Home alone with my friendly neighbors….

It’s been a couple of years that Dr. G is known to his trusted neighbor couple, every year at a particular span, they spend here. This year,for obvious reasons I got the privilege to meet them. They were a bit skeptical with my colored dress, and again without giving much attention to me they engrossed in rearranging their home décor. I was sure, she is expecting..off course, a high time for them to renovate their home and getting the proper resources.

Well, I was also busy in doing the same too; reframing my husband’s bachelor’s den to convert it to a Our residence. Well, they were so swiftly completed their job in a week that raised my inquisitiveness. However, it seemed that they are not that interested or rather scared to see me poking my nose on their private residence! You might tell, how could you be so generous to write about such a weird couple, well, I am.

As the time tickles on, I have found that,we share quite a bit of similarity in our daily routine ! Both of us were early risers. The lady of the house rose first then with a shrill shout she makes her husband awake (something that I am afraid is way detrimental to implement in my life!!!). But I was really impressed with their punctuality. The moment the world enters in the civil twilight phase, the sun rays are about to make the east reddish a bit, I found them on the balcony with me. Dr. G was not that surprised, he said it’s happening for the last three years , sometimes he sets up his clock according to their morning chitchats! And why not? They are preparing to have baby!

For another fortnight, I was quiet accustomed with their daily diet, breakfast with tea sunken rusks (again, my favorite), lunch with a bit of cereals and non veg, for dinner, I am not sure!! It was around the 20^th day, I wake with an additional sound of their baby’s crying. We were happy , atlast! And concerned too! The mom, usually got busy to her morning job of procuring food and feeding the thinglet. One day I offered her my breakfast, she was a bit happy but thought to ask her husband whether it is wise to take food from aliens, I was a bit offended , but lastly they made me happy after having a bite from mine.

I was alone there. Dr. G is busy with his lab and me, listlessly roaming around the large flat, doing something in the kitchen and then staring outside in the evening with a sip of coffee to watch the last ray of the day. Well that’s the time when the couple and my hubby both get back to home. In the mean time the lady become a bit friendlier and visits me with her husband. They wait and watch me from a distance then come say a Hello, the swiftly nodded one, sometimes they whisper about me I suspect!!! And before we start spend some more time, the thinglets (they are twins!!!!) start shouting for their parents. I feel pity for them, they have to stay alone for the whole day! I wish they have kept them with me, which I suppose is impossible, how an experienced parent could believe a one month wedded girl, who still forgets to take out her dresses from the veranda when it showers!!

It was pouring heavily for the whole day, hail storm was there!! The tiny angels are scared and shouted. I was in the balcony, oh! may be their mom and dad stacked in between, and then I found the wet couple coming hurriedly with some foods, may be to make the babies happy!! And for the first time, I have seen the twins, they are so cute. May be after seeing me in the balcony,the anxious mom was a bit happy, ("thank God may be she can protect them" Ahh, atlast she understood my image of universal protector!!)! I was happy too, may be now the ice between us are going to break!

Days are flying like feathers!! The kids are going up. I saw them approaching their first footsteps to this crowdie, noisy world. I have seen how, patiently the couple taught them to spread their wings of dream and then my day of flying back to my old nest is approached. I am sad, offcourse to leave the warmth of being at home , but a major portion of the heart is sobbing for them. They were my best friends..an unspoken relationship of trust if not friendship was there between us…and it was the last day they agreed to pose for me..here comes a couple of the photographs..Last night DR. G told me, they won’t be here for long, I was angry, a bit upset cant they wait for me a bit more? Dr. G says “ don’t worry they will be here again , I know them they don’t break their promise, they were my good old friends ”…

Till then these photographs are there for my sadden soul..thought of sharing those to you.. especially on the day the world celebrates a WHOLE DAY (WORLD SPARROW DAY,20TH MARCH) for them!!!!

Private moments..

Our Favourite breakfast...

To fly or not to fly..that is the question..

Dare to fly..the sky is yours...

Rangiye diye Jao..paint me once again…

It is exactly one year before I have scribbled for the first time in this blog. And todays a sudden notification caught my eyes that my toddler has become one year old. Ideally it should start walking, no atleast crawling, but with my decelerated pace, the frequency of posting is so pathetic that I could not even count one post per month. But life has taken so many turnings in last one year. One ,that is worth mentioning I guess is my changed relationship status. Today, I have become one month old married woman. Today is holi. It seems to be a hattrick today and all seems to be quite colourful, isn’t it? Well, I am not here to tell you about that “girl meet boy” story because that roller coaster ride needs a novel rather a post to cover, and at this stage I find that quite boring. But what seems to be more interestingto tell you is the transient transformation which is silently taking place in my life. Silently? No way!! The sound that started poking me all day is with the couple of bangles in my hand “Shakha Pola” n a churi, everytime I want to type something this typical non filmy “khan khan” is hindering my concentration , I am quite a watch savy woman rather than churi n bracelets cladded one. I remember, in our childhood my sister used to fantasize about the marriage as something that comes with loads of gifts n jewelleries, I still remember her at the age of one or two, wearing a hell lot of my mom’s jewelleries and feeling happy! Well, its three years she is married now and with her busy schedule this fantasies are a bit evaporated it seems. For me, its quite a kind of change from my thumbrings , chains n junkies to this bangled world!! The next is offcourse, my increased interest on cullinery skills, I remember one fine morning I put coffee instead of garam masala in egg curry, as both supposed to be in “sunrise” labelled yellowish packet!!! Well, I am now quiet a bug free improved version it seems, suddenly I have started an weared interest on wives of chefs, if your husband is a good cook and can detect the anomalies of masala only by the smell of a curry without tasting it, cooking is the toughest job of the world, so with my mantra of “better go for less rather sprinkling more”, I am now quite cleverly managing the dinners ! The third and most important is offcourse getting a long break from my lab!! I am not sure whether I am very fine with this, offourse I am loving the late rising, lazy afternoons, sitting n just doing nothing in a summer day, but down the line I am craving for the lab smell (yes labs have a distinct smell, not quite hospital type, but I love it) n late night coffees! Haata khunti can’t be a perfect replacement of pippets and it would never be for me, that’s a wise sermon has come from the guy, who is finding it really awkward to see her geeky spechy barmuda clan friend in salwar avatar!! (But I must say, I am enjoying it, this is the first time I got a chance to play a different role!!). And the worst part is that My maa, who, for the last couple of years are poking me for getting married and to start”really” settling down through a marriage, is quite confused that its really better for me to get back to lab rather than asking every evening about muror ghantar recipie and all. And truely speaking, I am REALLY enjoying this with an impish grin.
And now today, when my hubby is busy in his lab, I am sitting alone and checking basantotsav in TV, I am really feeling nostalgic on those colourful memories of Dol, that I used to enjoy the most in a year. I have spent my childhood in Hindmotor, a small town, especially in a para (moholla) where very few Bengali families were there. So holi rather than dol was something we were used to. And the greater prelude used to be the “Nera Pora” or holika Dahan a day before. My little friends, all those paratuto kochi kacha used to collect the coconut leaves heaping and giving a shape of a tomb in our ground, we used go with baba, the silent enthusiastic person behind all these activities. I fondly remember the potatoes to be over burnt, but still it used to taste great! The very next day , me the only speccy five yr old enthusiast used to give the first round of walk in the para and inevitably somebody used to burst a water filled balloon on my head!!! But still I used to enjoy it. The second part was to visit mamar bari, our maternal uncle’s home where dadabhai, then a grown up teen with some most dangerous bandore rong ( which looks brown but used to turn dark read) n some silver golden colors used to attack us. But the most painful phase used to bathing, maa used to literally scrab two of us like old burned utensils, and yes, once I remember baba has poured a bucket of colour on her head during this busy activity. She used to be quite angry then, but later, I remember her fondly remembering of the first post marriage holi at Bhagalpur, where baba and her friends , used to play a typical dhamakedar bihari Holi. The next memorable holis were in my university days, coming back straight from ballygange to home through the busy Howrah station with the coloured face and a serious minus eight power look. Years after, in my post doc days we had a blast holi at the IARI campus, where the scientists including my PhD advisor, used to gather and enjoy the holi of north india to its fullest. But don’t know why whenever Holi comes, I just emerge myself in those childhood memories of visiting the neighbour’s Uma kakima’s home, the two toddlers Rima Reshmi sankhya’s shoutings “Bardidi “chotdidi” please come out!!! And off course, crave for the first abir from my baba. And the special bosonotsav memories of my school! Today I am definite, that my mother is silently sitting in her bed remembering the same good old memories, may be her first holi after marriage! A strange feeling comes to my mind today, the colour is actually on your eyes, and offcourse in your mind, you don’t need the Gulaal always, sometimes the colours of memories are good enough! And for today, well celebrating birthday of my most favourite child this blog and sharing my stories with you will obviously be included in the unlimited spacious memory drive of mine as a spectacular Holi episode. So have a wonderful, safe and happy holi…and Happy Holi to you, Maa n Baba!!!