My favorite memories of childhood are of Saturdays, when dad would drop me off at B.C. Roy Children’s Library on his way to work . I would be in Readers’ Heaven for the next few hours. He always had to pry me from the shelves of wonderful books during lunch time, and my only consolation for losing half an hour to lunch was the cold coffee with ice cream I always demanded from the nearby Udupi Café. I would rush back to my books soon after and would not budge even when the pretending-to-be-angry watchman jangled the library keys persistently, at closing time.
Since the library is for children only, I sought haven at the college libraries once I turned 18. A librarian once swore in front of theprofessors that I had probably read all the books under the ‘Fiction’ category but had not touched a single course reference book in the library! The best compliment she ever paid me, I believe.
Gurgaon, unfortunately does not boast of good libraries. SMM did introduce me to the lending library in Supermart, but it did not stock the books I wanted, and it has no place to sit and read! There is Landmark of course. which furnishes our home with books but minifies our bank balances considerably.
So yesterday when I remembered a post by ~nm about BookMeABook.com, I jumped with joy. And I went there as fast as my clicks could carry me! Subscribed and browsed through the categories. Picking and choosing. Tagging books I wanted to read and creating a list of books they could send me.
And was I surprised when the delivery-man handed me the red bag full of books today. Delivery in 24 hours! I am hooked.
So if you’re fond of reading and you’re in NCR, check out BookMeABook.com. And read ~nm’s post for more details. Me? I’ve got some voracious reading to do.
*Title is the name of the Online Books Library in Delhi, Book Me A Book
Er..Again
This time I’m traveling. We’re spending a week with my in laws in Ranchi. First Sankranti et al. You see, we still are a ‘newly wed’ couple for the next 3-4 months, and festivals and occasions are still celebrated ultra grandly.
Be back next week. Don’t let my Google Reader cross 500 this time! So read books, hang out with family, call that long-lost friend for tea and most importantly…STAY AWAY FROM THE INTERNET
Yes, I’m selfish that way.
Meanwhile a couple of activities for you to check out:
Mindful Meandering is hosting the Artsy-Craftsy Challenge. Here are the details.
Artsy-Craftsy-Challenge
Then 4 wonderful bloggers, Titaxy, Nu, BlueMist and Psych Babbler have started a new blog…which is all about books. Lovely! Check it out at Bond With Books
Have fun. And remember the part about the 500 posts on Google Reader.
The alarm rings at 8:00am . After an incessant cacophony, a slender hand darts out of the quilt and sets it to ‘Snooze’. By the swiftness of the hand, one can make out that the individual is an expert. Expert in setting and resetting alarms.
There is silence for about 10 minutes.
And then it goes off again.
And the practiced hand shoots out again.
And again.
And again.
And then the door bell rings.
Once
Twice
CLAMOR!
The quilt shifts a bit and a disheveled lady scrambles to open the door before the whole city assembles.
“ Madam aapki bike neeche khadi hai kya?”, squeaks a guard.
The lady rubs her eyes trying to think where they had parked the bike
Umm
Umm
Umm
And then she remembers.
“Huh. Bhaiya hamaare paas toh bike hai hi nahi!!”
And as she plods back to bed, muttering about mis-informed guards and disturbed sleep, the alarm goes off again.
She sighs, switches it off and glances at the time.
8:30.
“I’l lie down for 3 minutes and then start getting ready”, she mumbles as she slips back into the quilt.
The door bell rings again. She sits up with a start, knowing something is wrong.
“9:00 am???? But I was to sleep for 3 minutes only. Sheesh Sheesh Sheesh! Not again! And where is the maid. She was supposed to come wake me up at 8:15. Goodness! How can I be so stupid. Now I’l never reach office on time. And oh who is this idiot ringing the bell when I’m getting late!! Oh oh oh”
This is when you realize that she is not alone in the room. The other side of the quilt moves and a face, which was inside the quilt all the time peeps out.
“Babes. Relax. Come here. Sleep for another minute”
“It’s 9:05! Wake up or we’l never make it to office”
“Oh no. I have a meeting at 9:45. I need to reach early today. We have to start by 9:15”
“9:15!!! We’l never get ready by then. It’s all your fault.”
“My fault?? How is it my …“
This time the quilt is pushed away and the two of them scamper around, trying to get ready
The door bell rings with fury by now.
“Madam?? Sir?? Gas cylinder le lo”
Cylinder taken, clothes thrown around, bed unmade, breakfast & lunch missing and 25 minutes later, the two of them rush out of the house.
“I hope I get parking”
“I hope I make it to the meeting”
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is how a normal day starts at our house. How do you begin your day?
Step 1: Log into WordPress and write an apology note for absconding. Copy portions Take inspiration from latest novels read.
Step 2: Open Google Reader to copy names of all bloggers you read, thanking them for taking your unread posts count to over 500 in 2 weeks.
Step 3: Realize that you follow TOO many blogs. Copy pasting is a tedious task. Get husband to mix you a Corona with Lime to keep you company.
Step 4: Scratch head and re read steps 1-3. Realise that Corona is almost over and request husband for a refill.
Step 5: Think of excuses for being missing from Blogland. When you run out of ideas, call the husband and ask him why he hasn’t cleaned the house like he promised. Jot down all the excuses he lists out. Disguise your glee at getting a long list and yell a bit and ask him to refill the drink and get some masala cashews too.
Step 6: Google for cute images of “Dear Hugs” to attach with post and wonder why the search shows pages and pages of “Beer Mugs”. Admit its all very symbolic and tiptoe to fridge to get another refill.
Step 7: Fon’t Dorget to pave the sost and wonder why sou yee two ‘Save’ options. Blink and click Pelete instead of Dublish, or something like that!.
Step 8: Stare at blank screen and wonder you were up to in the first place. Glance at Corona and remember you were toasting with the hubsand .
Step 9: What?
Yello?
Ouch! Stop it. Don’t hit me please. I have plenty of reasons for being absent without notice. I will write down all those reasons for you to read. And sympathize. Yeah yeah, and laugh at my fate too. But please put those chappals and tomatoes away.
Reason No. 1: Work was hectic. Very. And bad. Very very. Things haven’t really improved but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So trudging on!
Reason No. 2: Have been away. Spent a lot of time at my parents’ place. Ah! Mom’s food, sleep ins, pampering, masti, right. WRONG! Mom was away and I had one husband, one brother in law, and one favorite nephew to manage. Sometimes I forget who the kid is, favorite nephew or husband! Have realized that I am not parent-material. Not yet.
Reason No. 3: Now hold on to your chairs…this is the dramatic one!
I have been sick. Yet again. And this time, you won’t believe me , dear friends, but I had to be tested for H1N1. Yes, THE H1N1.
The favorite nephew was tested for it. And I was asked to test for it too, him being the favorite et al! We share things that way! Did I tell you he still wears my t-shirts and sweatshirts? I tell people that the 10 year old and I have the same waist size! Ha! Anyways, favorite nephew is now better, but his lil sister is not. And his maasi is well, better now. Still coughing like great-grandmother’s spirits possessed her, and then left, forgetting her chronic cough behind. That bad.
So there, three solid reasons for the blog having grown a potbelly and whiskers. I have about 281 unread messages on Gmail and over 400 posts on Reader. How come all of you write when I am on a break.? And when I am on a writing spree, you all go on a vacation? Pshaw!
Anyhoo, I’m back. And thanks for all the lovely messages and mails and smses and calls. I’m tickled. Now do leave a few sympathetic comments. You know…Swine flu scare and all.
Cough cough cough cough cough!
TS: (Struttingly) I think I should grow a beard.
Meira: (nonchalantly) I think I should get a haircut
TS: (Startled) But its been a while since I grew one
Meira: (Cheekily) And its been a while since I’ve tried a Blunt Cut.
TS: (What could have made it to a TS-ism) But YOU have told me endless times that you like my beard, I have NEVER said I like short hair on you.
Meira: (What made the would-be TS-ism a Meira-ism) Of course I said that then. Wwe were dating then. We are MARRIED now.
Game, set and match to la femme Meira.
News is full of stories that the economy is climbing out of the dungeons of Recession.
I’m sure of it, because I’ve got proof that companies are no longer harping about Cost Cutting
For I was asked to fax a document to a client.
Then for good measure asked to courier it to him.
And to show that we are really concerned about them, scan the document and email it to him.
Followed by 3 phone calls to confirm that he had received the fax, the courier and the email.
Cost Cutting? Ho hum!
Now if only the coffee machine would stop spewing the mud it calls coffee and get back to giving us multiple flavors of coffee, tea and soup, I’d request the Government to declare that day as a national holiday for Recession Day!
Edited: I seem to love writing on this! Dug up another one on Cost Cutting: here
I’v been sick.
And depressed.
And depressed by the sickness.
And sick of being depressed.
And at home for the last 4 days. 4 days while the sickness and depression cycle drove everyone else nuts. The husband learnt a new thing . That he might have been fraudulently married off to a 4 year old ankle-biter instead of whom he’d thought to be his smart and sexy wife.
So what actually happened? I caught the Viral flu. Bugging combination of cold, fever and cough. With each trying to outdo the other. So while the fever threatened to explode the mercury right out from the thermometer, the cold decided that the mouth could do the nose’s job of breathing and was thus to be rendered useless, and the cough held the throat to ransom. The husband was rather happy for a bit that I remained unequipped to talk, but later discovered that making me talk and calling me ‘Minnie Mouse’ gave him more pleasure. This was when he realized that a sick wife is never to be messed with. He’s doing the dishes for a year now.
I’ve also come to the conclusion that my career is stuck in a deep swamp. The least said the better there. But depression is what I went into. Avoided people, except for the husband who is now applying for a refresher course in Sanity to make up for the mind he’s now lost. But who has also sweetly assured me that he would be fine if I decide to sit home and cook for him. Cook for him. See. I told him that. Now you know HOW depressed I was!
Never mind. I’m back now. The battle against fever was won by the large, frightening tablets of Crocin. Cold and Cough are still rampant, but this is because the beer-loving immune system complains about the piddly-rationed doses of Benedryl.
I’m trying Brandy tonight. In large doses. That should combat Depression as well!
* AKA: TS-ism # 84625
What do you say to a child boy man who buys a different brand of toothpaste only because it offers a ‘school set”…
…and then whines and throws it away like a man boy child because the sharpner turns out to be a flop?
How many times in a day do we google for Movie Reviews or Cricket updates? 5? 10? Perhaps 100 too some days.
But have you ever, ever googled Domestic Violence? Ever noticed the number of women who are insulted, slapped, kicked, or burnt every day in India? Have you ever wondered why the maid turned up one day with a swollen eye and pain in her arm? Why the nasty neighbor’s wife never comes out of the house?
Have you?
What would you do if you hear a cry of distress from behind closed doors? What if you become a victim of domestic violence? What would you do? Bear the hurt and pain in silence? Or challenge the violence and teach the brute a lesson?
Read IHM, Pixie and Swaram. These bloggers (and others whose links are in their posts ) have answered these questions far better than I could even try to.
October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Help people from being victimized. Help spread awareness. Stop being victims. Stop encouraging victimizers. As someone at IHM’s blog commented,
” THE FIRST TIME YOU ARE A VICTIM, AFTER THAT YOU ARE A VOLUNTEER”
And yes, when you hear a cry of distress from behind closed doors, go ahead and knock.
Bell Bajao.
Edited to add: Some more equally relevant posts:
Solilo/ No Gender Equality
