Two Pumpkins

When the lazy woman was a new bride, she was really lazy and one glorious late morning, after the elaborate breakfast at her marital home was over, she bolted the door of her room which is conveniently constructed on a different floor than where the most of the household stays. She then snoozed away to dreamland as the late October noon's Sun shone on her window, keeping her cozily asleep.

During that nap, she had one of the most vivid dreams of her life, the memories of which still thrill her in a pleasant way.

In her dream, she heard a knock on the door of this same room and when she opened it, two huge yellow pumpkins were there, tumbling and shaking as if they have some form of animated life. 'Hi there, we're here!', as if they were trying to say, very happily moving to finally have found the right address. The lazy women knew instinctively that they were named Veeru and Badal, the pumpkins were! 

I woke up, my hair raised at ends. It may sound most unreasonable to you, but I thought I had seen my two kids. And when Coco was born a few years later, half of the dream came true too. On the surface, I was not sure about the second half, but it stayed with me in my heart of hearts. 

It still feels like a surreal dream to the lazy woman, but yes, the other half has actually come true. As I write this post, the little pumpkin is dreaming dreams in his little bed, making faces and little sounds. So, Yeah! Coco is a big brother now to a little boy. Together these two pumpkins are keeping my heart warm while the rain is pouring outside, cooling down the surroundings by many degrees.

मीठी बेरियां, मीठी यादें

Greetings from the lazy woman and her peeps. We all are enjoying sunny February days, with a variety of fruit trees and a few blossoms in a yard the size of a farm. The blossoms are actually very  few and what you are seeing above is one slightly better corner, photographed at a tricky angle to appear somewhat like a blooming garden. My parents are here for a few months and I am getting the best kind of pampering and 'Ma ke haath ka khaana' (mom's food) after so many years. Not only that, my mother and I try to stay healthy by walking within the compound and doing a few breathing exercises.

During one such walk, we went to one far end of the yard where wild plum (ber) shrubs grow. I squealed with delight at finding the ripening wild fruits, instantly remembering my school days. My school was in an Air Force Station, surrounded with forested area. Outside the school gate, there was a small clear area where we used to wait after school for our school rickshaw or bus to pick us up. Some of the adventurous kids would utilize this waiting time by finding these 'ber' shrubs which were all around in abundance, and would venture deep into them to pluck these fruits, braving the thorny bushes, wasps, insects or occasional snakes even.

I had joined this school in 4th standard and most of these kids had been there since beginning. Being small and new, I used to accompany these adventurers sometimes or stay back with the sensible ones on some days. Though, sometimes a parent or teacher or a 'parent who is a teacher' would surprise us and on such occasions, the adventurer kids would run for their lives. (I used to thank my stars for staying back on these occasions) Some of them would be caught and their 'bers' would be confiscated. The fruits turned out to be mostly small and unripe, plucked in haste and greed. The lectures/admonishing/scolding that they would get used to be harsh. So much trouble for such little 'fruit'.

Looking at this large bowl of wild plums and remembering... those naughty adventurer souls, those studious 'didis' who would warn them, those inspecting parents, that rickety rickshaw that would show up an hour late, those thorny scratches, those bulging pockets full of green wild fruits and those victorious smiles of the wanderer fruit gatherers... oh! Come back you scoundrels and I would give you this plate of plums, this whole bowl, those entire shrubs even... if only you would bring back those precious childhood days once more!

(It might look strange that the topic of this post is in Hindi. I could not find any words in English that would express the underlying sentiment like these words do. Thank you for bearing.)

Snippets

Time is speeding these days in Cocoville. The lazy woman is literally juggling a multitude of activities and loving it all! Add the festive season to the scene and watch her going crazy multitasking. 

1. Celebrating the wintry festivals which arrive like a train, beginning way back at Dussehra and going on till Makar Sankranti in January. To us, festive season also means all our birthdays and anniversaries. Both Coco and 'Bringing Up Coco' became 4 year olds, one a naughty preschooler and the other a creative outlet, both of them bringing oodles of happiness to me.

2. Going dizzy receiving orders at 'Pink Pitari', making stuff and delivering them. It is hugely satisfying to watch my craft dream grow. 

3. Creating marvels like 'Chinese Chilli Idli', an absolute makeover of these desi delicacies into something unrecognizable. These turned out well.

4. Receiving such pictures from delighted customers and feeling great that my absolutely rustic work is actually finding place into people's nicely decorated living rooms.  

 5. Doing Zumba, getting fitter by the day and enjoying the company of amazing army wives full of energy, inspiration and good vibes. Seen above is my incredibly motivated and awesome Zumba instructor who by the way is also an army wife. 

6. Completing craft courses one after another and crafting to my heart's content. This place has a dedicated hobby centre and most of us are making the most of it. Last week it was candle making which I did with a close friend and we totally rocked at it. Before candles, it was decoupage and mural art is lined up to be the next. Not only did we make all the candles in the course package, we also shared a lot of new ideas from the internet and the very talented instructor herself learned a thing or two from our brainstorming! She is a local woman who does not have much access to the internet for ideas, learning new skills or selling her handmade stuff, but she still has a room full of amazing crafts, a lot of which has been picked from army wives like us during instructing them, I think. The above candle is one of almost a dozen candles and all those flowers are handmade with wax. Reminds me of my wild roses!

7. Learning to take good pictures with my new digital camera, highly inspired by the friend who did 'Pink Pitari's' first photo shoot. In the above picture, I have tried to go artsy by using one of my candles as a flower vase. I hope to learn soon!

8. Exploring an amazing craft outlet in the neighborhood and amazed to find great stuff and superb yarns in a place where it is difficult to find even the basic craft supplies. Bought a few supplies and made a wishlist of the gorgeous yarns that Pony craft store have at their factory outlet in the Nilgiris.

9. Visiting beautiful places and getting lost in the amazement. Visited a tea factory last month and saw the journey of teeny tiny tea leaves from gardens to tea cups. Truly mesmerizing...

10. Meeting talented army wives and getting surprised to find that there are many like me. This Diwali, I made these two handmade purchases, a paper lamp by an army wife who is also a Madhubani painter and sells her work through Facebook; and a tea-light holder candle, also by an army wife who shared my stall and goes by the name Candle CRAFT on Facebook. Not only this, my surroundings are buzzing with creative energy from other entrepreneurs like chocolatiers, bakers, painters... you name it, I have them here!

Love, Shove And Blue Hills

Loving It: 

1. Tea: This incredible place has so much to offer to tea lovers like me. The fact that I have a tea lover neighbor increases the charm manifolds. I had swore off green tea, even for health reasons. She introduced me to her super tasty green tea infused with black pepper, ginger, lemon juice, sweetened with jaggery and now I am addicted to it. Then she went off to the local market and bought these ultra delicious flavored black tea bags and kindly gave me samples from each flavor. Now I am crazily in love with these and have declared Peach flavor tea the love of my life. I gifted one pack to my sister who confirmed that they tasted amazing.  

                            

But since the pack has four different flavors, I am saving trying to save the peach tea bags, having them very occasionally, because, hey, that's what you do with the things you love most. You keep them. But there are days like today when it is just me and my peach tea. So Peach tea it is! Cheers!

2. This Weather, This Place:  The weather here is amazing and while the rest of India was burning under the scorching sun during June and July, we were curling up under cozy quilts and sipping the above mentioned beverage, clad in sweatshirts and woollen socks. The incredibly picturesque blue hills and the green carpet like tea gardens spread about us create a magical scenery together. Though I am busy in other activities so much that I rarely find time for a walk these days, the knowledge is enough that I can take a walk in bright green tea gardens under swirling steamy clouds whenever I wish.  

Shoving It:

1. This Weather, This Place (Again!): While the list of lovely things about this place can still go on, the only thing that is enough to spoil all the love is the prevalence to common cold and cough in this environment. Cold, gloomy and damp atmosphere and sunlight playing peek-a-boo are the usual weather details here which make people, especially children susceptible to viral infections and once the illness starts, it spreads like a wave in the entire neighborhood. A couple of weeks ago, almost every human being in sight, man or woman, adult or child was coughing and sneezing, harbouring germs and passing on the legacy to others who were not sick. All this becomes overwhelming and unbearable after a point and one wants to run away to a sunny and cheerful place. And if you are someone who reads this blog regularly, you would know the exact location I am talking about. Oh, how I miss those sunny days that I spent nestled in my bean bag!

To add to the gloom, sometimes the wind starts howling unpredictably. It goes on for many days at end and the noise makes one go crazy. It is louder than an ocean and gives us sleepless nights. On the second (also the topmost) floor of a building which stands high on a hill, this howling and growling wind is even more noisier and makes me feel like a caged bird. I would not have mentioned this noisy wind if it would have stopped only at that. Take a look at the following picture.

The broken tree as seen above was standing in front of a window which also provided me an awesome view of the town spread on the hill in front of our neighborhood. One windy morning I woke up and thought something was missing in the entire view from the window. After a few moments I realized that the green foliage that framed the scene was missing and my jaw dropped as I peeped outside. The tree had broken into half vertically and then had fallen on the road, incidentally on our car boot, scarring it minorly. My sweet tree which was also home to many birds was gone, and my car was dented, all because of this unsettling and utterly noisy wind. 

When my maid told me that the weather was going to stay like this for a couple of months, I was heartbroken, Thankfully, it got over after a week or so and it is not windy anymore apart from an occasional cool breeze. At least we are sleeping comfortably. Phew!

The blue hills have been a mixed experience till now. It is taking a lot of effort to like this place, quite different from Himalayas, which are effortlessly adorable and feel like home. I cannot say it enough that I miss those Himalayan days!

Century Post: Reminiscing Through Pictures!

What happens when someone scores a century? The highlights of their innings are shown. So as the lazy woman is finally scoring a century of blog posts, highlights of her blog-life are a must. For this express purpose, I tried to collect a few favorite images published on this blog. These images have meant a lot to me, because to me, these are frozen chunks of time gone by. These are moments that meant a lot to me for many reasons or even without a reason. These images open floodgates of memories and nostalgia. (Links of relevant posts at the end of descriptions.)

 

 I have tried for long to use the first image as my blog banner(mission not accomplished due to technical challenges). It is a wall art done by some art students based on the above picture of me and Coco. We were hosting a ladies club meet, and as everyone was getting their picture clicked with this rainbow umbrella at the end, Coco came running, having found me after hours of separation. He would not leave me for getting a solo picture clicked. So, we got this picture together. Little did I know that it will be such an iconic picture to inspire artists.

 The image above is the first image on the first blog post. Those were the days when I used to spend all my time with Coco, quietly in my room, clicking a lot of pictures. The image reminds me of those early days of motherhood. It does not make me very happy though. Too many reasons! Link

 

 Looking at sweet pudgy hands and feet of a sleeping baby can make any mother happy. It was a matter of special joy for me to see my prematurely born underweight son fully recovered and turned into a chubby little cutie within three months of being born.

Tiny feet and little legs! Coco had just learnt walking, and would wobble away, wearing shorts that were too long for him. I could capture this precious shot after a lot of missed opportunities and blurry images.  Link

 We all were on a trip to Pathankot, and one evening, the guys decided to take a walk. I tagged along, hopping and skipping, plucking leaves and flowers, listening to birds, feeling the breeze in my hair, when I spotted a  cloro...dendro..er..rhodo..um...chlamy...WTH.. a Dandelion...! Clicked it instantly, before its strands could separate and fly away. Link

 We had just started setting up a new home. It was a first for Coco. He might have thought of helping us by categorizing things like above. A new insight in home decor.

What happens when little people meet other little creatures? This beautiful image, clicked in Rock Garden, Chandigarh. 

This bell was bought from Bikaner, though it is a product of Moradabad clearly. It was beautiful and I literally loved it. Sadly, it was stolen when we were not at home. This image reminds me of the lovely Bikaner trip, the first Diwali that we three celebrated together, of the joyous festivities and beginning of sweet pink cold weather in Doon valley. I have been trying to find a similar bell, but all my efforts have not yielded any fruit. Soon, I hope! Link

In the picture above, Coco is sitting on top of and amid his birthday gifts, on his second birthday. It was a busy day for me, but I still managed to click this cute picture. It was quite unlike his first birthday, which was an utter chaos, with barely a memorable picture of the day. Link

 I was merely splashing colours, trying to get a feel of free hand painting. The resulting image became the background image of 'Bringing Up Coco's' Facebook page. Why do I love this image? Look at those colors and ask again! Link

 The joy that I experienced when I came back home after a week long trip is still with me, in the form of this image. Those days were really incredible. Link

 One look at this image, and the lovely spring scents come back to  me. A picture is more than a visual sometimes. Link

The picture above was taken on a visit to my parents, last year. The visit was quite a memorable one for many reasons, especially bad reasons. During this visit, the Nepal earthquake came, which shook us all up pretty badly. Though we were safe, it had a deep impact on our minds. Even at the slightest shaking of furniture I am sitting on reminds me of the day I ran three flights of stairs barefoot with Coco clutched in my arms.  Link

A paper boat is always loaded with memories. This image is a reminder of the friends who brought me a gift wrapped in this beautiful paper, the beautiful rainy day and the thrill of making paper boats for Coco. On top of everything, it reminds me of the story that I wrote about monsoon, the reason why I made this paper boat and clicked a picture. Link

A lovely sunny day in Himalayan winters, a long walk in Landour, Mussoorie with friends and a refreshing brew of ginger, honey and lemon, with a satisfying snack, this picture says it all.   

 Just my favorite, for no specific reasons. 

The image of this setup and its accompanying blog post got me a winner's seat in a blogging contest, with some good shopping vouchers up for grabs. As much as I enjoyed the shopping, I loved this whole setup even more. Because at the end of it, I got to sip this lip smacking lemon tea. Mmmm!  Link

Images from parents' home are always full of stories and nostalgia. My mom had bought these dolls for us sisters from Banaras after a lot of pleading, when I was a kid. The little pot was probably a gift my sister got from her friends in school. My mother keeps these and all our stuff safely and lovingly. When I went home with Coco, needless to say he was very attracted towards these, and soon the dolls started losing their limbs. I salvaged what I could and clicked a few pictures before the naughty boy would totally destroy my precious toys.  

 Before I threw away the empty cocoa powder container, I spotted COCO written on it and immediately took a picture, profoundly proud of my artistic eye. 

 

These colored feet have a long story. Traditionally, in Eastern UP and Bihar, married women colour their feet with 'Alta' on any auspicious occasion or while travelling etc. Coco and I had to catch a train that evening, when my mother called her domestic help to colour my feet. Coco was very interested in this activity and I allowed him to get his feet dyed too. Irony is that we missed our train that day. We traveled two days later in a sleeper coach, through a hot May night. I swatted mosquitoes all night, standing near the middle berth that Coco slept on while he turned and twisted and cried intermittently, only half asleep. All the red dye could not make our journey happy. But looking back from here, all this looks like an adventure, especially with these red feet.

During school and college, I used to read a lot. My mother has kept all the books that I bought during that time. On my last trip home, I re-read a short story collection by Munshi Premchand. This particular part from the story 'Eidgaah' had me in tears. It is written beautifully. I aspire to write stories like this one day. The shot was worth saving.

There was a phase when Coco used to pretend cooking. He liked it so much, he did it all day long. While I fed him khichdi hidden under soupy instant noodles, he prepared all kinds of exotic dinners for me, even ice creams and cold drinks. He served me beverages in saucers and his cakes were made up of building blocks. But boy, did they taste amazing! Or at least I pretended so. Link

Those initial day of his playschool were quite a job for me. He stayed for only an hour in the school and while I waited outside in my car, I used to bring a snack and something to do. The doodling paid off, as I used them in making ladies meet invites. Link

Why would I not show off my embroidering skills, when all I was required to do was use a permanent marker for Coco's lunch box napkins? Sometimes, I am a pain in my own neck! Anyway, loved doing this.   

When we are talking about the best images of this blog, this one has to come up. I would not write a lot because I already did quite a marathon series of posts about these. I just love looking at these pictures, wondering when will I have so much time again! Link

Cars, cars and more cars. Coco is in love with cars. The above picture is from an evening in Mussoorie. Lovely time! Link

 On this particular day of his school, Coco was dressed as Hanumanji, in a red dhoti made with my dupatta, though he was also wearing a red shirt and an orange sweatshirt owing to the cold weather. His dad made him a 'gada' fashioned with a ball and a stick and a newspaper tail. After dressing him fully in this costume, I laughed for a whole minute. When I went to pick him up later, the dhoti had come off and the tail had withered, hanging from his waist. 

 My beloved rosebush. I am so in love with these flowers, it seems crazy sometimes. I had no other plants to transport but I made grafts of these rosebushes and happily hauled them to Nilgiris. The plants are doing well. I intend to keep them forever. Link

 After I copied this from internet and it came out pretty okay, I assured myself that I could draw and paint if it came to it. Even small successes count, don't they? Link

 My first ever published story. Is it the beginning of a journey or the end? In fact, I cannot decide, nor do I know. But it felt good definitely! Who knows what comes next?

 An image that signifies the bond that we share, Coco and I. What's not to love?

The last picture ever that was taken in my lawn in the previous station, after the truck was loaded. I was tired and sad, but also excited and happy. Moving is such a part and parcel of army life, that it makes us feel all these emotions at the same time, and we love it!