Birthday Wishes

I celebrated my birthday yesterday. Another year got added to my age & the confusion of whether I got older or younger stays. But for all reasons of being positive & optimistic I would like to believe like a lot of other older people have been believing that age is just a number, how old or young you feel is all in the mind.

This year I got Advance Birthday wishes, Birthday wishes & Belated Birthday wishes. I have always noticed that how every year there is someone new who wishes you. I don’t know if this happens with everybody. And no, it is not someone new you got to know after the last birthday who naturally will be wishing you for the first time. But people who you have known for a while for many years suddenly realize it’s your birthday & send you their wishes. Of course in today’s world sending birthday wishes is as simple as sending an SMS.

This year one person first wished me through SMS, then made a call & wished me & finally dropped by in person & wished me. At office all my colleagues wished me except one, I wonder why this person didn’t wish me. I got calls from a few of my friends but not all of them. I got a message from a person named Sunitha, I am still wondering whether that was my cousin or my ex colleague. Another ex colleague called me a day before the birthday & wished me saying he wouldn’t be reachable on my birthday so may not be able to call. I got wishes from matrimony sites. One also gave me gifts for my birthday; they offered me 30 days free membership after I paid up for a paid membership of 90 days. Today I made calls to the credit card call centers to ask for some previous statements. ICICI Bank wished me belated wishes immediately after I punched in the credit card number & went on to say my outstanding was Rs 17000. The Citibank lady I was talking to said belated birthday wishes just before she ended the call.

Its nice to get these birthday wishes, especially when its from some unexpected quarters. Like you get it for your birthday I guess it’s natural to give it to others on theirs. Now that is where I don’t. And I don’t know whether I should be embarrassed about it or cool. For now I am checking out some birthday reminder websites.

I remember this one time I called a friend up & happily said Happy Birthday only to be told that day was not her birthday & it was coming up next month. God, I still remember that incident. Luckily for me she didn’t make too much fun of it. For her 2007 birthday it was back to normal. I had forgotten it. We were in office and we sit close by & can see each other. She came in & was settling down when she got a call and she was all smiling & thanking & all that & that is when it struck me that there was something that day, but I still couldn’t decide whether it was her birthday or wedding anniversary.

Another birthday another person. This was a new person & if I wished her on her birthday it would have been the first time. So I had made enquiries about the date & tried to remember especially because it was coming up. One day I got a message from her in the afternoon, the SMS read, “I didn’t know you were like this”. I was naturally concerned thinking I had done something wrong or she had got offended with something. A lot of these SMSs followed the entire day. I realized only the next day that it was her birthday that day & she was expecting to be wished.

Leave all this I guess the icing on the cake has to be this incident. Last year one of my friends called me up on my birthday & wished me. I was of course saying all my thanks & everything. Four days later was his birthday. By now you must know what happened.
This year too he was the first among my friends to call me. So now his birthday is coming up on the 14th. Wait a minute is it the 14th or….

About time Bangalore did away with plastic bags

I have this habit of storing all the plastic bags that I end up with after whatever shopping I have done – clothes, books or something else. This is a practice that I have for quite sometime & you can imagine that I have by now collected quite a few plastic bags. Of late I am getting really conscious of this collection. And I have begun to discourage shop keepers from giving me a carry bag whenever I buy something.

I was recently in Manali. The honeymooners paradise in the North. I liked a lot of things in Manali. One that there are so many married couples around wherever you go there & two for the awesome weather there & three for the fact that Manali has banned plastic bags. It took me a while to figure why so many people were carrying these brown paper bags. The puzzle was cracked when I purchased something myself.

Honestly I felt really nice about it. No doubt banning plastic bags will cause some inconvenience however just imagine the world of good it’ll do to the Environment. Once the sales of the plastic bags reduce the manufacturers will naturally venture into more environment friendly bags & slowly but surely this menace can be countered.

Guess till then the least we all can do is to voluntarily discourage plastic bags.

That one moment

“Excuse Me”

 

The lady blocking the way moved away slightly and he could check out the B rack now. He liked this place. A lot of books both new & used and both types were available on discount. As usual he surveyed the place around. There was this lady he had just passed on his left checking out books on the A rack. There was no one to his right. He continued to scan the books on the B rack. Nothing interesting caught his eye. He moved on to the C rack.

 

He scanned the place around again. He did this most times. What he looked for or what he wished to see wasn’t clear to him. But it was something he did. He walked to the parallel isle. There was no one there. Just a pile of books. He walked to the other isle parallel to it. There was a man checking out some books there. He just walked back to the first isle he came from.

 

No book was interesting him today. He didn’t know what he felt like reading for the next couple of days. He just stared at the collections hoping something would interest him. But nothing did. Finally he walked away towards a section that he always visited whenever he visited this bookstore. Once he had seen a girl quietly checking the books under this section. Occasionally she looked around to confirm if no one was looking towards her. He had seen her there & knew what kind of books she was going through, but he ignored it. The section was clearly titled “Erotic”. He looked around again. Scanned the place & pulled a book from the rack & browsed through it. He always thought why people got really conscious of checking the books under this section. He too felt uncomfortable being there for too long. Although he visited this section every time he visited the bookstore he never really bought anything from that section. Somehow he couldn’t get himself to really like anything in the first place & even if he did he couldn’t gather enough guts to take it to the cash counter. What he was uncomfortable about was not the cash counter staff but the other customers who could see what he had picked up.

 

The section as usual had a variety of books on erotica and sex. He was always attracted to the big books in this section. One reason being they had excellent paper quality & the other because it had nice pictures. Actually everytime he saw a new big book he invariably picked it out. Most of these books were on the Kama Sutra. He didn’t like Kama Sutra very much. The sketches in those books didn’t really excite him. But then, wait a minute….there is something else today next to the Kama Sutra book…. This book was big, really big. For a big book the cover was very simple. It was called ‘The playmate Book’. He pulled it out. It was difficult but he eventually managed it.

 

Holding the book in his hands he randomly opened to a particular page, what he saw stunned him. Although he was expecting it, he didn’t quite fathom what could be in it. He immediately closed the book & looked around. There was no one around. It was strangely less crowded that day. His heart beat loudly & his hand slightly trembled. He was confused. He couldn’t decide if he should put the book back in the rack or take a look at a few more pages. He decided to check out a few more pages. It was not like he handn’t seen these pictures earlier. He had seen them & he had also watched movies. But that was a private thing. May be sometimes in the company of his friends. But this was a very public thing now. All around him were people he didn’t know. If they got to know what he was looking at what would they think about him. Thoughts rushed to his mind.

 

The pictures were awesome. The book itself was a great one. He tried to figure out the cost of the book. On the back cover he saw the price tag. Rs 1500. The price didn’t seem too high for him. He was trying to reason with himself about buying this book. According to him it was priceless. He looked for some more details of what this book is all about. He soon learnt that the book was the compilation of all the playmates that had posed nude for the famous US magazine Playboy. It contained all the snaps from its first issue right up to the December issue of 2004. Simply this was a collector’s issue. He too had sometime thought of laying his hands on the Playboy magazine. But it wasn’t available around wherever he checked.

 

Unable to decide he put the book back in the rack. He felt relieved. He tried to relax. He scanned the place around again. There was no one. He saw a tiny book on erotica. He picked it up. Now he was just acting. He tried to look normal. Tried to look as if he was attempting to read a few lines in that book. But that wasn’t the case. His mind was still on the big book. His heart & mind raced. He knew he had to buy it. He pulled the big book out again. He looked on the back cover to confirm the price again. It still read Rs 1500. He wondered could this book be only worth Rs 1500. What if he took the book to the cash counter & they charged him much higher for it. But that was generally not the case. Whatever cost was put on the book was the cost. He scanned the place again. Nobody. What should he do now? He had to take a decision & walk out of the place. But what if somebody sees him with that book. What if there is someone at the cash counter. He held the books – both the big one & the small one and walked out. Right outside the entrance to the first floor of the book store was a Security guard. He usually doubled up as the person who was authorized to collect the bags & helmets of the customers & locked it up behind him in one of the baggage lockers. He handed over the keys of the locker to the security. The security opened it & gave him his helmet.

 

He looked down at the stairs he had to climb down to go to the billing counter. He could see there was another security sitting at the bottom of the stairs. He paused. He held the books close to his body & held the helmet in such a way that the books were not completely visible. He began to descend. The security sitting down looked up at him for a moment and then he turned away. There was a rush of feelings in his head at this moment. He finally descended. The security was seated in front of him. He had to go left & enter the ground floor to go to the billing counter. To his right were a few more stairs. If he descended them he would be on the road. In that confused moment, he decided to step down those stairs. Once down he began to walk away. He still had the books in his hand. He expected the security to stop him. But he didn’t hear anything. He continued to walk. His heart raced. He couldn’t believe what he had done. He had a book worth Rs 1500 & another worth Rs 65 in his hands and he hadn’t paid for it. He was just walking away from the store. Nobody seemed to be coming after him. But he walked faster. He just wanted to go out of sight before the bookstore people realized.

 

It was a wet evening. It had drizzled for a while & it seemed that it would pick up again. In that confused state, he walked faster & faster. In the rush of thoughts he decided to take a left. Why left? He didn’t know. Probably it was to get on to another road. He wondered what if someone had seen him. He thought of the consequences. May be someone was following him now. Would they beat him up? Would they hand him over to the police? God so many things could happen.

 

He walked more & faster. Somewhere along he stopped by at a petty shop selling cigarettes & asked for a carry bag. It had started to drizzle steadily and he was worried the books would get wet & spoilt. There was no carry bag with the shopkeeper. Disappointed he continued to walk. He was carrying a big white book of Playboy. It was not wrapped, not in a carry bag. It was in his hand. What if someone he knew bumped into him and what if they asked him what was that he was holding.

 

He slowed down. He stopped. He looked around. No one was running towards him. There were many people & nobody seemed to be giving him undue extra attention. He calmed down a bit. He pulled out his hand kerchief and wiped off the drops of water on the book & then on his face. He continued to walk but he was slower now.

 

He began to introspect. Although what he had done was something he could brag about to his friends. He didn’t feel very nice inside. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money to buy this book. He had done it more out of the extra rush of blood to his head. He was excited that he had picked up a good book, but the thought of taking the book to the counter made it all the more heard pounding for him & in the rush of emotions he did something he completely wouldn’t if he had been in his normal senses. Now he was far away from the shop. Nobody had followed him even. Probably nobody had realized it yet. He could get away with it. But then what about the guilt? He felt he couldn’t live with it.

 

He took a right turn. The road he got on to was the same road that had the shop. As he walked he contemplated the idea of going back to the billing counter as if nothing happened. Producing the two books to them & paying for it. But then what if someone was outside waiting for him, what if the security guy got a feel of what had happened. What if he rushed inside to the billing counter & said, “I saw this guy leaving with these books earlier, now he is coming back to pay for it”

 

He was walking and he was getting closer to the shop. Probably he could just say that there was some emergency & he in the process forgot to get it billed & now had returned to pay up. Would that argument hold strong. It could, however may be it wouldn’t either.

 

He approached the shop. The security guy was still sitting on the seat lazily. He didn’t seem to get alert or anything when he saw him. He climbed the stairs & walked inside towards the billing counter. There was no one inside there. A sales girl was some distance away and a guy was behind the billing counter. Both of them looked very normal. They didn’t react in any other way other than to smile & get busy with the billing. This calmed him down. It was a clear indication that nobody from the store had yet figured that something was stolen a few minutes back. However they did notice one thing.

 

Both the books were wet on the covers. The billing guy seemed to wonder how it was wet. He started looking for a cloth to clean it & seeing this, the sales girl approached to help. His heard started to beat faster again. He hoped the rain drops on the books are not going to give him in. The girl took a piece of cloth & started to wipe off the droplets of rain water on the cover of the two books. It was pretty clear what those two books were about, but no one seemed to be too bothered about it, the girl included.

 

The billing guy wrote out the bill & he handed over a card to pay for it. As he waited for the receipt to come out of the machine, the billing guy yet again looked at the book on all sides & wondered aloud, “how did this get wet”. But then, the receipt came out & he put the book down & proceeded to tear the receipt off and gave it to him to sign. He hurriedly signed it. The girl had meantime put both the books into a carry bag.

 

He collected the bag & said a thank you. He turned & walked out. He closed his eyes & took a deep breadth. 

A girl walked in to the bus (Part 3)

His eyes were closed. His face had turned towards her. He looked like he was having a good sleep. She had only turned to take a glance. She knew she obviously couldn’t stare in to the face for long. What if he noticed it? What would he think?

The travelers on the left side of the bus, especially those occupying the window seats were looking out. She could also see some visuals of what was going on. The bus had stopped for about 5 minutes, practically no where. The commotions outside made her think it was a puncture.

She realized she had a disturbed sort of sleep after the tender coconut she had. Was it because of the tender coconut, she wondered and immediately dismissed it because she knew that tender coconut was good for the body & it always helped her.

She moved the curtains on her side of the window & looked out. It was pitch dark outside. Every few seconds a vehicle would pass by & it was then that she noticed that beyond the road there was a vast arid ground. She sighed & hoped that the puncture would get repaired early & they would get moving again. She then put her hands on the handle on the front seat & got into the same position she had described to this boy some time back. She put her head down on it & turned towards the window. But there was nothing much she could see. She could see a slight reflection of hers on it, but not very clearly. She then turned to the opposite side. He still continued to sleep in the same position. She looked at his face & kept looking for a moment longer. She liked his face. He had short hair and probably a day old beard. What she did seem to register was that he had nice long eye lashes. Now that was not normal in a boy she thought. She tried to think hard if she knew anyone who had similar kind of lashes. She couldn’t think of anyone.

Just about then, the boy turned & got into a straighter position. She relaxed in hers & closed her eyes a bit. With her eyes closed she could hear the lady from the back seat ask “what happened. Why have we stopped here?” The male sitting next to her replied very softly, “It’s a puncture”

She sat back on her seat & stretched her legs well below the seat in front. It relaxed her. Now slowly more people were waking up & some of them were starting to get off the bus. It was when a slightly heavy man was trying to get off that the boy woke up. The man had touched the boy’s shoulders on his way out.

The boy woke up & registered that the bus was not moving. A man in one of the front seats was standing up & combing his hair with his fingers. He then looked left & saw 3 to 4 men all looking down. One of them was smoking. He seemed to get the hint. He then checked the time & looked right. The girl was sleeping. After shuffling uncomfortably in his seat for some more time, he decided to get a first glance of what was happening. He stepped out.

The bus driver & conductor were preparing to change the tyre. The other passengers who had got off were all looking at them do the job. A few had a normal & sleepy look. While others seemed upset about the break. One guy was smiling & typing away on his mobile.

The girl got down from the bus & walked towards him. He noticed that & smiled at her. She smiled back. The air outside was cold, not very but just enough to want a nice jacket or a shawl around you. The girl had her hands folded. The boy had his in his pockets. Both were looking at the work happening in front of them. They were not exactly next to each other. They were some distance away.

He looked around. The bus was in a nowhere sort of place. There were a couple of trees along that road. None close by to where the bus had stopped. A little distance away he saw some light & a couple of cars parked outside. It seemed like a shack selling some tea. He saw a couple of them from the bus headed there & that kind of confirmed it. The girl seemed to have noticed it too.

“How long is it going to take”, somebody asked the conductor who was fetching another tool from the bag. “Atleast another 20 minutes” he said without looking up.

The boy began to walk & looked at the girl. “Want some tea”, he asked her.

“Tea?”

“Yeah. I think we’ll get there”, he said pointing at the shack further down.

“Umm. Not sure. Not at this hour. But I think I’ll come along. Is that fine”

“Sure”

They began to walk there. She still had her hands folded & he had them in the pockets.

A girl walked in to the bus (Part 2)

“Excuse Me”, “Excuse Me”. He woke up. The girl was looking at him. “The bus has stopped for a break. I just wanted to step out. Could you excuse me please?”

“Sure”

“Sorry I woke you up” she said.

“Its OK. Actually I am sorry. Hope you didn’t have to struggle to wake me up”

“No. Not at all” she said & began to walk away towards the door. He sat down on his seat & looked at his watch. It was 2 AM. He thought he could do with some fresh air as well and stepped out. The bus had stopped at some hotel. There were at least 4 other buses there. Even at that hour people were grabbing themselves something to eat. He walked to some isolated place away from the hotel & relieved himself.

When he walked back to the bus, he saw the girl. She was drinking a tender coconut. He noticed that she looked confident. He liked that. A girl traveling alone, talking comfortably to a complete stranger, stepping out in the night, drinking tender coconut, it was all very nice.

He stopped at the entrance of the bus & looked around. The girl was paying the tender coconut vendor, there were a couple of other folks near by smoking or drinking tea from tiny plastic glasses. He suddenly wondered if the girl smoked. Now, why was he thinking like that he asked himself. He shook his head a couple of times & tried to get such nonsense thoughts off his head. The girl was walking up to the bus.

“Hi”, he said & smiled.

“Hi”, she replied. “Its actually warm out here, No. The AC in the bus is set pretty high I guess”

“Yeah, think so. But between AC & no AC, I prefer AC”, he said.

“Me too, actually. Shall we get in, or you staying out” she asked him.

“No lets get in. I think I see the driver coming over as well”

Once they were settled in the seat, the girl once again stared out of the window for quite a while. He noticed it & sat quietly. A couple of moments later a beggar stood out side her window. He seemed to be staring at the bus & especially at the spot where they were sitting. The girl seemed to get conscious of that & looked away from the window.

“You know once”, she started to speak to him, “sorry hope I am not disturbing you”

“No not at all. Please go on”, he advised

“Once I was traveling in a friend’s car. We were on our way to Lonavla I think. We had stopped like this on some highway dhaba for some tea. I was sitting in the car at the window & I had put my head down like this…”. She then went on to enact the posture she was sitting in. She put her hands on the handle on the front seat & put her head on it & turned right facing the window. She stayed in that position like that for a couple of seconds. “…I was sitting like this & before I knew I felt drowsy & closed my eyes. There was no one in the car; all my friends were outside drinking tea. They were a little away from the car. Suddenly I feel someone touching my hands. You know for a few seconds I thought it must be one of my friends and slowly opened my eyes. When my eyes were wide open & I registered the view in front of me, I was shit scared & I screamed. It was a monkey”

“Oh Shit”, he said, the look on his face was also of shock. “God. That must have been scary.”

“Scary? It was shit scary. I screamed & screamed. I had a hand bag near by & I took that to shoo it away. Only when it was away from the window did I breathe easy”. She paused for breath & continued, “the worst part is none of my friends could hear me scream. They walked in like as if everything was normal. I was so mad, you know…God…”

“Some Adventure that huh”. She smirked & shook her head.

The bus started off again.

“So you watched the entire film?” He asked her.

“No yeah. I slept pretty early. How about you?”

“I slept early too”.

The bus was on the highway again & the driver shut off the lights. It was dark inside & both the boy & girl sat in silence for the next many minutes.

“No yeah” she had said.

A girl walked in to the bus

He looked at her. She wore Jeans & a T Shirt. Had her hair lose. She was carrying a backpack & was looking at her ticket. She then looked at the seat numbers & walked in.

He wondered if he would be lucky enough. He had the isle seat & the window seat next to him wasn’t taken yet. Would she come in & sit there, he thought.

Almost as if the girl had heard his thoughts, she stopped at his seat & looked up to check the seat number again. It read ‘11W 12’. She then looked at him & said “that’s my seat” pointing at the window seat next to him.

He only nodded & stood up on the isle so that she could get in.

The girl sat down. She then looked to him & said, “can you give me a minute, I’ll just pull out some stuff and then I’ll put this up”

“Sure no problem”, he said and tried to distract himself. He looked around the bus. He saw another passenger getting in to the bus. Some other people behind him were settling down. Every now & then he looked at her. She had pulled out a shawl, a water bottle, an eye mask. She had zipped the bag & was out in the aisle to put the bag in the luggage compartment above.

The bag seemed heavy when she lifted it up. It was also fully packed with absolutely no space to squeeze in something. She found it difficult to push the bag in. He had been watching her struggle & volunteered to push. Just about when he got his hands to the bag she gave it one more big push & it finally went in. She turned the bag around such that the top loading zipper was in the front, probably for some easy retrieval later.

She said thanks to him & went over to her seat. “No problem” he said and sat down.

He wondered if he should initiate some small talk. He also thought of what he could ask that didn’t come across too intruding or too personal. He didn’t seem to get anything then. He however was excited that a nice pretty girl was sitting next to him. She looked like she was in her early twenties. He went ahead and put a number to her age. He thought she must be about 24 years old. If she is on the way to Pune, then probably she is either studying or working there. He suddenly felt the air around him becoming warm. The girl looked out of the window & had her shawl & eye mask on her lap. She had placed the water bottle in the bottle holder on the front seat. He noticed that she had only looked out of the window ever since she took that seat.

While he continued to ponder whether he should initiate a talk or not a rude thought struck him. He suddenly wanted to reconfirm if he had occupied the right seat. He immediately pulled out his wallet from his pant pocket & took a look at the ticket that was in it. Seat Number - 12 it read. He immediately got up to look at the seat numbers. That seemed to alert the girl. She turned & looked at him. When he realized she was looking & looked back at her, she smiled. He smiled back.

“I was just checking if I have taken the right seat”, he said. That was to her but he just said it without looking at her.

“So are you in the right seat”. She asked.

“Yes” he said & then looked at her. Her face looked pretty close. She didn’t seem to be uncomfortable by that closeness. It was also clean sans any make up & blemishes.

“So you going to Pune”, She asked.

“Yes”, he said & continued, “Guess you are too”

“Yes”, she replied.

“Are you from Pune?” He asked her. This time around he had moved himself back a bit. The extra distance between their faces seemed more comfortable for him now.

“No, I work there”, she said.

“Nice. Well I work there too. I work in a Recruitment firm. How about you” he replied.

“I work in a BPO”. She replied.

He didn’t think of asking her the company name. He felt that was not right. He also felt he should not be thinking like that & let the conversation simply flow. After all she had started it & it seemed she didn’t mind talking. So what was the harm after all. But some how he felt it was not right & didn’t pursue asking her the company name.

The Volvo bus they were sitting in was slowly getting full. The seats around them were all occupied. A couple of seats in the front & back were yet to be taken. The driver had got in & taken his seat. He switched on the engine & the AC. Somebody in the front seat had just started complaining how hot it was inside.

During the course of the next few minutes, the boy & the girl learnt a bit more about each other. She was in Pune for about a year now. She was from Bangalore & had worked there in an Insurance BPO. A better position & pay came up with the Pune based company & she decided to take it up. Her parents were not very excited by the idea, but luckily there were a couple of relatives in the city & their assurance on Pune being a Student & Employee friendly city, got her the go ahead. She didn’t stay with the relatives. She said it wouldn’t make either of them comfortable. She was anyway in the UK shift & that would also put some unnecessary strain on the folks who had got used to a particular kind of lifestyle. The guy worked for a Recruitment firm & was also from Bangalore. He had been deputed in the company’s Pune branch to help some local company find some call center boys & girls for them. She had asked for how long he would be in Pune. He had replied may be two months at the most.

All the passengers seemed to have taken their seats. The conductor walked down the aisle to the back checking if every seat had indeed been occupied. He returned to the front of the bus & instructed the driver to get started. The driver it seems had to only put his foot on the accelerator. The bus started to move. The TV was switched on & “Jab we met” began to play.

“It’s a very sweet movie”, she said.

He turned to look at her. “Yeah it’s a great movie”

The titles started & the girl began to open up the shawl. In the process her left hand touched the boy. “Sorry” she said. “its Ok” he replied. As if he could say anything else to her.

He felt very nice at that moment. He seemed to have forgotten about the task ahead for him in Pune. A nice movie was playing on the screen. A pretty girl was sitting next to him & more importantly they had started to talk. The girl had covered herself in the shawl & was watching the movie. He could notice only so much from the corner of his eye. He pushed his seat back a bit & relaxed. She followed suit soon after & pushed her seat back as well.

They didn’t speak a word thereafter. Both were engrossed in the movie. Every now & then they could hear each other smiling & laughing or just reacting to the movie. He continued to feel nice & at some time he pushed his seat fully back & dozed off.

Visiting Relatives

I don’t quite know if I enjoy this task or not. The fact is most times I visit an aunt or an uncle only when there is a real need to do so, mostly when mom wants me to go over & give something. I did that today. Went over to aunts house to give them some of the food that mom had made today at home for Sankranthi and to my uncle’s house to drop a cousin who had come home.

In a way I enjoy the activity. It is nice when everybody gathers around & makes conversation. Most times this is with the TV on. Really what do you talk with your uncle or an aunt apart from probably the formalities like “how are you” & stuff. It is nice to see how they are going on with life. It is nice to know how the household stuff runs. For instance at my uncles, dinner is finished by around 8:15 PM. And at my aunts, my cousin was sleeping at around 6 PM, the time I was there. At home here, neither of this happens. We have dinner around 9:30 PM & we absolutely can’t be sleeping around at 6 PM. I guess even on a Sunday this doesn’t happen. Of late I have really wanted to nap in the afternoons on weekends, but no luck.

The TV it seems has become indispensable today. It is very amusing to see how the Saas Bahu fare is lapped up at my Uncles. And those comments that come, “Oh she is back to it again”, “Oh not again” and a loud laugh at some of the comedy tracks in these serials. My uncle holding the remote & like the king of the house flipping through channels every now & then, my aunt & granny just sitting through it all, with their right hand over the left.

And of course, some of the default stuff, like “you hardly come this side”, “you have forgotten us”, “you come here & hardly eat anything” & so on. Let me say that this doesn’t come from everybody. Quite natural I suppose, but yes Granny does say this.

Its nice though all this. I am pretty bad at this formal sit down & talk about how things are & stuff. It just doesn’t come to me, at least not yet. But I must say its really nice when someone treats you like that. You feel good.