Making a mockery of miseries

How many of us mechanically and promptly click 'Delete' the minute we see a new email that begins with FWD:. Very often we don't even bother to read the subject line. Many of us, however, find joy (and surprisingly) the time to go through each of these fwds. Be it chain mails that threaten to cause you misfortune if you dare to trash it, or clearly morphed images of people of buildings that is said to be a wonder or miraculous creation, or the more entertaining sardar jokes or blunders, etc. We too quickly add half the names in our address list and spread the Fwd around. At times it hurts to see people being hailed or abused in the name of 'online humour'. Some dismiss it saying: "Hey, it's just a fwd". But is it? I received this fwd yesterday about an actor who had failed marriage. any of us, it's their personal matter and for them to sort out. The fwd was a disgustingly derogatory one, almost amounting to virtual rape. Some may think I am over reacting (so did the person who sent the fwd to me), but I think we could do our bit my at least trashing it from our inbox and not being a carrier of such junk. Humour works when timed rightly and in the right measure. Mocking at a disabled person isn't humour, finding fun in someone's misery isn't harmless entertainment. Recently there was another Fwd doing the rounds: An image of a palatial house that was said to be owned by a prominent political figure of the state. It turns out the house belongs to some other lesser known person, and a magazine has even carried an article on the house owner and the grandeur of the house. The politician made light of it saying "Oh yes, I will visit the house some day, after it's now my home too!" I am all praise for people who use their time and creativity to come out with immensely entertaining laughs, jokes, stories... but equally disgusted with perverts who make mockery of people and their miseries/lives. Of course, such things cannot be regulated. The filtering should happen in the minds of each individual. But once a pervert....always a pervert.

The home decor bug

I am bitten by the 'Home Improvement' and'Better Homes' and 'Good HouseKeeping' bug. I just can't seem to keep my hands and mind off magazines and pictures and thoughts focusing on home decor, pretty DIY tips (though some don't seem so doable yourself) and peeks into homes of the rich and famous, and the smart and thoughtful. It all started almost a year ago with a couple of my friends moving into/designing their new homes. Each one was a stunner in its own way and the ideas had been "Wowing" and "Awwing". I would tell them all...that one day when I have a place I would hire their services. Of course that day is still far away...though I am hoping to move under a new (but far from my ideal) roof sometime next year. Every session in front of the computer is incomplete without at least one google for furniture, kitchen designs, paints, etc. Even right now I have a search window on wicker furniture! Curtains...paints...tiles...all excite me to the point of turning me on. Now comes the time for another dear friend-cum-neighbour to plan the look of her new home. She'll be neighbour no more after another 2-3 months (hopefully they'll get their keys sooner, it's been a long wait). It's sad to think I'll miss someone whose door I could knock or actually just barge into for green chillies or coffee powder or milk or even dinner/lunch. A door that draws my son like a magnet...for he loves the company the lil princess there and loves the pampers of my friend. Not to mention the many accessories, curios, toys and books he loves to mess with. The exciting part, though, is that she's getting a warm, pretty abode of her own. Just watching them scour through shops/magazines/brochures/exhibitions,etc gives me a high. Am always nagging her with queries or suggestions on furniture, fabric, design, decor.... I'm eager to see another house of walls and floors be converted into a home of colour, warmth and love.

The November Miss

November came...and November went by. It's a month of memories for me.. My wedding anniversary, which is also the birthday of two of my closest friends. Some happy, some sad...but a lot did happen in November. But I guess I was too busy with other more mundane things in life that I forgot to enjoy the special days. Why else would I not pen a word in November. December...you're here so fast. Did we actually travel through 11 months so soon..!!!

A slice of every season

It's been a while and my promise to stay committed to my blog was conveniently forgotten for a few weeks. Not that I didn't have much to pen, just that I didn't have the time to give words to my emotions. I was giving words to a whole lot of other emotion-less assignments, while juggling between mundane chores and the never ending search for a maid. I just realise that almost all my posts have some reference to 'maid'. Just goes to show how much of a crucial role they play in my life. This time I have nothing to say about them..rather I choose not to talk about them. I need a break, a break from all things routine, a break from all things boring, I want a HOLIDAY. For the past one week, every friend of mine who's in one of those countries that actually experience the many seasons, have been loading their albums with images of Autumn which I call Autumn Awes coz they r so beautiful. The shades of colours that just flow from one branch to another...some dark, some a shade lighter and some almost colorless. The reds, oranges, greens, pinks, browns, yellows...sit pretty on the trees forming nothing short of a work of art. Another few weeks and the colours give way to the pure WHITE. The snow comes down, covers the greens, the red roofs, the brown driveways. The coats, gloves, scarfs, hats..all come out. I'd love to experience this transformation of seasons but my friends warn me: Winter is anything but exciting. With clocks turned back to save daylight (a concept Indians never had to try), with feet tucked into boots, hands slid into gloves...braving the biting cold is no fun, they say. To me it all seems like a scene out of an English movie and I'd love to be part of this scene at least once. The colours of autumn, a snowman of winter, the budding of spring, the sunshine of summer..somebody gift me a slice of every season!

To forget is a boon...

Karkidakam, one of the Malayalam months (I don't know to explain that) is often considered inauspicious, time for ailments...making it the right time for ayurveda treatments, a month of massive rains (the monsoon misplaced its calendar this year I guess)..and generally a month of misery. Well I was born in karkidakam. Does that make me a miserable being?!? Yeah..so it's a month of everything uneventful and depressing, it is said.

This year forces me to believe it. In less than a month we've been seeing sudden losses of heavily talented and equally humane people. Lohithadas, Rajan P Dev, Murali. It's not their movie star status that makes me mourn their loss. It's not even about the individual here...it's about the sense of vaccuum that each one leaves behind...be it in art, culture, film, theatre or more importantly their homes.

How does one cope with the fact that you're family is one member less, one member who will be missed every moment, at every meal, during every conversation... Or will they? I am always amazed at how life falls back on track after a few days, or in some cases few weeks. Not longer than that. It pricks me somewhere to think that my absence would be forgotten or rather "accepted" so soon by near and dear ones.

Is 30 too early an age to worry about these things? Not if you believe in the uncertainty of life. Motherhood, in some way, has made me more sentimental (a word I detested until sometime ago), more emotional and more scared.