Back from a refreshing trip!
I wanted to meet mom, since the last visit was for a day only. This time, I thought, I'll spring a surprise on her. She wouldn't know I was coming home!
Before I write it all, would you look at that clustermap down right on this page?! It looks like my journal is read by people even in Africa! Lovely! And apparently also someone on sea (?); check the tiny red dot to left (the reader's left) of North America. Whuda thunk?!
Moving on, I really wanted to meet mom. Besides, Sankranti was coming up and I didn't want her to be alone. There are a LOT of relatives at home right now, but it just means mom has to work hard and a lot of chores. I called her up to enquire her plans, and she told me K is coming too! With her daughter! Oh I have the cutest and the smartest neice in the world! Mom asks, "You coming too?". I said, no. I really didn't have plans at the time to take a trip to see her. Also I had work (in nearly 5months). But then, I thought I can finish the work stuff quickly and go see mom. I did! I got my leave approved and then scurried to find the train home. Too bad, all trains booked. I ended up taking 2 trains one way to go see mom. No issues. She still didn't know I was coming, so the surprise would be great. Moreover, mom was at Hyd with her bros and sisters (just for vacation) and would be coming on the same day that I was supposed to reach!
When I got the tickets booked, the departure time was 13.40. On the day I was all set to leave, it was 12.40 and out of curiosity, I checked the ticket again. Departure time was 13.20! Heavens! I had like 30 mins to reach the station! B drove like 10 mad horses were behind him. And thankfully, I saw the train still at the station! Phew! "Aaj to line cross ho hi gayi thi by God! Pata hai, aaj tak life mein ek train nahi chhooti meri. Thank you Babaji, mera record todne se bacha liya" ;)
Train ka safar kataa by watching "Eurotrip" some 100 times. No really, I've watched it so many times I've lost count; still I enjoy it everytime I see it. Fully bakwaas movie, dumb dialogs and absolute timepass! "Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me do it in my van every sunday" :)) Journey well spent I'd say!
I called mom up at 9 AM from a station close to home. She had NO clue I was on my way to see her, and she told me how lovely a time she had at Hyd. I said great. After the daily dose of please-drink-milk-and-eat-chyawanprash-and-regularly-use-eyedrops lecture from mom, I hung up, supressing a chuckle ;)
Day 1:
Cut to 2 hours later, I ring the door bell to my home and mom opens it.... Oh the expression on her face was priceless! She kept staring at me! And then, guess what, SHE pinched ME to check if it wasn't a dream! Hullo?! Isn't that supposed to be the other way round? She should pinch herself to see if its for real! Welcome to my mom's world!
That day, we relaxed at home. I feasted on mom's cooking and it was finger licking good! Had a siesta and went to the temple in the evening. And there, you won't believe, people recognized me! "Oh aren't you the one staying in this building?!", "Oh you got married?!", "Where do you live now?". After I answered the latter question, I had a standard response from everyone - same response - "Ewww why do you live there of all the cities in India?!". I hear ya sisters.
Day 2:
Come sunday, I went to meet U mami and the twin cuties. Same thing, they didn't know I was coming. I woke up bright and sunny at 9 AM :D , had breakfast, took bath and left to see them. Just me, not mom. When I reached there after 50 mins, T just screamed on seeing me! S sprang outta bed (all her headache and fever flew right out of the window!) and we 6 of us, sat down to eating the kadlis from the kadli gida. :D I miss all that! Lunch was typical kannada affair - saaru, chapaati, navalkol palya (heavens I survived that) and masaru anna. G exhibited her idiosyncrasies, and so did R - which renders them famous in our family (and it also serves as fodder to me cuz then I can mimic them at family gatherings - Yea I'm my family's Russel Peters ;) ). All in all, it was their normal behaviour.
I went home and had dinner while watching Desperate Housewives. At the end of each episode, I wonder why did I waste my one hour, yet next week I find myself watching it again...
Day 3:
Next day, monday, was Bhogi. And the lunch was sooooooooooooooo yummy! You'd think I'm a glutton - and I'd say where's the next item, please serve!
Oh before that, I went to my college to get that certificate. Met my profs and HoD. College seems bigger than the last time I saw it; and now they are expanding the canteen and brining in two more departments - B.E in Telecommunications and an MBA program. Awesome :) I reached P moushi's place and find so many other moushis there! (I have a HUGE family!) Hugs and kisses followed (my L'Oreal blush almost wiped off!) and they urged me to mimic G and R's previous day's antics. I did ;) P moushi has changed so much. She's mellowed down. And is so so much nicer now. Poo didn't know I was coming, so she was happy on seeing me too.
Lunch was traditional Bhogi lunch - stuffed brinjal (tumbiddu badnikaai palya), tingla ourikaai palya, gojju, raagi bhakri and huggi. I don't know their names in English; but they were so tasty I don't even care. Check pics :)
Thats gojju
Tingla ourikaai palya
Tumbiddu badnikaai palya
After lunch, Poo and I sat down to discuss her latest boyfriend(s), and how many extractions did she do that day. None, thankfully. Extractions I mean, boyfriends - she has :)) She kept talking about 2 of them and I asked to show their pics. She looged in to her Orkut and showed their pics. Guess what happened next. We scanned their albums, whistled at other good looking guys in those pics, and scanned their friends list and looked through their albums! LOL. She kept circling the guys in photos who looked good, and at the end, narrowed the list of boiys down to 3. And said to me, "(phew) OK now there are 3 in line. Who do you think I should date??" LOL Hello?! You've only seen their photos on Orkut, what else you know about them?! Thats Poo for you! She adds "le" after every sentence in Kannada and says "oooooooo boyfriend iddra yeshtu majaa ala!!" Wonder what kinda dentist she is! Its all in fun, am sure. She's a great sis I'll give her that :)
Day 4:
My sis, her hubby and the neice to arrive in the morning. I woke up early, and had bath. Minutes later, they are at the door! The kid is so cute! She's started walking now, and even recognizes me :) She was so careful while crossing the hochhla (threshold) from one room to another, we all were stunned! She plays with anything and everything and doesn't fuss at all! She speaks 2 syllable words now - papa, mum mum (food), adu taa (gimme that), tou (take this). And if she sees a dog, she goes, "woofh woofh" and "meow" when she sees a cat! Intelligent! I'll put her pics here tomorrow. She wore those shoes which make sound when you walk in them, and kept stamping to make that noise hahahahahaha. She hugs the little stuffed monkey we gave her, and kisses it too! It all looks very cute. I took her pics when sis was bathing her - I can show the kid's nanga photos to her hubby later ;)
Mom made superb lunch. Kosambri, yellina undi (til ke laddoo), yellina holgi (til ke sweet chapatis), chapatis (plain ones), french beans, saaru (curry) and steamed white rice. Super yummy! I ate one full holgi (I don't like sweets much...). See pics...
This is the stuffing she used for the holgi (sweet stuffed chapati). Its til, jaggery and ghee all mixed and heated on low flame.
Til ke laddoo, or yellina undi. Same ingredients as above, but kept longer on sim so that its a little harder.
Come 5 PM, I had to leave. Horrible. I got to be with my neice only for 7 hours. I boarded the slowest train ever - it went from Karnataka to AP, and back to Karnataka - poora round maarke! Took another slowest train from B'lore to come here. Super bore.
Oh one more thing, I met Amit on my way home. He is a gentleman. He insisted on carrying my bag, which actually made him a coolie, but he's a gentleman too :) We had dinner together. He's my bestest friend, and I'm glad its been like that since years. It won't change... he's my best friend. I hope he finds and gets married to a nice, sweet girl. I pressurised him to get married soon. He kept blushing all the while :)
Before I write it all, would you look at that clustermap down right on this page?! It looks like my journal is read by people even in Africa! Lovely! And apparently also someone on sea (?); check the tiny red dot to left (the reader's left) of North America. Whuda thunk?!
Moving on, I really wanted to meet mom. Besides, Sankranti was coming up and I didn't want her to be alone. There are a LOT of relatives at home right now, but it just means mom has to work hard and a lot of chores. I called her up to enquire her plans, and she told me K is coming too! With her daughter! Oh I have the cutest and the smartest neice in the world! Mom asks, "You coming too?". I said, no. I really didn't have plans at the time to take a trip to see her. Also I had work (in nearly 5months). But then, I thought I can finish the work stuff quickly and go see mom. I did! I got my leave approved and then scurried to find the train home. Too bad, all trains booked. I ended up taking 2 trains one way to go see mom. No issues. She still didn't know I was coming, so the surprise would be great. Moreover, mom was at Hyd with her bros and sisters (just for vacation) and would be coming on the same day that I was supposed to reach!
When I got the tickets booked, the departure time was 13.40. On the day I was all set to leave, it was 12.40 and out of curiosity, I checked the ticket again. Departure time was 13.20! Heavens! I had like 30 mins to reach the station! B drove like 10 mad horses were behind him. And thankfully, I saw the train still at the station! Phew! "Aaj to line cross ho hi gayi thi by God! Pata hai, aaj tak life mein ek train nahi chhooti meri. Thank you Babaji, mera record todne se bacha liya" ;)
Train ka safar kataa by watching "Eurotrip" some 100 times. No really, I've watched it so many times I've lost count; still I enjoy it everytime I see it. Fully bakwaas movie, dumb dialogs and absolute timepass! "Scotty doesn't know that Fiona and me do it in my van every sunday" :)) Journey well spent I'd say!
I called mom up at 9 AM from a station close to home. She had NO clue I was on my way to see her, and she told me how lovely a time she had at Hyd. I said great. After the daily dose of please-drink-milk-and-eat-chyawanprash-and-regularly-use-eyedrops lecture from mom, I hung up, supressing a chuckle ;)
Day 1:
Cut to 2 hours later, I ring the door bell to my home and mom opens it.... Oh the expression on her face was priceless! She kept staring at me! And then, guess what, SHE pinched ME to check if it wasn't a dream! Hullo?! Isn't that supposed to be the other way round? She should pinch herself to see if its for real! Welcome to my mom's world!
That day, we relaxed at home. I feasted on mom's cooking and it was finger licking good! Had a siesta and went to the temple in the evening. And there, you won't believe, people recognized me! "Oh aren't you the one staying in this building?!", "Oh you got married?!", "Where do you live now?". After I answered the latter question, I had a standard response from everyone - same response - "Ewww why do you live there of all the cities in India?!". I hear ya sisters.
Day 2:
Come sunday, I went to meet U mami and the twin cuties. Same thing, they didn't know I was coming. I woke up bright and sunny at 9 AM :D , had breakfast, took bath and left to see them. Just me, not mom. When I reached there after 50 mins, T just screamed on seeing me! S sprang outta bed (all her headache and fever flew right out of the window!) and we 6 of us, sat down to eating the kadlis from the kadli gida. :D I miss all that! Lunch was typical kannada affair - saaru, chapaati, navalkol palya (heavens I survived that) and masaru anna. G exhibited her idiosyncrasies, and so did R - which renders them famous in our family (and it also serves as fodder to me cuz then I can mimic them at family gatherings - Yea I'm my family's Russel Peters ;) ). All in all, it was their normal behaviour.
I went home and had dinner while watching Desperate Housewives. At the end of each episode, I wonder why did I waste my one hour, yet next week I find myself watching it again...
Day 3:
Next day, monday, was Bhogi. And the lunch was sooooooooooooooo yummy! You'd think I'm a glutton - and I'd say where's the next item, please serve!
Oh before that, I went to my college to get that certificate. Met my profs and HoD. College seems bigger than the last time I saw it; and now they are expanding the canteen and brining in two more departments - B.E in Telecommunications and an MBA program. Awesome :) I reached P moushi's place and find so many other moushis there! (I have a HUGE family!) Hugs and kisses followed (my L'Oreal blush almost wiped off!) and they urged me to mimic G and R's previous day's antics. I did ;) P moushi has changed so much. She's mellowed down. And is so so much nicer now. Poo didn't know I was coming, so she was happy on seeing me too.
Lunch was traditional Bhogi lunch - stuffed brinjal (tumbiddu badnikaai palya), tingla ourikaai palya, gojju, raagi bhakri and huggi. I don't know their names in English; but they were so tasty I don't even care. Check pics :)
Thats gojju
Tingla ourikaai palya
Tumbiddu badnikaai palyaAfter lunch, Poo and I sat down to discuss her latest boyfriend(s), and how many extractions did she do that day. None, thankfully. Extractions I mean, boyfriends - she has :)) She kept talking about 2 of them and I asked to show their pics. She looged in to her Orkut and showed their pics. Guess what happened next. We scanned their albums, whistled at other good looking guys in those pics, and scanned their friends list and looked through their albums! LOL. She kept circling the guys in photos who looked good, and at the end, narrowed the list of boiys down to 3. And said to me, "(phew) OK now there are 3 in line. Who do you think I should date??" LOL Hello?! You've only seen their photos on Orkut, what else you know about them?! Thats Poo for you! She adds "le" after every sentence in Kannada and says "oooooooo boyfriend iddra yeshtu majaa ala!!" Wonder what kinda dentist she is! Its all in fun, am sure. She's a great sis I'll give her that :)
Day 4:
My sis, her hubby and the neice to arrive in the morning. I woke up early, and had bath. Minutes later, they are at the door! The kid is so cute! She's started walking now, and even recognizes me :) She was so careful while crossing the hochhla (threshold) from one room to another, we all were stunned! She plays with anything and everything and doesn't fuss at all! She speaks 2 syllable words now - papa, mum mum (food), adu taa (gimme that), tou (take this). And if she sees a dog, she goes, "woofh woofh" and "meow" when she sees a cat! Intelligent! I'll put her pics here tomorrow. She wore those shoes which make sound when you walk in them, and kept stamping to make that noise hahahahahaha. She hugs the little stuffed monkey we gave her, and kisses it too! It all looks very cute. I took her pics when sis was bathing her - I can show the kid's nanga photos to her hubby later ;)
Mom made superb lunch. Kosambri, yellina undi (til ke laddoo), yellina holgi (til ke sweet chapatis), chapatis (plain ones), french beans, saaru (curry) and steamed white rice. Super yummy! I ate one full holgi (I don't like sweets much...). See pics...
This is the stuffing she used for the holgi (sweet stuffed chapati). Its til, jaggery and ghee all mixed and heated on low flame.
Til ke laddoo, or yellina undi. Same ingredients as above, but kept longer on sim so that its a little harder. Come 5 PM, I had to leave. Horrible. I got to be with my neice only for 7 hours. I boarded the slowest train ever - it went from Karnataka to AP, and back to Karnataka - poora round maarke! Took another slowest train from B'lore to come here. Super bore.
Oh one more thing, I met Amit on my way home. He is a gentleman. He insisted on carrying my bag, which actually made him a coolie, but he's a gentleman too :) We had dinner together. He's my bestest friend, and I'm glad its been like that since years. It won't change... he's my best friend. I hope he finds and gets married to a nice, sweet girl. I pressurised him to get married soon. He kept blushing all the while :)
I laughed out loud when I read the part about your mom pinching you!
Good to hear from you after a long hiatus,
Its always is fun to spend some time with people who are close to heart and with whom we have spend a lot of memorable time.
:)
Great read :)
And the red dot out at sea is Hawaii.