around 6-7 years old but was not sure and said that she was 4. Very sharp and lively with bright eyes and beautiful teeth. I asked her about studies (she didn't), timings (9 to 1), family (her mom and sister also did the same thing and father was a bus driver, or so she said), residence (near Amity university) and how much she earns in a day (she had 5 bubble makers and had sold 2, in which she reminded that one was bought by me!). What charmed me was not the conversation, which the way I have put it, sounds pretty mundane, but her spunk and joie-de-vivre were a sight to behold ! I even went to the extent of asking Jai, my son, if we could adopt her :) I regretted not ordering anything for her from the counter so gave her our pack of French fries when they were delivered at the take out. She looked at them...

The perfect journey jumped out of story books and became a real thing on 25th of February of the year Two thousand and nineteen, in other words this Monday. The cab was available at 4:45 a.m. The driver was just adjacent and knew exactly where to come. He got there at the boarding point before I could get there. He didn't speak a word. We got to the terminal well in time. I got the shortest line entering the T1 airport terminal at Delhi. The luggage drop queue was short and fast I had my boarding card and the luggage checked in within blink of an eye. Got the shortest queue of a couple of people, while the other queue appeared a mile long at the security check. Just breezed in for frisking For once my baggage wasn't opened up and enquired about at the x-ray. Got a surprise 25% discount for the take away at Starbucks! Boarding had started by the time I reached down. Was the last passenger on the bus to.the aircraft and it moved just as I got in. Was the first to b...

The title may sound similar to good hair day but the similarity ends there. Eggs constitute a major part of my breakfast and they invariably a part in some form.  I follow the same routine to make them but the results can vary according to conditions still unknown to me. Some days they turn out picture perfect and then there are days like today. I made 3 today. All the 3 different and all the 3 screwed up. First one was for Alex which was both over and under cooked at the same time. Then it was for Jai which stuck to the pan despite my taking all precautions. The omelette was supposed to be fluffy but it ended up being a crossover between an omelette and a scrambled. I was last on the list and I fell back upon my "could-not-go-wrong" recipe of single half fry. It bombed. The egg stuck to the pan, the yolk was running all over the plate - different egg, different style, different pan.  Same result.  It was just not my day.

3 things defined yesterday i.e. 19th of February 2019, a Tuesday. Raman's B'day. All the three traveling from the past to the present. First was the thing about the fish. I was gifted an aquarium around 7-8 years back by Bro Joshi. It was a rather small one but as I was new to hobby it sufficed. I experimented with a lot of fish, starting from the ubiquitous gold fish and finally ended with tinfoil which are a very hardy.and dependable variety of carp. I have had carp now for over 6 years now. Yesterday the last of my first lot of tinfoil was all groggy and *grey*. It was swimming upside down in the morning and scaring the hell out of other fish plus looking super creepy. I tried to revive it by putting the antimicrobial medicine in the tank in the morning and left things to fate. Second was the thing about the car. I took the old nano after quite a while to college. There was a slight drizzle just before college and as always I was just running on time. I was a bit fast whe...

The sky smoke grey The leaves sad and stale The air putrid with a tinge of smog The thin veneer of dust everywhere And then it happens... The light drizzle The night drizzle The much awaited rain And the world changes... The morning so fresh The roads so wet The trees so bright The Earth smiles yet again!