Twenty- five Seven

Personally speaking

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  • June Round Up

    June Round Up

    Today, 2nd July marks exactly half the year gone by. It is a good time to take stock of the days gone by. Even though I had made no New Year resolutions this year, I did have some goals in mind and it is time to see how I fared.

    Taking Stock

    Reading moreI did manage to read more
    Blogging more regularlyNot very satisfactory
    Walking more regularlyThere were days when I did cross 5000 steps
    Losing weightFailed abysmally
    Doing yogaok ok
    Being more organisedslowly getting there
    Seeing more of the worldFailing with a big F
    Paying more attention to my groomingThere has been a remarkable change for the better
    Painting Sadly this is still not happening

    So overall if I had to give myself a score it would be C for effort and D for progress.

    The kids are back

    This year Anna Shetty and her family went off to the Himalayas to trek. Little Po and Wow Ding managed to climb up to 1450 feet in minus temperatures, across snow, icy-cold streams, and even a hailstorm.

    Prima Donna and Ms. Papaya had a totally different holiday but had fun nonetheless.

    As for me, I had planned on taking a short trip to SHOONYA, a friend’s resort in Northern Karnataka. Sadly, that plan didn’t materialise because another friend who wanted to come along bailed. Besides, the rains had begun to pour and I thought it more prudent to watch the pelting rain from my balcony rather than from a balcony in Belgundi.

    While the girls were away, I was Ithie-sitting. I also managed to have some ME TIME with my friends in the ‘burbs. We met up at Homemade café, a cosy little place opposite the Juhu Marriott. The food was tasty and plentiful, the ambience pleasant, the company scintillating, but alas. the service was slow.

    Doggie sitting made up most of MY summer holiday

    There were several books that I borrowed and returned unread simply because they didn’t really grab my attention.

    However, I did manage to go through three of them that I really found interesting.

    Book Reviews

    Looking for a book to read?

    Look no further.

    AS usual, Kinni was right when he suggested Annie Zaidi’s novel.

    Not being much of a theatre goer, I had absolutely no idea of what went on behind the scenes. I also thought that drama in small Indian towns was restricted to the traditional folk theatre. So this book was a revelation of sorts. Simply written, the book is an engaging tale of two friends whose friendship sours because of an interview given by Jaun, who attributes his success (rightly so) to his friend Asghar. Unfortunately, Asghar abandoned theatre for a more respectable and stable job in banking. In the course of the interview, Jaun’s careless remarks about how he helped Asghar in his examinations brought Asghar’s world crashing down, as he found himself jobless.

    Over the Jaun who was now an out of work, has been TV star and Asghar work on starting afresh.

    Deftly crafted, in simple language, Zaidi neatly ties up all the loose ends to spin a delightful novel.

    This newly published book has created quite a stir, being the the first Booker for an International collection of short stories.

    This translation of stories from Kannada revolves around the humdrum, everyday lives of Muslim women in small-town India. Oppression, physical and mental abuse isn’t much of a surprise seeing how male dominated most societies are. But what really shocked me was the sheer poverty and the deliberate misinterpretation of Sharia law as is followed by the small town clerics.

    The book is worth reading, but quite honestly, the grittiness got to me, and after a while, I couldn’t take the torture of the women any more.

    This seemed to be a month of rather serious reading. Normally, not the kind of book I’d pick up, James was again a suggestion by Kinni who told me that I’d enjoy it.

    The book is not really enjoyable as it is about slavery and the story of a slave who is trying to escape. Along the way, he meets several characters, chief among them being Huckleberry Finn, everyone’s favourite character invented by Mark Twain.

    James and Huck are unlikely partners as they try to make their way to the North, where slavery was illegal. Slaves had their own language ( proper spoken English) which they used only amongst themselves as they realised that part of their survival depended on how ‘amusing’ their white owners found them.

    I was quite horrified and stunned reading this book and would gladly recommend it to anyone who wants to get a clearer understanding of how enslaving and humiliating the life of a slave really can be.

    So, as July rolls out, I do hope to make better progress at the goals I have set myself.

    Have a nice month ahead.

    Ciao,

  • It’s Been a Year now

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    It seems like yesterday when I spoke to my mum. But today it’s been a year since we last spoke.

    Every morning at seven, we’d make that call while she walked outside her house. We spoke of many things- important and not so important. We spoke of things that happened long ago, of people whom we loved and hated and who sadly are no more.

    We made plans to visit far-off places, exchanged recipes, anecdotes that made us laugh and shared our grievances and sorrows.

    She was my therapist, my go-to person for times when I was lost.

    But she also got my goat at times and made me feel so bad, so useless, so unworthy and so sad.

    Yet, I spoke to her almost every day because most times I’d feel happy that we had connected.

    My children called me weird and said

    I should never have left her side if I couldn’t bear to be away from her.

    But how do I explain to them that talking to her didn’t mean I loved them any less, and visiting her didn’t mean I wanted to run away from them.

    They are my children, like I was hers, that no one can deny.

    How do I explain to them, that when I look into the mirror and smile, I see her smile back at me? I see her wrinkled hands in mine,

    When I smear my face with magic lotions or smack my lips together to set the lipstick, when I preen in all my finery, I see her look of pride.

    I can’t forget the times we shared, memories of baking cakes and decorating them with icing stars Or coming home from school and finding a new handstitched dress with flounces, bows and ribbons.

    When I say something illogical like eat your beans they’ll make you tall, I kick myself for spouting out her homilies.

    She loved to argue and to talk and be the sun in every room.

    But she also worked like a dog and could chase away all gloom. Her lovely smile and positive attitude, her zest for life, helped overcome all difficulties great and small.

    Last year she developed a brain tumour and decided to let things be. Like a river, she wanted to flow and enjoy the days that were meant to be.

    Day by day, her strength diminished, yet her spirit did remained strong. She woke up every morning with the conviction that it was going to be the best day of her life.

    When friends and family came to visit, she would be chattering away. At times she spoke a load of rubbish, her head muddled up with thoughts. But when her mind was very lucid, she shocked me with her memory.

    I miss you mum. It’s been one whole year since I spoke to you. And soon it will be two, three and more.

    And then one day, you’ll call my name and speak to me like your mother did to you last year.

    Ciao,

  • Is it too late to save the planet?

    Today is World Environment Day. It was first held in 1973, and it has been a global platform with over 143 countries organising various programmes to make us aware of environmental problems.

    But for all the noise that has been generated over the past 52 years celebrating World Environment day on 5th June and marking World Earth Day on April 22nd ( first celebrated in 1970), nothing really seems to have changed.

    My visit to Meghalaya in October 2021 was disappointing, with mountains shorn to make way for roads and also to exploit natural resources like Limestone and believe it or not sand!

    The famed waterfalls were mere trickles.

    In Mumbai itself, we’ve had a major landslide down the road, flash floods and this year, unseasonal rains that brought the city to a standstill.

    Once known for its even temperature year round, last year we needed a fan and air conditioning even in our so-called Mumbai winter.

    This year, the summer temperatures shot up to the 40s, something we had never ever heard of.

    People still use plastic, and thermocol is still used in packaging. In fact, the Municipality has refused to collect thermacol waste and non-biodegradable waste from building sites and societies without providing an alternate way of getting rid of this waste.

    Electric cars may save fossil fuel, but what about the other waste they create??

    Thanks to social media and the increase in people’s aspirations, more people are travelling than they ever did before. With plane routes making formerly inaccessible places accessible, anyone can go to Finland to see the Northern Lights or sail to the Galapagos Islands to see the exotic flora and fauna.

    What do all these conferences do?

    This year WED is being hosted by South Korea. Over 1300 delegates from 20 countries will participate. The theme is to stop plastic pollution.

    But consider how many people will be flying around to and from Jeju Island? What about all the waste that the conference will generate? Traffic? Food and water wastage? Badges and lanyards for the attendees?

    And, at the end of it all, we will still use plastic to pack our goods, we will still carry disposable bottles and still generate more harmful waste.

    Which brings me back to my original question

    IS IT TOO LATE TO SAVE THE PLANET?

    Ciao

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