A couple of days back I was thinking of an old song which was picturised on Jumping jack Jeetendra, thunderous Sridevi and Daphli waali Daphne Jaya Pradha. I wonder if you guys remember that song,

“Tohfa, tohfa, tohfa…” Immediately after crooning the song strategically placed yellow flowers would drop from the heroine’s bosom or the hero’s white pants and the lyrics would continue…

“Laaya, Laaya, Laaya…”

Boy, I used to hum this song often in the Chitrahaar era of Doobara darshan err, I mean Doordarshan.

I would call Doordarshan as Doobaradarshan little realising that today’s TV channels are all baaps of re- runs.

Ok, so what reminded me of this song, Jaya Pradha of course? She is a political dancer these days.

I see her singing “Tohfa, Tohfa,Tohfa ….” and her devoted party workers keep crooning, “Diya, diya, diya…” while distributing the 100-100 ke notes to the one and only, "aam aadmi".

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Now, apun ka munnabhai also has decided to help the "aam aadmi" with the help of "Mulayam Amar rahen!"

I heard that Sunju baba has a fleet of phoren cars, his pride to give all the desi babes a ride.

But Sunju baba has different plans for aam aadmi !!

He says, “hamari cycle….aapki cycle aur hum sab ki cycle jis par baith kar hum ko Dilli tak jaana hai…”

Cycle par bechara aam aadmi, hum aapko iski ” Maanyata ” nahi dete.

Sunju bhai, aapki sawaari agar cycle par nikli toh bahut time na lag jaaye, itne mein kahin TADA na pakad le aapko.

Kyun khopdi ke khopche mein baat ghusi kya ki Circuit ko bhej doon !!

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Sharad Powar keeps crooning…” HE MAN…I HAVE THE eternal POWER”

His agenda seems not to worry too much about any party or rather the lack of it.

Third front or affront (Modi et al), I will continue to pull my stunt and wear the money minting POWARFUL BCCI bouffant.

If Sunju baba can do it, then why not Ajju bhai!!

Congress is helping Mohammad Azharuddin reach Hazrat Nizamuddin.

Ajju bhai's main agenda on coming to power would be to legalise betting and match fixing.

He will also make sure that the cocktail of bollywood, cricket and politics remains heady as ever for the aam aadmi.

**********************************************************************

Jai ho has been patented by congress and why would BJP lag behind. With the perennial infighting in BJP, even they have patented a Rehman number.

These days Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley are singing, "hat ja hat ja re hat jaaaa hat jaaaa re..hat hat hat hat…"

Poor Advani ji , worry not !! I have a song for you too.

"Kabhi kabhi Advaniji life mein aisa hota hai..

Rajnath aur Jaitley toh bas bahut ladta hai..

Aise mein Sushma aur Modi bhi dekho kya kare..

Aap dekho PM banne ke dher saare sapney

And aam aadmi says everything's gonna be okay!!"

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Lux kya scene hai !! Oooh la la !! enter Miss Maya….

Pehle public mein cake khaati thi ab sabko dinner khilaati hai aur kehti hai,

"Chal, chal, chal mere haathi,

Le chal tu mujhe Dilli..

Banti hoon main Pradhaan Mantri

American ho yaa cheeni

Brahman ho ya teli

karti hoon sabki chutti…"

Red brigade is the first to come up with the most innovative and brand new manifesto.

Say No to capitalism, Say No to America, Say No to UPA, NDA…..

Say No…

NO is the only yes we KNOW !!

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Finally, decisions time…

Forget the election…

Screw the sikkurity..

Let's play Kirkit and dupe the aam aadmi says Lallan Jugaad to Lungi appan in Dilli.

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Rahul baba lagta hai is baar bhi aapka sheegra patan ho jaayega !!

On a serious note, I hope every Indian with a right to vote exercises it to bring in, as Laloo ji says the "Weel of the peepul".

PS: The title is inspired from the sublime poetic beauty of 1980's from the film Himmatwala. If this is not divine and profound I don't know what is !!

PS2 : Sahil..Lallan Jugaad is Lalit Modi..the perennial jugaadu chhaap dantmanjan and PC, our sofa cum bed, I mean previous finance minister to current home minister..samjhe Jee !!

I was thinking where this king of humour has disappeared. There is hardly anyone on this iLand or rather in the whole blogging world who does not know VT.
vixx for kix.

vixx.rediffiland.com
 
And then I receive this mail from him.

देवीयों एवं सज्जनों अत्यंत हास्यमय शेरों शायरी फ्रॉम वीटी
बहुत लाइन मारा वीटी भाई ने परंतु हम तो ऐसे ही इनके कायल हैं और घायल भी.
लोगबाग आप भी पढ़ लें.
तो वीटी साहब अर्ज़ फरमाते हैं

पैखाने में हम क्या बैठे थे, समझ कर मैखाना,
पैखाने में हम क्या बैठे थे, समझ कर मैखांना
पानी का डब्बा हम पी गये, समझ कर पैमाना

एक और सुनिए

मुल्ला अगर असर है दुआ में तो मस्जिद को हिला कर दिखा
अगर नहीं तो दो घूँठ पी और खुद मस्जिद को हिलता देख.

VT take a bow for the way you make us laugh!!
 

"But why Sirjee?? "The surd asks.

"Just like that!! " The male protagonist replies.

A conversation with the cab driver with twenty five minutes to spare before the movie ends. And to me, that pretty much sums up the ethos of Dev.

"Just like that!!"

You watch it, soak it in, chew it and then either spit it or absorb it but whatever you do, Anurag Kashyap and his team make sure that, ignore you certainly cannot !!

Like a cow, I am still in the chewing phase.

Ok, let me not go back into the danger zone of cows, I will stick to Dev for now.

Dev. The quintessential unidimensionally self destructive male. His pathos intentional. Afterall, that is the only thing he knows, getting his high from self pity and self loathing. Alcohol, ecstasy, roll up joints, coke, women and men around are means to that end.  Like an interesting friend of mine says, "There is a Devdas hidden in all of us!"

The middle class sense of achieving a security in life pushes him back into the closet and locks him up. For good? I don't really know!

Paro and Chanda. A welcome relief in this tale of yonder. Sure, they go through some painfully distressing events but those incidents don't stop them from moving on. "Moving on" a clichéd word in the movie and in life. Sounds a lot more pleasing to the ears than saying "I compromised!"

The dialogues, the mannerisms very much in keeping with the present times. No melodrama here. Double meaning innuendo, unashamedly rude both in language and signs, might make some cringe but hey, there is nothing naive about this affair.

And yet there is ample display of innocence! The case in point is the scene where Chanda takes the mickey out of Dev for not being able to say the word "Randi" and instead he beating around the bush with words like commercial sex worker.

For the one who has not seen it, this might shock but if you have; how can  you ignore the smile on Chanda's face as it lights up her eyes while mouthing the word!! It has innocence written all over it and needless to say that is one of my favourite shots. Thumbs up vodka ke saath is another interesting one.

The scenes are a visual delight. The neon lit streets of Paharganj come alive and so do the scenes in the village, absolutely natural and real. This is no pink candy floss; the only pink is the French boudoir. The only white is the Florence Nightingale of the night. The only black is the suits men wear. And there is  plenty of grayscale; just like life.

Music. Much has been written about the music of the movie too. 18 songs and I personally was begging for more. From folk to international feel, from desi band to fusion, soft rock to hardcore, there is just about everything. From soft soothing touch to ears to soul curry. Everything.

I have been dancing away for the last two days. My personal favourites are Pardesi and Nayan Tarase. The sheer brilliance of the music is that every song just plays in the background. More as a prop to the event rather than breaking the continuity of this non-linear movie. It has been some time since harmonium, sitar, guitar, piano, dhol, tabla, paayal have all been amalgamated seamlessly.

The lyrics. I need to say a few words here too. Nayan tarase, nayan tarase donon se bahe dhaar. Irony!!

Patna ke pelvis and theirEmosanal atyachaar and trejady (spelling error intended) pronounced exactly that way but when it comes to crooning the word Hore (W is silent and invisible too intentionally) perfect pronounciation. Irony again!!

Personally, this movie felt like a treasure cove. As many interpretations and takes as your mind and time allows.

I am in Fursatganj again today. With nothing better to do I decided to continue a few more of the medical stories.

This time I decided to include my dear mom, some patients and Dubey Sir in my series…I will say these were lessons rather than humour accounts that I learnt as part of my medical life.
 
La Innocence

I am the only odd peg in my whole family which comprises of mostly engineers of all shapes and sizes. My poor mother was innocence personified and I, the devil reincarnate!!
For my parents and cousins it was a matter of curiosity about how we were taught medicine, how we were ragged and so on and so forth.They would listen in awe to even the silliest of the stuff that I had to tell.
That, I love rambling and making up stories was something only dad knew. He would always reprimand me saying, "Don't tell cock and bull stories” Nevertheless, he would chuckle at the flight that my fantasy took.
Let me not become a fantasia and come back to the land where mom and cousins were sitting. I was telling them how unclaimed dead bodies were sent our way for learning dissection and that there would be 100 medical students and we were divided into batches of ten, and each batch was given one body for the whole year to practice dissection skills in anatomy.

Out of ten bodies, there would only be one or two female bodies and the rest would be male.
Obviously, female bodies were equally important due to anatomical reasons and we would swap places just to learn and those who posessed the female bodies always acted pricey!!
I began describing the gory details to my mom about how we would dissect the groin region, one student would read, the other would dissect and the rest would either watch or chat away to glory.
So she said, ” aise hi, sabke saamne….so when do you guys remove their clothes?? ”

” Mom, it’s a dead body they don’t wear clothes. They are frozen in formalin. “
 
” My goodness, so many of you just jump on the bodies, poor souls!”

I was taken aback by her innocence but it set me thinking. So, many things that people of my profession assume as matter of fact must be quite chilling and daunting for others. But I somehow had to pacify my poor mother, so I said to her, "Ma, what these dead people do is a far greater service to humanity than can be comprehended. If it weren’t for people like them, how would we know what to do, and how to treat you living people. ”

“Better to practice on them than you!!”
 
That answer pretty much shut my poor mother’s questions or chastising exclamations for good!!

Here's to Atmaram, never knew him in life but my companion after his death for 18 long months.
 

Guys, those of you who came running because of the title, apologies!!! I do have a nasty sense of humour although sometimes, I crack a joke at my own expense. Well, well, nothing that was on your mind friends, this was a simple exercise I decided to take up after reading PKMadhavan's old post titled, "The threes of my life." Well, he being the gentleman he titled it decently and me the naughty streaked one decided to go for something jhakaaassss….So, here it goes, just another tag blog, but to be honest I enjoyed taking up this one the most as there were many things that I rediscovered about myself.

 Three things that scare me

1        The look of grief on others faces when I know I am the reason for it.

2        Being in the donut of death. (Yes, MRI scanners freak me out)

3        Being judged.

Three people who make me laugh

1        Pseudo intellectuals.

2        Mr Bean and Brits in general with their sense of humour.

3        God, if he is around.

Three things I love

1        Solitude and soliloquy and observing things silently.

2        Reading with my cuppa tea and music playing in the background.

3        Making others laugh and happy.

Three things I hate

1        Bullies, being taken advantage of.

2        Disrespect towards work ie latecomers, callous attitude, shirking work.

3        Men who think every" bindaas" girl is game.

Three things I don't understand

1        Intolerance of any kind ie religious, moral or what have you.

2        Vindictiveness, apathy and selfishness.

3        People who don't have balls to stand up to their mistakes.

Three things on my desk

1        A photograph frame of me and my sister when we were both 5 at different times with a personalised message from my mother.     (The same frame adorns my sister's desk too)

2        The latest edition of BNF (British National Formulary) and stacks of case papers and reports.

3        A dark blue coloured Littman stethoscope.

 Three things I am doing right now

1        Waiting for my interview cum exam results, worrying about my dad's health.

2        Reading "A passage to England" by Nirad C Chaudhuri

3        Blogging (I call this part of my life as the blogging phase)

Three things I want to do before I die

1        Learn one musical instrument.

2        Write a fiction book.

3        To see every nook and corner of "Incredible India".

Three things I can do

1        Listen patiently even when the other person is being downright abusive and spiteful.

2        Forgive unconditionally but maybe not forget.

3        Make friends and keep them too.

Three things you should listen to

1        A call for help.

2        Little ones and their amazingly imaginative stories.

3        Ghanapaatis chanting in Sanskrit, MS Subbulakshmi's Suprabhatam, the sound of  Ganges at Hrishikesh and then at Haridwar, music in general and sometimes silence.

Three things you should never listen to

1        Sugar coated praise.

2       'I 'specialists and pessimists.

3        Men bragging about their conquests.

Three things I'd like to learn

1        To be able to say "NO" without sounding apologetic and guilty.

2        To stay focussed and look ahead.

3        To cook a meal better than my mom and get my dad to praise me. (So far have been unsuccessful)

Three favourite books (tough call here! I wish I could add a few more!!)

1        Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, JLS by Richard Bach

2        Godaan by Munshi Premchand

3        Man, Woman and Child & Doctors by Erich Segal

Three favourite foods

1        Alu ke paranthe with a cup of dahi and nimbu ka achaar

2        Pithla with hot plain white basmati rice

3        Methi malai matar & banarasi pulao

Three beverages I drink regularly

1        Ek pyaali chai with a few drops of milk and half a teaspoon of sugar, angrezi ishtyle.

2        Water.

3        Tomato juice with salt and pepper and a generous dash of Tabasco sauce.

Three TV shows/books I watched/read when I was a kid

1        Malgudi days, Bharat Ek Khoj, Mogli (although when Mogli came I wasn't a kid anymore) Siddharth Basu's quiz show (the name beats me!!), He Man.

2        Panchatantra Tales, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Arabian nights, Amar Chitra Katha, Chandamama.

3        Heidi, Tintin, Archie and most comic strips, Nancy Drew's, Enid Blyton's and wot not !!

I would like to tag:

I have decided to let this one go without taking names. I invite everyone on to the floor, whoever is keen; please the show is all yours.J

“Appa, this letter just came in the post for you today. It doesn’t have the sender’s name at the back; it has come from California, USA. Shall I open it??”  Inquisitiveness piqued all over Mili’s bright eyes.
 
” Leave it on my study desk, Mili. I know who has sent that mail. I will read at leisure after dinner. “
 
” Appa, who is it?? I also want to know, I am curious. “
 
” Mili, who else lives in California that we know, it is your Kacchu !! He must have written to let us know that he will not be able to make it to the wedding. “
 
” Appa, please open it now, don’t you want to know what Kacchu has to say?? Please appa!! “
 
” As if you still remember him! Do you?? sare, ask amma to make me a nice cup of coffee and then you can read out the letter yourself, ok??”
 
Mili jumped elatedly and hurriedly arrived into the kitchen. The sense of urgency evident in her voice, ” Amma, please, quickly make a small cup of coffee for appa. Only, then he will allow me to read Kacchu’s mail.”
 
” Mythili, you are going to be married in two weeks time!! I have taught you everything; you make the coffee for appa and take it. If you don’t practise now and make a mess in your mother-in-law’s house, she will hold me responsible for not teaching you anything.” Vijayanthi shouted with mock anger.
 
“Amma, after two weeks for the rest of my life this is what I will have to do. Let me enjoy now. “Mili had affectionately hugged Vijayanthi at which she gave in.
 
” Mili, ask amma to make one more cup of coffee, Gowtham Uncle is here too. ” appa’s voice could be heard  echoing from a distance in the hall.
 
Hummmphhh. Chhha.Why did Gowtham uncle have to come now, Mili had muttered to herself and walked off to her room stomping her feet. Now, the letter will not be opened until Gowtham uncle has a hearty meal, discusses all the plans of the wedding, updates amma about all the gossip from the boy’s family and only after, he has the betelnut and another set of coffee will he walk towards his home. By then appa will be so tired that he will not open the letter until his Sandhyavandanam and Gayatri japam in the morning.
 
With a resignation in her demeanor at the postponement of an interesting event Mili went back to her room.
 
Mili began skimming through the recesses of her overflowing bookshelf. She knew the colour of the big bound book so well. But try as she might tonight when she wanted to look it up the most, she could not find it. As she continued her fishing, a pile of books from the top shelf fell on the floor. Mili picked them up to rearrange and there it was, “Panchatantra Tales”.
 
“Yes, I found it!!”.
 
Dropping the rest of the pile on a nearby stool with a mental note to sort them later, Mili took the book to her bed.
 
Her face beamed as she leafed through the first page of the yellow coloured book where lay the neatly written lines in green ink,

“My dearest Mili, For you, stories to last a lifetime. Affectionately, your’ Kacchu. “
 
Her thoughts drifted away to the first time she had met Kacchu almost ten years back.
 
” Mythili, say hello to Karim Uncle. He is our next door neighbour and will be working with me on our latest project. “
 
Frightened at the sight of his black beard and moustache in spite of his inviting hand she  had withdrawn and scuttered to hide behind her amma’s saree. For the rest of the evening Mili had continuously looked at Karim Uncle but when he extended his hand in affection she would instantly turn her gaze and interest elsewhere.
 
A few days later Narayan Rao, Mili’s father had delightfully noticed that the ice had broken between Karim and Mythili. He could hear Mythili giggling and saying, “I will not call you Karim Uncle or Karim Chachu, it’s too long, I will call you Kacchu. “
 
“But, Mythili, Kacchu doesn’t sound very nice. If you continue to insist then, I will also stop calling you Mythili and give you a name too!!” Narayan Rao could overhear Karim teasing Maithili.
 
“What, what will you call me, tell me please. Ok, now I am definitely going to call you Kacchu. “Maithili had widened her eyes to make them look even bigger and brighter.
 
“How about Mili???” Karim had asked.
 
Mili had loved that name and so did Narayan Rao. So, the names Mili and Kacchu came into being with each christening the other. It was Vijayanthi’s traditional upbringing and certain prejudices that neither did she call Karim as Kacchu nor did she ever change her Mythili to Mili.
 
More memories flashed to the day they had all been invited for dinner at Kacchu’s home.
 
Vijayanthi had insisted that it was not necessary and that Kacchu could have dinner at their place instead. But, Kacchu was adamant, afterall he had dinners at their place on many occasions and he was keen to return the gesture.
 
Vijayanthi had informed Kacchu that she was fasting and he should cook only for Maithili and her father.
 
“Kacchu, what have you cooked?? Have you made omlette and roti??” Mili had asked greedily.
 
“Maithili, we are vegetarians, you should not eat egg.”
 
“But, amma I want to, please, Let me try once. “
 
Vijayanthi had explained to Mili how they were Brahmins and they did not eat any eggs or meat. If any of the relatives came to know it would look extremely bad on their part at not having brought Mili up properly.
 
Mili had assured Vijayanthi that she knew how to keep a secret just as she was not going to tell Kacchu that Vijayanthi was not fasting. Vijayanthi had been shocked at Mili’s display of bargaining powers.
 
 
Looking at the quandary that Vijayanthi had been in, Kacchu had teased Mili while whipping the eggs up,
“If you eat omlette what will your attamma ( mother in law) say when you go to their place??”
 
“Ha, I will make my mother in law eat omlettes too.” had come Mili’s reply playfully.
 
Narayan Rao had laughed off their silly but entertaining conversation.
 
“Mili, that must hurt, what are you upto? Kacchu, you should not let Mili trouble you this way. ” appa had said.
 
“No, no,  Narayan garu, Mili has decided that the few grey in my hair need to come out, so she is plucking them out from my head. ” Kacchu had said with delight.
 
Thanks to Kacchu, Narayan Rao did not have to worry too much about the fact that there were not many kids in the neighbourhood for Mili to play with. 
 
However, within a year, Kacchu had tied the knot and was whisked away to States by his father in law for better opportunities. Mili had looked at his wedding snap and given the bride a name too.

” Kacchi ” she had giggled saying so.
 
In the initial days there were regular phone calls and constant appraising of the events in Kacchu’s life. As time passed, the phone calls had dwindled limiting themselves to Mili’s birthday and wishes on Diwali and New year, finally, the correspondence reducing to once in a blue moon.

Mili drifted away to sleep thinking of the days gone by.
 
The next day appa mentioned to Mili that as he had suspected Kacchu was unable to make it to the wedding and had sent a gift cheque for the bride and the groom.
 
***********************************************************
 
The wedding day arrived. The house sported a festive look. Nadaswaram being played could be heard till the end of the street. The house was decorated with yellow and brown chamantis with occasional Zarberas and Jasmines. Mili was all decked up and ready in her traditional bridal attire waiting for the ceremonies to begin. Guests entered and left the house, children jumped and played around. Sweets and drinks flowed continously in the house.
 
“Mili, there is someone who has come to meet your appa and they asked me to fetch you to the study.” Her cousin, Vaidehi had rushed into her room and dragged her to the study.
 
Standing at the door to the study, she could hear her dad mouthing, “This is really a pleasant surprise Kacchu, we didn’t think you would make it especially after the letter you sent. “
 
“I have been thinking of disposing my ancestral property for a long time now, Narayan garu, So, I decided to complete it and visit all of you too at the same time. “
 
At that Mili entered the room. Although not an overtly shy girl, but the occasion demanded it, her tongue caught by the cat, her gaze downwards, hands fidgeting and making knots with the saree that she was so unaccustomed to wear,
 
“Namaste Uncleji, Thank you for coming!!” hands folded, was all she could gather herself to utter.

She looked at her Kacchu, he had changed too. There was only an occasional black left to pluck in his silver hair.
 
“Mili, so, you are going to make Omlettes for your mother in law, is it??” Kacchu had asked mischievously.
 
Mili now knew exactly what mother in law meant and what was expected of her. Just like her first meeting with him, this time too overcome with shyness she fled. 

PS   Inspiration:    Tagore for one of the most poignant stories ” Kabuliwallah “
 

“You are new here, I have seen you visiting this park only in the last few days.” the little girl carried on more as a statement rather than a question, hence I let her continue the monologue.

Winter had just began to show its colours, leaves falling all over the path, trees barren, apart from their roots.
 
This little girl, name that I wasn’t aware of brought some delight to my otherwise wintery withery life. I had moved to this part of the town a month ago. Once I, settled down my belongings with the help of Vasu, his wife Gouramma and their little one Gowtham, I had plenty of time to spare.
 
********************************************************
” Vasanthi !! Vasanthi !! come here, stop playing in the dirt, your pattu paavda will get messy. Why don’t you ask granny to tell you some stories or why don’t you tell me what your school master taught you today? “
 
” But amma, I want to play outside along with the other kids, Shankari has been playing all day today and you haven’t stopped him !”
 
” Vasanthi, Shankari is the milkman’s son, how can I tell him not to play !! sare, sare, go and bring those small conches and shells and we will play the house game, ok ??” I had scuttered to get the stuff.
 
That was amma, always at her best to protect and keep me happy. Granny would tell me how I was born after 15 years of Amma- Appa’s marriage and how precious a child I was.They had prayed to every Lord, performed umpteen Homams, Amma had chanted Lalita Parayanam 100 times daily, every friday she cleaned the temple with water and smeared the steps with Pasupu Kumkuma, she would be one of the ladies to cook the prasadams and once every month Appa would feed the whole village. All this was patiently done for my arrival.
 
I was born a few years before independence in a small village in coastal Andhra in the Zamindar’s home. Appa was a well respected man. I grew up amongst lush paddy fields, the coconut groves, the local school where I studied till 10th. I lead an extremely pampered and sheltered life. Although, Appa never even cast an angry look towards me, I always went to amma for solace. My childhood was complete bliss. The day I turned fourteen, I was married to Vijay, our neighbouring village headman’s son.
 
Vijay was nine years older than me, and the oldest of six brothers. Vijay’s mother, my mother- in- law was a pale and sickly lady who was constantly in the cycles of pregnancy, child birth and feeding until one day she became bedridden with ill health. Vijay’s grandmother looked after all of us. She tried to tutor me with the workings of a household life but I always struggled.
 
Vijay liked everything in order and the constant worry of making a mistake meant that I, actually ended up making many mistakes.
I would tremble and shiver at the thought of Vijay’s presence around me, not that he ever raised his finger on me. But, expectations weighed me down. He was a different man altogether when we were cosy but the rest of the time a constant worry would eat me up leaving me always tongue tied in his presence.
 
Soon, Vijay’s younger brother got married and his wife Annapurna came into our house. True to her name, her efficient and perfect manners meant that she was gladly given the keys of the household. It pinched me somewhere but did not really worry me much. Afterall, Annapurna always knew how to organise the household and I was inept at it.
 
Over years, I had one son Raghav and a daughter Gayatri while Annapurna had three children. I spent most of my time secluded in my end of the house. Even, Raghav and Gayatri would go to Annapurna for every small thing calling her, ” Chinnamma do this, chinnamma I want that.. ” and Annapurna would gladly oblige.
 
With time all the children got married and both Raghav and Gayatri moved to States.
 
They coaxed me and Vijay to come and stay with them but we visited them only once. The weather was so cold that my arthritis got worse and Vijay had paralysis stroke of the whole right side of his body once we reached back our village. His speech had slurred. With no one else being around to do the cares, I nursed Vijay dutifully day and night.
 
Vijay who frightened me before had suddenly turned into a weakling. He, who never cared to sit with me earlier would now beg me to just speak a few words. His helplessness caused me distress but having never been able to utter a word in the past, I really did not know how to react now.
 
After two years of battle with health one fine morning Vijay refused to wake up from sleep. Raghav and Gayatri came along with their children. After the 13 day rituals, they cajoled me to join them. I refused, in spite of utmost pressure from one and all. They told me how impossible it would be to manage things on my own.
 
I told them Shankari and his son Vasu’s family would look after me. I adamantly prodded along, spending time cultivating vegetables in the kitchen garden and looking after the home in my own little ways with help from Vasu’s family.
 
We had moved a month ago to this part of the town for Shankari’s grandson Gowtham’s treatment. He had a type of blood disorder that needed regular monitoring and transfusions.
 
Any time I went to the park, I would often notice this little girl playing. She looked around nine or ten. I had asked Vasu to find out about her. She lived in the nearby “zhopdis” along with 4 brothers. Her mother had died in child birth and father changed cycle tyres on the main road corner shop. He struggled to make ends meet and had sacrificed this little’s girl’s education to get his sons going. 
 
And, this little one, she spent all her time in the park playing without a care in the world. Thankfully, Vasu had brought this little girl’s father to her doorstep and he had willingly agreed to part ways with his daughter with moistened eyes hoping for a better life for her.
 
 
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” Will you come home with me?? I will show you how to play a house game with conches and shells. Come and stay with me!! ” I had asked her.
 
” But, What about my father ??” she asked, although a sense of excitement was already palpable in her tone.
 
” I asked him, he said Ok ! come along then, pet. Tell me, what is your name?? I, forgot to ask your father. ” I asked the little girl.
 
” My name is Vasanthi, what is your’s ??” she looked towards me contorting her face, squinting her eyes close as the sun finally came out shining brightly on her face.
 
The older Vasanthi smiled, clutched the little one’s hand and walked towards home, both anticipating a new beginning..
 

PS I had to change the title…don’t ask me why !!!