Earthen memories.

These earthen pots take me back to a time when we used to travel sleeper class.

It was almost summer and I was traveling from New Delhi to my ' sasural' in Bhagalpur. B got 2 upper berth tickets, made me perch up on one, bought a matka filled with water and strictly told me not to come down. Especially as the train crossed UP and Bihar hinterlands.

Being young meant, more resilience, strong bladder and a lot of uncertainty about places unknown.

I don't remember if at all I came down or not. But I remember watching passengers pulling the chain as their houses approached and the train halting every 5 minutes throughout Bihar.

And my hanky fell on the head of a sardarji and trying to retrieve it from his turban was as good as playing a game of Super Mario, and Bhaskar watched in exasperation mouthing Reshmi Rumaal is a signal!!! What will he think?

The matka was the saviour, providing cool water to douse my face with and to drink from.

This time I saw them in Benaras by the roadside.

Though now I will only travel sleeper class if I am desperate, and have gotten conditioned to comforts, I wanted to carry one back with me.

For old times sake!

Comments

Being an eagle mum!

I always told this story to my trainees. About being the Eagle mum. An eagle mum prepares the nest in two layers, first downy feathers and below that,the thorns. When it is time to fly she removes the downy feathers so that the fledglings who refuse to fly fall on the thorns and that makes them flap n fly away! Bhaskar always calls is cruelty, the bojjat mommy! But to me its a way to push one out of the comfort zone, for the world waits beyond! My kiddos moved out to their own place today. And despite being an eagle mum, I kind of miss the chatter. I knew in my heart I would miss having them around... But they need to find their wings!

A holiday with self :)

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Sepia times

In recent times FB has come up with a new challenge that has everyone posting pictures in black and white- The B&W challenge had everyone using some app and changing the DP to that era. Cleaning my parents apartment, is always a voyage on a time machine for me - Strange how the people are gone and the objects remain- like that arm chair , once my grandmother's favorite then my father's ! I recently remodeled my grandparents double bed, more out of sentiment than anything else. And then, this was Victoria Memorial in an original two colored snap. Of course it is now a fad to Prisma or Photoshop or play with an app to bring back the sepia days. Among the many memorabilia , I discovered Dadu's MB certificates - Dadu was sauve, westernized and very social. The story goes that when he went to see my mother for the first time, he wanted fork and spoon saying that at home they used cutlery at the table, and my Didi actually had the table laid out accordingl...

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