Truck loads of sand has come in ! :)

Parenting I guess is the best part of anyone's life. Bringing up a child, answering its umpteen questions and satisfying its undying curiosity I am sure is a beautiful phase and blessing in any adult's life. I have a four year old nephew, who thankfully stays very near to my house - giving me the liberty to go and visit him as and when I want to. The day I do meet him, my mind is full of all the funny expressions, antics and questions that the boy would have put in front of us. Bliss ! :)

Coming back to my own childhood, if there is any part of my life that I have completely and thoroughly enjoyed - any part that I would like to relieve - and do so without a second thought - it would have to be my childhood. I guess I have enjoyed every second of being a child - the love, the fights, the reprimands, the friendships, the playing, the studying, the mischief - everything! EVERYTHING!

As a child the only aim I had in life was to make friends and play. Ok! Studies were important too..! But play was much more critical :P And then to go with it - I had a dozens of like minded cousin brothers and sisters and uncles and aunties who would go the extra mile to ensure that we were always having fun.

I guess the role of fun minded adults, parents and family is critical in the growth of a child. The willingness and encouragement to let a child experiment with anything and everything and being there to support the child when the child has had a bad experience is instrumental. I was allowed to climb trees, fall, play in sand and mud- my hair was always unruffled and dresses always a mess! When I was around 5-6 years old we lived in an apartment in Mumbai. And very close by there was a new building that was under construction!

Do you know what that means to a child? :) Shiny, glazy, colorful and beautifully patterned, broken pieces of bathroom tiles to collect and play with - red shiny bricks to construct play houses - and loads and loads of sand and mud to dig and make caves! One night as I stood in the dark, on the balcony of my third floor house, I saw two trucks with loads of sand and bricks coming in. Hmm! interesting! I thought with a smile.

Early Morning the next day, to my pleasant surprise I had a friend, around 3 years older, who had come to spend time with me the whole day. After the initial pleasantries, I called her to play! I still remember - as soon as she said yes to play - I could not contain myself any longer- I told her with a big smile on my face and with my eager eyes full of childish excitement- Great! There is a truck load of sand that has come the previous night - we could go and get ourselves submerged in the sand ! I was all excited when I said that and once I had finished I realized there was absolute silence on the other side. The girl had not responded. When I turned back to look at her - I still remember the look of stupefied shock on her face. The girl’s mouth was now open in astonishment and with big round eyes on her face – she almost seemed to say "Have you gone out of your mind ! ", "How disgusting!".

Uh !

My smile vanished and there was only cautious bewilderment written all over my face now. A little embarrassed I shut up and played with “safe toys” like dolls with her for the rest of the day.

Secretly I was thinking -What a waste ! :)

The next day, I went and played on sand to my heart's content ! :)

When my nephew was born, one thing I kept threatening my sister in law is that I was waiting for my nephew to grow up so that he could experience the bliss of being friends with sand and mud. ( I am not mentioning my sister in law’s reaction to that :) ). And now that I am waiting for my own little one – I definitely know what playthings would my kid would itch to set its hands on ! :)

Waiting for you - little one ! :)

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Anuranan

Ok.. This one deserved a review much earlier. I had watched the movie about 6 months back - wonder why I did not think of a review then.

I dont know what is it about the movies that Rahul Bose selects, that makes me want to watch them even though I wouldnt know anything about the movie when I start watching it. As usual, it was the bengali setting, the character portrayed Rahul bose and Rituparna Sengupta ( who are husband and wife in the movie ) , that made me and my husband sit through the movie.

The movie starts by showing the deep connect between the husband and wife. Their bonding is beautiful and their wavelength just perfect. They compliment each other and are each other's strength and inspiration. Look out for the instance when Rahul Bose supports his wife as she goes through a period of being unable to conceive.

And at that point, they get introduced to another couple portrayed by Raima Sen and Rajat Gupta. The two couples couldnt be more different. Five minutes into the movie, and you realize that this couple has not yet bonded on an emotional level. The difference in bonding between the two couples is very evident to Raima who goes on to envy and admire the Rahul – Rituparna relation. Raima portrays a sensitive, open individual who bonds with Rituparna enough to tell her about what she envies about Rituparna's marriage.

Since the couple are friends, the four individuals meet on various occasions and the movie goes on to show how Raima Sen and Rahul bose connect. They develop relation that is pure and based on a strong sense of respect and perhaps idolizing on Raima Sen’s side.

In the last part of the movie, Raima Sen goes on a vacation alone to the same place where Rahul is on work. Unfortunately, Rahul Bose dies at this hillstation( I think of a heart attack ). Since Raima Sen also lives in the hotel she is subjected to suspicion by the general public about the relationship Raima and Rahul share. At a time when Raima needs her husband’s support the most, Rajat also distrusts his wife and dumps her completely.

It needs someone who is much deeper and stronger and someone who completely trusts her marriage and her husband, like Rituparna Ghosh to absolve Raima Sen of any guilt she would be harboring. Rituparna Ghosh sets Raima Sen completely free.

The movie is directed by a new director named Aniruddh Roy Chowdary and must say he has done a pretty good job. Anuranan means resonance in Bengali and I guess the director tries to show the resonance of relationships between the four individuals. This movie is originally released in Bengali and it also has a hindi dubbed version.

Watch this movie for the mature portrayal of trust, bonding and respect between non-related individuals. Watch this movie for the simplicity, with which the actors have portrayed the delicate interplay of relations. The story of this movie is very deep and it comes out simply and beautifully just because of the way it has been handled by the director and the actors.

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On a Sunday Morning...

Recently I was going through my very old posts( the ones written in 2007 ) again, and reworked on some of the really nice ones. I thought it good to re-share a few of them. My sincere apologies to those of you who remember the post shared here...

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It was a pleasant Sunday morning and everyone at the house was lazing around, when we (me, my Mother in law and a cousin sister) decided to go to the nearby market to have a good time doing shopping. After getting dressed, we all rushed to Jayanagar shopping complex nearby.
It was early winter – the air was chill and pleasant and you could hear a few birds chirping. The shops had just opened up and everyone seemed to be in a Sunday morning pleasant mood. We went roaming around doing a lot of window shopping and gazing through the shops.

As we were rambling around lazily, we noticed a neatly dressed old lady selling trinkets, bangles and cheap imitation jewelry on the foot-path. We stopped to check out the colorful bangles. When, at one point, I noticed a measuring tape flying away in the wind. I looked at the kind old lady said - "Mam! Your measuring tape is flying away". She looked at the direction I was pointing, and got the measuring tape back and gave me a grateful smile. I smiled back at her.
Then I asked her in a childlike manner - " Is it for sale, I would like to buy it". She gave an apologetic smile and said - "No. It’s not for sale."

And then as an afterthought, she suddenly melted and said "Take it! I can always get another one." I was surprised and tried refusing her but she was insistent. Then we tried offering her money. Again she just wouldn’t accept it. God knows what or whom did I remind her of.

I was left dazed and speechless.

Have you ever noticed that of all the material things that you could give anyone, most of the people just look for “love” and “respect”. And when the genuineness and authenticity of the respect comes across to the other person, he or she will be ready to do any thing for you.
This incident just reconfirmed my belief, that all people need, is a lot of Love and Respect.

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