Ankush's mom

I was cooking in the kitchen, when I could hear a "huuunnnnh..muummmy... muummmy..huuuunnnnh "

I was curious. So I put off the gas and opened the main door. Ankush, the five year old child next door, was crying and banging at his house's door. I found it strange and thought maybe his mother did not know he was waiting outside. I was about to go to help him, when Ankush's door opened suddenly. His mother came out and said, "Will you be naughty again?"

“Mamma please let me in ... please...” he sobbed.

“Tell me will you be naughty? I will not let you in unless you answer that question.” she asked again.

“I am sorry mama. I will not be naughty…” he answered between his sobs.

By then, doors of two more houses had opened. People from those houses were sneaking to see what was happening and when they did see, tried hard to ignore the mother and son interaction.

I was pretty agitated internally.

I remembered something that had happened to me when I was around five years of age. I had just started going to school. I had lost a very important notebook of mine. When dad came home I couldn’t hand over the book to him when he asked for it. Dad had got really angry and scolded me for being careless. I remember the helplessness that I had felt in the situation. Also I did not even know what “being careless” meant. All I cared about was that I had made my daddy so upset by my “carelessness”. And I knew that I did not want that to happen again. I felt that helplessness again at that moment.

“I love you mama,” I heard Ankush say to his mother. I looked up to see Ankush and his mom hugging each other. His mom was saying, “I love you too. I am sorry for scolding you beta. But why are you so naughty?” Ankush hid his face in his mother’s arms and fell asleep.

All of us closed our doors behind us. I picked up the morning newspaper and tried to put the incident behind me.

With a cup of tea in my hand and a sigh in my heart, I wondered, was Ankush’s mom’s reprimand successful in making Ankush realize what he had done wrong?

I wondered if Ankush even understood what he was getting punished for. 

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39 years

"Do you love me?" I heard, sixty five year old Murthy aunty asking uncle. Uncle almost chocked and coughed at that. And then he replied, "Yes… I do". "If you do, let me go to my brother's house for a week," Aunty replied. I could hear the conversation through their slightly open bedroom door. I could only smile. I was staying at the Murthy residence in Chennai to attend a marriage function of a friend. Murthy uncle and aunty had been our neighbours at my parents' house. They have been close family friends for close to 30 years now.

Aunty came out after a while, muttering to herself and complaining to me. "He has grown so old and yet behaves so childish. We have spent 39 years of life together and yet some basic things have not yet changed. Even at this age I need to ask his permission to go to my own home. I am not going to any stranger's house. I am only going to my brother's place!" she said.

I nodded sympathetically at aunty, while suppressing my smile. But I was also overwhelmed. 39 years was a long long time. I have been married for 10 and I knew what a marriage was. For all the love, beauty and fun marriage is, it could be a real struggle sometimes. Marriage like any other commitment needed constant introspection and evolving. For a "young" marriage like mine, I atleast had the liberty to complain and compare with other couples every time I was faced with a conflict.

But 39 years is a longer time. It meant that uncle and aunty have been together for a far more years than the years they have been with the people who have brought them into this world. They have been each other’s friend and guide to the huge unknown maze called life. They have nurtured each other and grown in these 39 years.

Clang! Clung! I hear Uncle take food on his own noisily. I smile. I hear their bedroom door bang shut and another argument between the two of them behind the closed doors. I close my room’s door and go off to sleep. I know like all other conversations this one will get resolved too. After all I have never heard any argument between the two of them go beyond the night. Mornings were always a fresh start again.

" Kowsalya supraja Rama poorva sandhya pravarthathe... " I can hear the "suprabhatham" being sung on the CD player as I lazily rub my eyes. “Did you have your BP tablets?” I can hear the concern in his voice, as uncle calls out to aunty. I can hear morning coffee being lovingly placed on the coffee table in the drawing room. I shake myself awake. I lean against the drawing room window and watch the two of them.

Uncle has a newspaper in one of his hands, and a cup of coffee in the other. Aunty is enjoying the morning breeze as she is sipping the coffee sitting on the cane chair in front of uncle. They are smiling as they are talking to each other.

Love, comfort and peace was written all over their face.

"Soulmates and life-mates," I think.

I smile to myself.

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Swanand Kirkire

A few months back, I heard a radio interview. The interviewee was telling the interviewer his favorite five songs from the Hindi Film Industry. After that the interviewer asked him to name his own favorite composition.

"Banwara mann" he replied instantly.

That was the first time, I heard this amazing song. The interviewee was Swanand Kirkire. I googled to read about him. And to my amazement found out that some of the beautiful songs rendered in the last 3-4 years had his lyrics. "Behti Hawa sa tha wo" from 3 idiots and "Bande me tha dum - Vande Matharam" from Lage Raho Munnabhai had also won him national awards. He is one of the finest lyricist and singer in the Hindi Film Industry today.

Please find a more complete write up over here.

In this post I am going to share with you three songs sung by him.

O Ri Chiraiya - Sung on the sets of Amir Khan's serial 'Satyamev Jayate'

Khoya Khoya Chand - For the movie Khoya Khoya Chand

Khoya Khoya Chand - 2007 - Khoya Khoya Chand - Khoya Khoya Chand 2007 - Swanand Kirkire & Ajay Jhingran - eSnips

Banwara Mann - For the movie Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

Banwara Man Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna - eSnips

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The thousand rupee note

"The management committee in our Netaji Subhash Chandra Government School, has decided to give a special prize this year. It is called "Special award" and will reward a extraordinary act done by a child. This year the award goes to eight year old Ananya. I would like to call Ananya's teacher to relate to you all what was the special act done by her," said our beautiful short motherly principal madam on the annual day function of our school. Of all the teachers in our school, the principal madam was the kindest.

"I am very happy to share Ananya's story with all of you," said Alka madam, our young, fair, tall class teacher, with a beatific smile on her face. Alka madam was wearing my favorite stiff white saree which had a blue lace on its border and small blue flowers on it. Her straight long hair reached her waist and was neatly combed and tied into a pony with a flowery clip. She looked taller and prettier than usual. She continued, "One fine afternoon Ananya returned from the playground, where she had gone in the Physical education period and came running up to me. She had a shining pink coloured pencil in one of her hands and  a "thousand rupee note" in the other.”

She paused for a second before she continued, “She gave me the note saying, she did not want it to be trampled by students walking and running over it. I was so proud of her honesty. I immediately nominated her for this award."

Alka madam then searched for me in the crowd and once she spotted me gave me a big smile. I smiled back. 

"Ananya's parents - Can you please come on the stage with Ananya?" 

I heard the thunderous applause as I went up the stage with my parents. I definitely seemed to have done something right.

After the function were the snacks. Rasgollas, pasteries and sandwiches lured me from various counters. It was my day. Ma and Babuji were ready to give me anything I asked. All the uncles, aunties and teachers looked at me with amazement as I walked and ran across the school campus. Ma was a sweeper in one of those big IT companies near our house and Babuji, a mechanic.

I looked for Bhaiyya who was eight years elder to me and studied in the twelfth standard. Bhaiyya was my friend, philosopher and guide. He was always cleanly dressed and the silent humility in his nature brought an extra glow on his face. He was the wise one in our house and supported and comforted our parents whenever they were in difficulty. When he was not at school, he was with my dad at his mechanic shop oiling or tinkering a few machines. He was my window into the world I did not understand. When I was not playing with friends, I tagged along with Bhaiyya on his old bicycle.

On some Sundays, Bhaiyya would take me on long rides on his bicycle. Together we would go into the unexplored areas of our city. We would go to the hidden lakes and unexplored forest areas behind our house. On our way back, we would always have a plate of ‘pani puri’.

"Anu! Anu!!" the familiar call of my brother snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned and rushed into my brother's open arms. My brother hugged me a congratulations. And then we made our way back home.

I sat on the pillion seat of Bhaiyya's bicycle as usual. That day Bhaiyya was walking with the bicycle instead of riding it. We were passing through a small road in a small residential area, when he turned towards me and said with a voice chocked with pride, "I am so proud of you Anu...” I continued licking the icecream which we had bought just a minute back.

When he did not hear a response from me, he turned a little more to face me directly and with eyes full of love said, “I am talking about the thousand rupee note incident..."

So many people had wished me by now. And now Bhaiyya too…I did not understand how to react...

So I asked him...."But Bhaiyya...I don't know what is all the excitement about..."

"I did not want a child to get scolded for losing a thousand rupee note the way mom scolded me last time when I lost a hundred rupee note.That was why I returned the note to madam." I paused for a while and lowered my voice and said,

"Honestly if it had been a twenty rupees, I might have taken Sahira with me and bought the both of us a huge bar of Dairy Milk Chocolate."

"What use is a thousand rupee note to me?"


And then I got back to licking my icecream. After I had gulped in a huge lump, I asked Bhaiyya to stop walking.I then turned him with one of my free hands and looked at him curiously and asked,

"Tell me Bhaiyya, what can I do with a thousand rupee note?"

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The balcony

I would describe entrepreneurs as people who dream and then have the courage, conviction, passion and dedication to fulfill their dreams. Some of them make good money in the while, some don't. Whether they end up making a good business of their enterprise or not, entrepreneurs LIVE their dream and enjoy every moment of nurturing their creation. In the past one year, I have come across at-least two entrepreneurship ventures that impressed me for the quality of what they deliver or have delivered. In the post below, I am talking of one such venture.

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After a lazy half an hour stroll on a Sunday evening, we enter our favorite fast food joint for a cup of tea. A young couple run the joint. The wife, is frying samosas on a choolah (a stove) set up neatly outside the fast food joint. She gives us a beautiful homely smile and quickly averts her gaze back to her cooking. She reminds me of those ladies who run their small eatery in the mist covered hillstations of India.

"I will take you to a new place.. Come.. " My husband had told me with a mysterious excited look on his face about two months back. That was the first time we had landed up in the new fast food joint "The balcony"*. My first impression of the joint was that it looked very homely. The owner had replied to our request for tea, with "Which tea do you want - Normal tea, Adrak wali chai, lemon tea, or Masala tea?" I was stumped for a while. Rarely, do you get so many varieties of tea in a small fast food joint.

"The Balcony" has a small lounge on which there were two tables with four chairs each. The joint overlooks a small road and one can have a good view of people travelling to and fro. The place is clean. The food is healthy and tasty. A variety of sweets like the boondi ladoo, kaju katri, besan ladoo lure us from behind the glass counter.

That day, we go in to order for "chats". I come out to talk to the lady.

This time I have a good look at her face. She is probably in her early thirties, dusky, has sharp features and a homely welcoming smile that can light up any person's day. She is tall, wears a pair of worn out blue jeans and has her shoulder length hair neatly tied up in to a pony. All in all, she somehow did not look like an "experienced" restaurateur to me.

I get talking to her. They had started “The Balcony” about a year back and May 6^th was their first anniversary. “Celebrate tho karna hai. Patha nahin kya karenge. Aap aana zaroor,” ("We will definitely celebrate our anniversary. Though we don't know what celebration we are going to have. Please do come,") she says with a beatific smile. Husband had been working in a garments factory for the past 11 years. He wanted to do something on his own. So we started this joint.

“Oh me...? I was a school teacher…” she says with a smile and gets back to her cooking. “I taught maths and science from class three to class six in a small school nearby…” I am amazed. “No wonder" I think, "she looks like a primary school teacher.” I return her smile.

“We haven’t really made any money so far. We have been putting our own money into it.” I look for some trace of disappointment or struggle – I find none. With a smile, she says again, “This is a tough business to handle. We have had man power problems. I would have to cook a lot many times.”

“Only last two three months we had money left in our account after paying up the expenditures,” says a voice from the back. The husband has joined in. He had been quietly listening in on our conversation.

“We had put up a stall at IIMB for their annual fest a few months back.” He says with pride in his voice.

Wow!

“We did not make a lot of money. But we completely enjoyed the experience.” He continues with a proud smile. I smile back.

The entrepreneur in me, is concerned though. I can see problems in their approach of “just enjoying the experience, not making money,” , “I need to do the cooking myself sometimes”. I am concerned by “Its been a year since we have been set up, and only now we are making some surplus.” Considering the quality of food they are delivering, that should not have been the case.

But the entrepreneur in me is also saying, “I am sure they will have their share of struggles, but they will figure their way out at their own pace. At-least they have had the courage to try...”

“How often do you get to meet a couple who have the courage to live their dream...”

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Note : The name of the restaurant has been changed to maintain the privacy of the people mentioned.

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