Insignia

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When I visited the bank last week I had to sign a form for some investments. When I took a closer look three signatures looked completely different from one another. Once or twice my credit card and cheques got cancelled because of the mismatch in inking. And believe it or not I've to practice signing in a notebook to get it right every single time.

When I was young I wanted to have a signature like my father. It was stylish, crisp, and cool. While filling the tenth board examination form I was told what I sign on that would be my ultimate signature and after that I can't change. So, I practiced and mastered a insignia that is nothing but cool or trendy. Over the period of time that transformed from uncool to ordinary. Now, I've a sign that is just my name with hopeless curving in the end. Sadly I remember my failed attempts to achieve that perfect sign every single time.

Adding to the agony is when soft wares of banks and others refuse to recognize my dowdy marking. This makes me wonder why can't we go back to thumb impression? It is unique and no two individuals can have the same print. It can't be forged. Why thumbing is associated with illiteracy? Doesn't cellphones these days sell with fingerprint as key security feature?

Enough with the rant now.

The Month That Was February-2021

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Two important men in my life celebrated birthday in February. My father would have been 69 this 14th. I miss hearing his reluctant 'thank you'. No amount of emotions or words can bring him back. we could have traveled only that much together. All I have now is memories of him to cherish on his birthday. Pain of losing a parent never subsides. We just learn to live with it.

And Hubby's birthday was a close-knit affair just the way he liked it. Apparently the boy of mine is growing old and I wish nothing but abundance of happiness to this old soul.

Valentine's day befell on Sunday this year. The conversation about being slave to capitalism and love should be celebrated every days is all invigorating. Why assume we don't. Why pull down people who chose to celebrate this day with their valentine? Our day was all mushy, corny, and fun.

With 'The Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia I broke the self-imposed jinx of not reading horror genre.  Other books are The Night Tiger-Yangsze Choo and The Homegoing-Yaa Gyasi. About Karvalo by K.P.Poornachandra Tejaswi, I could not stop gushing about this gem whoever care to listen. It has been a long time since I picked a book of my mother tongue only to realize what I had been missing. Parker Pyne Investigates by Agatha Christie was second in the Christichallenge2021, which was a collection of few stories. So total number 5 looks good on the chart.

Total number of movies were 10 and they are; Tribhanga (Hindi), The White Tiger (English), The Safehouse (English), Sir (Hindi), The News of the World (English), 2 Guns (English), Drishyam 2 (Malayalam), I Care For You (English), Pitta Kathalu (Telugu) and The Girl On the Train (Hindi).

One of the best series we have watched is Chernobyl (Netflix) about the nuclear disaster. We started re-watching Crown Season 1 (Netflix) because we had forgotten most of it.

Attended two weddings on one weekend, both in different towns of Karnataka. The only thing to look forward to these gatherings is food. This is what COVID isolation had turned me into, absolute non-foodie to moderate glutton.

A two-year old Aglaonema withered slowly and died. It was a gift to Hubby for attending an academic seminar in a law school. The cute little pot had no drainage hole and we just let it stay there. It took a major hit during last year's lock-down without water and nourishment, still stayed alive. I, the queen of procrastination put off transferring it to another pot for a long time. Result, completely rotted root killed the plant. Now I know how difficult it is to maintain the teeny tiny garden. I need to have a better plan to manage the time, so that I can give importance to all the varied interests I pursue.

February had been the month of celebration. March be kind.

Bohemian Raspy

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What is the one thing you want to change in your anatomy or physiology? If this question was asked a decade ago I would answered 'my voice' without batting an eye. I've a vocal with perpetual hoarseness. I may even sound manly over the telephone. However, nobody has addressed me as 'Sir' or 'Mister' yet. I lived blissfully happy life for two decades without realizing how terrible my voice is. To boot I considered myself a good singer with right knowledge of notes. None of the family members or friends dared to contradict this facade. Until Hubby arrived.

He was the first to mention my voice does not compliment my personality. Well, not that I know what my personality is. Still it made me to ponder over the matter. I recorded my voice and played it on loop for several times. And I was heartbroken to know I ain't the proverbial nightingale. The new found observation has not made any difference in my life per se. I was not trained to be a professional singer anyhow.

For the uninitiated I was a choir singer in my secondary school to sing the State song and National anthem every single day for entire three years. Don't ask me how I landed there. Either it must be my overenthusiastic young self that wanted to be everywhere or some naive teacher who delegated the task to me as none of the other students were forthcoming. As it happens I was part of a singing team that went on to perform in Akashavani (Radio), Mangalore. However, I don't remember being it relayed on the station or I would have missed on tuning the channel. So, I was not totally delusional when I said I considered myself a good singer. The whole universe had conspired along with me to believe it.

I squarely put the blame on my father for the terrible voice that I genetically inherit. Yet, he was the one who introduced me to the world of music which is still one of the greatest blessings in my life. Has the dreadful voice stopped me from singling? No Sire. I still sing my heart out to the only audience, dear Hubby. Now he is sweet enough to say I've the most unique voice. Ahem! What I would have done without this wife promoting partner of mine! 

The Month That Was January-2021

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Curfew from evening 6 to morning 6 on New Year Eve in Bengaluru. We never made any plans to head out. The logic behind night time curfew baffles me. some gentle souls say it is the scare of new strain of coronavirus that has emerged in UK. Okay, understandable.  People are roaming the city during the day without social distancing, their masks below the chin. And COVID is not a monster that crawls out only in the night.

We welcomed new year snuggled inside the quill, guzzling beer, gobbling pizzas, watching 'Soul' and of course midnight kiss. I made many number of resolutions wherein hubby did none. I honestly do not understand the man I'm married to. He is the quintessential list maker of the family. His belief is more time you take in planning less time goes for execution. And he is both great planner and executioner. I, on the other is opposite, unrealistic planning and terrible executing. Still everybody need to have new year resolution.

A health scare in the family. Uncle D had been complaining of giddiness and physicians at Manipal did TMT. He was asked to admit to hospital for angiography. As much as we hoped not to find any blockage our worse fear turned out to be true. He was advised to undergo coronary bypass. Guiding other people about a surgery is easy, but when it is your near and dear ones even I was hesitant. After taking second opinion from cardiologist classmate we decided to go ahead with the operation. The first 3 days were very stressful. After visiting him we sighed with relief. He is recovering well and fast. Cousin M1 handled everything on her own. Cousin M2 could only be there for 3 days as she had her finals. Altogether they shared responsibilities meticulously easing stress off aunt P. And I'm one proud elder sister.

I've read two very beautiful books, The Vanishing Half-Brit Bennett and The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue-V.E.Schawb. As I've decided to take part in #readchristie challenge I picked 'The Hollow' for the month and it was okay. Because of that I'm reconsidering whether I've to continue with this. If I've to continue 12 books will be of her, which will leave me 38 books to pick from the lot. When in doubt stall the decision is the mantra to go. Another book was 'The Switch'-Beth O'Leary, a contemporary romance/chick-lit, it is the genre I try to avoid these days. The reading will be fun, no doubt. As I wanted to move to different genres probably this was not the best pick.

The movies were Soul (English), AK vs AK (Hindi), Double Jeopardy (English), The General's Daughter (English), and Paava Kadhaigal (Tamil).

Among Web Series the best was The Queen's Gambit (English/Netflix). Others are Tandav (Hindi/Prime), Bridgerton (English/Netflix) and The Undoing (English/Hotstar).

The highlight is yet to come. Our short four-day Goan holiday. If having beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner is sin then we've sinned. Beach hopping, lounging on beach chair, soaking up the vitamin sea. I'm sure I had generous dose of vitamin D as well. We swam in the sea (that is untrue because I can't swim, but you get the drift), gazing at sunsets, strolling on the beach late nights, and kissing in the moonlight. None of the city in India has the vibe like Goa. Needless to say we had an amazing time. And in Goa nobody wears masks or follows social distancing. When people were staring at me I was all hoity-toity thinking it was directed at my skimpy clothes only to realize later that I was the only person wearing mask on the entire beach.

 January was good. February be kind

The Year That Was 2020

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I had cribbed about 2020 like all others due to the obvious. The year 2020 was not a bad year for me personally. Yes, our travels took a major hit as well as outing. Due to the lockdown hubby and I get to spend some quality time together. It would not have been possible otherwise. Working from home is a total bliss. I don't think I'l be able to go out and work again. WFH saves a lot of commuting time. Since I'm not a social animal, I don't have problem being cooped up in the home. It gave me ample of time to read, write, binge watch on awesome shows.

I'm neither a foodie nor a cook. I tried to change that a little with doning a culinary hat. Among the experiences few were hit, few a miss. I (we) started an insta page to showcase the food photography. Hubby was nothing but supportive with these fickle shenanigans of mine. When I scroll down the foodstagram page it gives happiness. We cooked together whenever we can. I can safely say now I've not cooked so much in my lifetime in comparison with what I've done this year. There is little merriment in cooking. Here you create something palatable with raw materials, and the end result is satisfying. However, doing it day after day is tedious. I've a huge respect for all the women  who do it tirelessly without a complaint. I've not seen my mother ever saying 'I'm bored. I don't want to cook today". Same goes to many of older generation. I'm blessed to live in a time and city where I can order food at my fingertips. During latter part of the year we started going out to favourite restaurants.  

Another blog and insta page is dedicated to jot down our views on films, books, TV shows, Web Series, plays, theater and art. That is why you will not see film/book/drama/TV shows updates in this blog. Maintaining three blogs is really tough. Sometimes I feel I've bitten off more than I can chew. But that is what I wanted to do at that point in time. And nobody is going to question me about the consistency. The only person I'm answerable to is me. Sometime that person goes on a guilt trip for neglecting the blogspace. Our poetic journey of 2020 was beautiful.

Our tryst with gardening continued. It is the trial and error method we apply. Though not a green thumb yet, I managed not to kill all plants. Some of them withered and died much to my chagrin. This is the year I learnt about vermicompost, coco-peat, propagating, all and sundry. And harvested many batches of Malbar spinatch, fenugreek, mustard, mexican mint, and lemon grass.  

On the travel front we had gone to Mysore for Christmas weekend. It was a baby step to test the water in terms of travel. Other places were Dodda Alada Mara, Manchanabele Dam, and Hesaraghatta Lake.

Seeing the family was minimal to none due to self-imposed quarantine. Same with friends.    

And most important I've been diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency. From a couple of months I was not in my usual mojo. I had to push myself to do even the small chores. Initially I blamed it on lockdown and the pandemic. But when the push came I had to consult a physician and voila. Along with that some hormone imbalance too, for which medication was prescribed.

What a year 2020 was! Hoping for a better 2021

Goldie Locks

Well, this is not about fairy tale Goldielocks and the Three Bears. I was thinking about my gold ornaments stashed away in bank locker and it seemed liked a good title for my rant.

I never liked gold, or diamonds, platinum or silver for that matter. Many elderly women and not-so-elderly women were shocked and aghast to hear this. According to them it is not a normal behaviour for a lady. If you're a woman you got to love gold (other metals). I never believed I'm a normal person. I'm unique, so each and every other human beings. I find display of ornaments ugly and tasteless. I never brought a single carat of gold for myself. Having said that I've quite a collection of gold given by my parents and that is that. During my wedding my parents' worth was directly proportional to the weightage of jewellery I exhibited according to the jerks I call relatives. 

I forbade hubby to buy me anything in yellow metal. He, himself does not believe in the concept of investing in physical gold. Sorry to bubble the burst. Buying gold is a bad investment until and unless you enjoy putting it on display. So, as a couple that part is sorted. Still extended family never gets tired of asking if my husband brought me any gold recently. During most of such conversation I zone out. And sometimes I tell he does not need to, because he has 50 kilos gold (that's me/cheeky I know).

I even wonder at few friends who jumped into this bandwagon. During our friendship we obviously never conversed about this. Otherwise I would be knowing about their craziness. Is it their original interest? Are they giving in for peer pressure? I would not know. Rather I would not want to know. Definition of happiness is different for each.  

What is this obsession we Indian have? Once upon a time it was considered Aapat Dhana (emergency money). If your finance is going in the dumps, either you sell gold or loan it out to get out of that crunch. And it was normal for people to buy gold when there was a bumper crop as our country is agriculture-based.

As for me I would trade gold for good books any day. My prerogative is simple and basic that may look abnormal to others. While their passion for some yellow metal seems irrelevant to me. I will end this rant by agreeing to disagree.

The Month That November 2020

As a tradition we never miss Deepavali to celebrate with family. However, when I heard some known elderly couple being diagnosed and admitted to hospital due to COVID at native it scared the wits out of me to cancel the plan even before it could materialize. Instead we did a day trips to Manchanabele Dam, Dodda Alada Mara, and Hesaraghatta Lake with all corona protocols. The same weekend we visited our favourite pub after 9 months. On both accounts people were not thronging mainly because of the festival. Most of the eateries and restaurants were taking all the mandatory precautions. Still I wonder when the life will be normal where we could roam around freely without masks or constantly worrying about the virus. 

Cousin M1 rented a house and set up each and every thing on her own without any help. I could not be more proud of that little girl who grew up to become this fiercely independent woman.   

The movies we have watched are The Dark Tower (English), The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (English), Devaki (Kannada), Ye Ma Yau (Malayalam), Ludo (Hindi), Over the Hedge (English), Big Brother (Malayalam), Klauss (English), Holidays in the Wild (English), Operation Christmas Drop (English), Mega Mind (English). Among them Ludo, Klauss and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tops the list. Others are okay to bad.

The web series were Body Guard (English/Netflix), Emily In Paris (English/Netflix) and Aashram 2 (Hindi/MX Player). 

The books read were Circe-Madeline Miller, Forty Rules of Love-Elif Shafak, Daddy's Girl-Danielle Steel, Anxious People-Fredrik Backman, Evidence of the Affair-Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Blue Umbrella-Ruskin Bond. Circe inspired me to read Greek mythology and hope to do the same next year maybe. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is another amazing read. Having liked his 'A Man Called Ove' this is my second book by the author. And I did the most predictible thing, picked his another Beartown. What is with Swedish writers, first it was Stieg Larsson and now Backman. Another new found author is Elif Shafak. Forty Rules of Love is about sufi saint Shams and sufi poet Rumi. Hubby started wondering who is this Shams of Tabriz I'm quoting often in our conversation. If I continued with Shafak Turkey might be our next destination for sure.

When hubby got the opportunity to work-from-home for 15 days we decided to visit the native along with cousin M1. It was good to see mother, Ammamma and others after a gap of months.

November has been good. Hope for the kind December.