My Aunt Agatha

Last weekend was spent in the typical Bangalore "function" way. Except the Bangalore is very new now, and we were at the Raghavendra Swamy Matha in Indiranagar and the metro was flying past us in all its glory.
I was smiling in a " I have come from Chennai in a Airavat bus,with very disturbed sleep" fashion,eating Uppitu and gulping down coffee on a pleasantly cold Friday morning greeting tonnes of my mother's clan with eerily similar faces,familiar old Bangalore/family snootiness apparating mostly from Malleswaram , Sheshadripuram and one part of the clan were from Bannerghata.

My mom made it a point to glare at me every time she realized I was not being the ideal niece to any of the three hundred aunts from Sheshadripuram.
So she beckoned me and asked me to take one of them , a retired teacher from Poorna Prajna, I was always scared of this one and apparently she taught maths,gulp,before she retired.
She told me how she had taken the metro to Indiranagar, after taking an auto to M.G road station from malleswaram. She spoke of her morning jaunt with a childish glee and we had a very nice conversation ,as she ate her way through uppitu and kesari bath, she spoke of her kids, I had known them,older cousins with a good collection of Tinkle at their place ,now away , and I suddenly felt a sudden sense of loss, she taking the metro all alone on a sunday morning seemed to have a sad ring to it.
I was of course broken out of this reverie when Aunt V ,came to greet me, it was her son's munji and I thought I had escaped her wrath about I had dressed for the occasion,forgive me if you think I have exaggerated, Aunt V had called me called me at 9 on a monday morning at asked me to take friday off for deversamardhane and was yelling into the phone so much that I suspect that my boss heard it and nope, I didnt hear a whimper from him when I asked for leave later in the evening. She is of course my Aunt Agatha.
Very fond of me, but thinks I'm not capable of handling the ways of the world on my own.
She told me my blue churidhar was too simple and gave a stamp of approval for my sister's red-polka-dot churidhar.
I was of course furious,both of had put it in great effort,gone to chikpete and bought dresses -our only criterion being will Aunt V like it? And of course little sis A got the "stamp of approval" as she calls it.
Amma was horrified when she spotted two children reading during the proceedings of the munji and called their mother,(turns out childhood friend of Aunt V) and told her that she was happy she was not the only mother who was scarred by the shame of having children who "read " at functions.
In my defense I only read post-lunch and hiding in the room, ante to the proceedings.

It was a delightful weekend with many "coolpix" moments ,and on the way back home ,Appa asking me to talk to a boy whom he thought was suitable for me. I smiled thinking how it would be just an other function in my beautiful city,exasperating,slow,homa smoke ,Aunt V who I doubt will approve my saree, to be on the safer side I have decided to take her with me then.

New Year and all that

Written by Shubha Mudgal, Vasu Dixit, Pavan Kumar KJ and Jishnu Dasgupta

http://swarathma.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/dewarists-track-by-swarathma-and-shubha-mudgal-duur-kinara-lyrics-and-translation/

Vo gaye balam

Vo gaye nadiya paar

Aap toh paar utar gaye

Hum toh rahe majdhaar

(Fragile memories,

Snatches of sound,

Faded photographs

Feelings unbound,

Birds flying in a V,

Homeward bound)

Doorada oorina katheya

Kelide nanna hridaya

Ee gaaliyali, nadiyalli

My heart has heard the tales of that faraway land

The tales that waft in the breeze, and flow in the rivers

Taayiya madilalli

geleyara nageyalli

Naa kandenu katheyannu

In my mother’s lap, I’ve heard these tales

In the laughter of my friends, I’ve seen these tales

Re gehri nadiyaa

Naiyya jhanjhari, duur kinara

Us paar saajan hamaara

Re gehri nadiyaa

(Fading photographs,

snatches of sound,

fragile memories,

feelings unbound)

Kanasolagina kanasali naa kande aa ooranu indu

In a dream within a dream I’ve seen that faraway land



In my mother’s lap, I’ve heard these tales

In the laughter of my friends, I’ve seen these tales



Yes,it was the year I saw that faraway land, poignant teary post for me this.
This year I have missed, my sister's warmth,my mother's cooking full of her love, I have missed it the most,when I was eating food prepared by strange hands, I missed my time with Appa, his laconic self, not finishing his sentences, reminding me so much of myself, I missed these glimpses of myself in an other person. At the end of this year I realized I would never miss all this again in the same gut wrenching way. And that just saddens me,realizing you can never come back again,In the same way.
In other news,Chennai beckoned the year 2012 in its usual brash way,with strong winds blowing threatening to blowing away our umbrellas.
I have discovered awesome eating places in the other city. I promise to write about them in the coming year.
Thanks to flipkart, I have managed to read a decent amount of books.
My software engineer's salary is making KSRTC and the Railways richer.
I wish I had a picture of Jayalalitha or Vijaykanth posters which dot the road I take to office to make this post more interesting.
p.s You missed Jayalalitha in a Ramadan cap :p